New Kane sheriff says no drastic changes in 1st month
A day after winning the Kane County Sheriff's seat by nearly 30,000 votes, Donald E. Kramer said he won't do anything drastic in the first 30 days in office.
Kramer, a Republican from Geneva, also said he is considering a future survey of residents to see how the department is doing.
"People should be pleased with how you treat them and also solving the problems they called you for. Part of being sheriff is knowing what your public wants and performing those duties well," said Kramer, who added he hopes to met with Sheriff Pat Perez before being sworn in.
"I'm hoping that the sheriff will be able to meet with me and help my transition," said Kramer, who retired from the department in 2009 with the rank of lieutenant. "It's important that we put aside any differences we have. He's still the sheriff (until Dec. 1)."
Perez, who defeated Kramer in the 2010 election, did not seek a third, 4-year term.
According to unofficial results, Kramer received 62.5 percent, or 74,121 votes, compared to 44,477 for his opponent, Democrat Willie Mayes Sr.
In Kane County, voter turnout was 46.6 percent, but only 36.2 percent in Aurora, an area of strong support for Mayes.
Mayes, who currently serves as a lieutenant at the sheriff's department, received 9,426 votes in Aurora compared to 7,440 for Kramer.
The 2,000-vote difference was not enough to make the race competitive.
"Those who went to the polls went to the polls," said Mayes, who plans to remain at the department. "I think we ran a clean campaign. We stayed above ground. We did what we could to bring the issues forward."
Part of Kramer's campaign platform was increasing communication at the department and putting supervisors on the streets.
He said he won't do anything "mind-boggling" right out of the gate.
"I want to make sure we evaluate everybody's position and our needs and the budget," Kramer said.
Kramer, whose father George also served as Kane County Sheriff from 1978 through 1986, said he spent about five hours a day the last 10 weeks knocking on doors in Aurora and in Kane County.
"I walked 4,000 to 5,000 houses in Aurora. That's a lot of votes," Kramer said.