The Republican and Democratic contenders for chairman of the Du Page County Board agreed Wednesday on one thing: The Republican Party in Du Page is ailing.
Aldo Botti, who won the GOP nomination Tuesday, and Michael Donohue, the Democratic nominee, took note of the emphatic decision by voters to oust three stalwart Republican incumbents. Voters also withheld big victory margins from two others.
Botti`s victory over powerful incumbent Jack Knuepfer, who has been board chairman for 12 years, left party regulars in shock Wednesday. Knuepfer lost decisively in a three-way race that most thought was his to take. The unofficial tally was Botti 43,961, County Board member Judith Crane Ross 29,534 and Knuepfer 23,278.
”My winning is going to stimulate some thought that there is illness (in the Du Page GOP), and we`ve got to do something about it,” Botti said. ”You have to get new ideas, and you just can`t keep people out of the party. You can`t exclude people because you don`t think they are acceptable.
”There is a message (in the vote) that they (the party leaders in the county) are not in touch with the Republican mainstream. We all have to take heed that there is an opportunity to develop the party and make it stronger, but we`re losing the opportunity.”
From a purely political standpoint, Donohue said Tuesday`s vote spoke volumes for the state of the Republican Party in Du Page, just as it did for Democrats in Cook County, where the party`s endorsed candidate lost the race for County Board president.
”It says that the Republican organization is shaky out here just like the Democratic organization in Cook County,” Donohue said. ”Some or maybe all of that bodes well for the (Du Page) Democrats.”
Whether the Du Page Republicans will close ranks ”remains to be seen,”
said Donohue, who is chairman of the Du Page Democratic organization. He said about a third of the Democrats, 12,000 to 15,000 voters, crossed over to vote in the GOP primary.
Shocked, stunned and surprised were the words of the day for Republicans and Democrats alike. Most startling were the defeats of Knuepfer and incumbent state Reps. Gene Hoffman (R-Elmhurst) and Ralph Barger (R-Wheaton).
Then there were the out-of-nowhere charges of attorney Richard Reimer of Bensenville and Catherine Galvin of Lombard. Reimer was seeking to unseat longtime incumbent Sheriff Richard Doria, and Galvin challenged state Sen. Beverly Fawell (R-Glen Ellyn). Both challengers lost, but both made surprisingly strong showings.
But state Rep. James Stange (R-Oak Brook), whose successful bid for renomination over John Hausmann of La Grange was the only routine victory for a Du Page legislative incumbent in a contested race, said the results were not an indictment of the GOP.
”I don`t think (the ousters) said anything” about the Republican organization in Du Page, Stange said. ”It really had to do with those three races.”
Stange said state Senate Minority Leader James ”Pate” Philip (R-Wood Dale) and state House Minority Leader Lee Daniels (R., Elmhurst) remain
”powerful and exceptional leaders for Du Page County. Of course they are upset with the losses, but they`ll bounce back.”
Longtime GOP political adviser Joanne Maxwell of Naperville saw it a little differently. If Philip and Daniels had been up for renomination, voters would have told them ”so long” as well, she said.
She said she doesn`t think the unusual outpouring of voters bodes trouble for the county Republican organization. The vote, according to Maxwell, was a taxpayers revolt.
”We`ve always heard about these things, and we`ve just lived through one,” said Maxwell, who advises Knuepfer and other Du Page Republicans.
In a master stroke of understatement, Knuepfer said simply that Tuesday
”was not a good night to be an incumbent.”
What shocked Maxwell, she said, was the clarity and volume of the message given by the turnout, unofficially set at 33.23 percent.
”In the last non-presidential (primary), there were 50,000 people who voted, OK. Jack Knuepfer got 23,000 votes,” Maxwell said. ”If it was a normal vote (Tuesday) and he got 23,000 votes, he would have won. But on top of that, there was another 49,000 or something people who for some reason, in a non-presidential year, went out and voted.”
”More voted in this non-presidential year than in the last presidential primary. More voted in this non-presidential primary than in the presidential primary in 1980. That means 40,000 people-plus who have never voted in a Republican primary in the last 10 years in Du Page County for some reason said, `Enough is enough.` I don`t know what the straw is that broke their back.”
Maxwell said a Knuepfer poll that she commissioned a year ago showed ”he was the best-known name in the county and that taxes were the biggest problem.” The two things combined ”are not good.”
Stange agreed with Maxwell`s assessment.
”People are absolutely 100 percent fed up with taxes in Du Page County, and they want to have something done. The way they feel is get rid of the legislators that have been voting for tax increases. Jack has raised taxes. Barger has raised taxes, and Gene Hoffman has raised taxes. That was the main issue.
”I think we have to start changing our agenda and really look into tax relief. There is a clear message here that you have to start doing something for the taxpayers or you`re not going to be around the next election.”
Philip was unavailable for comment, but Daniels was talking.
He said he had called and offered his support to Botti, a Hinsdale attorney in his first run for public office.
Daniels hailed the tough primary fights as the fodder on which a party can flourish. ”The great thing about our county is that we can have tough primaries. People like to question others` leadership. No one person is responsible for a candidate`s defeat.”
He agreed with Maxwell that Knuepfer was a high-profile target for anyone and everyone unhappy with taxes and joined in Stange`s assessment that ”those in government have a responsibility to restructure our tax program. We have to cap property taxes,” said Daniels, who ran unopposed.
Donohue said ”no doubt” people are dissatisfied with taxes, particularly property taxes.
”They showed that in significant numbers. When you look at Knuepfer coming in third with the strong support of the Republican organization and spending $200,000-that to me is the overwhelming message that comes through. But it also says that incumbents are in some difficulty.”
Donohue said Botti`s campaign attacks on Ross and the rest of the all-Republican County Board ”about sitting on its hands and all of the other things he said, I`m not sure how those people are going to react.
”If they want to give me support, I`ll be more than happy to accept it. But that remains to be seen, obviously.”
Donohue said he believed most of the Democratic cross-over votes Tuesday went to Botti and Ross. ”I don`t know if it made the difference, but it certainly made a significant difference,” he said.
”As far as what Republican vote I will come up with depends on how they are going to react to Botti and vice versa. I think it would have been easier to run against Jack Knuepfer and the vote (Tuesday) illustrates that.”
