Dupage Policy Journal

Lisle mayoral candidate Stephen A. Winz failed in his bid for mayor after several incidents in his past came to light during his campaign.

With 93.33% of precincts reporting, Winz had 903 votes, coming in behind Christopher R. "Chris" Pecak with 1,498 votes and ahead of Sara Sadat with 755 votes.

Winz, a village trustee, was involved in a bar fight in 2017 after he allegedly harassed a one-legged man. In a police report by Lisle Police Officer Jason Hurt regarding the incident, Hurt wrote that one witness stated that Winz was rude to "the one-legged guy," and after identifying that person, he noted everyone was refusing to talk with the officers or were giving different versions of the event.

During a 2016 incident, Winz threatened officers. The incident occurred after officers were called to a bar after Winz had given a $100 that the bar had thought may be counterfeit.

“At 4:56am Winz decided to leave and gathered all his property,” Officer James Dexter wrote in the report. “As we were leaving out the side door Winz looked at me and stated ‘I hope all the niggers kill you, I swear to fucking God I hope they kill you all. Black Lives Matter.’”

After those incidents came to light, Mike Zenz, a former Kankakee County Board member called for Winz to resign from his position with the village board.

“The manner, language, and tone with which he addressed another department is not in alignment with the standards of conduct by an elected official,” Zenz said in an official statement. “It is actually quite to the contrary. Even though this took place years ago, it is disturbing to me that he did not come out with a statement regarding the situation.”

Winz is a current Lisle trustee. He was a crane operator for 25 years and was a member of the International Unions of Operating Engineers Local 150.

Winz said that he wanted to focus on the people of Lisle.

"My obligations first go to the village and all the good people we represent," he said in a profile for the Daily Herald.