Regular Republican candidates, including nine incumbents, filed petitions Monday to begin what appears will a wide-open race for 13 seats on the McHenry County Board against a smattering of independent-minded Republicans and members of conservation groups.
Most of the regulars filed when the county clerk`s office opened Monday, ensuring that their names would be included in a lottery held for top ballot position.
Nomination in the party`s primary next March 20 is tantamount to election in heavily Republican McHenry County.
In Lake County, 8 of 12 County Board members up for re-election in 1990 filed their nominating petitions, as did incumbents running for sheriff, county treasurer and regional superintendent of schools.
”There were no surprises in the early filings,” said Lake County Clerk Linda Ianuzi Hess, who plans to file her re-election petitions later this week.
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In Kane County, GOP contests were shaping up in at least four County Board districts.
McHenry GOP regulars also filed without opposition for four county offices-clerk, treasurer, sheriff and county superintendent of schools.
Other candidates must submit their petitions by next Monday.
Republicans who filed for five McHenry County Board seats to be filled in District 1 (Algonquin Township) are John Brehmer and James Frisch of Cary;
Bill Dwyer, Dianne Klemm and Michael Tryon of Crystal Lake; and Lou Anne Majewski of Barrington Hills. Majewski, Tryon and Frisch are on the board now. Republicans seeking the four seats in District 2 (Nunda and McHenry Townships) are Donald Doherty and David Benrud, McHenry; Robert Goben, Oakwood Hills; Kathleen Harper-Sorrell, Crystal Lake; and Ervin Staveteig and Charles Weingart, McHenry Township. Doherty, Goben and Weingart are incumbents.
In District 3, the remainder of the county, four seats will be filled. GOP candidates are Henry DeBoer, Marengo; John Howell, Hartland Township; Don Larson, Alden Township; Ersel Schuster, Seneca Township; Robert Stoxen, Chemung Township; Thomas Tortorello, Riley Township; and Elizabeth Scherer, Woodstock.
DeBoer, Schuster, Stoxen and Scherer are incumbents. Howell and Larson are members of McHenry County Conservation Voters, a group opposed to County Board plans to locate a garbage dump in Hartland Township.
Filing thus far without opposition for Republican nominations for county offices are Katherine Schultz, Woodstock, county clerk; William Ward, Harvard, treasurer; George Hendle, Harvard, sheriff; and Leslie Hellemann, Marengo, superintendent of schools. Ward, Hendle and Hellemann are incumbents and Schultz is chief deputy clerk.
In Lake County, the first candidate to file was Republican James Mitchell, a County Board member from Deerfield. Hess said Mitchell arrived at the Lake County Building in Waukegan at 3:20 a.m. to be first in line when the clerk`s office opened at 8:30 a.m.
About 40 candidates were on hand at 8:30. All will have their names placed in a Dec. 21 drawing to determine whose names will appear first in the March 20 primary ballot.
”Many candidates believe it is worth a few percentage points to appear first on the ballot,” said Hess, the only Democrat to hold countywide office in Lake County. ”A few think it`s advantageous to appear last on the ballot and will not file until the last minute.”
As of late Monday, no Republican had filed petitions to oppose Hess, and no Democrat had filed to oppose incumbent Sheriff Clinton Grinnell.
Sander Stagman, an accountant from Highland Park, filed in the Democratic primary to oppose incumbent County Treasurer Jack ”Red” Anderson, a Republican who also filed for re-election. Democrats also are seeking a candidate to oppose Republican Sybil Yastrow, the incumbent regional superintendent of schools.
Lake County Board members who filed for re-election were Republicans Mitchell, Matthew Miholic, James LaBelle, Charlotte Kiesgen, Carol Calabresa, John Reindl and Bruce Hansen, and Democrat Samuel Payne.
Norman Geary, the chairman of the County Board, and John Balen, a Democrat from Waukegan, have announced that they will not run again.
Two other board members, Richard Price and Francis T. ”Mike” Graham, did not file petitions Monday, although Price has said he will seek re-election.
Non-incumbents who are seeking board seats are Republicans Robert Grever, Lake Zurich; Howard Bieze, Round Lake; Pamela Newton, Vernon Hills; Robert Depke, Gurnee; Robert Boness, Round Lake Beach; Bonnie Murphy, Zion; Walter White, Waukegan; and Edna Schade, Deerfield. Also, Democrats Robert Buhai, Highland Park, and Stanley Pekol, Angelo Kyle and Bertha Ogrin, all of Waukegan.
In Kane County, incumbent County Board Chairman Frank Miller, an Aurora Republican, filed for re-election in the county`s 4th District and, so far, is running unopposed.
But Republican primary contests were shaping up in at least 4 of the 13 County Board districts in which seats are up for election in 1990.
All but two Kane County Board incumbents are expected to seek re-election. Those not running are Republicans Paul Wolff of Elgin and Leonard Douglas of North Aurora.
Filing for Douglas` seat are two candidates: John Creighton of Batavia and James Mitchell Jr. of North Aurora. Filing to run for Wolff`s seat is Walter Treiber Jr. of Elgin.
Three incumbent Republicans face opposition. Richard Sharp of Geneva is being challenged by Robert McConnaughay of Geneva. Fred Ledebuhr of Elgin is being challenged by Patricia Sjurseth of Elgin. And Bennett Shoop of Elburn is being challenged by Bradley Sauer of Sugar Grove.
Incumbents Nick Kerasiotis, Aurora Republican; Warren Kammerer, St. Charles Republican; and Paul Clusen, Aurora Democrat,) so far are running unopposed.
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Another candidate in the Republican primary for the County Board is Dennis Kosinski of Elgin, in District 20.
Incumbent Republicans in Kane County also have filed petitions to seek the GOP nomination for clerk, treasurer, sheriff and regional superintendent of schools.