Publications & Sites 
DuPage County Board chairman calls on head of Election Board to resign
J.P. "Rick" Carney has been asked to resign as head of the DuPage County Election Board. |sun-times media file
Updated: May 1, 2012 10:34AM
DuPage County Board Chairman Dan Cronin and several County Board members sent a letter Friday to DuPage County Election Board Chairman J.P. “Rick” Carney asking for his resignation.
The move comes after a report about the DuPage Election Commission presented to the County Board Tuesday by the firm of Crowe Horwath. The report found considerable fault with the commisson’s ethics and purchasing practices.
On Wednesday, Cronin appointed Cathy Ficker Terrill of Elmhurst and Art Ludwig of West Chicago to the three-member Election Board, replacing board Vice Chair Charlotte Mushow, who was not reappointed when her term expired Jan. 29, 2011, and Secretary Jeanne McNamara, whose term expired Jan. 29 of this year.
The moves left Carney as the only remaining veteran on the board.
The Friday letter to Carney states: “Based on the troubled findings in the Crowe Horwath report presented this week, we believe it is necessary for you to resign immediately from the DuPage County Election Board of Commissioners.
“We intend to act swiftly to ensure the administrative problems outlined in the evaluation are quickly resolved. More importantly, we must restore the public’s trust in this essential agency by bringing in entirely new leadership on the Board of Commissioners.
“In the best interest of DuPage County residents, we request that you now step aside and allow a new board to lead the DuPage Election Commission.”
The letter is signed by Cronin and County Board members John Curran, Grant Eckhoff, Paul Fichtner, James Healy, Robert Larsen, Michael Ledonne, Jerry McBride, Patrick O’Shea, Jeff Redick, James Zay and John Zedicker.
In a statement issued April 24, after the release of the Crowe Horwath report, Carney, McNamara and Mushow said that their organization is independent and designed to function “shielded from the day-to-day political winds of the central county government.” They said they have always conducted accurate, fair elections.
