Story posted Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Stephens The Republican Choice, Democrats Split
By DWIGHT ESAU Journal & Topics Reporter
One side of the primary election campaigns for Leyden Township committeeman this year is going to be very quiet.
The other one, however, promises to be livelier as the countdown accelerates toward the Feb. 2 balloting.
On the Republican side, another election of a Stephens is taking place. This one is different, however, because Rosemont Mayor Brad Stephens is running for his party's township leadership position for the first time. He was appointed to fill out the unexpired term of his father when the late Donald Stephens died three years ago.
As has been typical regarding a Stephens election for this office, the younger Stephens is unopposed.
"My dad held the position for about 22 years, but now it feels a little bit different because this is my first election," Brad said this week.
"It's nice to be unopposed, and I wish this were true of other races in the township and county," he said. "We Republicans have been beating ourselves up for too long with divisive internal disputes, and the other guys (Democrats) have been walking in to offices too often. We need to get more unified in our party."
But, at least in this committeeman race, it's the Democrats who are dealing with a lack of unity.
There are some tentative rumblings that Cook County politics, specifically the race for Cook County Board president, may overshadow a two-man race for Leyden Township Democratic committeeman.
Democratic incumbent Barrett Pedersen, an estate planning attorney and Franklin Park mayor best known in politics for his local-access cable TV show, "Illinois Issues and Review," is opposed in the primary by Frank L. McPartlin, a resident of the township from Elmwood Park who ran unsuccessfully for Democratic committeeman eight years ago. He has limited background in township administration or politics, but apparently has made friends with some county officials, not the least of whom may be Board President Todd Stroger.
Stroger hired McPartlin last October for a position handling administrative adjudication of property management and code violations and fines levied by the county in unincorporated areas.
A recent blog on a township website, apparently from a Pedersen supporter, has a different view of McPartlin's hiring, however. It accuses Stroger of playing politics with the township party leadership position by hiring McPartlin last fall, and persuading him to run for committeeman, possibly because Pedersen is supporting Terry O'Brien, who is running against Stroger in the County Board President Democratic primary.
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