Kane County Sheriff: Perez

It's clear that in Kane County budget wars this year, Sheriff Pat Perez is one person who has earned some respect from the stingy county board.

The Democrat has done a good job of making do with less, trimming his budget by cutting costly supervisory positions, steadily reducing overtime costs and gasoline usage.

Republican challenger Don Kramer, who retired as a supervisor in the department after 30 years, has a compelling idea for increasing the number of squads on the street by having detectives and other specialized cops act as patrol officers for the most part unless called to perform their specialty. A nice idea, but it doesn't hold up under further review.

The crime rate in Kane County continues to drop at a faster rate than in surrounding counties, and some of the credit goes to Perez's leadership.

Perez is endorsed.