Vote for Sieben’s replacement to happen soon

March 5th, 2008 at 02:00am Andrea Zimmermann

As you loyal blog readers know, Sen. Todd Sieben retired from the Senate last week and ended his 21-year career in state politics.

The Senate spent nearly 10 minutes remembering the Geneseo Republican’s tenure, and now you can listen to the touching tribute.

Sieben’s retirement becomes official on Thursday. We are closely watching the eight Republican county chairmen from the 45th state Senate district because they are supposed to vote soon on Sieben’s replacement.

In January, Sieben said he hoped former Lee County Sheriff Tim Bivins, who won the Republican primary for 45th state Senate seat on Feb. 5, would be appointed to his empty seat.

This could give him a distinct advantage in November over his Democratic opponent, Marty Mulcahey, who at the time said such an appointment smacks of insider, “backroom” politics. Mulcahey, the son of former Rep. Dick Mulcahey, is the former Democratic chairman of JoDaviess County and works for the Secretary of State.

The 45th state Senate district stretches from the northwest Illinois border in JoDaviess County across Stephenson to cut through the middle of Winnebago and Ogle counties and encompasses all of Lee. It also includes parts of Whiteside and Carroll counties.

Keep watching the blog for more updates as we follow this story.

Entry Filed under: Tim Bivins, Marty Mulcahey, Todd Sieben, Illinois politics