With speculation mounting about his political plans, and contenders ready to launch campaigns, Kane County Sheriff F. John Randall decided to make it official: The 66-year-old sheriff won’t run for a third term.
The announcement late last week by Randall, who will finish his second term in November 1994, comes well before his retirement.
By Monday, two Republican law enforcement officers had already entered the race. They are Sgt. Kenneth Ramsey, 45, a 13-year veteran of the Kane County Sheriff’s Police, and Lt. Tom Lukas, 46, who has been with the Aurora Police Department for 22 years.
After spending almost half his life with the sheriff’s department, Randall said he believes he has made lasting contributions and is ready to step aside.
“The goals were to lift morale in the department, that was No. 1 when I got elected,” in 1986, Randall said. “I wanted to try to get more people on the street, which I’ve done. Those were the main two things that were my concern at the start. We have accomplished a lot. And I say `we’ have accomplished a lot, not I.”
He leaves a post that paid $50,000 a year in 1993. Randall will be fully eligible for his pension upon his retirement, according to the Kane County auditor.
Randall’s 32-year career with the Kane County Sheriff’s Police began in October 1960, when he was hired as a patrol officer. He was promoted to sergeant in 1964, to lieutenant in 1968 and to director of administration in 1979. He took 75 percent of the vote in the November 1986 election, beating Democrat Neal Lippold. Randall had to challenge his boss, then Sheriff George Kramer, to win the 1986 Republican primary.