Newcomers short on cash in Kane races
If there will be a heavy influx of new Kane County Board members, it doesn’t appear it will be money that gets them their seats.
Only two potential newcomers to the board have formed committees to spend and receive campaign donations. And only one of those newcomers has any actual money in his campaign fund.
The politicians most successful at winning elections tend to do so by getting their messages out and gaining name recognition at the polls by spending money. The spending is often preceded by lots of handshaking, dinners and small get-togethers to raise funds. It doesn’t appear much of that is happening so far among the 35 non-incumbents hoping to woo voters in either a March primary, a November general election, or both.
Indeed, Doug Scheflow is the only would-be newcomer with money in his campaign bank. That came in the form of a $1,000 donation from an Elgin-based attorney who shares his last name. Scheflow is running against fellow Republican Debbie Miller in a bid to replace longtime board member Jackie Tredup in District 22. Tredup is not seeking re-election, but she has endorsed Scheflow. The winner of the GOP primary will face Democrat Bob Getz in November.
The only other challenger with an active campaign committee is Penny Wegman, a relative of Kane County Recorder Sandy Wegman. Penny Wegman is vying to unseat fellow Democrat Cristina Castro in the District 20 race. Wegman has an active committee going back to her run for township office; however, it shows a cash balance of zero and lists about $4,854 of debt from loans from her family to the campaign.
In contrast, 12 out of the 19 incumbents seeking re-election have active campaign committees. But half of the 12 active campaign committees of the incumbents have more campaign debt than money to spend so far. District 18 incumbent Drew Frasz owes the most. And like most of his fellow incumbents with campaign debt, he owes the money to himself. Frasz has loaned his campaign nearly $11,200 in previous campaigns that he hasn’t paid himself back yet. Frasz doesn’t have any competition until the general election. He’ll face Democrat Kerri Branson at that time.
The county board candidate with the biggest war chest is District 14 incumbent Mark Davoust, who considered running for county board chairman before deciding on another term in his current role. Davoust showed $15,758 ready to spend in his most recent campaign filings. However, he also has $7,700 in campaign debt. Almost all of that is from loans he and his wife made to his campaign over the years. Davoust hasn’t had any significant campaign donations since the summer and early fall, when he tallied $3,500 in campaign cash from various firms and individuals. Several of the donors, such as Wight & Co., a construction and engineering firm, have ongoing contracts with the county. Others donations — including one from Jim Gaffney, president of the Fox River and Countryside Fire/Rescue District board — are from people appointed to public office by the county board and Chairman Karen McConnaughay.
Davoust has played a major role in overseeing the committee that originally tried to write a new ethics code for the county board, which would’ve governed such donations. However, that code remains in limbo following a ruling by State’s Attorney Joe McMahon that much of the code is unenforceable.