Lake Forest Caucus Snubs Voters Again, Ignores Result Of Public Vote

LAKE FOREST, IL — For the second time in less than two years, the leadership of the Lake Forest Caucus has defied the results of a vote of its general membership.

Earlier this month, attendees at the organization's spring meeting voted 132-125 to reject a proposed slate of new officers.

That meeting is one of two annual public meetings of the entire caucus membership, which includes all registered voters in the city of Lake Forest, mandated by the organization's bylaws.

Although the bylaws for the organization call for it to elect its officers at the spring meeting, it failed to do so at this year's meeting.

Voters at this year's meeting were presented only the chance to vote "yes" or "no" on the full executive committee slate, rather than individual members.

Chris Benes, the president of the Lake Forest Caucus, acknowledged the results of the April 2 vote at the Gorton Center and pledged to communicate more information after a meeting Thursday of the Caucus Committee.

That committee, which is made up of nine members from each ward and the seven officers, then "overwhelmingly confirmed" the officer slate, Benes said. In a message to the community Friday, the caucus president said there was only one person who was both eligible and willing to be president of the organization under its bylaws.

"Lacking clear direction in the Bylaws on how to proceed after the Spring Meeting, the Caucus Committee decided these Committee members will best lead the Caucus in 2024-25 to sustain its mission," Benes said.

Under Benes, leadership of the caucus, a nonpartisan political action committee that has dominated local government in Lake Forest for nearly nine decades, last year sought to modify its bylaws to remove the opportunity for the general membership to vote on its endorsements for municipal offices.

Those proposed changes to the bylaws, which were touted as the "Caucus Preservation Act" needed a two-thirds majority to pass at the annual fall meeting, but mustered only 45.5 percent of the more than 1,500 attendees.

Caucus leadership abided by the results of the November 2023 vote after the previous year ignoring another "no" vote from members.

About two-thirds of the approximately 500 people who attended the 2022 fall annual meeting voted against the candidacy of eventual mayor Randy Tack, but caucus leadership decided the vote was actually "non-binding" — even though the organization’s bylaws say nothing of the sort.

Shortly after Benes announced the installation of the same slate of officers that its voters had rejected — President Joe Oriti, Vice President Regina Etherton, Secretary Dale Tauke, Treasurer Fred Brewer, Fundraising Chair Jennifer McGregor, External Communications Chair Mark Pickett and Internal Communications Chair Jason Akemann — Patch asked Benes whether leadership of the caucus believed that it did not have to respect the public votes that its bylaws require, but the group’s president said he was unable to respond to that or other questions Friday.

Earlier:

• Voters Reject Lake Forest Caucus Bylaw Changes
• Former Lake Forest Caucus Leader: 'Vote No' On Proposed Bylaw Changes
• Ex-Alderman Challenges Rejected Caucus Candidate For Mayor