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Russell wins Kane coroner race

Voters on Tuesday elected Kane County’s first new coroner in 12 years, opting for a sheriff’s department sergeant over a man who operates a firm that decontaminates death scenes.

According to unofficial results and with more than 83 percent of precincts reporting, Republican Rob Russell had 56.6 percent of the vote — a margin of more than 12,000 votes — over Democrat Tao Martinez, according to unofficial vote totals.

“The people obviously feel that a cop would be better than a crime scene cleanup guy,” Russell said. “Not that (Martinez) is a bad guy, but he doesn’t have the skill set (for coroner). I’m very honored the people of Kane County elected me to help clean up this mess.”

Russell said his top priorities would be to repair damaged relationships between the coroner’s office and other leaders and county departments as well as work to have the office undergo an accreditation process.

Tao Martinez
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