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player ready...The outcome of Monday’s Democratic caucus vote for an interim Lake Station mayor is already decided after only one person filed for the nomination.
Lake County Sheriff John Buncich, who also chairs the Lake County Democratic Party, said Dewey Lemley was the only person to file for the seat before Friday’s 6 p.m. deadline.
Lemley comes with experience as he previously served as mayor for one term from 1992 until 1996, when Shirley Wadding defeated him in the Democratic primary and went on to win the general election.
Lemley will serve a short stint in office, however, as voters will choose a new mayor in November. That new mayor will take office in January.
One possible nominee had been Chris Anderson, who is the Democratic nominee for mayor in the coming general election. Buncich said he talked with Anderson twice in the past few weeks but that Anderson never said why he didn’t want to run for the interim position. Anderson could not be reached for comment.
Buncich said he wasn’t concerned, however, and said having only one candidate makes the process easier.
“I’m sure the interim mayor will work with the new mayor,” he said.
Even though there is only one candidate, the caucus will go on as scheduled at 6 p.m. Monday at Lake Station City Hall.
The caucus was called after former Lake Station Mayor Keith Soderquist was found guilty on Sept. 11 by a federal jury of using campaign election money and money from the city’s food pantry to pay for more than 50 gambling trips from 2010 through 2012.
Under state law, Soderquist was automatically removed from office once he was found guilty, but his days in office were already numbered after he lost the May primary election to Anderson.
Anderson will face Republican Edward “Ed” Peralta in the November general election. Peralta was unopposed in the Republican primary.