North Cook News

New Trier denied independents, Morton Grove is all 'Action,' and Maine struggled to decide in Tuesday's elections.

New Trier Results

The New Trier Economy Party brushed aside a challenge from a trio of independent candidates to sweep all four available township trustee seats.

Kevin Boyd, Gail Schnitzer Eisenberg, Elliott Robbins and John Thomas easily defeated Kathy Myalls, Bob Costello and Stacey Woehrle, with each Economy Party candidate gaining approximately 20 percent of the vote. Each of the independents garnered approximately 7 percent.

The independents hoped to earn voter support by touting better utilization of tax dollars and awareness of political jurisdictional boundaries.

Morton Grove Results

The Action Party lived up to its name, winning overwhelming in the races for Morton Grove mayor, village clerk and three trustee seats.

Incumbent Mayor Dan DiMaria took 75 percent of the vote to easily defeat the challenge mounted by Dan Staackmann. Clerk hopeful Eileen Scanlon Harford, the daughter of a former mayor, beat Lori Gattorna with 72 percent of the vote, and Bill Grear, Ed Ramos and Connie Travis each earned at least 20 percent of the vote to take the trustee spots over independents Mark Albers, Jeanine Como and Mary White.

Maine Township Results

In a closely fought contest, Peter Gialamas defeated Gloria Ludwig by less than 1 percent of the vote for Maine Township clerk. With 88 of 92 precincts reporting, Gialamas had 7,653 votes to Ludwig’s 7,527.

The race for four trustee seats also was particularly tight, with three Republicans – David Carrabotta, Kimberly Jones and Susan Sweeney – being joined by one Democrat, Claire McKenzie, as victors. The four barely edged out Republican Kelly Schaefer and Democrats Thomas McGuire, Alex Paterakos and Sherwin Weinberg.

Park Ridge Results

There will be no more “acting” for Marty Malone, who grabbed 69 percent of the vote for Park Ridge mayor, a position he has held on an interim basis for two years. Malone defeated Lucas Fuksa and will now take on the mayoral role officially for at least the next four years.

In the race for Park Ridge Park Board, an unofficial slate of four candidates – Jim O'Donnell, Jim Janak, Harmony Harrington and H. Robert Leach – defeated four other hopefuls, including incumbents Jim Phillips and Joan Bende, who have each served one four-year term on the board.

In the only contested aldermanic races, Gail Wilkening won election to a two-year term in Ward 3 and Roger Shubert earned a four-year term in Ward 4.

Northbrook Election Results

Firefighter Scott Bush narrowly missed becoming the first municipal employee to join the Northbrook Village Board of Trustees, losing to Northbrook Caucus candidates Kathryn Ciesla, an incumbent; Muriel Collison, the plan commissioner; and Jason Han, the community relations commissioner.

Bush collected 18 percent of the vote but needed another 9 percent to catch both Collison and Han. Ciesla garnered 28 percent.

Initial vote tallies were reported by the Cook County clerk, with all precincts reporting. These results are reliable, but final results have to be certified before being entered into permanent record. You can see these results in full at the county clerk's website.