Lake County’s first Latino and openly gay countywide official begins … – Chicago Tribune

Two weeks after he was sworn in as the new Lake County clerk, Anthony Vega is getting acclimated to life as a countywide elected official.

Consolidated election primaries already loom around the corner, in February, and Vega is focused on efficiently transitioning to the job while also folding the old Lake County Recorder of Deeds Office into the clerk’s office.

“There are great members of the clerk staff that have been here for many years — some for 10, 15, 20-plus years — and have a really good grasp on how to run elections, what the office does,” Vega said. “My job as the elected executive is to make sure that expertise really shines through.”

As he assesses early priorities, builds relationships with staff and looks for ways to improve operations, there is also a historic sense of accomplishment that has set in, and a sense of responsibility Vega says that accompanies it.

The 30-year-old is believed to be the both the first Latino and first openly gay person to hold an elected, countywide office in Lake County.

“A few cycles ago, Avon Township in Lake County made history by electing Krystal Larson the first openly transgender township clerk,” Vega said. “It’s 2022, the county is a quarter Latino, we have thousands of folks that are proudly LGBTQ and I’ve always said government works better when it reflects the community they represent.

“To that end, we’ve made good progress, but there is still so much work to do,” he said.

Born to immigrant parents on Chicago’s Southwest Side, Vega attended Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky, before working as a political organizer for the Sierra Club and then serving as Lake County Sheriff John Idleburg’s chief of staff.

Managing the clerk’s office’s budget — which he estimated to be near one-tenth of the sheriff’s office budget of more than $70 million — and its smaller staff is something Vega feels he has the experience and personality to do well.

He said he can take lessons learned from Idleburg’s transition in 2018, and what worked there, and apply it on a smaller scale at the clerk’s office.

Vega will be overseeing the old recorder of deed’s office, which folded into the county clerk’s office as the “recording division” on Dec. 1.

He said there will be little change in day-to-day operations, but that some staff need to be “cross-trained” across services the clerk’s office provides, including training regarding vital records for births, marriages, death certificates and marriage licenses.

There is a small logistical hurdle, with vital records located on the first floor and the new recording division being on the sixth floor, where the recorder’s office has been located, and he hopes some technology upgrades will allow staffers to work well together even if not physically in the same location.

“The endpoint is a one-stop shop where a member of the public doesn’t have to go to two different floors,” Vega said. “Everybody’s trained, from marriage licenses to birth, marriage death certificates.”

The responsibility of the office, which includes running elections and a host of smaller, but key functions, Vega said, comes with a personal obligation to be an inspiration to both of the long underrepresented, and arguably underserved, Latino and LGBTQ communities in Lake County.

Vega recounted a few interactions from the campaign trail, including noticing how some Latino residents seemed to react positively to seeing his campaign float during the North Chicago Community Days parade in August.

An exchange with an older resident at that event provided Vega with a moment he may never forget. Months later, a handshake and hug he shared with that man drew tears to his eyes, his voice filled with emotion.

“As I was walking away, he wouldn’t let go, and he actually pulled me into a hug,” he said. “I’m going to get emotional, but he was like, ‘We’re very proud of you.’ My dad died in 2016. It felt like the hugs he would give me.”

Stories like that make the hard work of campaigning and the risk of putting oneself out there in a heated political environment well worth it, Vega said.

He has now joined a group of more than 50 LGBTQ elected officeholders in Illinois, but he also realizes he is, “one of the few outside of Cook (County).”

“I hope that I don’t have to wait too long before other folks who are Latino, LGBTQ, or both, are able to join my ranks,” he said. “It’s important. We make decisions that affect people’s daily lives. And when the community sees themselves in their government, they’re more inclined to participate and be engaged civically.”

He added that he hopes to inspire young people in general to make their presence known in the political and community arenas, and credited Generation Z for playing a major role in his election.

He gave a shouted to Libertyville senior Jasmine Lafita, Loyola Academy senior Luke Hughes, Yazmin Reyes and his campaign manager Maggie O’Keefe for powering his campaign to unseat incumbent Clerk Robin O’Connor, who switched over to the Republican Party earlier this year.

Vega believes it’s fitting that young people fueled his success, especially after a former elected official in Lake County asked him during the campaign why, “us young people couldn’t wait their turn.”

“That’s a testament to what we’re seeing across the country,” he said. “Young people are not going to wait their turn. They’re ready to make change, and they want a role in it.”

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