Althoff resigning Senate seat; Democrat cries foul
Republican state Sen. Pam Althoff of McHenry is relinquishing her legislative seat a little more than a month before the Nov. 6 election, paving the way for McHenry County GOP officials to appoint Craig Wilcox as her replacement.
Wilcox, of McHenry, is facing Democrat Mary Mahady in the election to replace Althoff in the 32nd state Senate District, which includes parts of Lake and McHenry counties.
Althoff said Wilcox "is the Republican candidate on the ballot and would be the clear choice of the party to take my place until the election."
While Althoff said the move to resign Sept. 30 is intended to remove any appearance of using her seat as an advantage in her race for McHenry County Board, Mahady is calling shenanigans.
"I can already see the mailings that will come out referring to him as a state senator," Mahady said. "It's not really wrong, but I think that's the only way he's going to get in that seat."
Mahady, the McHenry Township assessor, said Althoff's early resignation serves no purpose other than to give someone an advantage of being able to "act like they were elected to that position when they were not."
Attempts to reach Wilcox and McHenry County GOP leaders were unsuccessful.
Althoff has been a senator since 2003. She announced two years ago that she would not seek re-election and is running gunopposed in the county board race, according to the county clerk website.