Taking on incumbent state Rep. Brent Hassert (R-Lemont) in an 83rd House District that is 57 percent Republican has proved to be too much for plumbing contractor Brent Brown, a 27-year-old Democrat from Homer Township.
First Brown had to face the Will County Electoral Board, where he fought successfully to remain on the November ballot.
Then he was preparing to defend his victory in Circuit Court, where determined Republicans had appealed the electoral board’s decision upholding the legitimacy of Brown’s residency in the district and his right to challenge Hassert.
It was at the electoral board hearing that Brown’s unconventional living arrangement with his young family were probed.
Attorneys for the Republicans asked Brown why he was living with his parents in Lockport while his wife and children were living in an Elmhurst apartment that he rented. At the time, Brown denied the estrangement was the result of any domestic problems.
But on Monday, Brown officially abandoned his bid for office, saying that he will soon need to devote his time to divorce proceedings.
The Democratic Party of Will County, meanwhile, has until Sept. 1 to replace Brown on the ballot, according to county chairman Lawrence Walsh, of Elwood, who acknowledged that a campaign against Hassert now “would be difficult, at best.”
“If there is not a candidate that is willing to step forward . . . then we just have no candidate,” said Walsh. “But we are definitely not just going to roll over and say `We’re done. . .’ We are actively going to try and find a qualified candidate,” he said.
As of Tuesday, Walsh said he hadn’t heard from Brown directly about his decision. Nor has the party received notice from the State Board of Elections declaring the ballot position vacant.
What’s in a name: When it appears soon in federal legislation, look for the 19,000-acre preservation area of the Joliet Army Ammunition Plant to emerge in Congress as the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie.
The Midewin name was selected by the U.S. Forest Service to commemorate the “grand medicine society” of the Potawatomi people, the arsenal property’s pre-settlement inhabitants. Three Native American burial mounds are located on the 23,500-acre arsenal site.
And considering the end result of products manufactured at the arsenal for more than 50 years, the idea of naming the reclaimed site for a healing society seemed appropriate, according to a forest service source.
Speaking of names: While it may sound like an Indian word, don’t be confused by any recent, and future, references to the WiKaDuKe Trail.
WiKaDuKe is a combination of the first two letters of Will, Kane, DuPage and Kendall Counties. The “trail” is a proposed north-south highway corridor that the WiKaDuKe planning group is seeking to protect from encroaching development in the area between Aurora and Minooka.
Four east-west rungs on a transportation ladder that would connect the trail with Illinois Highway 59 to the east also are the subject of the group’s joint planning effort.
Bits and pieces: The Orland Park Village Board will honor Treasurer Franklin Loebe when it meets at 7 p.m. Monday. Loebe is retiring after 65 years as village treasurer.
The Will County Governmental League will hold its 1st golf outing and pig roast on Monday at Heritage Bluffs Golf Club, in Channahon. The league’s telephone number is 815-722-7280.
