In a bipartisan move, the Lake County Council elected Councilman Larry Blanchard President of the County Council for the year 2009. Blanchard is the lone Republican on the council and has represented St. John, Cedar Lake, Lowell, Winfield, parts of Crown Point and south Lake County since 1994.
Blanchard thanked his fellow council members for their support "even though there was a little bit of pressure for this not to happen."
"I will only be as good as my colleagues here. We deal with a lot of issues and sometimes agree to disagree. But as a team we stick together, and we are still friends. That is the way of a true democracy," Blanchard said.
Christine Cid, D-East Chicago, had served as council president for 2008. Cid received much praise from Blanchard and the other council members for her role in cutting county spending by $15 million as mandated by the property tax caps of House Bill 1001 and her refusal to add any new taxes.
Ms. Cid did an outstanding job as County Council President for making those cuts and cutting fat from a bloated county budget. We know Councilman Blanchard has always been on the side of the taxpayers and as Council President, will continue to streamline county government and make it more cost effective and efficient. That will continue to be good news for Lake County taxpayers.