Fearing a GOP divide in McHenry County

A day after scoring a victory in the Republican Party primary, McHenry County State's Attorney Louis Bianchi reached out to his opponents, saying it's time to put their acrimony behind them.

Bianchi, fresh off a 57 to 43 percent win over challenger Dan Regna, said he hopes to heal wounds from the hard-fought campaign as he gears up to seek a second term as the county's top lawyer in the Nov. 4 general election.

"I'm urging everyone to come together to form a better, more unified Republican Party," the Crystal Lake resident said. "It's time to go forward."

Rallying his primary opponents behind him could be crucial for Bianchi as he hopes to carry his primary success over to November, when he likely will face a yet-to-be-chosen Democrat.

The importance of party unity to his chances was underscored by Tuesday's results showing voters in McHenry County cast more Democratic than Republican ballots.

How much that had to do with voters eager to back Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential primary is unknown, but what seems clear is that Democrats continue to make gains in McHenry County.

Combine that with a divided Republican party and the situation could be ripe for a Democratic upset in November.

The nightmare scenario for many Republicans would be one that played out 10 years ago after a heated primary battle between incumbent State Rep. Mike Brown and his challenger for the 63rd District House seat, Steve Verr.

Brown emerged from the primary victorious, but battered and without the support of many Republican faithful.

Those circumstances opened the door for current State Rep. Jack Franks. With a large number of Republicans crossing party lines to vote for him, Franks scored an upset in the general election and the House seat hasn't been in Republican hands since.

When Democratic leaders choose a state's attorney candidate next month, party Chairman Thomas Cynor said Wednesday, that person will step into a situation even better than Franks saw in 1998.

"I think the circumstances are even more favorable than when Jack ran, but it all comes down to the quality of the candidate," Cynor said. "We've received a lot of interest from potential candidates."

Preventing history from repeating itself will be on the minds of many Republican leaders over the next nine months.

State Rep. Mike Tryon, a favorite to become the county's GOP chairman next month, says Republicans need to let go of bad feelings from the primary and rally around their party's principles.

"When you have a primary, somebody wins, somebody loses, and then you put it behind you," he said. "Obviously, there's got to be some healing, and when that happens we'll move on."

County Board Chairman Ken Koehler, a Bianchi supporter, said he hopes Republicans back their party's candidate rather than carry over ill will from the primary.

"If they decide to vote for a Democrat because Dan Regna didn't win, I think that would be foolish," he said.

But it remains to be seen whether Regna's backers will line up behind Bianchi by November.

Outgoing Republican Chairman Bill LeFew, who has feuded openly with Bianchi, declined comment Wednesday.

Coroner Marlene Lantz, an outspoken critic of the Bianchi administration, said she was skeptical of Bianchi's olive branch and accused him of passing up earlier opportunities to settle their differences.

"I really don't know what to think of his public display," she said. "He's had his opportunity to reach out to me, but he blew me off."

The good news for Bianchi and his fellow Republicans is that this year's early primary leaves them with more time to mend fences within his party.

"We've got to work together, so I'm sure we'll be talking in the future," Bianchi said.