Five candidates so far for Arlington Heights board
A lively race for Arlington Heights village board materialized already at 8 a.m. Monday, as five candidates filed their petitions to run and at least two more are expected.
Monday is the first day for candidates filing for the April 2015 local consolidated election. Mayors, village boards, city councils, park districts, school districts, library districts and fire protection districts will be elected.
In Arlington Heights, a race between incumbents and newcomers for four seats on the village board is shaping up. Trustees Carol Blackwood, Robin LaBedz and Michael Sidor, as well as Thomas Schwingbeck Jr. and D. Court Harris all filed their petitions by 8 a.m., said village clerk Becky Hume.
Incumbent John Scaletta and newcomer Bill Gnech have been circulating petitions and are expected to turn them in by the end of filing on Dec. 22.
Hume will hold a lottery at 10 a.m. Dec. 30 to determine ballot placement for the five candidates who all were in line at 8 a.m. today.
Harris, son of State Rep. David Harris, announced he would run earlier this year and said he hopes to bring a youthful element to the board. He is a member of the village's police and fire commission.
"There are four incumbents running and there are four open seats," Harris said in October. "That presents a challenge to someone who is not an incumbent, but I welcome it."
Gnech has tried twice to get term limits on the ballot in Arlington Heights and has gotten thousands of signatures from residents toward that effort, but both times the initiative was shot down by the local election board due to technical and structural issues with his petitions. He has said he will not attempt to get term limits passed from the outside again, but rather plans to run for village board and hopes to make changes as an elected official.
Schwingbeck is a newcomer to village politics, but has attended recent village board meetings to get a feel for the issues including flooding and discussions about building a new police station.
LaBedz is running for her first official term on the village board in 2015. She was appointed in 2011 to finish former Trustee Tom Hayes' term on the board after he was elected Arlington Heights mayor.
Blackwood is running for her second full term after being appointed in 2010. Sidor is running for his second term on the board. If Scaletta turns in his petition he will be running for his third term as an Arlington Heights trustee.
Arlington Heights trustees are elected at-large with the four largest vote-getters winning a four-year term.
Filing is open until 5 p.m. on Dec. 22.