Final election article

An article in Wednesday's Daily Register/Daily Journal by Eric Fodor, headed "Phelps and Nelson take office without ballot opposition," reported:

HARRISBURG - A couple of local races were uncontested, with Democrats coasting to victory.

State Rep. Brandon Phelps coasted to a second term in the General Assembly without an opponent in the General Election.

Phelps, a popular young legislator living in Norris City with roots in Eldorado, defeated Jay Williams in the primary two years ago, then went on to an easy victory against Darla Partridge in the 2002 General Election.

Phelps has done some campaign work on behalf of state Sen. Gary Forby, D-Benton, who was locked in an expensive and tough race with challenger Ron Summers. However, Phelps has mostly maintained a low profile on the campaign trail, mostly sticking to legislative matters during the campaign season.

A lot of his time has been spent working to secure a new business in the Eldorado Roundy's building, Phelps said recently.

After a very tough state's attorney primary and a summer-long controversy surrounding an opponent picked by a GOP caucus who did not get on the General Election ballot, David Nelson was able to breathe easy on election night.

Nelson will take office Dec. 1, succeeding longtime State's Attorney Rod Wolf, who chose to retire after 16 years in office.

Nelson has been relatively low-key this fall, but he has worked on behalf of other Democrat candidates and attended County Board meetings. He also is making plans for how he will run the office. Nelson recently announced his wife, Mona, who is experienced in working at law offices, will be working in the office free-of-charge.

At a party caucus in May, the Republican Party named Todd Bittle to oppose Nelson in the General Election, but Bittle was removed from the ballot after a series of court battles, which ended when the Illinois Supreme Court did not hear his appeal.

[This oblique reference is the first time the attentive reader of the local news would have learned that the high court had acted on Bittle's case.]

Thanks to the 8125 people who voted for me

According to the unofficial returns available last night, with all 43 precincts in Saline County reporting, I had 96.27% of the vote. There were 315 write-in votes for somebody else for state's attorney.

Pre-election press release:

The following press release was provided to the Daily Register and Radio Station WEBQ today:

David Nelson, the Democratic nominee for Saline County state’s attorney, released the following statement Friday, October 29:

I attended the county board meeting Thursday night at which the budgets of the state’s attorney’s office, and other county offices, were the main topic of discussion.

In anticipation of my election and assuming office on December 1st, I thought this might be an appropriate time for me to share some positive information with Saline County taxpayers.

There has been a tradition over the years, in Saline County and elsewhere, for officeholders to hire their spouses and other relatives. Public service has been very good to me and my family over the years. Knowing of the financial constraints the county is operating under, my wife Mona has volunteered to bring her considerable experience to the state’s attorney’s office, without pay.

She will be a tremendous asset to the office and to the county. Many of you are familiar with her work when she was the executive director of the housing authority. Probably fewer are aware that she was a judicial secretary for the late appellate court Justice Peyton Kunce, as well as having been a legal secretary for former U.S. attorney W. Charles Grace when he was public defender of Jackson County. She also served as a secretary for me and my former law partner, Bruce Stewart, now the presiding judge here in Saline County.

I expect that Mona’s primary responsibilities will be to serve as a liaison between the state’s attorney’s office and community social agencies, especially as regards children and the elderly. She has also volunteered to take over Phyllis Ferrell’s function as delinquent fines specialist.

I will be announcing other plans for the office after next Tuesday’s election.