Lewis out, Suckow in
Voters pick challenger in District 13 recall race
Lester Lewis is out and Harvey “Bud” Suckow is in for the Taylor County District 13 county board seat.
Voters came out in force on Tuesday in the towns of Grover, Molitor and Westboro for a special election to recall Lewis and replace him with Suckow.
A total of 249 voters came to the polls with Suckow getting 225 votes while Lewis received 24 votes.
By town, Grover residents cast 49 votes for Suckow to 3 for Lewis, Molitor voters cast 67 votes for Suckow and 16 for Lewis and in Westboro voters cast 109 votes for Suckow to 5 for Lewis. Election results remain unofficial until the board of canvassers meets on July 20 to review the ballots and county clerk Andria Farrand certifies the election results.
See VOTERS on page 16 “I am sure it will be a challenge, but I think I am up for the challenge,” Suckow said on Wednesday, thanking those who supported him in the election.
“I hope to do the job that people voted me in to do,” he said.
Suckow moved to the area about a year ago, and previously was a long-time resident of the village of Stratford where he spent 23 years on the village board, 12 of them as village president. Suckow will serve the remainder of the term and face reelection in next April’s spring general election.
Lewis has been a long-time presence in local politics on the county and town board level. He has served District 13 since being elected to the board in 2002. He has stated numerous times his intent to not run for reelection next spring when his term would have been up.
Lewis came under fire largely by some members of the area veterans’ community over his role as the former chairman of the Veterans Service Committee and the turnover in the veterans service office.
According to Farrand, Suckow will be sworn in and formally take office on August 1. She said county board chairman Jim Metz plans to hold a meeting of the committee on committees and rules in early August to determine committee assignments for Suckow for the remainder of the current term until full board reorganization which will takes place next April.
