Kaupas Edges Piazza For Re-Election Bid

Will County Sheriff Paul Kaupas' election party was tense as results rolled in Tuesday night, but elation ultimately ensued as he was re-elected in a very close victory over Deputy Pete Piazza.

After swapping leads of mere percentage points for most of the night, Kaupas, a Republican from Mokena, eventually overtook the Democrat with the final four precincts, finishing with 50.7 percent of the vote.

"The race was much closer than I expected," said Jim Stellwagen, a New Lenox resident and campaign chairman for Kaupas. "But he's got great integrity and I like the no-nonsense way of conducting the department."

Results were perhaps a bit closer because of various high-profile incidents in which people were wrongfully arrested, which Piazza put on the shoulders of Kaupas. One case is Kaupas' hiring of outside consultants to investigate the department's  handling of the murder investigation of 3-year-old Fox Riley in 2004. The girl's father, Kevin Fox, was arrested and confessed to the murder before his DNA didn't match that at the crime scene.

"Just in the last year, there have a been a lot of cases in which I think he's rushed judgment," said Bob Miller, a retired Shorewood man who served as an under-sheriff in Will County. "You've got to slow down and think things through."

Piazza said incidents in which people are wrongfully accused lead to the loss of public trust, and that's what he wanted to restore. He also said Kaupas hiring an outside consulting group made it appear that he didn't know what was  going on in his department.

"These high-profile cases have been an embarrassment," he said during his watch party Tuesday night.

Piazza, along with other supporters, believe there are other internal issues at the sheriff's department, and that morale and communication must improve. But Kaupas said these issues were brought up simply as talking points for the election.

"He just needed things to say," Kaupas said. "He went negative a lot, and I always tried to stay positive"

Kaupas said he's happy with what he's accomplished in his first eight years as sheriff, but he still has more on his to-do list. That includes moving the department to property near the former Joliet Arsenal. As for personal matters, Kaupas and Piazza might not patch up their relationship, which Kaupas alluded to after he learned that Piazza conceded, garnering loud cheers and laughter.

"He did say he'd like to have a meeting sometime. I said that probably won't happen tonight."