Democrats take control of key Kane County positions

Kane County Democrats flexed newfound political muscle Tuesday with the takeover of several positions key to operating both the county and forest preserve district.

Kane County Board members also serve as forest preserve district commissioners. And the forest district was the setting for the first, and most unexpected, political ascendancy. Republicans have dominated the leadership of the district, like the county, for decades.

But Tuesday saw Algonquin Democrat Chris Kious elected as president of the forest preserve district by his peers.

The president needs a majority of the commission votes to take the office. The first round of voting split among three candidates - Kious and two Republicans. Republicans Mark Davoust and incumbent President Mike Kenyon received six and seven votes apiece. Kious received 11 votes in the first round.

In the second round of votes, between Kious and Kenyon, several Republicans crossed the aisle with a sentiment that Kenyon had already served long enough. It was just enough to give Kious 14 votes and a 2-year term as Kane County Forest Preserve District president.

Kious said he's felt Democrats on the commission were shut out of participating in key decisions by Republicans in recent years.

"For those of you who would say there is no partisanship in the forest preserve side of the county board, you are either naive or you choose not to see it," Kious said. "I believe decisions the leaders of this forest preserve make have real consequences on the quality of life of our neighbors."

Kious said he will push a platform of restoration of farmland and the use of cover crops and regenerative agriculture to protect and prepare farmland before converting it back to native vegetation. He also wants the district to look into using solar farms and "aggressively" pursuing land acquisition.

When it was time for the county board meeting, some of the transfer of power to Democrats was already a foregone conclusion with the first Democrat in recent history, Corinne Pierog, taking the reins as the county board chair.

She moved to place Democrats in charge, or at least co-chair, of nine of the board's 13 working committees. That included committees that oversee the county's money and the operation of the jail and public safety.

While county board members received word of their individual committee appointments in advance of Tuesday's meeting, the information about the total composition of the committees wasn't sent out to the full board until early Tuesday morning. Sending out such information at the last minute was a frequent criticism of former Chairman Chris Lauzen.

Pierog said she will do a better job of putting such information out sooner. She asked for some "grace because of the newness of all of this."

Lauzen's shadow hung over the meeting for another reason. The state's attorney's office ruled a recent $2,500 campaign donation to Lauzen by the county's architectural consultant firm, Cordogan & Clark, violated the county's ethics ordinance.

However, as viewed by the two previous state's attorneys, the effect of such a violation on any elected official who runs afoul of the ordinance is unenforceable because it conflicts with higher campaign contribution allowances under state law.

A revision of the county's ethics code may be on the agenda for the new county board.