Activism started career in politics

Second in a two-part series on the Republican candidates for Kane County Board chairman.

The year was 1989, and Karen McConnaughay was a young mom leading then-Gov. Jim Thompson through her backyard to explain the Kane County Forest Preserve District's plans to condemn half of her two-acre estate for a bike path.

McConnaughay served as the public face of an organized group of about 30 St. Charles Township homeowners that banded together to successfully fight the land grab. The crusade also marked the beginning of McConnaughay's 16-year political career. The 50-year-old St. Charles Republican is seeking re-election to a second 4-year term as county board chairman, a position she rose to after serving on the county board since 1992.

Having long since split from the group -- which recently endorsed her opponent in the Feb. 5 Republican primary election, Elburn financial planner Jim MacRunnels -- McConnaughay has distanced herself from her activist past, instead touting her achievements over the past four years. Her interest in politics, she said, began long before her backyard battle.

"My exposure to politics started as a child," McConnaughay said, adding that her grandmother actively campaigned for a Democratic senator. "I think that I was fortunate to be raised in a family that believed regardless of your political affiliation, voting and being active in the process and understanding the beliefs was a responsibility that we have."

Born in Chicago, McConnaughay grew up in DuPage County, graduating from Glenbard East High School in Lombard in 1975. She later attended the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn. She is now married to John McConnaughay, a small-business owner and her third husband, and has three grown children.

The 26-member county board -- which includes 16 Republicans and 10 Democrats -- usually supports McConnaughay's agenda. She also enjoys strong support from the business community, which she has leveraged to build a huge campaign war chest.

McConnaughay raised $249,000 during her 2004 campaign against St. Charles Democrat Tom Meadath, who raised just $6,816. McConnaughay, who faced no opposition in the primary, beat political newcomer Meadath in the general election by a nearly 2-to-1 ratio.

For her current campaign, she raised $43,470 during the final period of 2007; MacRunnels raised $23,489, according to campaign finance reports filed last week.

McConnaughay also has powerful friends, not the least of whom is retired U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who began working with her on transportation issues early in her career. Improving the county's transportation infrastructure was one of the issues McConnaughay named among the top three facing Kane County. The other two: ensuring a sustainable water supply and increasing the availability of affordable housing.

McConnaughay's administration has revamped a complex transportation impact fee structure that will fund road improvements, a move that will contribute to Kane County's desirable quality of life, she said.

Perhaps the most controversial project undertaken during her administration, the $58 million county jail scheduled to open later this year in St. Charles Township, will stand as a big part of McConnaughay's legacy as board chairman. She was instrumental in shepherding the project through the county board process while serving as chairman of the board's corrections and rehabilitation committee.

Neighbors strongly opposed the project, but McConnaughay and other county officials said the institution is needed to replace the small, outdated jail in Geneva. Critics, including MacRunnels, continue to argue it will be too small for the county's needs and oppose the county board's decision to issue debt certificates and dip into reserve funds to finance construction.

McConnaughay, on the other hand, consistently touts the jail project as being "on time, on budget and done without raising your property taxes."

"We've accomplished a lot in the last three years and as I look to the future I can say with confidence that we've done it responsibly and respectfully of the taxpayers' pocket book," she said at a recent candidates' forum. "I've lived up to my promises."