Lake County board member latest to flee Democrats

Latest defection from the Lake County Democrats is County Board member Bob Sabonjian son of the former Democratic Mayor of Waukegan. The most interesting part of the article below is his quote that he left the Democratic party because and this is the quote "Since the election, however, Sabonjian has become dissatisfied with partisan politics, particularly when it came to leadership posts and committee assignments." The odd thing is that the Republicans were the ones who were the ones handing out those assignments not the Democrats.

From the Daily Herald-- Just a month after the presidential election of Barack Obama put Illinois Democrats on top of the political world, the party is taking hit after hit after hit.

First came the arrest of Gov. Rod Blagojevich on corruption charges. Then came the defection of Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran to the Republican Party.

The latest shot was fired in Waukegan, where veteran Lake County Board member Bob Sabonjian on Tuesday confirmed he has left the party and will serve the rest of his term as an independent.

Sabonjian said he was driven to defect by growing political partisanship on the board, which doubles as the county's forest preserve district board, and infighting within the local Democratic organization.

"This is something I'm doing because this is something my conscience is telling me to do," said Sabonjian, 53, who last month was re-elected to a four-year term.

Democratic board member Angelo Kyle, one of the panel's senior members, hopes to persuade Sabonjian to reconsider.

"I certainly want him to carry out the balance of his term under the banner of the party (with which) he was elected," said Kyle, also of Waukegan.

Sabonjian's victory in November - and four upset wins by Democratic newcomers - helped close the Republican majority on the county board to 13-10.

Since the election, however, Sabonjian has become dissatisfied with partisan politics, particularly when it came to leadership posts and committee assignments.

He feels Democrats deliberately were kept from top posts. County Board Chairwoman Suzi Schmidt, a Lake Villa Republican who assigned members to committees and chose leaders, rejected the accusation.

Sabonjian's Democratic roots run deep. He is the son of the late Democratic Waukegan Mayor Robert Sabonjian, who led the city in the 1980s.

The younger Sabonjian, a county board member since 1999, had been considering running for mayor in 2009 but recently backed off that bid, saying infighting in the local party soured him on the idea.

"These guys can play pretty ugly," Sabonjian said. "And I don't want to submit my wife or (myself) to that ugliness."

On a separate note, Bob should smile during his official portrait more often, what a depressing picture.