Published: November 01, 2008 10:16 pm      

Quest for office has ups, downs

Handling a county-wide election campaign was a tough thing for Republican Denny Gardner to swallow — almost literally.

The Drug Abuse Resistance Education office and circuit clerk candidate jokes that he visited and ate at three community pancakes events in one day in recent months and so many other community functions since November 2007 that he’s had to watch his waistline.

But, more seriously, he described almost 12 months of campaigning as “an adventure.”

“There’s something all the time,” Gardner said just days before the election. “You don’t want to offend anybody by missing things, but you just can’t make everything.”

While political candidates at the federal and state level receive the most attention around election time, local residents running for a county office face the same time-consuming uphill battle to win the approval of voters.

Vermilion County covers an area of 898 square feet and runs an hour or more drive from Hoopeston along the north border to Ridge Farm along the south.

For Kurt Cruppenink, the county is smaller compared to the multi-county campaign area he encountered while helping now-retired attorney Paul Manion run for judge in the 1980s. But as manager of his wife, Darla’s Democrat campaign for circuit clerk, the hours spent made up for the lack of miles.

“You get involved to where it controls our lives,” he said. “It gets to be all you think about.

“But in between you have to see that the lawn gets mowed and kids get fed,” Kurt said, adding, “We’ve done a lot of fast food.”

Circuit clerk is one of just two races where the current office holder is not seeking another term.

The other race pits Republican Randy Brinegar against Democrat Dan Brown for a four-year term in the office of state’s attorney.

Not enough hours

Brown is familiar with elections, having coordinated his own campaigns for judicial positions in the ‘90s and successfully winning his current seat on the Danville District 118 School Board.

He admits campaigning this year has been difficult given his family, private law firm and school board seat. But he said friends have stepped forward to help him this year.

In the end, he said experience means little for a candidate managing a campaign.

“Campaigning doesn’t matter if you’re a veteran or new to it,” Brown said. “You’re still subject to the same emotional roller coaster and everything that goes along with campaigning.”

The campaign trail has been a long one in the circuit clerk’s race, with both candidates announcing their intent to run more than a year ago.

But the early announcement served both candidates well, allowing them time to practice being a politician.

Cruppenink said as manager, he advises his wife on how to wade into a crowd, promoting herself and engaging voters.

“Early on you’re getting your feet wet,” he said. “By the time the primary comes and goes, she was a lot better and more comfortable.”

As manager, Cruppenink said he tried to make sure his wife didn’t have anything to think about and distract her while at-tending events or doing door-to-door.

Gardner, despite some experience running for local offices around Ridge Farm, said he faced the same hurdle when it came to diving into a crowd of voters.

“It’s hard to ask people to vote for you and support you,” he said, adding he and Darla even talked about it. “It takes a little time to get going on that. But once you get used to it, it’s easier.”

High gas bills

What wasn’t as easy was the money involved in running for office. As his own campaign manager, Gardner was all too famil-iar with the costs it was taking to familiarize people with him. Driving to events has racked up more than 5,000 miles on his truck — a costly amount at $3-$4 per gallon of gas earlier this year.

“I can’t imagine Bill (Black) and Lori (DeYoung) with what they have to go through,” he said referring to the 104th Senate District race that covers Vermilion County and half of Champaign County.

“It’s bad enough crisscrossing this county,” Gardner said. “It’s a drain.”

As a husband and wife team, the Cruppenink household quickly became campaign headquarters, Cruppenink said.

“Your garage becomes a sign-making factory and your house is full of campaign ads and postcards and stamping,” he said. “It’s really been something else.”