The chairman of the surgery department at Central Du Page Hospital has declared his candidacy for the office of Du Page County coroner, which is being vacated at the end of this month with the resignation of Robert K.
”Tiny” Matthews.
Dr. Robert F. Wilson Jr., 49, a surgeon who has lived in Du Page County for the last 15 years, announced in a meeting Monday with reporters that he will seek to serve the remaining two years of Matthews` term.
He is the third person known to be seeking the office, which will be filled by the Du Page County Board.
Also seeking the post are Richard Ballinger, chief deputy coroner and a coroner`s investigator since 1973 and William J. Maio, of Itasca, a member of the county board, who also is, like all board members, a member of the county`s Forest Preserve Commission.
Matthews is resigning on Aug. 31 because of health problems brought about by diabetes and a heart condition. The county board will appoint a successor to serve until the next election in 1988.
Wilson said he has met with County Board Chairman Jack Knuepfer and with the members of county`s Republican Central Committee, including County GOP Chairman James ”Pate” Philip, the Illinois Senate minority leader from Wood Dale. Philip and the central committee have not indicated a preference among the three contenders.
Wilson said he also has met with county board members Charles Vaughn and Mary Price and has spoken by telephone with the other board members. He said that while all of the officials were ”encouraging,” none promised to support his candidacy.
The board meets on Aug. 12 and could choose a successor at that time. None of the three candidates is known to hold an advantage over the others.
Physicians had served as county coroner for more than 50 years until Matthews was selected to be coroner in 1971.
Until June, Maio was a member of the coroner`s ”disaster roster,” a list of special deputies who were available to help the coroner deal with any calamity involving many deaths. Maio resigned June 11 in response to revelations that he had carried a gun while at the forest preserve`s Oak Meadows Golf and Banquet Facilities (the former Elmhurst Country Club) in Addison.
As a member of the disaster roster, Maio was a deputy coroner holding the legal status of a peace officer and was empowered to make arrests and also to carry a gun if he completed a 40-hour firearms training course. Maio had never taken the course, however.
Wilson said he is a Republican but said he has never been involved in party politics.
”I think I can get the cooperation of the different hospitals in the area and relate to them as a physician,” Wilson said. ”Not that there are problems now, but there`s been a separation of the (coroner`s) office from the medical community in the county. There`s only one hospital (Central Du Page Hospital) peforming autopsies.”
He said there is no profit for hospitals in performing autopsies and that they have to be convinced to perform the proceedures for the coroner.
If appointed by the county board he would run for election to the office in two years, Wilson said. He waffled on the question of whether he would give preference to persons who are active in Republican politics in hiring for coroner`s office jobs.
”I might prefer that a person be active, or at least a Republican, but he has to be qualified for the job,”he said. ”It`s something I could decide after being appointed. . . . I`ve never been involved in a situation like that so I can`t honestly say what I would do.”
Wilson had invited other elected officials in county government to his meeting with reporters, but only Sheriff Richard Doria appeared. The sheriff said he did not know Wilson and went to the session in order to meet him.
Barbara Rehs, executive secretary to Matthews, was one of the organizers of the event and acted as a spokesperson for Wilson.
