Joan E. Brennan announces retirement

Elk Grove Township's top Democrat announced Tuesday she'll retire from the post she's held about 30 years.

Township Democratic Committeeman Joan E. Brennan would not offer any names of a likely successor but said someone would be picked as early as this month.

She will call a meeting of precinct captains where she'll formally resign. The group will vote in a new committeeman that night. An exact date hasn't been decided yet, she said.

Brennan said there was no particular reason prompting her decision to step down.

"It's time to retire," she said. "I don't want to run again."

Brennan, a retired schoolteacher, is a former Elk Grove Park District commissioner and holds a real estate appraisal certificate. She also worked for the Cook County assessor's office.

In Brennan's last campaign last year, the mood got a bit rough after challenger R. Kent Kirkwood of Mount Prospect almost knocked her off the ballot with a challenge to her nominating petition.

Kirkwood is the co-founder of the Democracy Club of Elk Grove Township, which began in 2004.