Kane GOP asks chairman to step aside

Calls for the resignation of Kane County's GOP leader grew louder Tuesday after local party officials weighed in on the issue.

But Kane County Republican Central Committee chairman Denny Wiggins said he hasn't "come to a final conclusion" but is "leaning toward stepping down" as a local party leader after taking a paid position for state Sen. Chris Lauzen's congressional campaign last week.

"I will be making a decision shortly," Wiggins said.

Members of the Kane County Republican Central Committee's executive committee voted 5-3 Monday night to ask chairman Denny Wiggins to step down from his post. The executive committee includes all eight Republican township chairmen and the organization's secretary. Eight of those nine people were at Monday's meeting.

Campton Township Chairman Richard Johansen, Western Townships Chairman T.R. Smith and secretary Lynda Fernow voted to keep Wiggins on. Aurora Township Chairman Davis Offutt, who was absent, expressed his support for Wiggins in an e-mail, Wiggins said.

"The ball's in Denny's court," said Mike Kenyon, the committee's executive vice chairman and one of the five who voted for Wiggins to go.

Wiggins, in an e-mail to party officials last week, offered to "consider resigning or taking a leave of absence" if "a majority of township chairmen feel strongly" that he should. But he said Tuesday no viable candidates have stepped forward to take his place.

"It's a lot of work to running this party," Wiggins said. "Most people aren't willing to do it."

As a campaign consultant, Wiggins will be "organizing local government leaders," Lauzen said.

"Denny has decided that we need to win this," Lauzen said of retaining Republican control of the 14th Congressional District seat held by former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert.

Lauzen opponents Kevin Burns and Jim Oberweis have called on Wiggins to step down. A spokesman for Oberweis' campaign reiterated that call Tuesday in a sharply worded news release headlined "Lauzen buys a county chairman."

"Denny Wiggins should immediately step down from his position as chairman of the Kane County GOP," Oberweis campaign spokesman Bill Pascoe wrote. "A leave of absence is not enough -- if he maintains his position as chairman, whether on leave or not, he will maintain undue influence over the organization and its key players. That would deny the Republican voters of Kane County their right to a free and fair election."

Pascoe said Wiggins "shopped his services" to Lauzen after Oberweis turned down Wiggins' offer to join Oberweis' campaign for a $10,000 monthly salary.

Wiggins said a representative from the Oberweis camp approached him and Wiggins "threw out a number" when asked what it would take for him to join the campaign. Weeks went by, and Wiggins said he never got an answer. He eventually joined the Lauzen team.

"I've been in this business 45 years," Wiggins said. "Why would I go around and solicit work from them?"