Lake County sheriff: Curran

Crime is down. Costs are down. Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran can't take all the credit, and he acknowledges as much, but those are still two good reasons why voters should keep him in place as Lake County's top cop.

We endorse Curran for Lake County sheriff over challenger Doug Roberts, a Waukegan defense attorney.

Curran, a newly minted Republican who swapped parties nearly two years ago, spent his first term in office privatizing some functions to cut costs, gaining support from the rank and file and finding substantial savings, including turning back his own scheduled raise for 2010.

Curran famously locked himself in the county jail for a week to see what it was like, but followed up with new programs to help inmates stay connected with their kids.

We welcome his shift away from hard-line opposition to providing a citizenship path for immigrants who've entered the country illegally,