La Grange Village Leader Picked

LA GRANGE, IL — The La Grange Village Board unanimously voted for longtime Trustee Mark Kuchler on Monday to serve as the new village president until the next municipal election in April 2021. Kuchler replaced Tom Livingston, who announced in January he would resign because his responsibilities as a full-time railroad lobbyist with CSX Transportation have increased.

Livingston, who was elected in 2013, presided over the board's meeting until members completed their regular business Monday. Then the board voted for Kuchler, whom Livingston endorsed. Kuchler, who is in his mid-50s, was in his fourth term as a trustee.

Kuchler is a partner in the downtown Chicago law firm Ronaldson & Kuchler. He also is a certified public accountant. According to a biography on his firm's website, Kuchler has helped individuals and corporations in professional liability cases arising from accounting, dental, legal and medical malpractice. And these cases have involved some of the largest accounting and law firms in the country, the website says.

Kuchler is a hearing officer for the Illinois Motor Vehicle Review Board and has been the legal adviser to the state comptroller's office's merit commission.

According to the state Board of Elections website, Kuchler has not given a donation to a state candidate in nearly a decade. His total contributions to state candidates have amounted to $2,500 — $2,000 of which went to Democrat Lisa Madigan's 2002 attorney general campaign. As a Democrat, Kuchler lost in a bid for state representative in 1998.