DuPage County election panel losing GOP member
One of the Republican members of the bipartisan DuPage Board of Election Commissioners is stepping down, and a Naperville resident will be replacing him.
Christopher Hage, who has served three years on the panel that oversees DuPage's electoral process, says he's resigning his seat because his family is moving to California.
"My wife got a great job out in California," the 43-year-old Wheaton resident said. "She's made plenty of sacrifices for me and for the kids. So this is her turn to move on in her career. We're going to pull up and let her do her thing for a while."
Hage, who is an attorney, was appointed to the three-person election board in 2012 by DuPage County Board Chairman Dan Cronin, who replaced every member of the previous panel after consultants found poor ethics and procurement practices at the DuPage Election Commission.
The revamped election board adopted new ethics, personnel and procurement policies for the commission. It also eliminated the agency's credit cards and banned government-issued cellphones from being used for personal reasons.
"We've engaged in, frankly, incredible cost reductions and incredible service increases," Hage said. "We've had seamless integration of new policies for least three election cycles. We're delivering the maximum bang for the buck that we can."
Hage met last week with Cronin to inform him about the move.
On Thursday, Cronin announced that he has appointed James S. Lowe to finish Hage's term, which expires Jan. 29, 2016.
"We're on top of it," Cronin said. "We've got a next-in-line candidate. We'll move, and we won't miss a beat over there (at the election commission)."
Lowe, who lives in Naperville, currently serves on the Lisle-Woodridge Fire Protection District Board and is a DU-COMM executive committee member.
In a letter to county board members, Cronin said he's confident that Lowe's skills and abilities "will prove a valuable asset to the commission." The plan is to have Lowe attend his first meeting of the election commission on Oct. 22.
The two other members of the election panel are Cathy Ficker Terrill, who is an Elmhurst Republican, and West Chicago Democrat Art Ludwig.
Cronin doesn't need county board approval to appoint election commissioners, who are paid $27,500 a year. State law requires both political parties be represented, but Republicans hold two of the election board's three seats.