Candidates, cash line up for Kane circuit clerk race

With the black clouds of bitter public budget battles, a lawsuit that cost taxpayers about half a million dollars and a hotly-debated pending purchase of a $12.6 million computer system, the Kane County Circuit Clerk's office wouldn't seem to be a tempting job.

Yet with as many as four candidates expressing interest in the job, the race to be the person who wipes away those stigmas is shaping up to be one of the more hotly contested political races in the area.

The current circuit court clerk, Deb Seyller, is not seeking re-election. Three Republicans already have entered the race to replace her. And two of them are brandishing big personal bankrolls to fund their own campaigns.

County board member Cathy Hurlbut was one of Seyller's most vocal critics in the last couple years of budget negotiations. Now she's putting her own money behind that criticism with a recent $24,000 personal donation to her circuit court clerk campaign.

That financial commitment to the race is dwarfed only by fellow Republican Tom Hartwell, who announced his entry into the race earlier this month. Hartwell has lent his own campaign $100,000. Hartwell is a former Kane County board member. The South Elgin resident is an attorney.

Hartwell is running on a platform of improving communication between the circuit court clerk and the county board and promises to conduct an efficiency audit of the department to eliminate waste.

The third Republican in the race is North Aurora resident Karin Herwick. Herwick is Seyller's chief deputy circuit clerk. She's worked in the office for 20 years. Herwick has positioned herself as the only candidate with enough knowledge of the functions of the office to oversee the implementation of the pending $12.6 million case management system upgrade for Kane County's court system. Illinois State Board of Elections records indicate Herwick has not formed a campaign committee to match the spending her GOP opponents appear to have in mind.

The fourth potential candidate is Aurora resident Ed Nendick. Nendick ran an unsuccessful campaign as a Democrat to unseat Seyller in 2008. He recently has been critical of the county board's investigation of the case management system upgrade. In an email interview, Nendick indicated he's undecided if he'll enter the race.