Republicans took center stage in Will County primary races Tuesday as two candidates with a monopoly on organizational support attempted to fight off challenges from mavericks demanding change.
With 205 of 309 precincts reporting, Ronald Svara of Homer Township was leading Frankfort physician Paul Stec in a race for the GOP nomination for county executive. But Edward Ronkowski of Mokena was falling behind Frank Andreano for the nomination for state’s attorney.
The outlook “feels pretty good,” said a cautious Svara, who had 52.5 percent of the vote. “Joliet Township was the only township that endorsed Paul (Stec), and those votes in Joliet are already counted.”
Andreano was leading Ronkowski by a little less than 1,000 votes at the two-thirds mark. “I’ve never run before, so I’m not sure what this all means,” Ronkowski said. “I expect to do well when they count the votes in DuPage, Frankfort and Homer Townships.”
In November, the Republican winners will face County Executive Charles Adelman and State’s Atty. James Glasgow, both well-known Democrats, who are considered vulnerable.
Svara, a County Board member since 1988, is giving up his seat to run for county executive, saying it is time he got a promotion.
A retired mathematics professor from Moraine Valley Community College, Svara targeted demands of Stec’s medical practice. Svara said only he has the time and energy to devote to the full-time office created by the voters in 1988.
“This job is more than a 40-hour-a-week job,” Svara said in a clear effort to needle Stec.
Stec, who insisted he would reorganize his medical practice to make time for the duties of county executive, campaigned on his image as a politically inexperienced outsider.
“My name is not known politically, (and) I am still on a learning curve in the art of partisan politics,” Stec said.
Andreano, a Joliet attorney, took a similar tack in his race against Ronkowski, a Cook County assistant state’s attorney.
In last-minute attempt to lure voters, Andreano tried to link Ronkowski with discredited former Republican party bosses, including jailed one-time coroner Robert Tezak.
Andreano also challenged Ronkowski’s claim of having logged more than 7,000 felony convictions in his 19 years as a prosecutor, saying “the simple math shows that Mr. Ronkowski is not telling the truth.”
“That would be almost two cases a day,” Andreano said.
In appearances, Ronkowski often emphasized Andreano’s lack of experience as a prosecutor and his role as a private attorney in suits against police.
Although the county GOP made no endorsements, the two got the backing of most of the township organizations that made a choice. Adelman and Glasgow, the incumbent Democrats, offer a wealth of issues for the GOP to target.
Adelman is seeking his third four-year term. He has faced a scandal in his Land Use Department, which includes a pending bribery charge against a housing inspector and charges of missed or sloppy home inspections that forced the resignation of the department head.
Adelman’s management of the financially troubled county nursing home and GOP charges that he failed to lead in a mismanaged landfill project and construction of a juvenile detention center are other likely targets.
Adelman, on the other hand, can be expected to blame the Republican-controlled County Board for both the landfill and juvenile jail.
Glasgow has similar problems, particularly the firing and subsequent conviction on misdemeanor charges of former top aide Charles Bretz for misconduct.
Although Republicans would like to hammer Glasgow on his hiring of Bretz, they could hurt their own chances in a tight judicial race by reminding voters of the ticket-fixing conviction of former Republican Judge Patricia Schneider, whose fall from office was linked to Bretz.
In other countywide races, of three Republicans who squared off in the primary for the right to challenge first-term Recorder of Deeds Mary Ann Stukel of Crest Hill, James Gale, a real estate agent from Wilmington, appeared headed for victory.
In the Republican struggle to succeed retiring Circuit Clerk Helen Harshbarger, Judith Bredeweg of Bolingbrook was leading by a ratio of almost 2-1 over former Harshbarger assistant Deborah Kilhafner.
“I feel very confident,” Bredeweg said. “This is my first time running countywide, and I had a lot of strength in my County Board district. I think it’s a credit to my 14 years on the County Board.”
In a GOP contest for the nomination for county coroner, William Ferguson of Joliet was winning by a ratio of nearly 2-1 over Charles Morgan of New Lenox.
Ferguson, who had worked in the office for 17 years, until he and two other deputies were fired in 1992 by present Coroner Patrick O’Neil, vowed to be a “working coroner” rather than an administrator.
Ferguson and the two other deputies were returned to their jobs last year after an arbitrator ruled that their firings were politically motivated. In a hotly contested GOP County Board primary in the Homer Township area, Lawrence Troutman, Kathleen Konicki and Richard Nietupski were leading a field of 13 Republicans for three seats.
