THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2007

---

Morgenthaler May Announce Today

By TODD WESSELL

Journal & Topics Editor

U.S. Army Reserve Col. Jill Morgenthaler may announce as early as today (Thursday) that she will challenge Republican Peter Roskam for the 6th Congressional Dist. spot held for years by Henry Hyde.

A Des Plaines resident, Morgenthaler has been urged to run by area Democrats for the last several weeks. She is currently employed as Gov. Blagojevich's top person on Homeland Security in Illinois.

A spokesperson for Morgenthaler declined to confirm on Monday whether she will run. He said an announcement on the matter may take place as early as this Thursday. Morgenthaler failed to return a telephone call from the Journal & Topics Newspapers this week.

Another Democrat, Stan Jagla, appeared at an Elk Grove Township Democratic fundraising party Sunday in Arlington Hts. where he said he intends to run in the 6th Dist. primary election on Feb. 5. He is a Roselle businessman. Morgenthaler also attended that function and spoke. She did not announce whether she will run or not.

If Morgenthaler runs, the race could mirror the contest in 2006 that pitted then State Senator Roskam and Iraqi War veteran, Democrat Tammy Duckworth. Roskam won the highly-charged contest garnering about 52% of the vote. Morgenthaler during her tour in Iraq served as a spokesman for the Army during the Abu Ghraib torture scandal. She currently lives outside the 6th Dist. If elected, she will have to move into the 6th.

"Jill has not yet made up her mind yet," Brian McPartlin, Elk Grove Township Democratic committeeman, told the Journal last week. "I'm encouraging her to enter the race. We've talked twice. She would be a phenomenal candidate and a challenge for Roskam."