Nudo Declines Request To Change Mind About Quitting County Board

Alan Nudo's decision to resign from the Champaign County Board appears to be final, according to a fellow county board member who asked him to change his mind.

John Jay said he and two other county board members met with Nudo Wednesday morning, but they were unable to convince the Champaign businessman to complete his term on the board.

Nudo had also chaired the county board's Republican caucus, and Jay said may seek that post when the caucus meets Thursday at 5 PM at the Urbana Garden restaurant in Urbana. At a later date, Champaign County Republican officials will nominate someone to take over Nudo's county board seat. Nudo had chosen not to seek re-election, due to his Illinois Senate campaign.

Nudo resigned from the county board, and dropped out of the GOP Illinois Senate primary in the 52nd District, after a political blogger accused him of sending a contribution to incumbent Democratic Senator Mike Frerichs in a previous campaign. Jay said he thinks that attack on Nudo's integrity was just too much for him.

"He felt like there was being some dispersions cast upon him as not being ethical, which as all of whom that know him know that is not a fact," Jay said. "He is probably one of the most ethical people you'll ever run across. So consequently, he felt bad enough about that, that he tendered his resignation to all of his political affiliations at this point."

Jay said that even Nudo had less than a year to serve on the county board, his decision to resign now is a big loss.

"He (Nudo) has probably been the most influential, hardest working Republican county board member that we have," Jay said. "He actually has been involved in every aspect. He had the time and he had the knowledge and the experience. And he used it on behalf of all of the county."

Meanwhile, the remaining Republican in the state Senate race, John Bambenek, said he is now convinced Nudo was not himself supporting Frerichs, when he co-signed checks from Triple R Development, LLC, made out to Frerichs' campaign. Nudo had told the News-Gazette that his own firm, Robeson's Inc., manages daily accounting duties for the developer, which was why he signed the checks.

Illinois Public Media was unable to reach Nudo for comment Wednesday.