BY REGAN FOSTER, Northwest Herald

 

WOODSTOCK – A 39-year-old computer consultant from Woodstock said Thursday that he officially withdrew his bid for the 8th District Democratic nomination.

Jonathan Farnick, who vied for the U.S. House as a write-in candidate in 2006, revoked his candidacy after fellow Democrat Randi Scheurer challenged several signatures on his filing paperwork. If the challenge held up, Farnick said, Farnick would have lost his ballot spot.

“I didn’t think I would be able to contest the contestation of them [the signatures] successfully enough to get back on,” he said.

Farnick added that he made his bid as a way to make sure that Democratic incumbent Melissa Bean would have a primary challenger. Bean, of Barrington, still will square off against Scheurer, of Lindenhurst, for the party’s bid in the November general election.

Scheurer, for her part, said that her challenge to Farnick’s petition wasn’t personal, and that she would welcome his assistance in her campaign.

“I felt we needed to focus on one candidate running against [the incumbent]. Not to confuse the voters, not to distract them,” Scheurer said. “His values ... I felt were right on.”

Hopefuls across the aisle also have lined up for the Republican nomination. Long Grove resident Steve Greenberg, Gurnee’s Ken Arnold, and Kirk Morris, also of Gurnee, all have announced their bids for that party.

Moderate Party candidate Iain Abernathy of Round Lake Beach rounds out the ticket; however, his candidacy is pending an objection, according to the state Board of Elections’ Web site.

 

( http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2007/11/30/news/local/doc474faea985ad7146754266.prt )