Response from GOP Chair in Lake County:
Although the GOP does not like to lose members, especially an elected official, it is probably best for both sides that Nan declares herself a democrat. Nan voted with her democratic colleagues on most if not all issues and even to eliminate good Republicans that served on boards. Nan has never truly assisted the Republican party, the party that appointed her to that position after Mary McShane moved away from the area. So this now opens that seat for a Republican who holds our values of more efficient government coupled with fiscal responsibility to win.
From the Times:
Republican Dyer Town Councilwoman Nan Onest is changing her party affiliation.Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr., the county Democratic chairman, said Tuesday that Onest signaled she will file for re-election Wednesday in the Democratic primary.
Onest said in a news release from McDermott that she had been considering the switch for some time.
"It was a difficult decision, but I had become convinced after working with my Democratic colleagues on the council for the past three years and meeting other members of the Democratic party, including a number of my constituents, that we all share the same goals and objectives," she said.
A caucus of Dyer Republicans first selected Onest, a community activist, to fill a vacancy on the 2006 ballot with the departure of former Republican councilwoman Mary McShane. Onest won the popular election as a Republican that year, too.
