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Kane County gets new forest district leader amid political wrangling

Kane County Forest Preserve District commissioners Tuesday selected Mike Kenyon as the district's president, ending the reign of the longest-serving president in the district's history and signaling the start of a friendly partnership between two heated political rivals.

With 22 of 24 commissioners present, Kenyon needed at least 12 votes to become president. In an unprecedented move, commissioners opted for a secret ballot to choose among three candidates. Commissioners Phil Lewis and Barb Wojnicki also came forward as candidates.

Wojnicki announced her intentions several weeks ago and seemed like the early front-runner. By her own count, the 16-year commission veteran had nine people committed to voting for her as of last weekend. In the final result, she got six votes.

“I'm very, very disappointed,” Wojnicki said. “But I'm going to think that something good will come out of this. What that might be, I don't know.”

Wojnicki said last-minute politics played a role in the outcome. The race for forest preserve district president occurred just before Kane County Board Chairman Chris Lauzen announced his appointments to committee chairmanships for 2015. All county board members are also forest commissioners.

Kenyon replaces John Hoscheit as president, who held the title for 12 years.

Wojnicki said the loss is particularly disappointing because it means some fellow commissioners she supported during her run as chairman of the Kane County Republican Party didn't return the favor.

In contrast, Lewis said he was not surprised Kenyon won. With Wojnicki receiving six votes and Kenyon at least 12, Lewis could not have received more than four votes. Lewis said the secret ballot helped prevent anyone's feelings being openly hurt by people they'll still have to work with.

“I know Barb wanted it bad,” Lewis said. “She really pulled out all the stops to win. I think it may have hurt her more than it helped.”

And yet the new Kane County leadership team of Lauzen and Kenyon is a combination that would have been akin to gasoline and a match not long ago.

Wojnicki became Kane County GOP chairman in a party election that followed a public letter written by Lauzen while he was still a state senator. The letter, in part, called for the resignation of Kenyon, who was the local party chairman at the time. In response, Kenyon said Lauzen had a “small brain.”

More recently, Kenyon publicly called out Lauzen for hiring Robert Sauceda into a billing manager position in the county's animal control agency. That move imploded when Sauceda resigned after a suspension related to “personnel matters.” A criminal investigation involving Sauceda followed.

On Tuesday, Kenyon and Lauzen smiled and shook hands after the vote. Asked about their relationship, Kenyon said they've reached an understanding.

“I told him my job is to represent my people, not give him a hard time,” Kenyon said. “I told a lot of people to not be always poking at him.”

Kenyon said he will focus on creating more family-friendly uses of forest preserve property as district president. He expects some discussion about asking voters for more money to acquire new land in 2016 or 2017 when the retirement of existing debt is set to shrink local property tax bills.

Kenyon also said any concerns about him pushing for gravel mining in preserves is unwarranted. Kenyon has received campaign contributions from gravel mining interests and has publicly acknowledged making a couple hundred thousand dollars of profit from gravel mining in his private business life. But he said that doesn't mean gravel mining is appropriate for public land.

“It's hard to get a bad idea out of somebody's head,” Kenyon said of people with ongoing mining fears.

Previous president Hoscheit still has two years left on his term as commissioner and county board member. He hasn't decided if he will seek another 4-year term.

“I thought, because I've got two more years to go, it would be in the best interest of the district if I had the ability to help with someone in transition while I'm still here,” Hoscheit said. “It's time to give someone else an opportunity. I'll be happy to work with Mike over the next two years.”

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