Press Release
For immediate release
Contact: Richard Dunn
Democratic Candidate for DuPage County Board, District 4
Cell: 630-605-1019
Richard@RLDunn.com


 (Glen Ellyn, Illinois) In an ambitious bid to unseat County Board member Grant Eckoff (R), retired Glen Ellyn village planner Richard Dunn, Democratic Candidate for DuPage County Board, District 4, is pledging to restore what he says is lacking in DuPage County politics: fiscal responsibility, commitment to the environment, and transparency. Dunn may be able to hitch his wagon to DuPage voters’ emerging dissatisfaction with one-party domination of county and national politics.

The 18-member DuPage County Board has not had a Democratic member since the 1990s, in fact, most county-level elected offices have been so singularly Republican that no Democratic challengers have surfaced in some years. But in this year’s midterm elections, two Democratic hopefuls have emerged in District 4: Dunn, and Dan Bailey who faces Republican Jerry McBride.

Dunn is cautiously optimistic about his candidacy especially given the momentum gathering in the 6th District’s race for Congress between Tammy Duckworth (D) and Peter Roskam (R). Duckworth’s polling numbers are showing the Iraq war veteran with a four to five point lead over Roskam, an almost unheard development seeing that the district is heavily Republican territory and Roskam is retiring Henry Hyde’s hand-picked successor.

Duckworth may be sailing on the mess Republicans have made of national politics, but at the county level, less is influenced by headline grabbing issues such as the Iraq war and Republican sex scandals in Congress.

Dunn, a committed member of Glen Ellyn First United Methodist Church, weighs his candidacy with something akin to a missionary spirit. He sees the one-party system in the DuPage County Board as inherently unfair and unhealthy, especially since over 40% of the County regularly votes Democratic in general elections. Checks and balances on political power at the county level are suffering, says Dunn, evidenced by the Board’s recently voting themselves another pay raise, now to reach over $53,000 a year by 2010. Critics say that this salary is for essentially part-time work.  

The 68-year-old Dunn, as a planner for the Village of Glen Ellyn for 13 years, earned wide respect for his integrity and competence in public service. He kept his political persuasions under the radar while working for the Village of Glen Ellyn, then this year began his campaign in earnest for political office as a Democrat in DuPage.  

When Dunn canvasses his district, in his mild manner he knocks on doors and holds out a brochure naming three Democratic candidates for county office.  Never a hard sell, Dunn, trim and looking somewhat younger than his 68 years, is sometimes taken aback by the enthusiastic response he receives from voters. At home he exudes a curious mix between hope, faith, and resignation. He hopes that he will be at the vanguard of democratic change in DuPage County, but he is resigned to events as they will be crafted by the will of the voters and perhaps a divine hand. He understands that his role as a leader in change in DuPage will be less important than the change itself.