For excitement in Lake Bluff, residents refer to the free Sunday afternoon concerts at the gazebo or talk about the fall pumpkin dances.
But villagers in this quiet and affluent North Shore community now have something more to look forward to.
For the first time in 24 years, residents have a choice in the April 20 election for village president. Village President David Graf is stepping down after serving eight years as president and 12 years on the Village Board.
Contested general elections have been rare in the 100-year history of Lake Bluff politics.
Veva Schreiber, a 67-year-old political maverick and energetic 12-year veteran of the Village Board, is the political outsider in this campaign.
She is running against a traditional caucus system that has controlled local politics for nearly a century.
Twelve years ago, Schreiber became only the second independent member on the Village Board after defeating a candidate sponsored by the ruling political organization, the Lake Bluff Village Progressive Party.
Now, the three-term trustee aims to become the first independent candidate-and the second female-in the history of Lake Bluff to be elected village president.
“I personally believe the party is too small of a group to select the people who will set the political agenda for the community,” Schreiber said.
But for the politically seasoned Schreiber, the road to the village president’s seat is blocked by a political newcomer who is backed with the full weight of the Progressive Party.
He is Fred Wacker III, a lifelong resident. He is a member of the family that includes Charles Wacker, who helped rebuild Chicago after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and was rewarded with a street named after him.
The 33-year-old Wacker enters the local political arena with some strong credentials. He has two master’s degrees in business and a Princeton undergraduate education, as well as a successful track record of running a family-owned business.
If elected, Wacker said he will apply his management skills in budgeting and finance to run the village as efficiently as possible.
“I’m not an entrenched politician,” Wacker said. “I’m a businessperson. I think I can ask some fresh questions and come up with some good answers.”
The Progressive Party elected Wacker in January in a close race attended by some 600 village residents. For most of this century, the Progressive Party has controlled the political agenda in the village of about 5,500.
Wacker’s victory seemed to reflect the growing sentiment among party leaders that Lake Bluff was in a transition and needed some new political leadership.
This sleepy hamlet, whose $38,100 per capita income is the 23rd-highest in the Chicago area, was awakened last summer by a financial scandal.
Lake Bluff’s longtime treasurer, Dale Rudy, was convicted of embezzling $123,000 in village funds. He eventually pleaded guilty to one count of fraud and was ordered to pay back the money and spend 270 days in jail.
Most residents now say the “Rudy affair” is over.
But there have been other problems. The seven-member Village Board has been bickering and feuding over personalities. Some trustees have been accused of meddling in the daily operations of the village, observers said.
This meddling was partly blamed for the resignations of two village administrators in three years.
As a result, both candidates have pledged to rein in the more troublesome trustees and prevent the Village Board from micromanaging the community.
“In the past, I’ve seen the distinction between the board and management get blurred,” Wacker said. “I don’t think it’s the role of the Village Board to make daily operating decisions of the town.”
There are some differences between Wacker and Schreiber other than their ages.
With the exception of serving on the Plan Commission, Wacker has limited governmental experience.
But he decided to run at the urging of party regulars, and he says he will take his fiscally conservative philosophy to the Village Board. He opposes property tax increases and will trim government spending as much as possible. He also will encourage more openness in government and will conduct a public forum to discuss long-range property-tax planning.
Schreiber points to her years of governmental service that includes memberships on several county panels, including the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County.
She also opposes property-tax increases and has a strong environmental record, noting that she proposed the first curbside recycling program on the North Shore.
