Monday, December 3, 2012

Aaron Lawlor Elected Chairman of Lake County Board

Aaron Lawlor was elected Chairman of the Lake County Board this morning in a special meeting.  I wasn't able to make it in person, but I watched the news feed on the Lake County website.  Russell Lissau of the Daily Herald covers it here.

I wish Aaron the very best with the challenges ahead -- not only does Lawlor need to manage the business of the county and keep its triple AAA bond rating, we need to defend against losing jobs from competition across the border in Wisconsin, when our own state increasingly seems hostile to business.

On the political side, Aaron is going to have to defend Republican dominance of the Board, as the GOP majority has been slipping over the past decade.  2014 will once again be a tough year for the GOP, so the campaign starts today, folks.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

On the political side in Lake County, it appears the Lake County Democrats have seized momentum. The county went for the President, elected a Democrat to the 10th Congressional District and took the majority of State Legislative seats.
Link did a bit of house cleaning in 2012 and his new leadership team seemed to make an immediate impact.
2014 is going to be interesting indeed.

Anonymous said...

"Interesting indeed" is right. Spring cleaning was the best thing Senator Link has done in years.

The proof is in the pudding with wins in the new parts of the 10th District (Zion and Avon) securing the Congressional seat the old 10th has chased forever.

Reclaiming the Senate seat Bond lost in 2010and winning the 62nd right out of the grips of the likely lifer Sandy Cole.

Well played Senator Link, well played indeed!

Anonymous said...

Anon 6:26 & 9:15 - The 10th loss was directly because of Madigans map. Over the last several congressional cycles, Rs did not carry the 10th in Lake County. It took Wheeling and Northfield Twps to bring victory several times for Kirk and in 2010 for Dold. The new 10th was drawn D+8. Even so, Dold only lost by 0.77%!

Trebor of Libertyville

Sean said...

Trebor..if you think it is about maps, then you will never get ahead.
I haven't heard one Democrat openly complain about maps when it came to the County Board re-mapping to automatically eliminate two democratic seats.
It is all about ground game and having good candidates.
2014 is indeed going to be an interesting cycle.

Anonymous said...

If you think Ds aren't complaining about the Lake County map, you weren't listening. The caterwauling was epic.

Anonymous said...

Sean, I can cao count the number of times Brad Schneider visited nothwestern Lake County in my underpants. It had nothign to do with good candidates or groundgame. I think you'll relaize that come November 2014.

Anonymous said...

Hm. I guess maybe some democrats DID complain about the Lake Cunty Board redistricting. Bless their little hearts:

http://libertyville.patch.com/articles/some-lake-county-board-members-cry-foul-over-redistricting

Anonymous said...

Well, let's see, northwestern Lake County isn't in the 10th, so check your undies again. Speaking therefrom is dangerous. I think Sean was referring to 'blame' rather than 'complain'. Chalking up losses to maps is generally a function of denial rather than reality. Look at the numbers, I mean really look at the numbers and you'll see that the new parts of the 10th in Zion didn't actually put Brad over the top. His turnout in core areas that were in the old 10th was better than 2008 and 2010. That's called a better candidate than Seals and a better ground game. It's also called the GOP missing the point on all levels, nationally, and locally. And TA's previous post of a Wisconsin GOP'er's post-mortem shows it won't get much better in 2014. Still utterly missing the point. Nothing in that yahoo's blibberblabber rang of Mark Kirk or John Porter.

I wish Lawlor the best, but, don't for a minute think this is a spring-board for a 2014 run in the 10th. The next two years will be a mine-field of votes to hang on a candidate. His call for transparency could come back to haunt him. Transparency is the very last thing Diana O'Kelly and Bonnie Thompson Carter want. Lawlor will wear the yoke of whatever transparency reveals about contracting, foreign out-sourcing and Lake County's outrageous taxes.

Y'all keep harping about business fleeing Illinois, but, in truth, they're fleeing Lake County, and often to other places within the state with lower taxes, better services and without our messed up transportation system.

Anonymous said...

@Anonymous at 9:37

Your analysis of the numbers couldn't be more wrong. Dold did much better in the old 10th in 2012 than he did in 2010.

Anonymous said...

Ha! Okay. You didn't actually impeach what I said, but whatever. Keep moaning about the map, that'll grab all those middle voters, for sure.

Anonymous said...

Michelle Feldman is in Northwest Lake County?

Anonymous said...

I guess i wasted my time looking for comments on Lawlor. I thought for sure they would be here.