Two candidates vying to represent District 7 on the Lake County Board are striking markedly different tones ahead of Election Day this fall.
Incumbent Democrat Carissa Casbon says voters in the district, which includes much of Gurnee and parts of Warren Township and Waukegan Township, are largely pleased with current representation.
“It’s always such a joy to reconnect with people at their doors,” Casbon said. “People are, by and large, happy with our county government, I’m excited to report.”
Republican challenger Dave Ulrich, a retired supply chain compliance director at AbbVie, disagrees and says Casbon is “bringing Chicago-style” to Lake County to win elections and “punish political enemies.”
He is criticizing Casbon’s support for the four-cent gas tax enacted in 2021, calling it “very regressive,” and said he wants to use his background in environmental engineering to ensure the county is allocating American Rescue Plan Act funds where they are most needed.
“At work, science and engineering govern the right answer,” Ulrich said. “When you have to go through a layoff, and I’ve gone through and had to lay off people even at the hospital, it’s emotionally draining. You never see layoffs at the government, and it’s incredible.”
Casbon, who spent five years as a school board member for Millburn District 24 in Old Mill Creek and Lindenhurst, said she has learned a lot since getting involved in local government.
“In that time, I’ve learned a great deal about what makes government work for people and what doesn’t,” she said. “I’ve invested a significant amount of time into our community and building these close relationships with people that makes my service to the community effective. Building those relationships, it takes time and effort and passion.”
The first-term incumbent said the Lake County Board’s distribution of COVID relief funds “has been effective for people,” and said she was able to help ensure some key stormwater mitigation projects in the district were included in the first round.
“In our neighborhood, the stormwater management grants we have received through the state, I’ve been able to identity a number of projects for them,” Casbon said. “And it’s in areas that people kind of sleep by their sump pumps when it rains very hard. Hopefully these projects will be life-changing for them.”
Ulrich also wants to focus on stormwater management, where he says the county is “doing a good job,” but is concerned about funding further projects with pandemic-related funding being phased out down the road.
” (The board) got printed money from the government, COVID slush funds, that are able to help them balance their budget,” Ulrich said.
After winning her Lake County County Board seat in 2020 on a campaign that centered on the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Casbon pointed out Ulrich’s proximity to and support for conspiracy theories relating to the COVID-19 vaccine, the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012 and the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
In 2021, Ulrich’s spouse and campaign chair, Lynn Ulrich, appeared to make social media posts comparing proof of vaccination requirements to “discrimination by the Nazis,” and shared other posts calling out 9/11 “demolition deniers” and others which referred to the “staging” of the Sandy Hook tragedy.
She also called the COVID-19 vaccine a “poison cocktail” in a Patch.com interview after a group of people who would not wear masks prompted the Lake Forest High School District 115 school board to move into a remote meeting in 2021.
Ulrich stood by his wife’s posts in his interview with the News-Sun, saying his brother-in-law’s life has been impacted after receiving a COVID-19 booster shot last year.
“Do I think the emergency use authorization for the COVID vaccine was a good thing? No, I don’t,” Ulrich said.
He echoed the sentiment of posts his wife shared from the Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth, an organization which promotes the conspiracy theory the World Trade Center was destroyed in a controlled demolition.
“Mankind’s been a liar forever,” Ulrich said.
Casbon criticized Ulrich for spreading conspiracy theories and said it is “vital that we get out of the whole armchair warrior, sitting in my silo mentality and get out there, solve our problems together, talk and work things out.”
She suggested such beliefs would not resonate with voters in the district.
“The overarching concern of not dealing with facts, with embracing these poisonous conspiracy theories that are really poking at the threads of the ties that bind us,” Casbon said. “It’s exactly what we don’t need in our community. What we need are people who want to bring us together.”
Casbon said other priorities include ensuring funding for a new public safety building for the Lake County sheriff’s office, saying the “existing building is not adequate for modern policing needs.” She added that she believes she can work across the aisle to find solutions to county problems after forming relationships on the board during her first term.
Ulrich also wants to prepare Lake County wastewater treatment facilities to plan for new contaminants.
“We have good water; we have Lake Michigan,” Ulrich said, “And what are we doing to protect our water system?”
He said Casbon is “bringing up national issues” when voters should be concerned about taxes.
“Carissa will bring in, ‘What about all these conspiracy theories?’ What about your gas tax? You didn’t call it a tax,” Ulrich said. “What about that?”
