County board hopefuls have different motivations

One of the candidates seeking to represent the 17th District on the Lake County Board cites the need for transportation improvements as a main motivation for running.

The other said she's running to improve government accountability.

Longtime Republican incumbent Stevenson Mountsier will face Democratic challenger Denise Rotheimer in the Nov. 4 election.

Mountsier, 78, of Lake Barrington, has been on the board since 1996. Rotheimer, 36, of Barrington, is a community activist running for public office for the first time.

They're competing for a four-year term. County board members also serve on the Lake County Forest Preserve District board.

The 17th District is in the southwest corner of Lake County and includes the Barrington-area municipalities, Tower Lakes, Deer Park, Island Lake, portions of Lake Zurich and parts of Wauconda Township.

Mountsier and Rotheimer fielded questions about their political motivations and goals, as well as other topics, in questionnaires for the Daily Herald and in follow-up interviews.

Mountsier said transportation concerns in the county - known for its gridlock - top his political priorities. He supports the county transportation division's list of proposed road improvements, and wants to see work on those roads under way.

That list includes improvements to Route 173, Milwaukee Avenue and Route 45.

"They benefit all of Lake County," he said.

Mountsier also believes public transportation for seniors and disabled people should be improved throughout the Northwest suburbs. Such bus programs typically are run by townships, but he favors a borderless transportation system that would allow qualified riders to travel to doctor's appointments and other destinations outside of their home townships.

The county transportation division is seeking grant money for such a project, said Mountsier, whose wife is blind.

Leader of the forest board's finance committee, Mountsier is regarded as one of the board's fiscal watchdogs. He said he's lobbied to bring tax dollars back to Lake County for local projects.

Rotheimer is a victim's rights advocate who's crusaded against the Lake County state's attorney's office for the way she says it handles child sex abuse cases.

She said she's running for the county board to expose government's actions to the public.

"Government accountability is a top priority," she said. "You have to have accountability to be a functional government. You have to have transparency."

Rotheimer acknowledged the county board televises its meetings, and that its various meetings are open to the public. But many people don't know what the county board does, she said, or who their local commissioner is.

"The county (board) goes under the radar," she said.

Rotheimer pledged to publicize decisions that are not in the community's best interests, particularly on financial matters.

"I'm going to make sure that our taxpayer dollars are spent to our benefit and not (the board's)," she said.