Carla Wyckoff (R) from Lake Forest is running against incumbent Erin Cartwright Weinstein for the office of Lake County Circuit Court Clerk. In a debate hosted by the League of Women Voters on October 10th, on multiple occasions Wyckoff acknowledged that her opponent knows the Clerk’s office better than she does. Wyckoff also demonstrated a lack of understanding of the technology used in the circuit court clerk’s office.
Cartwright Weinstein was first elected in 2016 on a platform of implementing technology changes to increase efficiency and save taxpayer resources. She achieved those changes by digitizing all court records and implementing an online case management system, which saved $7 million dollars at implementation and saves $1 million dollars every year.
During the debate, Wyckoff demonstrated that she does not understand the difference between court record digitization and the online case management system. This is basic knowledge.
Some of Wyckoff’s quotes from the debate are as follows…
”I don’t know all of the details of the system that Ms Cartwright does because I worked in McHenry County.”
“With my limited knowledge of this case management system in Lake County.”
“Without all of the detailed knowledge that Ms Cartwright Weinstein has… I am very aware of bond costs.”
”I am pleased to hear Lake County was ahead of a lot of the problems. It sounds like under more control than in other counties.”
”I don’t have the benefit of the detailed budget information that Ms Weinstein would.”
The debate can be viewed in its entirety at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIa37PV5fIw.
Wyckoff was the Lake County Clerk until 2018. We learned that during her tenure, she was responsible for a software system used by the County Clerk’s office. Her mismanagement of the project resulted in the cost coming in $1 million over budget and she had to request the additional money from the Lake County Board. The taxpayers had to foot the bill. Wyckoff was subsequently rejected by the majority of voters in the 2018 election.