Bennington coming back to DuPage Co. board

The DuPage County Board is poised to regain 10 years worth of experience on Tuesday.

Former board member Tom Bennington has been chosen to fill the vacant District 3 seat previously held by Kyle Gilgis, who left in August. The appointment is expected to be approved by the full board during Tuesday's meeting.

Bennington won't seek election to the post in November 2010, which board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom said was key to his decision to picking the 48-year-old Downers Grove resident. Bennington was one of Schillerstrom's top lieutenants when he was on the board.

"At the time of the year the vacancy fell with a little over a year from the election, anyone I would select would have a substantial advantage," Schillerstrom said. "Having a placeholder in made sense and, when that decision was made, I wanted someone with experience."

Bennington lost his seat to board member John Curran last year. Curran beat Bennington in the 2008 Republican primary. Bennington said he wasn't planning to run for the open seat after Gilgis retired.

"I've spent the last eight months adjusting to not being on the county board after being on the board for 10 years," he said. "I have no plans of running for anything in the future."

Curran said Schillerstrom is doing the right thing by picking a placeholder and doesn't foresee a problem with the board approving Bennington's nomination.

"Certainly Tom has all the credentials to do the job," Curran said. "I don't see a problem with this based on the fact the chairman has decided to let the electoral process play itself out to find a replacement for Kyle."

Bennington said he received a call from Schillerstrom on Friday asking first if he planned to seek the open seat. When Bennington told the chairman he wasn't running, Schillerstrom asked if Bennington could "help him with a dilemma." Bennington said the call was brief and that he accepted almost immediately.

"I found in government that you could do things and make people's lives better on an individual basis, and that's an opportunity that can't be passed up," Bennington said.

Fourteen people applied to replace Gilgis, many with aspirations to run for the seat in 2010. Bennington was not one of the 14. He said it was the first time he and the chairman had talked about the vacancy since Gilgis' departure.

The Chicago lawyer also will replace Gilgis on all of her former board committee assignments. That's a challenge Bennington said he is looking forward to undertaking.

"The committees Kyle sat on are committees that I had very brief interactions with or no interactions," he said. "It should be fun because it's a new learning experience."

District 3 covers much of the southeast corner of the county and represents all or parts of Downers Grove, Westmont, Darien, Woodridge, Hinsdale, Burr Ridge, Lemont, Clarendon Hills and Willowbrook.