Write-ins seek 2-year term as Streamwood trustee

Since the candidate filing period in December, Streamwood's April 4 trustee race has gone from four hopefuls vying for three four-year terms to just two running as write-ins for a single two-year term on the village board.

Now newcomers Rezwanul Haque, 56, and Lawrence F. Schmidt, 58, find themselves doing the work the ballot itself normally would - telling voters of their candidacies and the correct spelling of their names to write in.

Haque was successively a candidate in both races - originally challenging the re-election bids of three incumbents to keep their four-year seats.

Though he collected the signatures needed to file late last year, the Streamwood electoral board upheld an objection to his paperwork that he had not specified which length of term he was seeking.

Haque is a self-described community activist and the owner of Eastern Halal Foods & Groceries and neighboring Lazzat Banquets in Streamwood.

Though he's not held elected public office before, he ran unsuccessfully as a write-in candidate for Schaumburg Township supervisor in 2013.

Responding to a Daily Herald questionnaire for his original four-year race, Haque said he has been involved with voter registration efforts in the Northwest suburbs for the past 10 years. He also helped establish a private school at the Midwest Islamic Center in Schaumburg Township and personally fundraised for construction costs and community programs there.

He said his goals for serving on the village board include tweaking the budget and taxes to help the local economy and providing greater representation of minorities.

"Streamwood has shown strong growth and continues to do well in the private sector," Haque wrote. "Despite some concerns with property taxes at the county level, Streamwood has established an acceptable balance of revenue and growth, notwithstanding the concerns with the food and beverage tax; reallocation and reinvestment is the key to putting this new revenue to use."

Schmidt is retired from a 32-year career in marketing and information technology for the U.S. Postal Service, but entering his third decade as a part-time athletics supervisor for the Streamwood Park District.

"I've been doing it part-time for 20 years," Schmidt said. "It makes me feel part of the community."

Though he's often thought about running for the park district board, he didn't want to have to give up his park district job to do so.

His professional background and his extrovert personality, he believes, is what led Streamwood Trustee Jim Cecille to reach out to him in January and tell him he'd be a good fit on the board.

Schmidt said he knows Cecille mostly through his wife, with whom he worked.

Schmidt describes three main aspects to his platform - keeping neighborhoods looking nice by enforcing village codes, growing the village's commercial and industrial tax base, and improving relations between residents and police.

Unlike Haque, who originally filed for a four-year seat, Schmidt said his interest in staying on the board longer will largely depend on his experience over the next two years if he's elected.

"At this point, I can't say I have a strong opinion about that because this is my first dip into politics," he said.