February 5, 2009
By Erik Potter
Post-Tribune staff writer
John Curley will seek another term as chairman of the Lake County Republican Central Committee, but he'll be doing it with a team of new faces.
Curley is backing a slate of new officers, including Kim Krull for vice chairwoman, George Janiec for secretary, and Kevin VanLinden for treasurer.
The new people represent a younger, fresher approach for the party, Curley said, without giving many specifics.
"I'm the senior member, but we've brought in young, energetic people who are involved," Curley said. "There's not a 'yes person' in the group. They're all free thinkers. They bring what's best to the party."
Janiec, the last piece added to the slate, said he had only accepted the secretary nomination in the past day, so the group had yet to form a concrete agenda. But he saw room to exploit what he said was a slowness from the Democrats to cut government budgets, and a lack of youth engaged in county politics on either side of the aisle.
"(Republicans need to) show the real face of the party,"?Janiec said. "They're not rich capitalists or industrialists. They're people just like you and me. Just like their Democratic counterparts, but they happen to think and vote a little differently."
Both parties' committee chairman controls appointments to the Lake County Board of Elections and fills vacancies in party's precinct organization.
Central committee officers will be selected by members of that precinct organization at a county convention on Saturday,
March 7.
From the Post-Tribune