Metra car from which engineers drive train when engine is on the back of the train.

The following seek to succeed former State Senator Jack Schaffer on the Metra Board.

It’s a paying position–$15,000 per year–but not exempt from political heat.

• Dennis Adams, McHenry, former McHenry County College Board member, McHenry alderman and candidate for Mayor, owner of Adams Collision Centers.
• Scott Breeden, Lakewood, McHenry County Mental Health Board member, former GOP McHenry County Board member, Lakewood Village President, Crystal Lake Park Board member.
• Michael Cortina, Crystal Lake, attorney, Partner and Co-chair of SmithAmundsen’s Financial Services Practice Group, former Assistant State’s Attorney in Whiteside County
• Frank Cuda, McHenry, President of Scheflow Engineering, applied for the RTA vacancy of Al Jourdan.
• Richard Jackson, Crystal Lake, Democrat who has sought entrance to the McHenry County judiciary, also applied for the RTA vacancy.
• Bjorn Mattsson, Bull Valley, chemical engineer and husband of GOP McHenry County Regional Superintendent of Schools Leslie Schermerhorn.
• Peter Michling, Woodstock attorney, ran unsuccessfully against State Rep. Mark Beaubien after Democrat Jack Franks redistricted him out of his district when Franks heard he was planning to challenge him.
• Marc Munaretto, Algonquin, former GOP McHenry County Board member and Algonquin Township Clerk, lost race for Algonquin Township Supervisor last year.
• Virginia Peschke, Bull Valley, former GOP McHenry County Board member and Bull Valley Village Board member
• Jim Roden,
  

  “No Metra” signs popped up around the proposed Ridgefield Metra station.

  Lakewood, ran as a Democrat for the McHenry County Board, a leader in the effort to keep a commuter station from being built in Ridgefield on land half owned by then McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler.

• Brian Sager, Woodstock, Mayor of Woodstock, former Interim President of McHenry County College, now Associate Vice President of Rock Valley College.
• William Sergeant, Harvard, former Hebron Village President.

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This article was written with a little help from my colleague Pete Gonigam from The First Electric Newspaper. He got the names first and has some detail concerning the applicants that I don’t.