Blass wins DuPage County Board District 2 race

Richard Blass, a former cop turned attorney from Elmhurst, appears to have won the four-way Republican race to challenge for a seat on the DuPage County Board in District 2.

With 95 percent of precincts reporting, unofficial totals showed Blass, 47, with 36 percent of the vote. His closest challenger, Elaine Zannis of Oak Brook, had 32 percent of the vote, followed by Anna Manzo with 18 percent and Zachary Wilson with 13 percent.

The winner will face incumbent Democrat Elizabeth "Liz" Chaplin of Downers Grove for the two-year seat in November.

Blass, who now represents police officers as an attorney, says his education, along with his practical experience as an officer and attorney, gave him the advantage.

"I ran on the issues and my credentials and, at the end of the day, the best man won an extremely important election for Dist. 2," Blass said late Tuesday, "I respect the other candidates but, ultimately, I took the high road and that's why I won."

If elected in November, Blass said he's willing to "get along with whoever (I have to) to get the job done, despite any personal differences." That being said, Sheriff John Zaruba appears one step closer to gaining an ally on the board.

County board members and Zaruba have sparred over the department's budget and his absence at meetings on the spending plan. The sheriff's office is now operating under a roughly $40.8 million budget, up from $40.4 million. But the county rejected his bid to outfit deputies with body cameras and replace squad cars in the new fiscal year.

"I don't agree with the public way (county board Chairman Dan Cronin) has handled the dispute. I think the sheriff is trying to do what he can," Blass told the Daily Herald during the campaign. "Crime is only fought by police officers, prosecutors and education. The last place I would nip a budget would be the public safety and welfare of the people we're here to serve."

In fact, Blass said he would vote to cut other programs "to make sure the sheriff has what he needs."

"I would stand up, regardless of what my peers wanted me to do, and support the sheriff and those carefully planned out, innovative endeavors that I know will not make the community safe but the rest of the districts as well," Blass said. "If I have to cut from other programs to make sure that the sheriff has what he needs, fortunately or unfortunately, that's what I'm going to do, especially if the ideas come with the support and information that facilitates them and backs them up."

District 2 includes all or portions of Lombard, Oak Brook, Oakbrook Terrace, Villa Park, Elmhurst, Hinsdale, Clarendon Hills. Downers Grove, Westmont, Naperville and Woodridge.