Wilhelmi to resign from state Senate post

• Reprints

Former state Sen. A.J. Wilhelmi, D-Joliet

Updated: March 13, 2012 10:32AM

JOLIET — State Sen. A.J. Wilhelmi will submit his letter of resignation from office early this week and it will take effect by the end of February, he said Friday.

Wilhelmi, D-Joliet, is stepping down from the Senate after seven years in office to take a job as senior vice president of governmental affairs for the Naperville-based Illinois Hospital Association.

Larry Walsh Jr. said Friday he will apply for the Wilhelmi vacancy. Walsh Jr. is the son of Will County Executive Larry Walsh, who once held the same 43rd District state Senate seat.

“I am going to submit my name … on my own merits,” said Walsh Jr., who is a Jackson Township trustee and a Machinists Union official. “If I’m successful, great. If I’m not chosen, I’ll be 110 percent behind whoever they do choose. We’ll see what happens.”

Others who have applied or are about to are: Former Will County Treasurer Pat McGuire, who now serves as Braidwood city clerk; Lisa Morel Las, executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Will and Grundy Counties; R. Dale Evans, family self-sufficiency/social services coordinator for the Housing Authority of Joliet; Paige Vanderhyden, director of Workforce Services at Joliet Junior College and a member of the Joliet Township High School Board; and sheet metal worker Don Moran.

Two Democrats were elected by precinct committeemen last week to help choose Wilhelmi’s successor. Former Will County Auditor Dan Maher of Joliet and Bolingbrook community activist Ruby Lofton will join party Chairman Dennis Grosskopf of Shorewood on a selection committee.

Grosskopf said the committee will work quickly because the Legislature is in session.

“We have 200,000 people who need representation in Springfield,” he said.

Wilhelmi said he won’t endorse anyone during the selection process.

“They’re all my friends,” he said. I think it’s best to let the committee do its work. I plan to watch like everyone else.”