Lake County's Democratic committeemen and committeewomen will meet at the Hammond Civic Center on Saturday, September 15 to choose a new County Coronor.

Party chairman Tom McDermott Jr. said they will seek someone to fill the unexpired term of Thomas Philpot, who was convicted of illegally taking $24,000 from a state-run federal child support fund while he was County Clerk. The caucus will begin at 10:15 a.m. and will be open to the public.

McDermott said he was shocked to learn that the jury deliberated only three hours before it returned guilty verdicts, and that Philpot could face five years in federal prison when he is sentenced. McDermott also says he knows Republicans will try to show that his own leadership is corrupt, as well as other Democratic candidates in the November election, because of Philpot's conviction. That, McDermott says, would be unfair stereotyping based on decades of past corrupt acts by people who are no longer in office.