Three DuPage County Board incumbents were among the apparent winners Tuesday in the first-ever primary in Illinois for seats on an independent Forest Preserve Commission.
The three–Wallace Brown (R-Downers Grove), Gwen Henry (R-Wheaton) and Roger Kotecki (R-Carol Stream)–have opted to end their County Board careers and instead are seeking seats on a new seven-member commission that will oversee DuPage’s 24,000 acres of forest preserve holdings.
“I think the people were looking for some continuity, and I think there’s general satisfaction with what the Forest Preserve District has done,” Brown said.
Elsewhere in the state, county board members also serve as forest preserve commissioners, a dual role that many believe is a potential conflict of interest. Because of state legislation approved in 1996, DuPage is taking the unprecedented step of separating the two boards after the November election.
Voters will elect a forest preserve commissioner from each of the six County Board districts. The commission’s president will be elected countywide.
Brown appeared to have defeated three other candidates in District 3, with about 47 percent of the vote, according to unofficial results. In District 4, Henry defeated two opponents with about 55 percent of the vote.
With nearly 58 percent of the vote, Kotecki beat three other candidates in District 6 by a wide margin.
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The contests were closer in the districts where none of the candidates was an incumbent County Board member.
In District 1, Marsha Murphy, a member of the Addison Township Board, was leading with about 53 percent of the vote against lawyer John Pankau’s 47 percent.
In District 2, Oakbrook Terrace Ald. Joseph F. Cantore had a narrow lead with about 38 percent of the vote over Patricia Trowbridge, a former County Board member, who had about 37 percent. Colette F. Kubiesa, president of the Elmhurst Park District Board, trailed with 24 percent.
In District 5, Carl Schultz, owner of a landscape and garden design firm in Aurora, had a narrow lead over Mary T. Wright, former president of the Naperville Park District Board, and Janet Trowbridge, a Naperville resident and an aide to Republican Cook County Commissioner Gregg Goslin.
The primary attracted 24 candidates–20 Republicans and four Democrats. None of the Democratic primaries was contested. The lone candidate for president on the primary ballot was Republican incumbent D. “Dewey” Pierotti, of Addison.