Candidates Vie for Hartke Seat

Following up on local coverage of County Board member Josh Hartke's resignation due to his moving to Colorado, more on that from the News-Gazette here. A quick excerpt from that:

It’s unclear how and when the seat Hartke is vacating will be filled. In the past, precinct committeemen from a board member’s district — in this case, District 6 in northwest Champaign — have met to choose a replacement, with their recommendation then advanced to the county board.

Pattsi Petrie, the other District 6 representative on the board, said Friday that she is interested in applying for Hartke’s seat.

Petrie was defeated in the Democratic primary last month by Mike Ingram, a candidate backed by Hartke.

A second candidate from the primary is now seeking to be appointed to the opening. From today's News Gazette:

A second candidate is interested in the Champaign County Board seat being vacated by Champaign Democrat Josh Hartke.

Charles Young, who ran unsuccessfully for a county board seat last month, said Monday he would like to be appointed to the District 6 seat that Hartke said he will resign effective April 30.

Young, a retired University of Illinois education historian, joins current board member Pattsi Petrie, who also lost in her bid for reelection in the March 20 primary election, as a candidate for appointment to the board to represent the central and northwest Champaign district.

Mike Ingram got nearly half the votes cast in the three-way Democratic Party primary, collecting 1,019 to 786 for Petrie and 245 for Young.

“I have a strong interest in the position,” Young said. “And I’m pro-union and pro-nursing home.”

Maryam Ar-Raheem, recently reelected as chair of the county Democratic Party, said she hopes to call a meeting of precinct committeemen “within the next seven to 10 days” to choose Hartke’s successor.

“We’ll fill it through our process,” Ar-Raheem said. “I think there are six to eight committeemen in that district.

Full article here.