District 5 Draws Active Democrat as Challenger

Lake in the Hills village board member Paula Yensen apparently wants to follow in the footsteps of former village trustee Jim Kennedy.

Last year Kennedy upset Perry Moy and was elected the first Democrat to the McHenry County Board since about 1970. Then two McHenry Township members ran as Democrats and were elected. Their next time up, they switched parties, rather than fight.

While Kennedy applied to replace Republican State Senator Dick Klemm when he retired and, then, flipped to the Democratic Party to run for county board, Yensen has been an active Democrat as long as I have been aware of her.

Yensen will be running against long-time incumbents John Jung and Virginia Peschke. Jung lives in Woodstock; Peschke in Bull Valley.

Yensen is much closer to the population center than the two incumbents.

The biographical information Yensen posted on the Lake in the Hills web site follows:

“Paula Yensen took office as Village Trustee on April 26, 2001.
Trustee Yensen received her Ph.D. in Education with a minor in Urban Affairs Programs and Family and Child Science from Michigan State University. As a graduate student, she received the Women in State Government Scholarship, based on academic excellence and community service.

”Trustee Yensen is the Executive Director of United Way of Greater St. Charles and Elburn, a member of the McHenry County Defenders, Association for Fundraising Professionals, a founder of the Kane County Council on Child Abuse and Neglect, on the board for the Huntley Area AAUW, American University Association for Woman and has served in leadership roles with numerous public service and governmental groups in Michigan, Ohio, and Illinois. While living in Ohio, Paula was Director of Allocations for the United Way of Dayton, Ohio. She recently served on the Community Needs Assessment, Allocations Panel for the Community Chest of Oak Park, Illinois and as Trustee for the Endowment Fund, Congregational Unitarian Church.

“Trustee Yensen has two children, Jamie and Jason Boyce and is married to Mike Bissett.”


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