Races for committeeman in Riverside Township have been very sleepy affairs for decades. While other townships and wards have spirited races for the position – Lyons Township had a donnybrook in 2006 on the Republican side – the office goes unchallenged in Riverside Township on both the Republican and Democratic sides.
One reason may be that the two incumbents are so entrenched no one believes they’d have a shot at unseating them. On the GOP side, Judy Baar Topinka is the local committeeman. The former Illinois treasurer is an icon among the GOP stalwarts in Riverside Township and has served as the chairman of the GOP in both Cook County and the state.
John Toman, the Democratic committeeman, has political roots in the party that reach 80 years. His grandfather was an alderman and Cook County Sheriff, and his father was county coroner. In 1978, John Toman inherited the Riverside Township committeeman’s job from his father and has been challenged only once during his entire tenure.
Toman has indicated that it may be time for him to retire, and that ought to energize young local Democrats in Riverside Township. After all, while the township was long a GOP stronghold, that no longer is the case.
In the last two presidential elections, the township has voted solidly for Democratic candidates. The township has a Democratic congressman in Dan Lipinski and voted overwhelmingly for him in the 2009 election. The township also had the highest percentage of voters of any township in the 3rd Congressional District voting for the Green Party candidate.
Yet, when it comes to local politics, the Democratic Party has been AWOL for a decade. For at least the last three elections, the local Democratic Party has not fielded a slate of candidates for township office. Judging from activity in the party’s political committee, there hasn’t been any interest in doing so.
While township government doesn’t exactly made hearts flutter, it might be nice for voters to have a choice, especially for what appears to be the majority party in the township.
Of course, having two parties vying for office in a township doesn’t guarantee a true race – Lyons Township proved that this spring by hand-picking candidates from both parties to guarantee their election. But there can be no race at all if one side just doesn’t run.
It’s nice to see that a Brookfield resident, Wil Brennan, has shown interest in the position and has proved that he can go out and organize a campaign. But we can’t believe he’s the only Democrat in the township who might want to make a difference in local politics.
After all, a whole segment of government to which residents pay taxes – township government – is sitting there, waiting for new ideas, energy and enthusiasm. What do you say, Dems? How about a two-party system in Riverside Township?