State's attorney challenger gets backing of six police groups

McHenry County state's attorney hopeful Dan Regna announced Tuesday his campaign is receiving the backing of six local police organizations, including associations representing officers from Lake in the Hills, Crystal Lake and Cary.

The endorsements, also from police groups in Woodstock, Harvard and Oakwood Hills, are an "unprecedented" show of support from law enforcement officers for a candidate in a state's attorney's race, Regna said.

"Since the most important function of the state's attorney's office is criminal prosecutions, I think the citizens should look long and hard at who their police officers believe is the best candidate," he said.

Regna, a former prosecutor who now has a private practice in Crystal Lake, is challenging incumbent State's Attorney Louis Bianchi in February's Republican Party primary.

In statements released Tuesday confirming the endorsements, the organizations praise Regna for his past work as a criminal prosecutor and his relationship with police officers. Some, most notably letters from the Crystal Lake and Woodstock associations, criticize the Bianchi administration.

Asked about the endorsements Tuesday, Bianchi said the six organizations endorsing Regna represent a small portion of the McHenry County law enforcement community, most of which he believes will back him on primary day.

"I am confident I have the overwhelming support not only of the chiefs of police but also the rank-and-file," he said. "I think we've done a lot to improve (the office's) relationship with police departments."

Those efforts, he said, include holding legal seminars for local officers and sending his assistants into police stations to build relationships with officers and better respond to their concerns.