If there ‘s one thing I’ve learned in the last seven years, it’s that a clear indicator of a political acumen – or the lack of it – is an elected official’s ability to handle criticism. The correlation isn’t perfect, but when you consider folks like Kane County Chairman Karen McConnaughay, State Sen. Mike Noland, former county board member Bill Wyatt, Bill Foster, board member Cathy Hurlbut, and coroner candidate Rob Russell, it certainly rings true,
Conversely, whenever a newcomer exhibits a capacity to roll with a press punch and come up laughing, that signals promise. So when we had some fun with 18th District County Board candidate and Drew Frasz opponent Kerri Branson, I was pleasantly surprised by her taking-it-in-stride email response.
If you recall, Ms. Branson got quite a bit of press for posing for Playboy and I took exception to the Daily Herald’s failure to accurately portray her endorsement interview. Eventually the DH did come clean. 
But after talking to Ms. Branson at length, even though she may harbor some counterintuitive ideas (what politician doesn’t?), I discovered there was a logic to her thought process and I believe she’s someone worth watching.
Now, I know what you’re thinking and you better get your mind out of the fricken’ gutter right now. If I got into the political advice game for all the good looking people, then I wouldn’t be hanging around Chris Lauzen and Drew Frasz nearly as much as I do.
So along the lines of Elburn Trustee Ethan Hastert’s political career, since she’s not likely to unseat Frasz, I’ve encouraged Ms. Branson to run for the North Aurora Village Board. Remember, that’s the group of old pasty white guys that tried to run Lover’s Lane out of town – in between their various “data gathering” visits to the store (my apologies to Trustee Ms. Curtis).
The bottom line is, anyone that can face me down and make me laugh in the process bears some serious consideration.
None taken. Thanks for not refering to me as a “pasty white girl”.