PARK RIDGE - The board of directors of Republican Women of Park Ridge voted Saturday to endorse Susan Sweeney for State Representative in District 55 and Dan Patlak for re-election as Commissioner of the County Board of Tax Review. Both candidates are members of the club.
Sweeney is a club officer and has qualified as a write-in candidate for the House of Representatives in Springfield after incumbent Rep. Rosemary Mulligan withdrew her nominating petitions for re-election. Sweeney, a former management employee of IBM, is a substitute teacher and mother of three children. A resident of Park Ridge, she has been active in advocating pension reform and transparency in local government and says she wants to take the cause of government reform, spending cuts and repeal of the state income tax hikes to Springfield on behalf of taxpayers and small business operators in the north suburbs. Her district includes major parts of Park Ridge, Des Plaines and Elk Grove Village.
Patlak is seeking a second term as suburban commissioner on the Board of Review. He works full-time in the post and has already secured many reforms in the board's operations. His election in 2010 broke up a Democratic monopoly on the three-member board. Patlak is the former township assessor in Wheeling Township and has emphasized taxpayer education in his service on the assessment review board. He is being challenged for re-election by the same former Democrat whom he defeated for the GOP nomination two years ago. Patlak and his wife Dulce have one son. His district includes nearly all of the Cook County suburbs and a small section of Chicago.
"Our club members are excited," said Republican Women's club president Charlene Foss-Eggemann, "that Susan Sweeney has stepped forward to take the taxpayers' cause to Springfield. She is a dynamic woman who has brought passion to her work in our club and will offer the same dedication to her work in the Illinois House. We are proud of her, and we're proud, too, of Dan Patlak, one of our club's few male members, who has long made a solid contribution to good government and taxpayer protection.
"These two fine Republicans have been there for us," Foss-Eggemann said. "We are determined now to be there for them in their fights to secure and maintain these important posts."
