'Dog's best friend' leaves DuPage forest district board

If dogs were allowed to vote, DuPage County Forest Preserve commissioner Wally Brown might still be in office.

As a key architect of the district's dog park policy, the 80-year-old Brown said it is one of his fondest legacies after more than 20 years of public service.

"I guess I'm dog's best friend," he said. "Arf!"

His colleagues on the board say there's much more to Brown's legacy than seven canine-friendly forest preserves, though.

"He's a detail man," said longtime commissioner Roger Kotecki. "He would scan the receipts payable and look at operations from time to time. It's useful to have someone like that on the board because it keeps staff on their toes."

Forest Preserve President Dewey Pierotti said fewer commissioners have ever been as dedicated to the job as Brown.

"He took a real active role," Pierotti said. "I go to a lot of events, and no commissioner attended more than Wally did, whether be it in his district or outside his district, Wally was always there."

After eight years as a village trustee in Downers Grove, Brown made a run in 1986 for the county board and won.

"I'm not much of a politician," he claimed. "I usually run because there's something going on I don't agree with. Of course there's a lot of things I don't agree with, but it's better now than it was." Pierotti said everyone always knew where Brown stood on issues.

"He did not do what was politically right," Pierotti said. "He just did what was right."

He lost the seat in 1994, but was appointed to fill a vacancy on the board in 1997 when Republican leaders in District 3 held a special caucus to fill the post. He said there were six to eight others on the ballot and he won round of voting, getting 51 percent of the delegates on his side.

"In that case, I was pretty good," he said.

After the appointment term lapsed, he ran again and won. Then in 2002 Brown ceded his seat on the county board to take one of six newly created forest preserve commissioner spots when the district became autonomous from the county board.

"At the time I made that decision I felt the county board was in pretty good shape," he said. "I wasn't looking at this as a challenge; everything just seemed to drop into place."

Kotecki said Brown was a fervent advocate for land acquisition during the past six years, not just in his home district, but throughout the county.

"The way he stood his ground with me to see the acquisition of Dunham Woods through to the end was something he didn't need to do, but that was him," Kotecki said. "That's 370 acres out in Wayne. A long distance from District 3."

Brown lost his bid for re-election this year to Linda Painter, who has campaigned for Brown in the past. She ran because Brown had told her he was not going to. But after successful knee replacement operations, Brown decided to seek re-election. Painter wound up winning by 1,500 votes in the February Republican primary.

Despite the results of the election, Pierotti said he still has plans for Brown.

"I'm going to appoint Wally to the St. James Farm commission and name him to a newly created position called 'district emissary,'" he said. "I've never had one before, so I don't know exactly what he'll do, but I want him to be a busy gentleman and I know he'll never embarrass the district."