Waterford Supervisor Bakke faces a challenge for County Board seat

It’s just one of two races for revamped board

By Ed Nadolski

Editor in chief

There will be just two races for the 21 newly apportioned seats on the Racine County Board this spring and one of those involves a west-end district.

Longtime Waterford area Supervisor Gilbert Bakke is challenged for his seat in the 18th District by Patrick Haley of Kansasville.

The 18th District now includes the Village of Waterford, the northeastern corner of the Village of Rochester and the southwestern corner of the Town of Dover.

The other race involves the 14th District in the Village of Sturtevant where incumbent Katherine Buske faces a challenge from Robert Stake.

Jan. 3 was the filing deadline for the April 3 election, however, the deadline was extended until Friday in the 2nd District because the incumbent failed to file a notice of non-candidacy. Although three potential candidates initially expressed interest in the seat, only one of them – Kiana Johnson of Racine – filed all the required paperwork.

Burlington-area incumbents Thomas Pringle in the 20th District and Mike Dawson in the 21st District will run unopposed as will incumbent Peter Hansen in the 16th District, which encompasses the Union Grove and Yorkville areas.

The 20th District Pringle will represent following the election now includes the northern portion of the city and town of Burlington and the southwestern portion of the Village of Rochester.

The 21st District Dawson will represent includes the southern portion of the city and town of Burlington.

The 19th District, which encompasses the Town of Waterford and includes the extreme northwest corner of Norway, will be represented by incumbent Jeff Halbach.

The County Board approved the redistricting map last fall. While many residents will retain their same supervisor, others will not as district boundaries have changed.

Such is the case in the 13th District, which is a sprawling, mostly rural expanse that stretches across the middle of the county from Mt. Pleasant on the east into Caledonia, Raymond, Dover and Norway.

Currently, residents in the Wind Lake/Norway area are represented by Joseph Bellante III, who was appointed to finish the remainder of the term of his father, who died late last spring. Bellante did not seek re-election, so, barring any changes, the 13th District will be represented by incumbent Mark Gleason, who lives on the extreme east side of the district and has a Mount Pleasant address.

The 13th District is one of two districts where there was the potential of incumbents facing off due to the reduction in districts from 23 to 21. The other is the 9th District where one of the two incumbents, James Rooney, did not seek another term.

Also new to the County Board race is the fact that any newcomers elected in April will not have access to the county’s health insurance plan. However, incumbents retained will still be able to participate in the plan by paying 15 percent of the premium.

Fourteen County Board members currently participate in the health insurance plan, including the two incumbents who face challenges this spring – Bakke in the 18th District and Katherine Buske in the 14th.

Supervisors are also paid $4,800 annually.

According to county officials, the prospect of health insurance for new supervisors was phased out by the County Board as part of the budget process last fall.

Dawson, who was not on the committee that proposed the change, said the motivation was “real simple – cost savings.”

However, the board decided to phase-in the change by applying only to board newcomers.

“As people like myself leave the board it will eventually disappear,” said Dawson, who participates in the health plan.

Candidates for Racine County Board

Spring 2012 election

District 1 – Donnie Snow (I), Racine.

District 2 – Kiana Johnson, Racine.

District 3 – Monte Osterman, Racine.

District 4 – Kenneth Lumpkin (I), Racine.

District 5 – David Cooke (I) Racine.

District 6 – Q.A. Shakoor II (I), Racine.

District 7 – Russell Clark (I), Racine.

District 8 – Daniel Sharkozy (I), Racine.

District 9 – Pamela Zenner-Richards (I), Racine.

District 10 – Ken Hall (I), Racine.

District 11 – Robert N. Miller (I), Racine.

District 12 – Ronald Molnar (I), Racine.

District 13 – Mark Gleason (I), Mount Pleasant.

District 14 – Katherine Buske (I), Sturtevant; Robert Stake, Sturtevant.

District 15 – John Wisch (I), Racine.

District 16 – Peter Hansen (I), Sturtevant.

District 17 – Robert Grove (I), Caledonia.

District 18 – Gilbert Bakke (I), Waterford; Patrick Haley, Kansasville.

District 19 – Jeff Halbach (I), Waterford.

District 20 – Thomas Pringle (I), Burlington.

District 21 – Mike Dawson (I), Burlington.

Due to reapportionment, the incumbents’ current districts may not correspond with their new districts, which are listed here.