Pioneer Press Endorses Lou Bianchi

The Algonquin and Cary-Grove Countrysides, both Pioneer Press weekly papers, have endorsed McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi for re-election.

“Because he has served well in his current position, we endorse Bianchi.”

Bianchi is running against Dan Regna, who served under former State’s Attorney Gary Pack.

Reasons for the endorsement given by the paper include the bringing of more civil cases in-house, saving “money previously spent on outside counsel”

There were two interesting slaps at challenger Dan Regna. In one, there is this comment under Regna’s promise to be tougher on crime:

”Regna was an assistant state’s attorney in McHenry County during an administration that convicted an innocent man who was then slated for execution before he was later exonerated.

“A getting-tough-on-crime message is a crowd-pleaser, but the intricacies of many criminal cases require more complex thinking.”

I don’t know whether Regna had anything to do with that horrific miscarriage of justice in Richmond.

The second refers to Regna’s criticism of Bianchi’s having hired outside counsel to fight pipeline company Enbridge’s attempt to expand capacity in McHenry County.

“What Regna neglects to point out is that Bianchi’s office advised against challenging Enbridge’s expansion efforts; however, the County Board ignored his advice. Bianchi subsequently hired a high-powered outside firm to deal with Enbridge’s lawsuit.“

Hmmm.

In a questionnaire answer, Regna points out,

“The Country Board subsequently settled the lawsuit for a protective containment area half that in the original proposal. “

That settlement seems to verify Bianchi’s advice.

The paper also publishes answers to its questionnaire on its web site.

The questions are:

  • Please provide a brief summary of why you are running for this position.
  • Is crime a growing problem in McHenry County? Are there any specific areas in which the State’s Attorney’s Office should be targeting its prosecution efforts?
  • Is staffing in the State’s Attorney’s Office adequate?
  • What measures can the state’s attorney take to better represent the people of McHenry County?
  • Are there any issues not raised in this questionnaire that you think are important.

That’s a great last question.

And, allowing us to read the answers is gratifying.

That’s assuming anyone is interested in issues in Regna’s challenge, which the editorial writer summarizes like this:

“Regna’s candidacy appears to have blossomed through Republican Party political infighting for reasons that no one seems to understand. He comes off as a disgruntled ex-employee with an ax to grind and not a candidate with better ideas.”

That may be part of the reason for the well-financed coalition behind Regna, but I think it just scratches the surface.

You don’t have to read very far between the lines in this answer from Regna to finD another element of his coalition:

“Upon taking office, I will develop and dedicate necessary resources to obtain justice in our most serious criminal cases.”

One might wonder what about the lesser crimes.

Will there be deal cutting, as there was under Gary Pack’s regime?

If so, I’ll bet a lot of defense attorneys will be happy. Less work for them to clear a case.


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