Once upon a time, being an incumbent in Lake Forest was a life-time appointment. Incumbents were rarely defeated, and only when they stepped down voluntarily was new blood added, and even then it came from the same pool. Recently, however, incumbents have been an endangered species. In 2010 long time member Richard Dixon was defeated and in 2012 Marcia Rudolph followed.
When I first became interested in local politics, the Council consisted of those two plus Kathryn McCullough, Mark Tettemer and Peter Herzog. Now all will be gone in a matter of 6 years.
The latest victims are Kathryn McCullough, a 20+ year veteran and Dave Bass, a man appointed in 2013 to fill the unexpired term of Peter Herzog. They came in 5th and 7th in an 8 person race. Before we identify an “incumbent curse”, first term Council member Scott Voigts managed to get re-elected. In fact he came in first with heavy backing from the Republican Party and from Developers. Continue reading