Toftoy Keeps Longtime Post at Coroner's Office
Toftoy, the incumbent county coroner, received 57 percent of the vote to retain his office while challenger Mike Dabney could only gather about 42 percent.
Michael Dabney has said he has no regrets on the way he ran his race for Kendall County Coroner.
"I ran the campaign I wanted. Kendall County is a great place and I have thousands of more friends than I had before this campaign began,” Dabney said Tuesday night as results came in.
Running as an independent, Dabney challenged 20-year incumbent Ken Toftoy for the position. Toftoy, who also serves as chairman of the Kendall County Republican Party, maintained a firm lead over Dabney as election results came in Tuesday night. He garnered 57 percent of the vote while Dabney collected 42 percent.
“It was a great campaign. The voters have spoken, and I respect their decision,” Dabney said.
He said he thinks the race was run in a positive manner.
Toftoy did not return calls for comment.
Over the summer Dabney collected more than 2,000 signatures to have his name included on the ballot as an independent. The number of signatures on his nominating petition needed to be equal to at least 5 percent of the people who voted in the last general election.
The coroner’s race was one of the most contentious in Kendall County with the candidates trading verbal jabs during a candidate’s forum and supporters raising issues and trading barbs online.
One issue that became a point of contention was the number of deputy coroners employed by the coroner’s office. Dabney said he would reduce the budget by reducing the number of part-time deputy coroners from five to two, and reduce the full-time administrative assistant to a part-time position.
Toftoy said such a reduction would hamper the ability of the office to function properly due to the “24/7” nature of the position.
Another issue was over whether or not deputy coroners should be allowed to carry firearms while on duty. Dabney accused at least one of the current deputy coroners of having firearms training paid for by the county, which allowed that coroner to carry a firearm while on duty. Toftoy has said none of his deputy coroners went into the field armed.
Something that may have hurt Dabney in the polls was a report in the Ledger-Sentinel that revealed five disciplinary notices in Dabney’s employee file with the Oswego Fire Department. The disciplinary notices include three written warnings, an oral reprimand and a notice of suspension.
With the election behind him, Dabney said he will continue his duties with the Oswego Fire Department.
Budd Bieber
12:10 am on Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Ken Toftoy has been nothing but the best at this job. Not a job I would want. Way to go Kenny.
Steven Jack
7:24 am on Wednesday, November 7, 2012
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Stephen Youhanaie
8:18 am on Wednesday, November 7, 2012
It was a great campaign. With a handful of active volunteers, a few thousand dollars, and yardsign support from a few hundred people, Dabney managed to secure more votes than Sheriff Randall did, 2 years ago, against an unknown challenger, Robert Lea. Taking a look at Becky Morganegg's vote totals, the Dabney campaign moved the needle by 4.5% over Toftoy. She and her opponent didn't even campaign. Mr. Toftoy spent quite a bit of money, considering the assets that Mr. Dabney had to expend. Mr. Toftoy says that he is not going to run again. I think that Mr. Dabney should run again. He ran a respectful campaign, and strategically successful campaign..
Reasonable Conservative
9:52 am on Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Well said. Mr. Dabney is a solid and honest man who ran a clean campaign on the issues.
Jake Delrose
8:10 am on Thursday, November 8, 2012
Please try again. I'm sure 2016 will be much worse for Dabney.
"He ran a respectful campaign, and strategically successful campaign.."????
He called all of the deputies in the office unprofessional and a strategically successful campaign means you win, not a loss.
Reality has yet to set in...
foster 134
6:02 pm on Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Clean race???? Dabney people were slinging mud at Toftoy at the Kendall County Fair. The guy I talked to was offensive and rude to my wife when she told him she respected Ken and had worked a case with him...Congrats Ken!!!
Stephen Youhanaie
8:17 am on Friday, November 9, 2012
And now, the rest of the story. A few weeks before the end of the election, Mike Dabney's mother had a seizure. They found out that she had a brain tumor. A week before the election they put her in hospice. Mike had a lot on his plate. His job, the campaign, and trips to Michigan to visit his mother were taking its toll, but he toughed it out. Like most mothers, she knew that the campaign was important to Mike, and encouraged him to continue with it. She passed away yesterday at 5:15. May she rest in peace. This man has character, and no doubt he got a lot of it from hs mother.
Jeri
7:34 pm on Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Hey Jake is back again....like a bad penny......Ken your reputation with i is on the behavior and demeanor of jake.....thanks Mr. Dabney you rose above
Diane Vickery
2:43 pm on Monday, November 26, 2012
I'm a little late on chiming in here but as a close relative of Anne Vickery, I have known Ken Toftoy for many many years. He was always very good to my husband Jon Vickery (Anne's son) and me. He was there for us when our son died. He was professional, caring and truly kind. He's always been there for the Vickery family and I was sad when Jon and Anne turned on him when he was nothing but good to us. Ken Toftoy has done so much for us, we could never repay him. Congrats to Ken.
Wow
9:25 am on Friday, December 28, 2012
Is that family hitting family below the belt? The Vickery family has some issues....to say the least.