Kane auditor candidates offer contrasting styles

Competition for perhaps Kane County’s most low profile elected office is unusually vigorous this year with three Republican candidates eager to take over for retiring Auditor Bill Keck. And all three have different ideas of what the office can do to serve taxpayers better.

Keck has endorsed Terry Hunt, a horse breeder and Big Rock village trustee. Hunt told voters at a candidate forum this week that the auditor’s office is the leanest in the county with only three employees. He pledged to bring a new watchdog element to the duties of the auditor if elected.

“We already have CPAs that examine the books,” Hunt said. “We’re lacking a bit in the fraud examination area. That’s where I will focus.”

Hunt said he intends to become certified as a fraud examiner if elected.

Voters may recognize his opponent, Laura Wallett, for being the Kane County coordinator for Americans for Prosperity, a non-for-profit that, on a national level, has been tied to funding Tea Party activities. Wallett positioned herself as the only practicing accountant in the race. She also has a plan to save the taxpayers money by making the office more efficient. Wallett said the county’s purchasing department uses old and overly burdensome procedures that cause departments not to use it. That results in waste, she said.

“We can immediately find cost savings by streamlining those procedures so that the elected officers feel a better comfort level with actually buying through bulk purchasing.”

Karl Regnier is running on a pledge of being the candidate who will let taxpayers decide for themselves if the county is spending money the right way. He said he’ll post all the bills on the Internet so residents can see what the county spends money on and who receives it. Regnier said part of his motivation for running for auditor is to end some of the dirty insider politics he believes exist in the county.

“I’ve been in the county for 16 years, and I’ve seen a lot of good old boy politics,” Regnier said. “I haven’t been part of that. I’ve despised it. It’s not who you know or who you endorse.”