Sheriff Rebukes Elmhurst Politician

ELMHURST, IL – Elmhurst politician Pete DiCianni took heat from the DuPage County sheriff and other Republicans during his final days campaigning for County Board chairman.

In last Tuesday's election, DiCianni, a District 2 County Board member, lost the Republican primary for chairman to Hinsdale's Greg Hart, another County Board member.

Hart prevailed with nearly 60 percent of the vote.

Three days before the election, Sheriff James Mendrick took to Facebook to condemn DiCianni's campaign.

The sheriff, who wrote on his private Facebook page, accused DiCianni of "hit pieces" involving Mendrick's wife, Cyndi Mendrick. He also said DiCianni sent people to harass sheriff's deputies at their homes.

DiCianni, a former Elmhurst mayor, did not return Patch's message for comment on Monday.

In his Facebook post, Mendrick, a Republican, did not describe in any detail the mailer involving his wife. But he said it shows that DiCianni enjoys bullying women.

"You hurt my wife, Pete DiCianni," the sheriff said. "I hope you feel proud now."

Mendrick also said DiCianni sent "undesirable" people to the homes of sheriff's deputies "to scare their families."

Mendrick gave no more details about the encounters. On Monday, Patch filed a public records request with the Sheriff's Office for more information.

"When (DiCianni) continues to lie about me while he puts out fake 'pro police' flyers, I let it go," the sheriff said.

Mendrick said DiCianni included photos of himself with deputies that were taken a decade ago, but represented them in his flyers as being present day.

Mendrick said DiCianni uses Win Marketing as his "weapon of choice."

"He's been using that company to demean, make foolish cartoon images of candidates and graphically distort pictures to hurt people," Mendrick said. "He's the guy creating all of these bizarre mailers that you are receiving every day. They are ads so childlike and vicious that I couldn't imagine Pete Dicianni to have the temperament or professionalism to be a successful County Board Chairman."

DiCianni owns Addison-based Win Marketing.

Cyndi Mendrick posted to Facebook at the same moment as the sheriff.

"In your mailboxes, you may find a piece of literature that is meant to defame my husband by using my picture and MY NAME. Pete DiCianni, candidate for DuPage County Board Chairman, was responsible for this defamation," Cyndi Mendrick said. "I thought to myself, WHY would he attack a female who is not even a candidate. It suddenly occurred to me that he has a track record of using and verbally abusing women while he has been in office as a County Board Member in District 2."

Cyndi Mendrick then referred to a couple of incidents that Patch first reported two years ago.

During a pro-police rally in June 2020 outside the Elmhurst police station, an unmasked DiCianni walked up to a counterprotester, got in her face and yelled at her to "leave our town then!"

After the rally, a constituent chastised DiCianni for his conduct in an email, demanding his resignation. In reply, he told her to "stick" her vote in "her a--."

He later apologized for his behavior at the rally, saying it wasn't his "finest moment."

Under pressure, DiCianni later stepped down as chairman of the County Board's Health and Human Services Committee.

Two days before last Tuesday's election, Jim Zay, chairman of the DuPage County Republican Party, condemned DiCianni for his mailer. He called for DiCianni to publicly apologize to the Mendrick family.

"Mr. DiCianni has his right to produce his message to the voters but the use of anyone’s family is completely over the line," Zay said in a Facebook post. "As candidates and elected officials we are in the public eye and using anyone’s family to score political points is not what we stand for as a Republican Party."

Sheriff Mendrick said he had already endorsed Hart for County Board chairman. He thanked the Addison Township Republican Party for pulling its endorsement of DiCianni.