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Shields Township a pocket of heated campaigning By Susan Kuczka The sniping between candidates in next week's Shields Township races in Lake Bluff has turned the contest into one of the most heated on the North Shore. David Barkhausen, a former state senator who recently won a lawsuit against the township, is among a team of challengers who say the township has run amok under Supervisor Charles Fitzgerald. Barkhausen, an attorney who said his court battle with the township prompted him to run in Tuesday's election, is a candidate for township clerk, but it's clear his main target for defeat is Fitzgerald. "They've ventured into new [spending] areas that ... aren't even clearly authorized by state law," said Barkhausen, chairman of the Shields Township Republican Party, but who is listed on the ballot as an independent. Fitzgerald, seeking a third term, faces challenges from trustee Nicole Snoblin and Janice Schnobrich, a retired teacher running for supervisor on Barkhausen's ticket. Fitzgerald says he has no idea why Barkhausen decided to form the Active Reform Team slate to wrest control of the township and its nearly $1 million budget. "I have to scratch my head, but I know I'm not in this to feed my ego or try to build a political power base," said Fitzgerald, whose father was supervisor for nine years before appointing his son to the post in 1996. Barkhausen, elected to the Lake Bluff Village Board two years ago, has steadily increased his involvement in local politics after a 16-year career in the Illinois General Assembly ended abruptly in 1996. Barkhausen denied his decision to step down had anything to do with a federal investigation into whether he used legislative funds on his private insurance practice. Federal officials subsequently cleared him of any wrongdoing. Two years ago, Barkhausen launched his own investigation of the township board after it approved an 80 percent increase in its highway department's property tax levy for road improvements. A Lake County Circuit Court judge ruled in December that the increase violated the state's property tax cap that keeps increases to 5 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is greater. After the court victory, Barkhausen helped form his township team, turning the normally placid township elections into an old-fashioned political donnybrook. "It's sort of incredible," said Snoblin, a trustee running for the supervisor's post. "There's some heavy players involved who are accustomed to the workings of partisan politics, and they're bringing it into this election." Highway Commissioner Donald "Dan" Rogers also is feeling the political squeeze as he runs for re-election against two candidates--Bob Bednar, who ran unsuccessfully for township assessor four years ago, and Bill Goodman, a write-in candidate supported by Barkhausen. Like the supervisor candidates, the highway commissioner candidates are calling for severely downsizing the department and contracting out most work on the township's 9.3 miles of roads--budgeted at around $240,000 annually. The 18-square-mile township includes all or part of Lake Forest, North Chicago and Lake Bluff. "This is the most bizarre thing I've ever been through in my life," said Rogers, a former township trustee seeking a second term in the $52,000-a-year job. "There's no glory whatsoever to this job. It's just a lot of work." The challengers say they are not in the race for fame--just improved efficiency. "The township has just gone bananas," said Schnobrich, a retired teacher running for supervisor on Barkhausen's ticket. "It's costing us in salaries alone, absurd amounts of money, and for what?" Fitzgerald has tried to focus on what he is proud of. "We've come light-years from where we were when I was appointed," he said. "We've saved taxpayer money and increased services--at no additional cost to the taxpayers." Copyright (c) 2005, Chicago Tribune To return to the Hanky Panky gateway page, click HERE To return to the HOME page, click HERE To leave a comment, click HERE To join our email list, click HERE
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