Dupage Policy Journal

State Rep. Peter Breen (R-Lombard), the House Republican floor leader, is calling on candidate Burt Minor of Warrenville to drop out of the 42nd House District race after reports that he made inappropriate comments to a candidate for another office. 

Erika Harold, a Republican running for the Illinois Attorney General's office, said Minor inappropriately inquired about her sexual orientation asking if she was a lesbian while using the n-word repeatedly in her presence. 

"Politicians are expected today to follow the same rules as everyone in the private sector: to treat everyone, no matter their gender or race, with respect and dignity," Breen told the DuPage Policy Journal, “Unfortunately, based on what we're seeing here in Illinois and across the country, it appears that actions like Mr. Minor's are not isolated incidents.”

​State Rep. Peter Breen

Breen sent out a letter to his supporters highlighting his position on Minor dropping out of the race for Rep. Jeanne Ives' seat in the state House. 

“Since Mr. Minor’s actions came to light, many in our Party have urged Mr. Minor to withdraw his candidacy for state representative,” Breen writes. “However, he has continually refused to do so. And, just as with the white supremacist currently running as an alleged Republican in the 3rd Congressional District, we appear to have no means to have Mr. Minor thrown off the ballot.”

Minor, who is the Winfield Township GOP chairman, responded to the accusation in the Daily Herald, which endorsed the candidate the day before the accusations came to light.

"I completely understand the fierce reaction this misunderstanding has generated, but I wish those who rushed to judgment would have gotten all the facts first,” Minor said in a statement to the paper.

The incident in question allegedly took place last fall when Minor was helping Harold with her campaign in DuPage County. 

Harold described the exchange as awkward.

“We had a meeting with Burt Minor, and during the course of the conversation he asked me if I had children," Harold said in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times. "I said no. He asked me if I was married. I said no. He then asked me if I had ever been married. I said no."

She then said that Minor asked if she was a lesbian. 

Harold said that she “made it clear that someone’s sexual orientation should not be used to disqualify them for running for office.”

House District 42 includes parts of Wheaton, Warrenville, Carol Stream, Lisle, Winfield, West Chicago and Naperville.