By BERNARD SCHOENBURG

Sangamon County Circuit Clerk Tony Libri, who is a colonel in the Illinois Army National Guard, is being deployed to Afghanistan later this year, he said Wednesday.

Libri, 53, is seeking re-election Nov. 4. He said he expects to leave sometime after the election and believes he will return next fall. He said he plans to maintain regular contact with his office to ensure uninterrupted service to the public.

“I have both a duty to my country and a responsibility to the citizens of Sangamon County,” he said in a statement. “I will fulfill both missions proudly and professionally.”

Democrat Cecilia Tumulty, the Springfield’s elected city clerk, is running against Libri, who is also chairman of the Sangamon County Republican Party.

“Like everyone, I support the military in this war,” Tumulty said Wednesday night in response to the news of Libri’s coming deployment, “and I certainly commend him for his service to our country. It’s a very honorable thing.”

As for the political impact of this development, she said, “We’re going to run our campaign and we’ll see what happens.”

A former Marine, Libri has been in the National Guard since 1981, and recently underwent pre-mobilization training with the Illinois Army National Guard’s 33rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team in Arkansas in preparation for the deployment to Afghanistan.

The deployment will include 2,700 soldiers. The Guard’s mission will be to train Afghan national police and members of the Afghan Army.

While in the Guard, Libri served a tour of duty in Bosnia from August 1997 to March 1998.
While he is on active duty, Libri said, he intends to give his county salary, minus what would be normal vacation time, to charity.

At the circuit clerk’s office, he said, seven managers will continue to oversee their areas, and top leadership will be split between his senior managers — David Durall, head of the accounting division, and Matt Dennison, manager of the area that handles traffic tickets.

Libri said was some discussion six months ago that “a whole lot of folks” from Illinois are going to Afghanistan and “We might need you.” But it was just Wednesday, he said, that he got the call to say, “You are going.”

He said Sangamon County Board member Rosemarie Long, R-District 10, who is the appointed chairwoman of the county GOP, will oversee operations of the party during his absence.

Libri is married and has two grown daughters, and a 4-year-old daughter.

“I’m going to miss my wife and my children terribly, and my friends, but they understand ... this is what Guardsmen do,” Libri said. “You have to leave your home once in a while, defend your country. But we’re all better off because we’re able to do that.”

Libri said he believes the deployment could handicap his re-election, “because some people are not going to like the fact that if elected, I won’t be here for a few months,” he said.
“But I hope people understand,” he said, that such work is “what keeps America strong.”

Asked if the deployment might be considered an advantage as he runs for another four-year term, Libri reiterated that it could be a liability.

“Some people are tired of this war and I understand that,” he added. “But people have to understand that I’m not the guy that planned the war. I’m just the guy that’s being sent.”

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Army National Guard Col. Anthony P. Libri