Coroner Candidate Newton is Product of Lake County Republican Higher-ups

Part 4 for a 5-part series:  Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Admitting to being guilty of resorting to a bit of exaggeration myself, it didn't take but a nanosecond for me to decide that Steve Newton's Republican candidacy for Lake County Coroner should never have become a possibility in the first place.

And that his candidacy could not be allowed to succeed.

The most difficult part in vetting the race for the Lake County Coroner's office was to decide where to begin my somewhat revealing story that has all the makings of a soap opera. 

It involves shenanigans behind the scene by Lake County Republican Establishment higher up officials to assure that Newton could run unopposed in 2012 by forcing David Cooper out of the race; unethical doings by Newton while serving as chief deputy coroner in Dr. Richard Keller's administration; an office love affair in a relationship turned marriage leading to Newton's firing and his girlfriend's dismissal in 2007, and the late arrival of Dr. Howard Cooper into the race as a long-shot Republican challenger.

I am well aware that my coroner expose will not set well with many, knowing also that others will thank me for letting them know the truth about a candidate before voting next Tuesday (March 20). 

Why am I then taking it upon myself to reveal what many of my fellow Republicans has so far been successful keeping under cover, and for which I will be criticized for doing (hopefully not more is forthcoming!).

As a Republican, I place my conservatism above my Republicanism. My sense of integrity demands that I point out abuse and corruption wherever and whenever it may surface, realizing that corruption in political parties is an equal opportunist where winning often is all that matters. Like cancer, corruption first invades, and then follows pollution, which can eventually destroy all that it comes in contact with if not curtailed in time.   

This post reflects a continuation of research that was begun more than two years ago when I become aware that Republican hard-ball tactics were being employed in regard to winning back the coroner's office in 2012.

The only mistake the true-life David Cooper made, when announcing his candidacy more than two years ago, was to make public that he wanted to bring honor and integrity back to the office of Lake County Coroner. 

From then on, nasty and contentious actions were employed within the ranks of higher ups in the Lake County Republican Party to destroy David's livelihood and reputation. 

The results: David was forced out of the race and lost his livelihood. For Newton, it was full steam ahead. For the Establishment Republicans, it was a means through which they could return power, control and the status quo of the coroner's office to the Republican Party, which it lost to great consternation in 2004 to the Democrats. 

The following link relates my sordid tale in three parts with full documentation.

Having established a timeline of past happenings in the Lake County coroner's office from 1952 to 2004 when a Republican-like dynasty was in control, it is now time to zero in on the candidate. Newton promises to bring integrity back to the Coroner's office in 2012 in a role as the establishment Republican candidate pick.

Newton, like all candidates running for office, must face the public and be prepared to answer uncomfortable questions that candidates would rather not deal with.

One question Newton faces repeatedly from concerned, potential voters is over whether certain indiscretions occurred when Newton was serving as Chief Deputy Coroner under the administrations of Republican interim Coroner Jim Wipper and elected Democrat Keller.  

I observed Newton brush off the question as a happening that was all about nothing when he spoke in February of this year in front of the Republican Assembly of Lake County.   

The indiscretion involves an office relationship which Newton continues to describe as being between two single individuals at a time when fraternizing was not forbidden, with the claim that Dr. Keller didn't fire him in 2007.

Newton wasn't prosecuted when fired, because, as a Republican, the present Lake County State's Attorney, Mike Waller, did not to bring charges. Waller's propensity not to level charges against fellow Republicans is well known, and is but one of the reasons why he is not running for re-election and leaving office under a cloud of inaptness.

The opposite rings true about Newton's firing. Through research I was able to locate two back newspaper articles which tell a different story. I have shared two of them with you.

1. The Daily Herald described the nature of the firing due to an improper "relationship" with a female underling, a direct subordinate of Newton.

2. The Chicago Tribune reported on April 24, 2007 of Dr. Keller's announcement of the effective date of Newton's firing, April 20, 2007.

But this isn't the end of the sordid office relationship girlfriend saga that Newton is attempting to keep under wraps as he runs for coroner.   

Installment 2: Misuse of coroner's office to benefit woman employee and girlfriend