Mike Shorten is running against Nunda Twp. Supervisor Leda Drain. He plans to stay on County Board if he wins.

He intends to keep his seat on the McHenry County Board, but Mike “Shorty” Shorten also is trying to be the next Nunda Township supervisor, challenging incumbent Leda Bobera-Drain in the Republican primary Tuesday.

The race has been marked by Shorten’s claims of nepotism by his opponent, while he has faced criticism from Bobera-Drain and others that he would be double dipping if he is serving both on the County Board and as supervisor.

Shorten has been on the County Board since 2022 and won reelection to a four-year term in November. Before his stint on the County Board, he was a township trustee from 2012 to 2017.

Drain is the full-time supervisor and was appointed after the death of then-Supervisor Lee Jennings in 2020. She ran unopposed and won a full term in 2021. Before her appointment, she was an office manager with the township.

Shorten has claimed, among other things, that Bobera-Drain hired a family member and tried to raise the supervisor’s salary. He signed an “anti-nepotism” pledge and promised that he would deliver regular reports about how that pledge is holding up to the township board and public.

“I cannot stand by while ‘so-called’ Republicans in my own township act like corrupt Chicago Democrats,” Shorten said in a news release in January.

Bobera-Drain said her daughter, Camille, started off as an unpaid intern and was hired by the previous supervisor, although the board approved her hiring in October 2020, after Bobera-Drain was appointed supervisor. She was a part-time employee but has become a full-time worker. Some of her responsibilities include payroll and putting together board packets, Bobera-Drain said.

She said cutting her daughter wouldn’t result in savings, and that Camille’s compensation is about $40,000.

Shorten said that if elected, he would assess the staff position and see if it’s needed and, if so, what the compensation would look like.

After announcing his bid, Shorten said in November that his decision to run “was driven by several current and past Nunda Township elected officials” and constituents who reached out about concerns with governance and the supervisor.

Bobera-Drain said her compensation as supervisor is less than $76,000. Township documents indicate that Bobera-Drain’s total compensation is about $98,000.

Shorten has said that he intends to make the supervisor’s role part time and supports a 40% pay cut for the office.

Shorten is paid $21,000 per year on the County Board, in addition to benefits including county health and dental insurance. His total compensation is almost $54,000, according to county documents.

Shorten also claimed in a news release last month that Bobera-Drain proposed a raise for herself and other township officers in October. The supervisor salary has been flat for about eight years, Drain said. She said the trustees worked out the salary, and she abstained from the vote.

Nunda Township records indicate that the board voted to raise township officer salaries, with the increases to kick in after the election and run from May 2025 to May 2029. The supervisor will get a 5% increase in year one and a 2.5% increase every year after that.

Shorten said in the January release that he would completely evaluate township operations and facilities and then come up with and implement a plan to “drive out costs and cut taxes.”

Shorten also criticized the fact that the supervisor is in a converted house that is separate from town hall. Bobera-Drain said that has been the setup for at least the past 15 years, long before she became supervisor, and before that, the building housed the road department.

“It’s not something I built,” Bobera-Drain said.

Bobera-Drain said she had “investigated” moving the supervisor’s office into town hall, but the permits alone would cost thousands of dollars. She added that it would take years to see any sort of benefit to the move, and then if the township were to sell the current office, the constituents would have to approve it.

Shorten also sent out a news release in early February claiming that Bobera-Drain didn’t respond to multiple invitations for a candidates forum that was scheduled later this month. Bobera-Drain noted that the forum was a few days before the election and said she didn’t want to participate in that kind of rhetoric.

Shorten, who according to his County Board candidate questionnaire from the fall has a day job as an account manager, doesn’t plan to give up his County Board seat if he’s elected as supervisor. Shorten said he “absolutely” has the bandwidth to be supervisor in addition to his other duties.

Bobera-Drain said she is “100% transparent” and thinks people should get involved in township governance.

“I alone do not make these decisions,” Bobera-Drain said, adding that the township’s budget is “tight” and she’s not being frivolous.

She said that in her first term, the township has kept the tax levy flat. The township is always looking to improve services, and Bobera-Drain said she’s trying to get AARP in to help seniors with taxes. She said she’d love to add a basketball court or something similar, but it depends on grants.

The winner of the supervisor primary will win the seat, as no independent or Democratic candidates filed to run.