5 file to run for one Lake County Board seat
Interest in the March primary appears tepid in many places, but not for a Lake County Board seat that includes Fox Lake, Wauconda, Round Lake and other towns.
While there are a slew of uncontested primaries for the Lake County Board, such is not the case for the Republicans and Democrats in District 5. That's where longtime member Bonnie Thomson Carter, an Ingleside Republican, isn't seeking re-election.
Primary battles also are shaping up in countywide races for coroner and state's attorney.
Democratic Lake County Coroner Thomas Rudd will find himself in a primary race against Deputy Coroner Michael P. Donnenwirth. On the Republican side for coroner, Howard Cooper won't have any competition on the primary ballot. Democrats Matt Stanton an Michael J. Perillo, Jr. are on the primary ballot for state's attorney. Republican State's Attorney Michael Nerheim is unopposed.
On a more regional level, the Republican primary in March will feature a three-way contest for the seat of departing state Sen. Dan Duffy of Lake Barrington. The Senate District 26 seat in play covers parts of Lake, McHenry and Cook counties.
Candidates had until 5 p.m. Monday to file paperwork to get on the March 15 ballot. The primary winners move on to the Nov. 8, 2016, general election.
Democratic voters in Lake County Board District 5 will select from Gloria Charland of Ingleside, who couldn't be reached for comment, and Fox Lake resident Roger T. Smith Sr., an eight-year board member at Fox Lake Elementary District 114. Smith said Carter's pending departure makes the election enticing.
"Maybe an opportunity for us Democrats to get that seat," Smith said of Carter's decision to not see re-election. District 5 includes Fox Lake, Lakemoor, Volo and parts of Round Lake, Wauconda, Antioch and Lake Villa.
Smith said he'd make it a priority to get to know District 5 residents and bring knowledge of how to operate an efficient government to the county board.
On the Republican side of the primary, Ingleside resident Denise Rotheimer will be on the primary ballot in District 5 with David Zipp, a Gavin Elementary District 37 board member, and Judy Martini, a former Lake County Board member who lives in Fox Lake and now serves on the village's planning commission.
Rotheimer ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat for the county board's 17th District seat in 2008 when she lived in Barrington. A crime victims rights activist, Rotheimer said she wants to scale back the costs of Lake County government and help reduce property taxes. She said she also would push for a ballot measure seeking to cut the number of county board members from 21 to 11.
"Additionally, I intend to work with our legislators in Springfield to pass a law that will eliminate pensions for part-time elected county officials," Rotheimer said.
Zipp also questioned the expense of county government. He cited a Forbes magazine report showing residents pay five times the national average in property taxes that are among the highest of all counties in the United States.
"I have so many clients who have sold their homes in Lake County, but continue to work here," said Zipp, an attorney. "I don't know (specifically) where to cut but I think we can spend our money smarter."
Martini said her previous experience on the county board makes her more qualified than Rotheimer and Zipp. She said she welcomes lively debate with her primary opponents in a race that likely drew more attention than usual because no incumbent is running.
"It takes you a couple of years after you get sworn in to understand what county issues are all about," said Martini, who was a Lake County Board member from 1994 to 2008.
In Senate District 26, the departing Duffy is backing Dan McConchie of Hawthorn Woods as his replacement. However, to reach the November election, McConchie will have to defeat primary opponents Mettawa Mayor Casey Urlacher, brother of former Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher, and Barrington Hills Mayor Martin McLaughlin.
The senate district includes parts of northwest Cook County, southern and central Lake County and southeastern McHenry County. No Democrat in that district filed to get on the March primary ballot.
Lake County Republican Chairman Michael Amrozowicz of Gurnee and Blake Hudson of Zion, who jumped in Monday, will face off in the GOP primary for the 31st Senate District. Bush doesn't have a primary opponent and will compete against the Republican victor in November 2016.
Topping the 2016 primary ballot will be Republican and Democratic presidential contenders. There also will be contests for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, state Senate, state House, countywide office and county board on the March 15 ballot, plus local posts, such as precinct committeeman.
• Daily Herald staff writers Mick Zawislak and Mike Riopell contributed to this report
StatewideComptroller
(Democrat) 4-year term
Susana Mendoza
(Republican) 4-year term
Leslie Munger*
State LegislatureSTATE SENATE
Senate, 26th District
(Republican) 2-year term
Casey Urlacher
Dan McConchie
Martin McLaughlin
Senate, 29th District
(Democrat) 2-year term
Julie Morrison*
(Republican) 2-year term
Benjamin Salzberg
Senate, 31st District
(Democrat) 4-year term
Melinda Bush*
(Republican) 4-year term
Blake Hudson
Michael Amrozowicz
Senate, 32nd District
(Republican) 2-year term
Pamela Althoff*
STATE REPRESENTATIVES
Representative, 51st District
(Republican) 2-year term
Nick Sauer
Representative, 52nd District
(Republican) 2-year term
David McSweeney*
Representative, 58th District
(Democrat) 2-year term
Scott Drury*
Representative, 59th District
(Democrat) 2-year term
Carol Sente*
(Republican) 2-year term
Dawn Abernathy
Representative, 60th District
(Democrat) 2-year term
Rita Mayfield*
(Republican) 2-year term
Robert Ochsner
Representative, 61st District
(Democrat) 2-year term
Nick Ciko
(Republican) 2-year term
Sheri Jesiel*
Representative, 62nd District
(Democrat) 2-year term
Sam Yingling*
(Republican) 2-year term
Rod Drobinski
Representative, 64th District
(Republican) 2-year term
Barbara Wheeler*
Lake CountyState's Attorney
(Democrat) 4-year term
Matt Stanton
Michael J. Perillo Jr.
(Republican) 4-year term
Michael Nerheim*
Clerk of the Circuit Court
(Democrat) 4-year term
Erin Cartwright Weinstein
(Republican) 4-year term
Keith Brin*
Coroner
(Democrat) 4-year term
Michael P. Donnenwirth
Thomas Rudd*
(Republican) 4-year term
Howard Cooper
Recorder of Deeds
(Democrat) 4-year term
Mary Ellen Vanderventer*
County Board, District 1
(Republican) 4-year term
Linda Pedersen*
County Board, District 2
(Democrat) 4-year term
Diane Hewitt*
County Board, District 4
(Democrat) 4-year term
John Idleburg
(Republican) 4-year term
Brent Paxton*
County Board, District 5
(Democrat) 4-year term
Gloria Charland
Roger T. Smith Sr.
(Republican) 4-year term
David A. Zipp
Denise Rotheimer
Judy Martini
County board, District 7
(Democrat) 4-year term
Mary Turley
(Republican) 4-year term
Steve Carlson*
County board, District 11
(Democrat) 4-year term
Paul H. Frank
(Republican) 4-year term
Laura Lambrecht
County board, District 12
(Republican) 4-year term
S. Michael Rummel*
County board, District 13
(Democrat) 4-year term
Sandra Hart*
County board, District 14
(Democrat) 4-year term
Audrey Nixon*
County board, District 15
(Republican) 4-year term
Carol Calabresa*
County board, District 16
(Democrat) 4-year term
Terry Wilke*
(Republican) 4-year term
Timothy Walsh
County board, District 18
(Democrat) 4-year term
Gerri Songer
(Republican) 4-year term
Aaron Lawlor*
County board, District 20
(Republican) 4-year term
Sidney Mathias*
County board, District 21
(Republican) 4-year term
Ann B. Maine*
Robert Haraden
North Shore Sanitary District, Ward 1
(Democrat) 4-year term
Preston Carter*
North Shore Sanitary District, Ward 2
(Democrat) 4-year term
David Koss
Stephen Drew*
(Republican) 4-year term
Kenneth W. Arnold
North Shore Sanitary District, Ward 4
(Republican) 4-year term
Frank "Pony" Swanton
Thomas Swarthout*
McHenry CountyState's Attorney
(Republican) 4-year term
Daniel Regna
Louis Bianchi*
Patrick Keanneally
Auditor
(Republican) 4-year term
Pamela Palmer*
Clerk of the Circuit Court
(Republican) 4-year term
Katherine Keefe*
Coroner
(Republican) 4-year term
Anne Majewski*
Recorder of deeds
(Republican) 4-year term
Joe Tirio
Joni Smith
Tina Hill
County Board, District 3
(Democrat) Vote for 2, 2-year terms
Kenneth Miller
(Republican) Vote for 2, 2-year terms
Cherie Rickert
Michael Walkup*
Nancy Gonsiorek
Nick Provenzano*
County Board, District 4
(Republican) Vote for 2, 2-year terms
Craig Wilcox
Kay Bates
Sue Draffkorn*
* = Incumbent
Important primary dates
Early voting: Feb. 29-March 14, 2016.
Vote by mail: Dec. 16, 2015-March 10, 2016. Ballots are mailed starting Feb. 4. Returned ballots must be postmarked by March 15.
• Dec. 7: Last day to object to nominating petitions
• Dec. 9: Ballot lotteries must be completed.
• Dec. 14: Last day for filing grass-roots petitions for public policy referendums.
• Dec. 28: Last day for local governing boards to adopt a resolution or ordinance to put public questions on the ballot.
• Jan. 4: U.S. servicemen and women, and citizens temporarily outside the country, can apply for ballots. Returned ballots must be postmarked by March 15.
• Jan. 14: Last day to file a notarized Declaration of Intent to be a write-in candidate.
• Feb. 16: Regular voter registration closes for the March 15 primary.
• Feb. 17: Grace period registration opens. People registering now must vote at the same time they register.
• March 15: Primary election day. Polls open 6 a.m.-7 p.m.