Beyond the governor: What to decide in Kane Co. Tuesday
State Rep. Kay Hatcher is being criticized as a leader who goes along just to get along by one of her 50th District Republican opponents.
Kane County Treasurer David Rickert should have been doing more to fight the county's budget deficit, according to the man running against him.
State Sen. Chris Lauzen's reputation of having a strained relationship with state Republican leaders hurts the 25th District, his opponent alleges.
Voters today will decide who is put on the November general ballot. Most of the primary races are in the Republican party, with the exception of several county board races in Aurora and Elgin.
In the House District 50 Republican race, freshman Hatcher, of Yorkville, faces Keith Wheeler of Oswego and Bob McQuillan of Geneva. Wheeler has been more specifically critical of Hatcher.
The winner will face Democrat Linda Healy of Aurora.
Lauzen is challenged in the 25th Senate primary by Sugar Grove Village President Sean Michels. Lauzen believes state party officials are behind Michels' campaign. Michels says that local officials have found Lauzen difficult to work with on issues that affect the district, including improvements to Route 47, and says the legislator has been nicknamed "Senator No" for the amount of "nay" votes he casts, including the one last spring on the capital spending bill. Lauzen said he voted against that bill because it included a provision legalizing video gambling.
The winner will face Democrat Leslie Juby of Geneva.
County officesBob Kovanic of Sugar Grove would like to unseat David Rickert of Elgin in the Kane County Treasurer Republican primary. Kovanic wants the treasurer to speak out more, even critically, about how the county board is spending taxpayers' money. Rickert noted that legally, the treasurer can only give advice, but that he has disagreed with the county board chairman about the size of her office's budget. No Democrats or Green Party candidates ran, so unless an independent or new-party candidate surfaces in the spring, whoever wins the primary wins the post in the fall.County board member Barb Wojnicki of District 15 faces two opponents in her quest: Campton Hills Trustee Al Lenkaitis Jr., and Susan Secondi of Campton Township. The winner will face Kay Catlin of St. Charles. No Greens ran.And Rob Russell of South Elgin and Don Kramer of Geneva are running for the nod to go against Democrat Sheriff Pat Perez in the fall. Perez is unopposed in the primary.In DuPage County, longtime county board District 6 rep Linda Kurzawa of Winfield is stepping down, and Republicans Paul Darrah, Matt Fuesting and Bob Larsen are vying to run against Democrat Dave Barry in November. The district includes all or parts of West Chicago, Bartlett, Wayne, Winfield, Wheaton, Carol Stream, Warrenville, Hanover Park, Streamwood and Bloomingdale.Four people seek the Republican nomination for DuPage County Board chairman: State Sen. Dan Cronin, Burr Ridge Mayor Gary Grasso, District 4 county board member Debra Olson and state Sen. Carole Pankau. The winner will face Democrat Carole Cheney in November.ReferendumsThere are two local referendums on the Kane County ballot.Residents of the Sugar Grove Library District will be asked, again, for more money to operate the library. The district wants to raise its property tax rate limit to 20 cents per $100 equalized assessed valuation. It presently has a 15-cent limit, but due to limits on its actual levies by the property tax cap law, it can only collect about 9 cents per $100. Library officials say that's not enough to operate the library in the way they would like, including being open more and having more programming. The library is open 44 hours a week, more than 20 fewer hours than most neighboring libraries.In Wayne, village residents are being asked to raise the property tax rate 17 cents, resulting in a $230 increase for the owner of a $400,000 home. It is intended to make up for $350,000 in sales, income and utility taxes due to the recession. That's about 20 percent of the annual budget.Trouble voting? The Kane County State's Attorney's Election Complaint Line will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. To complain about electioneering, illegally placed campaign signs, denial of voting rights or other issues, call (630) 208-5328.For polling places and other general information, call the Kane County Clerk's Election Help Line at (630) 232-5990.The polls are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.