county board. He was replaced by Ron Sandack. DuPage County board chairman Campaign Cronin ran for chairman of the DuPage County Board during the 2010 elections. He announced his candidacy at a Westin hotel in Lombard; over 300 supporters attended the event. In the Republican primary, he faced Senator Carole Pankau, Burr Ridge Mayor Gary Grasso, and county board member Debra Olson. All four candidates touted their experience in government. Grasso differentiated himself from his opponents as the only candidate to have experience as an executive of a government. Pankau stated that she would be a full-time board chairman, unlike her opponents who have other jobs or business interests. Cronin won the primary, and faced Democratic candidate Carole Cheney, an attorney from Aurora. By then, countywide elections would depend more on support from independent voters. Cheney ran a positive campaign, though she labeled Cronin as a "career politician". In September 2010, Cronin opposed the county board's decision to issue a large amount of bonds. At the time, Cronin's relationship with the county board was perceived to have been "icy" for a long time. Later that month, the board voted to take away several powers from the chairman, which Cronin saw as a reaction to the possibility of him winning the election. The board, seeking more checks and balances between the county executive and legislature, gave itself more oversight over the hiring of staff members, the ability to conduct decennial redistricting via a board committee, and the authority to determine its own committee assignments and appoint committee chairs. Cronin subsequently won the general election after receiving nearly 63 percent of the vote. First term Shortly after taking office, Cronin appointed Robert Berlin, chief of criminal prosecutions in the county, to succeed Birkett as DuPage state's attorney. The appointment was regarded as Cronin's "first major decision" as board chairman, due to the perceived high profile and powerful position of the state's attorney. In January 2011, the board approved a $125,000 contract for a law firm based in Itasca to redistrict the county's electoral boundaries. The law firm had donated nearly $16,000 to the campaign funds of nine board members, and $500 to Cronin's campaign fund, drawing accusations from the Democratic board members of pay to play politics. The DuPage County Republican Party's campaign committee, which he also oversaw, had received $9,500 over the past few years. Cronin, who does not vote unless