Endorsement: Kachiroubas over Scalise for DuPage circuit court clerk

For the office of DuPage County Circuit Court Clerk, two-term Republican incumbent Chris Kachiroubas is challenged by Democrat Ralph Scalise, a former employee of the clerk’s office. The cornerstone of Scalise’s campaign is the decision by Kachiroubas to give a 27 percent raise to a former chief assistant, William Maio. A former longtime county board member, Maio retired six months after the raise with a $100,000 pension fueled by the higher salary, Scalise says. Kachiroubas is unapologetic for the raise: He says Maio deserved it after he took on considerable new responsibility and brought in $12 million in previously uncollected revenue. Such raises, no matter how well-deserved, can raise the taxpayer’s hackles. But does that warrant turning out an incumbent with a strong record? We think not. The courthouse is run efficiently under Kachiroubas. He continues to work toward a paperless court system, no mean feat for an office that deals with 2.7 million documents filed each year in new and existing cases. He has implemented an electronic ticket program, which reduces time of traffic stops and ticket writing for police. He has cross-trained 80 percent of the office’s employees to perform all of its various functions. Kachiroubas wants to launch an electronic warrant notification system and is lobbying leaders for a system that will no longer force motorists to surrender their driver’s licenses when they get a ticket. All this with a reduction in the number of employees. Kachiroubas is endorsed.