Cook County’s tier of northwest suburbs, stretching from Harlem avenue west to Elgin, north of Devon avenue, used to be a bulwark of Republican strength. Now it’s a wasteland.

Incessant factionalism, crass opportunism, and gross stupidity have caused the area’s once-mighty Republican township organizations to collapse or vanish. This “Tale of Three Townships” – Maine, Elk Grove and Schaumburg – and details the Democrats’ surge and the enormity of the Republicans’ surrender.

Just a generation ago, in 1984, Ronald Reagan won those townships by a vote of 73.7 percent over Democrat Walter Mondale. In 2008, Barack Obama won Maine, Elk Grove and Schaumburg by 60.9 percent over Republican John McCain. In two presidential elections separated by 24 years, the turnout was almost identical: 134,384 (1984) and 136,780 (2008). But the outcome’s partisan reversal was breathtaking: The Republican vote declined by 45,644, and the Democratic vote surged by 48,040.

“It’s a matter of infrastructure,” said county Republican chairman Lee Roupas. “They (Obama and the Democrats) had an enthusiastic core of precinct volunteers, and it was a Democratic year. We (Republicans) need to have a ground game, with motivated precinct workers. We didn’t have that (in 2008).”

Here is the outlook in the three townships:

Maine Township (Park Ridge, Mount Prospect, Des Plaines, part of Arlington Heights): A vibrant organization back in the days when the late State Senator Marty Butler was Republican committeeman (1992-98), the Republicans have withered to virtual nothingness. But so, too, have the Democrats, since former Niles Mayor Nick Blasé’s 2002 departure as committeeman.

Mark Thompson, the current Republican committeeman, has been locked in a bitter feud with the more conservative Republican clique that controls township government. Thompson beat Bill Darr, Butler’s successor for committeeman, in 2002. Darr and then-Trustee Bob Dudycz colluded to dump Thompson as township supervisor in 2001, and substitute Dudycz. Thompson lost to Dudycz in the 2005 primary by 22 votes. In 2006, Dudycz’s candidate, Bob Provenzano, lost to Thompson for committeeman by 319 votes.

The result: epidemic and enduring hatred. The Republicans are split between moderates and conservatives. Few of the township’s 134 precincts have any Republican coverage. Due to the incessant squabbling, party volunteers and contributors are reticent to get involved. Under Butler and Darr, the party could generate yearly contributions of up to $100,000. Under Thompson that stream has been reduced to a trickle, under $10,000 in 2008.

In 2008, Obama carried Maine township by 58.9 percent. That was 2,892 votes better than John Kerry in 2004 and 6,909 votes better than Al Gore in 2000 . The Republican vote was down by 1,858 compared to 2000, and by 20,576 – almost half –compared to 1984.
But the proverbial corner has been turned. Dudycz resigned as supervisor in 2007, replaced by the less polarizing Carol Teschky. Months of jockeying, feinting and blustering ensued: Thompson threatened to run a slate of Republicans (and himself for supervisor) in 2009, and the township incumbents promised to run as the “Maine Township Incumbents” party. That would have guaranteed a Democratic triumph.
There is now a deal, although some think Thompson may have bought the Brooklyn Bridge. All the township Republican incumbents, including Teschky, will run for re-election on the Republican ticket, with a member of Thompson’s organization, Mary Roti, slated for one of four trustee slots. Teschky became deputy committeeman, the “township bunch” promised not to oppose Thompson for committeeman in 2010, the two groups agreed to unite and have joint meetings and functions, and everybody is backing Thompson in his bid for Des Plaines mayor.

In 2005, Dudycz was re-elected supervisor by 58.2 percent over Democrat Karen Dimond. The turnout in the township election (16,733) was less than a third of the turnout in the 2004 presidential election (53,672). The turnout in 2008 was 52,976, and the turnout in 2009 will be around 17,000.
Township government controls about 50 jobs, and those jobholders are an important patronage army. Peter Ryan, the Democratic candidate for supervisor, was elected a trustee in 2005, finishing fourth in a field of eight by 167 votes over a Republican. “He (Ryan) can win,” said Laura Murphy, the township Democratic committeeman, who is retiring, due to term limits, as a Des Plaines alderman. She noted that Laura Morask, who was elected township trustee in 2001as a Democrat and then became a Republican, was defeated as a candidate for Circuit Court judge in 2008. “The area is trending Democratic,” said Murphy, “and it’s all about getting out the vote.”

My prediction: The April 7 township election will be coincident with area mayoral races: Republican incumbents Howard Frimark (Park Ridge) and Irvana Wilks (Mount Prospect) are seeking re-election, but Tony Arredia is termed-out in Des Plaines. Dudycz won by 2,441 votes in 2001 and by 2,769 votes in 2005 – despite a divided party. With Thompson behind Teschky in 2009, she’ll win by 3,500 votes. For Maine Township Republicans, the road to recovery has begun.

Elk Grove Township (Elk Grove, Arlington Heights, parts of Rolling Meadows and Mount Prospect): When the Republican committeeman resigns, takes a job with a Democratic lobbying firm, and then supports the Democrat who beat her for state senator, it’s a bad omen for the Republicans. Caryl Axley was the township clerk from 1993 until 2005, when she appointed herself to a vacant 33rd district state senate seat. As township Republican committeeman since 2002, she had more weighted votes than Thompson, in Maine Township. But, despite her incumbency, and despite spending $313,864, she lost to Democrat Dan Kotowski by 1,434 votes (51.3 percent) in 2006.

Rejecting a comeback, Axley took a job with Democratic super-lobbyist Al Ronan, and quit as committeeman. Mike Sweeney, who replaced Axley as clerk, and then as committeeman, ran against Kotowski in 2008, and got his clock cleaned. Kotowski won by 15,023 votes (59.6 percent). “She (Axley) betrayed and destroyed our organization,” fumed Sweeney. “She bankrupted the party by spending all our funds on Laura Bartell,” who lost the 2008 66th District House primary to Christine Prochno by 708 votes. “She then endorsed Democrats. She has absolutely no integrity.”

The township went for Obama by 58.4 percent. In 2004, it went for Kerry by 16,593-16,227; and in 2000, it went for Bush over Gore by 15,408-14,357. The Democratic vote in Elk Grove Township has surged by 5,370 in eight years, and the Republican vote dropped by 1,742. In the state’s attorney’s race, Republican Tony Peraica lost by 2,935 votes.

The legislative results were striking. In 2006, Axley beat Kotowski in the township by 401 votes; in 2008, Kotowski buried Sweeney by 5,526 votes. “The (Republican) organization just evaporated,” said one observer.

In the area’s open House contest, retiring incumbent Carolyn Krause (R) endorsed Prochno, an Elk Grove Village trustee. But Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan (D) did what was necessary to win the seat. “They brought in hundreds of workers, and spent over $1 million to defeat me,” said Prochno, who lost her Elk Grove Township base to Democrat Mark Walker by 12,976-12,205. Walker, from Wheeling, won his township by 467 votes, Maine by 177, Palatine by 300, and Schaumburg by 314.

But the key to Walker’s (and Kotowski’s) victory was the Republicans’ collapse in Elk Grove. “Prochno should have won (the township) by 2,000 votes,” said Roupas. Give Axley part of the credit for Prochno’s loss.
Schaumburg Township (Schaumburg, Hoffman Estates, Hanover Park): It’s bad enough when, like Axley, a Republican committeeman quits and then supports a Democrat. But what about if a Republican committeeman, an avowed social conservative and state representative, becomes a Democrat? That’s what Paul Froehlich did. He’s derided in Springfield as “Mr. Opportunism,” but he’s still in office.

Once a protégé of Reaganite Don Totten, Froehlich betrayed his mentor, and beat him for committeeman in 1998. In 2003, he named himself to a vacant House seat. In 2007, he switched parties. In 2008, he was re-elected by 57.7 percent. Froehlich won Schaumburg and his Cook County base by 5,067 votes, and DuPage County by 1,312 votes.

His 2008 opponent was Republican Anita Forte-Scott, the target of a massive, negative, Madigan-funded direct mail onslaught, and an inept candidate. “He (Froehlich) took a lot of Republican workers with him into the Democratic party,” said Roupas, especially township officials. “There was little left.”
Froehlich timed his treachery well. Obama won the township by 32,006-18,405 votes (62.7 percent); in 2004, Kerry won by 25,259-23,339, and in 2000 Bush won by 21,072-20,453. The Republican vote declined by 2,667 in eight years, but the Democrats’ surged by 11,553. Froehlich got himself into a lifeboat before the Titanic sank.

The bottom line: To rebound, Republicans must win on April 7 in all three townships. They’ll be fortunate to win just one.
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Russ Stewart is a regular political columnist for The Chicago Daily Observer.