as a potential candidate for attorney general in the 1998 elections as Ryan, the incumbent, considered running for the US Senate. (Ryan ultimately did not run for US Senate in 1998.) The state's legislative districts were again redistricted in 2001. For the 2002 elections, Cronin ran for the newly-established 21st district. Tom Walsh, the Republican incumbent senator for the then-existing 22nd district, was forced to run in the same district against Cronin. In February, Cronin was criticized for committing $30,000 in pork barrel grant funding to a proposed gazebo in North Riverside, which was outside his present 39th district but inside the new 21st district he was running for. The gazebo had been backed by Illinois Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka and North Riverside Mayor Richard Scheck. Cronin defended his actions by pointing to his record of supporting other projects outside his district. He won the election. During the 2006 elections, Cronin endorsed Jeff Redick, a colleague at Cronin's law firm, during a successful run for a seat on the DuPage County Board. In April 2007, Cronin became the chairman of the DuPage County Republican Party, succeeding Senator Kirk Dillard. His priorities as party chair included filling all vacant precinct committeeman positions and conducting performance evaluations of incumbent committeemen. Cronin assumed this role at a time when Republican margins of victory in county races were getting slimmer. By then, Democrats had taken control over state government. Senate career In 1994, Cronin supported a bill backed by Governor Jim Edgar that would have banned assault weapons, though the measure faced strong opposition from Philip. He also sponsored a bill attempting to reverse the Illinois Supreme Court's decision in the Baby Richard case and keep children with their adoptive parents. The following year, he sponsored a bill that authorized winners of the Illinois Lottery to receive their winnings as lump-sum payments. Cronin served as chair of the Senate's education committee and was regarded as a leading voice for Senate Republicans on education issues. In 1995, he sponsored a bill that gave the mayor of Chicago more control over the management of Chicago Public Schools (CPS). The following year, he backed a measure that would have required pay raises for teachers to be based on merit rather than seniority. In 1997, Cronin worked with several legislators to overhaul funding for public schools in Illinois, and supported Edgar's proposal to switch the burden from property