Guernsey withdraws from coroner’s race

• Reprints

Updated: February 13, 2012 10:44PM

CROWN POINT — Former Ross Township Assessor Randall Guernsey withdrew from the Democratic race for Lake County coroner on Monday, saying he will wait two years to run for an assessor position instead.

That leaves five others still in the Democratic race for the post held by Thomas Philpot, who has been indicted.

Philpot isn’t among the five.

Guernsey said Monday he originally thought he would be qualified to be coroner, considering his investigative background and more than 20 years’ experience as a Lake County police officer. He was the second person to file for the 2012 primary on the opening day for filing last month.

However, he saw that several of the others filing for the post are in the medical field. He said given the fact that most previous Lake County coroners have been doctors, he didn’t think he’d have the support to win the contest.

“Lake County seems to want a doctor in that position for some reason,” Guernsey said.

He said he is stepping back and weighing his options for 2014, when he said he would run for county assessor or some other assessor race instead. He’s had 12 years’ experience as an assessor and is one of the first in the county to achieve Level 3 assessor/appraiser status.

“I’ll see if I can garner enough support to win the county race,” said Guernsey, who added it is expensive to run for county-wide office.

Sally LaSota, director of Lake County Board of Elections, confirmed that Guernsey withdrew from the race Monday morning. She said noon Monday was the deadline to withdraw.