York Township Republicans Defeated: Unofficial Returns

ELMHURST, IL – After two decades as York Township's supervisor, Republican John Valle appears to be on his way out.

In Tuesday's election, Democrat Timothy Murray grabbed 57 percent of the vote to Valle's 43 percent, according to unofficial results.

Also, Tony Cuzzone, the township's GOP clerk, lost to Democratic opponent Gary Kleppe, who, like Murray, received 57 percent.

In his role as clerk, Cuzzone tried to deny ballot access for Murray, alleging the candidate did not follow ballot procedures. But a DuPage County judge overruled Cuzzone.

With the election, the all-Republican township board will become all-Democrat.

Democrats Ilse Messner, Joe Amore, Al Rago and Engy Sutherland are well ahead. Losing are GOP incumbents Rae Rupp-Srch and Jeffrey Mussatto and candidates Kevin O'Reilly and Ellen Picker Greer.

In the race for highway commissioner, Democrat James Kehring defeated Republican George Benes with 58 percent of the vote.

Under state law, townships have three mandated jobs – maintenance of roads in unincorporated areas, assessment of property values for tax purposes and distribution of "general assistance" to the poor in limited circumstances.

The assistance function may be the least known. General assistance money, which comes from property taxes, is for those with absolutely no income; many recipients have pending applications for governmental help such as Social Security's supplemental income.

In December, Patch reported that York Township and others spent a lot of their general assistance money on administration.

Last budget year, York Township, which includes Elmhurst south of North Avenue, spent $423,346 on general assistance. Of that, $171,881, or about 40 percent, went toward actual help. The rest went for things such as salaries and health insurance.

"We have to have employees to give help. Our employees are trained," Valle said in a December interview. "It costs money to have programs. We do offer a lot."

In the nonprofit world, CharityWatch considers a group to be highly efficient if it spends less than 25 percent of its budget on overhead.

In a news release Tuesday night, Reid McCollum, chairman of the DuPage County Democratic Party, claimed victory in 48 out of 49 contested partisan races in township elections.

He called it a "seismic shift" in local politics.

"Voters have made it crystal clear that they want leaders who will bring transparency, fairness, and forward-thinking solutions to local government," McCollum said.

DuPage County has moved to the Democratic column in recent elections, as has been the case in suburbs across the country. But until Tuesday's election, the GOP had held on to many of DuPage County's township governments.