Several incumbents on the Cook County Board were defeated Tuesday in a primary election that could give rise to a strong independent faction as the county wrestles with problems such as the financial mess at the Forest Preserve District.
“This is people being fed up with everything, and that’s what this vote was about,” said Larry Suffredin, an Evanston lawyer and lobbyist who beat two-term Democratic incumbent Calvin Sutker in the North Shore’s 13th District. “They’re tired of their money being wasted and the potential of the forest preserve, the potential of the hospital, the potential of the court system just being lost.”
Suffredin vowed to work closely with Democrat Mike Quigley, who has made waves in his first term by battling with Sheriff Michael Sheahan over the budget and proving to be a thorn in the side of President John Stroger. Quigley easily won the Democratic bid over Mary Ellen Daly.
In the most closely watched race, three-term incumbent Ted Lechowicz was locked in a tight race with Forrest Claypool for the Democratic nomination in the 12th District on Chicago’s Northwest Side.
With three precincts still out, Claypool led by 870 votes and was declaring victory.
Claypool, a former head of the Chicago Park District and twice Mayor Richard Daley’s chief of staff, hammered away at many of the same themes as Suffredin and Quigley.
Claypool criticized the county’s high tax rate and vowed to clean up the financial mess at the Forest Preserve District, which proved to be a ready-made campaign issue for many candidates.
Suffredin said a Claypool victory could create the nucleus, with Quigley, for a strong independent faction on the County Board. Quigley said the new faces on the board will open the way for more discussion and the introduction of new ideas.
“I think it sends a message to the entire County Board that you are free because the public wants you to be, to be your own legislator,” Quigley said. “I think what it means for the president right now is there is no guarantee that every vote is going to be a slam dunk.”
Through a spokesman, Stroger said he is no stranger to working with independents and stressed that he wants to “make county government work for the welfare of all the people.”
Suburban incumbent Republicans Al Carr in the 16th District and Herbert Schumann in the 17th ran into trouble, with Carr losing to Tony Peraica and Elizabeth Ann Doody Gorman holding a comfortable lead over Schumann.
One-term Democrat William Moran, who was considered vulnerable, finished near the bottom of the pack in a six-candidate 6th District race won by Joan Murphy, the chief investigator at the Cook County Board of Ethics.
Peraica, a lawyer from Riverside, credited the support of Cicero Town President Betty Loren-Maltese’s organization in his solid victory over Carr, who has been on the board since 1988.
Peraica will face Melrose Park Mayor Ron Serpico, who won nearly 38 percent of the vote in a four-way race to win the Democratic nomination in the 16th District.
Schumann, a three-term incumbent, apparently lost to political novice Gorman in the 17th District, which stretches from the south suburbs to include a portion of the northwest suburbs.
Doody Gorman’s car dealership loaned her campaign more than $250,000, and she saturated the local cable-television market with back-to-back ads for her campaign and her dealership, both prominently featuring her. Gorman’s husband, Gerald, is a business partner of political fixture Ed Vrdolyak.
Incumbents in other counties also struggled in Tuesday’s voting.
In DuPage County, where redistricting and changing demographics affected the race, two incumbent County Board members appeared headed for defeat. The issue of Lake County’s snarled roads lifted two challengers over two pro-environment Republican incumbents.
In Will County, the race for sheriff was the focus of attention as a field of challengers competed to replace retiring Sheriff Brendan Ward.
More Top Picks Best Pressure Washers
In McHenry County, two incumbents were ousted.
DuPage County
Incumbents struggled Tuesday night in a series of DuPage County Board races shaped by redistricting and changing demographics.
Sitting board members in two districts appeared headed for defeat, one at the hands of a newcomer, the other forced out in a dogfight caused by the remap.
Perhaps the mostly closely watched race was in District 1, where Yolanda Campuzano appeared on her way to capturing a spot on the November ballot, another step toward becoming the first Hispanic member of the County Board.
Campuzano received the endorsement of the Addison Township GOP, part of a Republican strategy to tap into the county’s growing Hispanic population.
With more than 95 percent the precincts reporting, incumbent William Maio led the district with 24 percent of the vote, Campuzano was second with 21 percent and incumbent Roger Jenisch was third with 20 percent.
The top three advance to the November ballot.
Republican leaders had earmarked District 1, where Hispanics make up 16 percent of the population and where Democrats pulled off a surprise victory in the general election two years ago.
Campuzano, 34, a Mexican-American from Bensenville, said she was pleased with her campaign.
“I’m holding my head up high,” she said.
The biggest surprise came in District 4, where County Board incumbent Paul Didzerekis had trouble with two Republican challengers, Wheaton City Councilman Grant Eckhoff and businesswoman Debra Olson, also from Wheaton.
Olson led with 29 percent of the vote. Incumbent John Noel was second with 27 percent, Eckhoff was third with 24 percent and Didzerekis was fourth with 21 percent.
The top three will be on the ballot in November.
In District 3, redistricting forced four incumbents to battle for three spots, apparently eliminating Alice Peterson.
Tom Bennington, Kyle Gilgis and Michael McMahon were the front-runners, with Peterson, who had served District 5 for more than a decade before the remap, in fourth.
Newcomer Brien Sheahan joined Republican incumbents Patrick O’Shea and Irene Stone claming victory in District 2. As the final votes were being tallied, O’Shea led with 25 percent, Stone was second with 21 percent and Sheahan was third with 20 percent. Three other challengers were well behind.
Republican races in Districts 5 and 6 were uncontested.
Races in all six DuPage districts were uncontested on the Democrat side.
In the only contested countywide race on the Republican side, Darlene Ruscitti had 53 percent of the vote to defeat Gary Vician for DuPage regional superintendent of schools.
Lake County
In what was viewed as a referendum on Lake County’s jammed roads, two County Board candidates who favor better highways led Tuesday’s primary over two Republican incumbents known for their pro-environment views.
In unofficial results, businessman Randall Whitmore of Wadsworth, who favors extending Illinois Highway 53, was ahead of incumbent Loretta McCarley in the District 2 GOP race.
With all the votes counted, Whitmore led McCarley of Beach Park, 56 percent to 44 percent.
“Lake County voters are frustrated with the taxes and roads,” Whitmore said Tuesday night. “County spending has gone up, and our roads are just clogged.”
Another incumbent, Larry Leafblad of Grayslake, an open-space supporter, was trailing Avon Township Trustee Don Bauer by 17 votes. Bauer broadcast his support for the Illinois 53 extension, which Leafblad has opposed for years.
In one of the election’s major surprises, political activist Mary Ross Cunningham, an African-American, led two Hispanic candidates in the County Board’s new Hispanic “supermajority” district in Waukegan.
Cunningham was ahead with 40 percent of the votes. Waukegan Ald. Tony Figueroa, the candidate favored by regular Democrats, had 35 percent, and Jose Zires, a former Republican, had 25 percent.
“I’ll represent all the people,” Cunningham said late Tuesday. “We’re neighbors. We’re friends. We can make it work.”
All of the board’s 23 seats were on the ballot this year because the districts were redrawn after the 2000 census.
Two GOP incumbents who are part of the board’s “green” contingent, Judy L. Martini of Antioch and Sandy Cole of Grayslake, led their opponents by comfortable margins.
Of the six races in which the incumbent didn’t seek re-election, one of the most important was the GOP primary in District 7 in the Waukegan and Gurnee area, where Steve Carlson and Bob Gravel vied to succeed Al Westerman.
As expected, Carlson, a civic leader from Gurnee, was ahead with 52 percent of the counted votes.
The most crowded race was in the redrawn District 16 in the Round Lake area, where five well-known candidates ran in the GOP primary.
Robert Powers, Avon Township Republican Party chairman, and Patrick Anderson, the township’s highway commissioner, led the pack. Powers had 28 percent of the vote, and Anderson had 26 percent.
Will County
Republican Paul Kaupas, Will County’s chief of investigations, and Frankfort Police Chief Darrell Sanders, a Democrat, beat their primary opponents Tuesday in the race for Will County sheriff, with election results reported from all of the county’s precincts.
Kaupas, who had the support of retiring Sheriff Brendan Ward, finished with 53 percent of the vote. Former Sheriff’s Officers Steven Rathbun and James Rouse were in second and third, respectively. On the Democratic side, Sanders won 58 percent of the vote against two opponents.
In the GOP race for county clerk, Nancy Schultz Voots, a veteran of the office, won an upset victory, taking 52 percent of the vote, trouncing Terri Ann Wintermute, a Republican County Board member from Bolingbrook. Wintermute finished with 28 percent of the vote.
The winner will face Beth Ann May, who was unopposed in the Democratic primary.
In the race for the county treasurer’s office being vacated by the retiring Jack Weber, GOP candidate Karen Callanan, who was unchallenged, will face Democratic County Board member Steve Wilhelmi, a CPA. Wilhelmi won 58 percent of the vote to beat LeRoy Van Duyne, a former County Board member and state representative.
Across the county, all 27 County Board seats were open, although not all are contested.
In District 1, newcomer Cory Singer won a spot on the Republican ticket with incumbents William Bruin and Mary Ann Gearhart Deutsche, who also led to retain their offices.
More Top Picks Best 30 Inch Refrigerators
The results set up an interesting contest in the general election, as Gearhart Deutsche will face Democrat Lee Deutsche, whom she married last year, in the redrawn district on the eastern end of the county.
Incumbent Republicans Richard Brandolino of New Lenox and James Moustis and Glen Warning, both of Frankfort, all won in District 2.
In District 3, incumbent Republicans Ann Dralle and Susan Riley beat out opponents for their seats, with newcomer Michael Wisniewski joining them on the ticket.
In District 4, with 15 of 37 precincts reporting, Edward Kusta and Wayne McMillan, both Republican incumbents, also won. Naperville’s Charles Maher beat attorney Steven Prodehl for the third spot on the GOP ticket.
Newcomer Don Gould, a lawyer, led in the GOP primary with 29 percent of the vote. Incumbent Kerry Sheridan and Deborah Rozak, of the county Planning and Zoning Commission, both had 26 percent of the vote with 25 of 44 precincts reporting.
In the Homer Glen and Homer Township area, District 7 incumbent Kathleen Konicki had to come back from an early vote deficit to remain on the GOP ticket, edging out newcomer Jim Bilotta. Incumbents Ron Svara and Larry Troutman had an easier time keeping their seats.
In the traditionally Democratic stronghold of District 8, in Joliet, incumbents Margie Woods, Henry Travis and Frank Stewart sailed to victory.
Kane County
Republican John “Jack” Cunningham opened his primary campaign for Kane County clerk by unsuccessfully seeking to have Della Winckler, one of his opponents in Tuesday’s primary, kicked off the ballot. Based on unofficial results, it appears Cunningham finally may have succeeded.
With 191 of 281 precincts in Kane County and Aurora reporting, Cunningham, 63, a lawyer, was narrowly leading Linda Mitchell, his next closest GOP challenger, 39 percent to 38 percent. Winckler trailed with 22 percent.
For Cunningham, winning the GOP nomination would trump a string of unsuccessful bids for elective office. The longtime Aurora precinct committeeman and one-time city commissioner’s lengthy political dossier includes bids for mayor, state legislature, Congress and four campaigns for county state’s attorney.
At least two incumbent Kane County Board members appeared headed for defeat. Others were locked in extremely close contests.
With all 10 precincts counted, incumbent Democrat Leon Ardelean appeared to have lost to challenger Ken Griffin in District 3, in south-central Aurora. Griffin had 57 percent of the vote.
With a handful of precincts yet to be counted, incumbent Republican Donald Rage was trailing in a northern district. GOP incumbents Bill Morse from Huntley and Jack Cook and Catherine Hurlbut, both from Elgin, held narrow leads.
In Elgin-based District 17, the only contested board primary in which there was no incumbent, Hispanic outreach worker and neighborhood planner Gilbert Feliciano was narrowly defeated by community activist Deborah Allan, who had 52 percent of the GOP vote.
In one of the most closely watched County Board primaries, incumbent board member Jan Carlson was holding off a challenge in District 26 from County Clerk Bernadine Murphy. Both are Republicans from Elburn. With 5 of 13 precincts counted, Carlson led with 65 percent of the vote to Murphy’s 35 percent.
Veteran GOP incumbents Lee Barrett of East Dundee, Robert McConnaughay of Batavia, Barbara Wojnicki of Campton Township and Jackie Tredup of Elgin all appeared headed for nomination, along with Democratic board member Harold “Red” Floyd of Carpentersville.
McHenry County
With all 24 McHenry County Board seats up for election this year–all held now by Republicans–37 Republicans and five Democrats grappled Tuesday to win spots on the fall ballot.
Two incumbents, Pat Dusthimer and Mike Schultz, were ousted in the 4th District Republican primary, finishing fifth and sixth in a seven-way race for four seats. With all precincts reporting, challenger Sue Draffkorn joined incumbents Sandra Fay Salgado, John Hammerand and Peter Merkel as unofficial winners.
In the 5th District, incumbents John Jung Jr. and Virginia D. Peschke won chances to seek re-election, according to unofficial results in all precincts. They will be joined by fellow Republicans Perry Moy and Tina Hill, who were also among the top four finishers in the district.
As the throng of Republicans whittled its ranks, the five unopposed Democrats whiled away their time, since all are assured places on the November ballot.
In a county that has been a GOP stronghold since the Civil War, Democrats say the wide-open board seats present an opportunity to begin making inroads. The success of Democratic state Rep. Jack Franks in McHenry County has also been encouraging to the hopeful political outsiders.
“We’re going to make a serious run at County Board seats,” said Patrick Murfin, chairman of the McHenry County Democrats and a candidate himself in the 3rd District. “Even if we win, we’ll still be in the minority. But we want to make it a two-party county.”
The county’s Republican chairman, Bill LeFew, welcomed the challenge.
“The more people that vote, the better government we have,” said LeFew, who had no Republican opponents Tuesday in his bid for re-election as county treasurer. No Democrats will challenge him in the fall.