Candidates file for Fox Valley elections

It looked a little like Black Friday outside the Kane and McHenry County Clerk’s offices Monday morning as dozens of candidates for the county board and countywide offices turned in their nominating petitions.

“They started forming up around 7:30 today,” said Mark Mossman, director of elections at the Kane County clerk’s office. “Once we opened the doors, there were quite a few filers. Most of the individuals filed at 8:30 because they hope to be first on the ballot.”

Almost all of the candidates in McHenry County were there for the 8 a.m. office opening with just a handful turning in paperwork later in the morning.

All 24 county board seats are up for election in both Kane and McHenry.

Kane County

In Kane County, there will be contested races for the countywide offices of chairman, circuit court clerk and coroner.

With incumbent board Chairman Karen McConnaughay running instead for the new 32nd District State Senate seat, the chairman’s race promises to be a heated one.

Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns and Chris Lauzen, a longtime state senator from Aurora, both filed petitions seeking the GOP nod. For Democrats, former Carpentersville Mayor Bill Sarto turn in his nomination papers today and former St. Charles Mayor Sue Klinkhamer also has declared her intent to run.

Kane County Circuit Court Clerk Deb Seyller also is not seeking another term, prompting Republicans Karin Herwick of North Aurora, Catherine Hurlbut of Elgin and Thomas Hartwell, also of Elgin, to throw their hats into the ring. No Democrat has filed for that seat.

Kane County Coroner Charles West, who faces misconduct charges that he stole a television from the home of a dead Carpentersville man in 2007, also is not seeking re-election. Robert Nicolas Tiballi of Elgin and L. Robert Russell of South Elgin are running for the GOP nomination for coroner.

With the county board seats, election officials must flip a coin to decide which seats will have 2-year terms and which will be for 4 years. In McHenry County, board members will draw lots to decide the term lengths for each seat.

The filing period runs through Dec. 5. A lottery will be held Dec. 6 in Kane County to determine which candidate will be listed first in the case of two people filing at the same time, Mossman said.

McHenry County

In McHenry County incumbents for countywide offices — auditor, circuit court clerk, coroner, recorder, state’s attorney — finished the first day of filing free of competition. No challengers filed in any race.

Districts 3 and 6 are the only ones with contested races after the first day of filing. About half of the board incumbents have turned in their paperwork to run again with 12 challengers already in the race.

Linda Orphal is running in District 3, taking on incumbents Mary Donner and Nick Provenzano as well as candidates Mary Alger, Mary McClellan and Joseph Gottemoller. Orphal served in District 2 for 10 years before losing her re-election bid in 2010. She said she is running again in the newly drawn District 3 because she is concerned with the county’s money management.

“It took us such a long time to get the county finances squared away,” Orphal said. “We made this concerted effort to at least get five months in the reserve. I know that there is a little more than that now but my concern is what they’re going to do with it.”

Crystal Lake lawyer Joseph Gottemoller is running against Orphal in District 3 as a resident also concerned with the county’s finances. Gottemoller said the county is taking a larger percentage of each residents’ value in taxes every year as home values go down but taxes go up. He opposed the decision to levy the maximum increase possible in property taxes.

“I don’t care if it’s only $10 a household,” Gottemoller said. “That’s $10 every household should have, not the county board.”

Another familiar name on the ballot will be former District 1 board member Yvonne Barnes. Barnes lost her bid for re-election in 2010 after serving a 4-year term. Barnes said people have continued to call her looking for information and resources in the last year and she wants to help on a broader level again.

Edward Varga, who ran for a state senate seat in 2010 but was not elected, filed for District 4, joining Robert Martens Sr., in opposing incumbents Sandra Salgado and John Hammerand.

All of the candidates in McHenry County so far are Republicans.

Potential candidates have until 5 p.m. Dec. 5 to deliver their filing packets to the county clerk’s office in the administration building, 667 Ware Road, Woodstock. Until then, the office will close at 4:30 p.m.

Cook County

In Cook County, State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez and Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown, both Democrats, filed their re-election bids, but as of the end of the day neither faced competition from either party. Alvarez is seeking a second term while Brown, who is expected to face a challenge from Chicago 22nd Ward Alderman Ricardo Munoz, is going for her fourth term.

A two-way battle is brewing for the Cook County Board of Review, where Republican first-time Commissioner Dan Patlak of Wheeling faces a primary challenge from Sean Morrison of Palos Park. Casey Thomas Griffin of Midlothian is the lone Democrat to file thus far.

Karen Yarbrough, a Maywood Democrat and state representative since 2001, filed to run for Recorder of Deeds. Eugene “Gene” Moore, a Democrat who has held the post since filling in for Jesse White in 1999, has announced he won’t seek re-election.

Five candidates, all Democrats and none from the Northwest suburbs, are seeking one of three board seats up for election at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.

Ÿ Staff writers James Fuller and Kimberly Pohl contributed to this report.