Timothy O. Schneider is the former chairman of the

Illinois Republican Party The Illinois Republican Party is the affiliate of the Republican Party in the U.S. state of Illinois founded in May 29, 1856. It is run by the Illinois Republican State Central Committee, which consists of 18 members, one representing each of ...

and a former member of the

Cook County Board of Commissioners The Cook County Board of Commissioners is a legislative body made up of 17 commissioners who are elected by district, and a president who is elected county-wide, all for four-year terms. Cook County, which includes the City of Chicago, is the Uni ...

representing the 15th district, which includes all or parts of Arlington Heights, Barrington,

Barrington Hills Barrington Hills is a village located about northwest of Chicago in the U.S. state of Illinois. Per the 2020 census, the population was 4,114. It straddles approximately over four counties, Cook, Kane, Lake, and McHenry. The Village of Barrin ...

Bartlett Bartlett may refer to: Places *Bartlett Bay, Canada, Arctic waterway * Wharerata, New Zealand, also known as Bartletts United States * Bartlett, Illinois ** Bartlett station, a commuter railroad station * Bartlett, Iowa Bartlett is an uninc ...

, Elgin,

Elk Grove Village Elk Grove Village is a village in Cook and DuPage counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Per the 2020 census, the population was 32,812. Located northwest of Chicago along the Golden Corridor, the Village of Elk Grove Village was incorpora ...

, Hanover Park,

Hoffman Estates Hoffman Estates is a village (Illinois), village in Illinois, United States. The village is located primarily in Cook County, Illinois, Cook County, with a small section in Kane County, Illinois, Kane County. It is a suburb of Chicago. Per the 2 ...

Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...

, Mount Prospect,

Rolling Meadows Rolling Meadows is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 24,200. History In 1836, Orrin Ford became the first landowner in the area that is now Rolling Meadows, staking his claim of in an area ...

, Roselle,

Schaumburg Schaumburg is a district (''Landkreis'') of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (clockwise from the north) the districts of Nienburg, Hanover and Hamelin-Pyrmont, and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (districts of Lippe and Minden-Lübbe ...

South Barrington South Barrington is a residential suburb in Cook County, Illinois, United States, south of Barrington. Per the 2020 census, the population was 5,077. South Barrington is a wealthy suburb of Chicago. It is the location of the famous megachurch Wi ...

and Streamwood.

Education and personal life

Schneider graduated from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree. Schneider serves as general partner/owner of The Golf Club of Illinois in

Algonquin Algonquin or Algonquian—and the variation Algonki(a)n—may refer to: Languages and peoples *Algonquian languages, a large subfamily of Native American languages in a wide swath of eastern North America from Canada to Virginia **Algonquin la ...

, and Waterwerks Car Wash in

Elgin, Illinois Elgin ( ) is a city in Cook and Kane counties in the northern part of the U.S. state of Illinois. Elgin is located northwest of Chicago, along the Fox River. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 114,797, the seventh-large ...

Political career

Cook County Board of Commissioners

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, Schneider was elected to the 15th district seat on the

. He was reelected in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

. In

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, Schneider was defeated in his re-election bid by Democrat Kevin B. Morrison.

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...

regarded Schneider's defeat by Morrison to be a significant

upset victory An upset occurs in a competition, frequently in electoral politics or sports, when the party popularly expected to win (the "favorite"), either loses to or draws/ties a game with an underdog whom the majority expects to lose, defying the convent ...

for the Democratic Party in what was regarded to be a strong year for Democrats. As a member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, he was also a de facto member of the board of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County.

Commissioner from the 15th District of Cook County, Illinois

Upon election he quickly established himself as a strong advocate for the taxpayers of Cook County. The

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

called Schneider "a strong and absolutely unwavering voice for streamlining county government" and "an extraordinary member of a Board that could use many more like him." According to his constituency site, during his first term as commissioner, Schneider lead the fight to repeal President

Todd Stroger Todd H. Stroger (born January 14, 1963) is the former president of the Cook County, Illinois Board and a former alderman for the 8th Ward in Chicago. Stroger is a member of the Democratic Party. In 2001, he was appointed to the Chicago City Counc ...

's sales tax increase. Schneider authored legislation that reduced campaign contribution limits for companies doing business with Cook County in half. As Chairman of the Finance Subcommittee on Workers Compensation, Schneider championed legislation that combats workers compensation fraud by requiring injured employees to submit to recorded interviews detailing each workplace accident. In 2015, Schneider sponsored a resolution opposing a property tax increase to fill the 2016 budget gap. The resolution was prevented from coming to a vote by political maneuvering at the April 1, 2015 Cook County Board meeting. Schneider opposed the positions of County Board President

Toni Preckwinkle Toni Lynn Preckwinkle (née Reed; born March 17, 1947) is an American politician and the current County Board President in Cook County, Illinois, United States. She was first elected as President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, the e ...

and her

floor leader In politics, floor leaders, also known as a caucus leader, are leaders of their respective political party in a body of a legislature. Philippines In the Philippines each body of the bicameral Congress has a majority floor leader and a minor ...

Chuy García Jesús G. "Chuy" García (born April 12, 1956) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Illinois's 4th district since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he served on the Cook County Board of Commissioners, as well a ...

, to a significantly greater extent than his colleagues on the board. However, the county board tended to very few divided votes.

Forest Preserve District of Cook County

As a member of the

, Schneider also served as a commissioner for the

Forest Preserve District of Cook County The Forest Preserve District of Cook County is a governmental commission in Cook County, Illinois, that owns and manages a network of open spaces, containing forest, prairie, wetland, streams, and lakes, that are mostly set aside as natural areas ...

. The Forest Preserves encompass approximately 68,000 acres (275 km²) of open space throughout the county. It contains facilities for recreation and camping, as well as a zoo and a botanic garden. In 2009, the Cook County Forest Preserve District purchased land owned by Schneider's family for over $10 million. Schneider was called out by many board members, even ones in his own party, for violating ethics.

Illinois Republican Party

In 2013, Schneider expressed interest in running for Chairman of the

Republican Party of Illinois The Illinois Republican Party is the affiliate of the Republican Party in the U.S. state of Illinois founded in May 29, 1856. It is run by the Illinois Republican State Central Committee, which consists of 18 members, one representing each of t ...

, but pulled out before the vote. In 2014, Illinois Republican Party Chairman Jack Dorgan decided to resign as chairman so he could join

Bruce Rauner Bruce Vincent Rauner (; born February 18, 1956) is an American businessman, philanthropist, and politician who served as the 42nd governor of Illinois from 2015 to 2019. Prior to his election, he was the chairman of R8 Capital Partners and chai ...

's campaign for

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

. Both Dorgan and Rauner threw their support behind Schneider to be the next state chairman. Schneider was elected Chairman of the

on May 17, 2014 with little opposition. When beginning his tenure as party chairman, Schneider said that uniting the

, which had been divided geographically and ideologically, as a top goal. Schneider announced in early December 2020 he would step down as chairman. On Feb. 6 2021, the Republican State Central Committee elected

Don Tracy Don Tracy is an American lawyer and Republican Party (United States) politician who serves as the Chairman of the Illinois Republican Party. He was elected to succeed Tim Schneider as Party Chairman in February 2021. He was a candidate for Lieuten ...

of Springfield to be chairman.

Other public offices

Prior to serving on the Cook County Board of Commissioners, Schneider served as Hanover Township Trustee from 1984 to 1997. Additionally, Schneider served as Hanover Township Highway Commissioner from 1997-2006. As highway commissioner, he embarked on an extensive program to improve township roads without impacting the highway commission's bottom line, and he left office with a $2,000,000 surplus of funds.

Political positions

Schneider is a self-described social moderate and fiscal conservative. He supported the immigration reform bill which was mainly backed by Democrats and some

Republicans Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

References

External links

Tim Schneider
Cook County Commissioner website {{DEFAULTSORT:Schneider, Tim 1955 births Illinois Republican Party chairs Illinois Republicans Living people Members of the Cook County Board of Commissioners People from Bartlett, Illinois Politicians from Cook County, Illinois Republican National Committee members University of Illinois alumni