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Maine wins reelection to Lake County Board
Updated: November 7, 2012 3:16PM
LINCOLNSHIRE — Ann Maine capped a decade of serving Lincolnshire on the Lake County Board with a solid defeat of Arlene Hickory on Tuesday night.
With all precincts counted, the unofficial results had Maine holding onto her 21st District County Board seat. She will return to Waukegan in January to begin an 11th year representing the district, which spans Lincolnshire to Lake Bluff.
According to the Lake County Board of Elections website, Maine controlled 62 percent of the total 16,377 votes.
Maine, a Republican who had not faced a challenger since her first campaign in 2002, captured 10,139 votes to Hickory’s 6,238.
Maine, who also is a biology professor at Lake Forest College, was teaching a class Tuesday night. She said she forbids her students from leaving their mobile phones on in her class — yet hers started ringing just after polls closed at 7 p.m.
“They gave me a high five, so that was fun,” Maine said.
Hickory, a Democrat from Lake Bluff, said she hoped her campaign brought a few issues to the front of county politics.
“It was a very interesting experience,” Hickory said. “I’m glad I did it.”
Hickory’s platform included creating a public bank, and getting more citizens involved in government.
“A public bank, I think that would make a big difference,” said Hickory, who envisions an institution that could be used to help create new businesses and jobs.
Maine also serves as the president of the Lake County Forest Preserve, and hopes to return to that post as well. In the forest preserve, she said the primary concern was personnel. The planning director, the finance director and executive director Tom Hahn will all be retiring soon.
On the County Board, Maine said she worries that its properties’ equalized assessed valuations would continue to drop, costing the government revenue. She looked forward, however, to meeting and working with new colleagues.
“New people always bring new energy and new ideas,” she said.
District 21 encompasses Bannockburn, Lincolnshire, Riverwoods, Mettawa and Green Oaks, and includes portions of Deerfield, Gurnee, Lake Forest, Lake Bluff and Waukegan.
