Chuck Bartels announces Lake County Board candidacy

A third Republican candidate surfaced Tuesday in the race for the Lake County Board’s District 10 seat.

Chuck Bartels, 68, of Mundelein, joins Terri Voss and Cornelius ‘Connie’ Shanahan in the hunt to replace longtime county Commissioner Diana O’Kelly.

O’Kelly was elected Fremont Township supervisor this spring and said she won’t seek re-election to her county post in 2014.

Voss is a Mundelein village trustee. Shanahan is a Fremont Township board member.

Bartels has never before run for elected office, but formerly served as president of the Lake County Republican Federation, the fundraising arm of the local GOP.

Now retired, he also worked with the Lake County Partners economic development group and a variety of other community organizations.

Bartels’ wife, Teresa, ran for Congress in 2006. She withdrew before the GOP primary that spring.

In a news release, Bartels cited his experience in business and with public-and-private partnerships among his qualifications.

He listed economic development, preserving natural resources and increased public access to the forest preserves among his political priorities. The county board doubles as the Lake County Forest Preserve District board.

Bartels also voiced support for the long-proposed extension of Route 53 into Lake County.

O’Kelly has served on the county board since 1994 and is one of its senior members. She last won the 10th District seat in 2012, running unopposed for a 2-year term.

The 10th District includes parts of Mundelein, Round Lake Park, Wauconda, Hawthorn Woods and Long Grove.

When the district boundaries were redrawn following the 2010 Census, the new lines gave Republican candidates a significant advantage. O’Kelly led the county board committee that developed the map.

A Democratic candidate hasn’t surfaced.