From Marc Avelar:
Kane County Republican Party “Coup Attempt” of August 5
On the August 8, 2025, Smoke-Filled Room (SFR) podcast host Collin Corbett pointed out there was a “coup attempt” for control of the Kane County Republican Party, formally known as the Kane County Republican Central Committee, Inc. (KCRCC) at the monthly meeting of the KCRCC Executive Committee on August 5.
The cued SFR video can be viewed here and the segment exchange between Corbett and Make Illinois Great Again PAC Chairman Matthew Rauschert lasts nearly six minutes.
The Executive Committee’s business meeting started at 7PM, immediately after a 2-hour petition signing party hosted by Young Republicans member Mary Buell.
Cal Skinner, Jr., owner/editor of McHenry County Blog asked me what had happened in Kane County after another reader saw the SFR podcast. I attended this meeting so I have an eyewitness account of what happened. Here are the facts, obtained with numerous phone calls with other attendees of the EC meeting on August 5 to supplement my eyewitness account.
First, the Executive Committee (EC) of the KCRCC is comprised of 11 voting members, led by KCRCC Chairman Andro Lerario (R, Campton Hills), the chairs of the 8 township Republican organizations of KCRCC who are elected by the Republican precinct committeepersons within the respective township organization boundaries, and the elected-by-the-committeepersons-at-county-convention secretary and treasurer.
With the composition of the EC known, each Kane County Republican precinct committeeperson elects 4 of the 11 voting members of the Executive Committee. Other appointed Republicans on the EC are ex-oficio members.
From my sources, I learned at least 2 to 3 voting members of the EC were planning to call a vote to remove Chairman Lerario and Vice Chair & Secretary Pamela Carr Hagerman (R, West Dundee) from their respective roles on the EC.
Prior to the August 5 EC meeting, Chairman Lerario appointed former D300 school board candidate Gianena “Gia” Winkler (R, unincorporated West Dundee) as KCRCC parliamentarian.
Winkler, a paralegal by profession, prepared a short written legal analysis using the KCRCC Bylaws and Roberts Rules of Order to explain to EC members why the motions to vacate two members from the EC were out-of-order under both the Bylaws and Roberts Rules.
The 2 or 3 members of the EC who had planned to make the motions did not make any motion to vacate the two EC members. The EC meeting had nearly 5 dozen people in attendance, including several prospective 2026 candidates, precinct committeepersons and friends.
What were the underlying issues?
Talking to multiple attendees from both sides of the issue, and listening/reading other commentary, there were two issues dividing Kane County Republicans.
The first is Vice Chair & Secretary Pamela Carr Hagerman herself. Carr, the Dundee Township Precinct 1 committeeperson has done things in the past which several Republicans across the county have concerns. Local to Dundee Township, there were stories going back a few years ago concerning an issue with local water supply/quality.
General disagreements with precinct committeepersons within the Dundee Township Republican Organization took place during her time as secretary of the Dundee Republicans from 2022-2024.
For those who don’t know Carr, she is a formidable & potentially intimidating woman an 18-year cancer survivor. Carr is a competitive equestrian rider and still competes locally in horse shows across Chicagoland including an August 2025 show.
Most important, Carr works very hard for the Republican Party without pay in both of her roles as secretary and as vice chair of marketing.
Has Carr had disagreements with other Republicans? Yes.
Carr is preparing for a likely challenge to her reelection as precinct committeeperson and recently repurposed her campaign Facebook page for next year’s primary election campaign on March 17.
Carr’s leadership within KCRCC is being questioned on an issue of KCRCC Bylaws amendments where some committeepersons want to expand the KCRCC township organizations from the current 8 into as many as 11.
Three townships, Rutland Township (including the Kane County portion of the village of Huntley), Sugar Grove Township in southern Kane County and Blackberry Township, are being considered to become independent township Republican organizations. There are a total of 16 townships in Kane County.
Of the three townships, the most vocal proponents are committeepersons within Rutland Township, who petitioned the KCRCC EC in the spring to form their own township organization. For all 3 townships, the KCRCC Bylaws must be amended to lower the minimum number of precincts for forming a separate township organization from 21 precincts to 10, which was the original precincts minimum in the Bylaws until they were amended a few years back.
Of the current 8 KCRCC township Republican organizations, 7 are geographical Kane County townships and the 8th combines the remaining 9 townships in Kane County into the Western Kane County Republican Organization, or simply the Western townships.
If the three townships qualify under a minimum of 10 precincts if the KCRCC Bylaws are amended, those precinct committeepersons would be removed from the Western townships organization.
Some within the Western townships, including their Chair Laura Pollastrini of Hampshire (who currently serves as the 11th Congressional District’s state central committeeperson and term-limited in 2026), are objecting to the Bylaws change and the committeepersons within the Western townships wanting to break away from the Western townships organization.
In the late spring, these concerns overflowed with a meeting of the potential Rutland Township organization with committeepersons outside of Rutland attending. Claims the meeting was not properly led by Pam Carr and local police being called sullied this gathering of Republicans.
Finally, and this may be the real core issue causing division among the Kane County Republicans, part of the Bylaws amendments include a new endorsement procedure for the KCRCC. The new procedure would use the Lake County Republicans model where their executive committee endorses Republican primary candidates instead of all precinct committeepersons having their weighted votes heard.
Some see the expansion of the KCRCC Executive Committee from 11 to 14 as a means to do quicker Republican Party endorsements pre-primary with more leaders voting.
Additionally, if KCRCC committeepersons approve the Bylaws amendments in the fall of 2025, the changes would be effective immediately, and not on the day of the next primary election on March 17 when Bylaws amendments are normally effective.
Because of these issues, some committeepersons across Kane County believe both Chairman Lerario and Vice Chair/Secretary Carr should be removed from their party leadership offices.
Both Lerario and Carr, presumably winning their respective precinct committeepersons elections on March 17, will face the precinct committeepersons if either/both seek reelection to their current KCRCC leadership roles at the biennial KCRCC County Convention on April 15. Chairman Lerario and Vice Chair/Secretary Carr can be voted out at the County Convention.
If committeepersons don’t like the Bylaws amendments, then simply vote-them-down (or attempt a Texas House Democrats stunt and simply don’t show up for the special KCRCC meeting this fall and prevent a quorum being established)!
Other commentary on Kane County Republicans
One of the Dundee Township Republicans, Jenny McGuire of Sleepy Hollow, hosts a radio show on WIND AM560 on Saturday nights called the Un-safe Space. McGuire, who’s also a Sleepy Hollow village trustee, is the vice chair of the Dundee Township Republican Organization and represented Dundee Township on the EC at the August 5 meeting.
During her radio show on August 9, McGuire and her guest host Mark Rice, discussed the events at the August 5KCRCC EC meeting both attended. The link to the audio podcast is here and under the August 9 podcast, the 20:17 mark begins the segment which lasts about 6 ½ minutes about the KCRCC EC meeting.
At the EC meeting, McGuire was openly respectful to people with an opposing view while representing Dundee Township.
On her radio show, McGuire mentioned that police were called to the KCRCC EC meeting in St. Charles. I, too, was at the EC meeting, and I didn’t see any uniformed police officers. If the police were present, Parliamentarian Gia Winkler spoke with them outside of the meeting room and the police did not disrupt the EC meeting.
Another view of the meeting was from Elgin Township Precinct Committeeperson Enoch Essendrop on his Substack page. In 2024, Essendrop had a then-Republican Elgin Township trustee sic the Elgin Police Department on him, as documented in this Jeff Ward article.
On his Substack, Essendrop gave an immediate reaction to the August 5 meeting of the KCRCC EC meeting. In other articles on his Substack, he gives play-by-play of various events leading up to the August 5 meeting including his views on KCRCC Vice Chair/Secretary Carr.
Remembering where Kane County Republicans really are
Heading into the 2026 election cycle, Kane County Republicans, beginning with the precinct committeepersons need to take stock where Republicans stand in Kane County. Republicans have not flipped a Democratic-held countywide office since 2014, and haven’t flipped a County Board seat from the Democrats since 2002.
Today, Democrats enjoy a 17-7 supermajority on the Kane County Board, with twice-elected Board Chairman Corinne Pierog (D, Batavia). The countywide offices of county board chair, auditor, state’s attorney, circuit court clerk, coroner and sheriff are held by Democrats.
More recently, the 2024 and 2025 election cycles proved to be tough on the KCRCC as Republicans failed to flip one seat from the Kane County Democrats and indeed, saw their 3-term coroner lose last fall and a Kane County Board seat get flipped to the Democrats.
On April 1, all 12 Republicans on the ballot in Dundee and Elgin townships in contested races lost to their Democratic opponents.
And recent events, like the Texas House Democrats staying in Kane County at Q Center in St. Charles saw no Republicans protesting or at least making a presence with signage telling the Texas Democrats to “go home”.
Extremist progressives among the Democrats are openly, on video, using f-bombs and reporting license plate numbers against alleged Immigration Custom Enforcement (ICE) officials.
These same progressives are planning an anti-ICE demonstration in Elgin on August 23. Are Kane County Republicans, particularly from Elgin Township, planning to stage a counterprotest and show support for President Trump’s ICE agents?
In spite of the setbacks and standing, there are some glimmers of hope for Kane County Republicans.
The Democrats’ 17-7 supermajority on the County Board & Forest Preserve Commission elected a Republican vice chair (Bill Roth of St. Charles) of the County Board and a Republican president (Bill Lenert of Aurora) of the Forest Preserve in two separate votes. Both votes for the two Republicans among the same elected officials saw 5 Democrats defect and help elect a Republican.
Additionally last December, County Board Chair Pierog saw her county board committee chairs and membership appointments fail to receive the advice and consent of the full County Board. This resulted in County Board members staying in their respective committee assignments from the previous County Board, with the chair only appointing to fill vacancies.
Conclusions
At the April 15 KCRCC County Convention, precinct committeepersons of the KCRCC must decide if Chairman Lerario merits reelection or to go with someone else. Same for Secretary Carr.
Maybe at that same County Convention, committeepersons can decide on the proposed Bylaws amendments, post-primary?
Marc Avelar is a 30-year resident of Dundee Township and served as an elected trustee for the village of Algonquin in the late 1990s. In 2022, Avelar was appointed to the Dundee Township Mental Health Board & has served as president of the Board for over 2 ½ years. Avelar served as the secretary of the KCRCC from 2000 to 2002.
