DuPage party chairs back for second round

Both incumbent DuPage County political party chairmen were re-elected to their second two-year terms Wednesday at their respective conventions.

DuPage Democratic Party Chairman Bob Peickert rallied the roughly 200 precinct committeemen to commit volunteer hours and money to candidates vying to unseat GOP incumbents in the November election.

"We need resources," he said.

"That includes volunteering and money. We need all the resources we can get to be successful."

He blasted county Republicans for taking campaign donations from companies that receive county contracts.

Meanwhile, DuPage Republican Party Chairman Dan Cronin, a state Senator from Elmhurst who won the party's county board chairman nomination last month, urged the 500-plus precinct committeemen to continue the tradition of the county party.

"We are a special breed of Republican," Cronin said. "Not in an elite way, but in the way of our accomplishments.

"The DuPage Republican Party has made this community what it is today and that's something to be proud of."

Cronin's message focused on the rebirth of the Republican Party and members' desire to fix the state's myriad problems.

Neither chairman was opposed in their re-election bid. Cronin was first appointed to head the county Republicans when state Sen. Kirk Dillard stepped down from the post about three years ago. Peickert rose to the top of the county Democratic Party in 2008 after he led a successful organization called "Turn DuPage Blue" that helped draw more Democrats to the primary ballot boxes than Republicans.

Cronin was nominated by Naperville Township Republican Organization Chairwoman Rachel Ossyra.

"There is no one more committed to pushing our Republican values," she said. "He is passionate about making DuPage the very best place to live and raise a family anywhere."

Peickert was nominated by Milton Township precinct committeewoman Marian Tomlinson, who said Peickert has helped give voters a choice by grooming Democratic candidates to challenge the large number of Republican incumbents.

"There were Democrats' names listed as candidates instead of what has usually read 'no candidate' on the ballots," she said. "I believe that is the result of the two years of hard work by our full-time Democratic Party Chairman."