GRAYSLAKE (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A north suburban candidate for the U.S. Senate has filed a police report against his opponent after a testy exchange at the Lake County Republican headquarters in Grayslake last weekend.
William J. Kelly, an AM radio host, and Mark Curran, former Lake County Sheriff, both appeared before the Lake County Republican Central Committee on Nov. 2 to vie for the committee’s endorsement in the upcoming senatorial election.
In a video posted to YouTube and sent by Kelly to local media outlets, Kelly can be seen verbally confronting Curran, repeatedly asking “did you support driver’s licenses for illegal aliens, yes or no?” Curran attempts to ignore Kelly before eventually grabbing his shoulders and leading him to the door.
Kelly filed a police report with the Grayslake Police Department in response to the incident, alleging that Curran committed battery against him.
Grayslake Police Chief Phil Perlini confirmed that the report had been filed but said it “is not completed, reviewed or assigned for investigation yet.”
Though Kelly claims that Curran was “angry” and “unhinged,” Curran brushed off the incident as a shameless attention-grab.
“His whole endgame is to get attention,” Curran told the Chicago Sun-Times. “At the end of the day, I am somebody who is not going to say hateful things about immigrants, I have a working relationship with the immigrant community.”
“He has somebody videotaping the whole time he’s in there,” Curran said. “He edits everything else out, and even despite that, it makes him look horrible, not me.”
Despite the incident, Curran, who served as Lake County Sheriff from 2006 to 2018, went on to secure the republican committee’s endorsement.