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Drury trumps Shaw in bid to succeed May
Scott Drury, the newly elected Illinois State Representative for the 58th District, and his daughter Eden at La Case De Isaac and Moishe in Highland Park on election night. | Jon Durr~For Sun-Times Media
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Updated: November 7, 2012 7:14PM
Former federal prosecutor Scott Drury is eager to begin redefining Illinois government with terms like credibility and responsibility and break away from the corruption and political expediency that have been business-as-usual in the past.
Drury, a Democrat, handily won his bid to succeed six-term State Rep. Karen May, D-Highland Park, in the redrawn 58th Illinois House district.
Unofficial returns showed that Drury, of Highwood, won over Republican Mark Shaw of Lake Forest by a margin of 56 to 44 percent.
“The new 58th district was a tougher district for Democrats than it had been in the past,” said Drury Wednesday. “We were pleased to see the voters were determined that they wanted to bring in the new government that we were campaigning on.
“We just think Illinois needs to have government that is defined by credibility and responsibility and not corruption and political expediency.”
Drury, now a commercial litigator, was previously an assistant U.S. Attorney who worked for then-U.S. Attorney and corruption fighter Patrick Fitzgerald, an angle he played up in political ads.
May, who has been in office since 2001, announced a year ago she planned to step down to bring balance to her life after working 24/7 for 12 years. Republican Lauren Turelli, a May opponent in 2010, won the Republican primary in March of this year, but withdrew several months later, citing family reasons. Shaw, an attorney and pharmacist who worked on Turelli’s campaigns, stepped in to fill the Republican spot on the ballot.
Both Drury, 39, and Shaw, 51, received help from their state party organizations in the form of cash, advertising, printing and postage.
Upon assuming office in January, Drury said his top priorities will be truthful budgeting, pension reform and ethics reform.
A Drury campaign piece favored ending pensions for state legislators, but was silent on the touchier subject of reforming state pensions for suburban and Downstate educators, state employees and state university employees. Those state pension systems account for the lion’s share of the $83 billion in unfunded liability.
“The reason for proposing an end to legislative pensions is because in large part, the pension problem was caused by the legislature,” said Drury. “Before we ask anybody to give up anything, the people who caused the problem should be giving up a lot more. That is the credibility I am talking about.
“At the end of the day, the solution is going to be hard,” he conceded. “Unfortunately, compromise sometimes requires that everybody give up something they want.”
The new 58th district includes all or portions of Bannockburn, Deerfield, Glencoe, Highland Park, Highwood, Knollwood, Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Lincolnshire, Northbrook, North Chicago and Riverwoods.
