Kane board member Roth: Warriors threatened to primary him if he didn’t vote their way

ST. CHARLES – Kane County Board member Bill Roth, R-St. Charles, who is being challenged by Michelle Geen in the March 19 primary for the GOP nomination for District 12, said an ultraconservative group warned he would be primaried if he did not vote the way the group wanted.

Roth said it was the same group, known as the Warriors, that supported his candidacy when he defeated then-incumbent Republican Kenneth Shepro in the June 2022 primary, and went on to win the seat in November against Democrat Steve Bruesewitz.

“I’m not Republican enough,” Roth said, of the group, founded by Campton Hills residents Michelle and Larry Bettag.

Geen, a hairdresser who owns a salon in Geneva, a hotel reservation company and a septic company, said the Bettags asked her to run.

“I would not say the Warriors asked me to run,” Geen said. “The women in my Bible study asked me to run and the people who have been very involved in many areas of our community — I do their hair — asked me to run.”

The Warriors are the same group that incumbent Mark Davoust, R-St. Charles, said asked him not to seek another term, but to support their candidate Jonathan Gripe.

Davoust said the group’s complaint against him was also that he was “not Republican enough” because he talks to Democrats and they had issues with some of his votes.

“The same group is coming after me,” Roth said. “We met for coffee. Michelle said if I didn’t vote the way they wanted, they would primary me. I said, ‘I’m not selling my vote.’ I was trying to counsel them. It’s a secret group. You can only go to their meetings if you are invited.”

Michelle Bettag denied the exchange Roth described, nor that she is a political activist or that the Warriors is a secret group.

“I am not a recruiter. ... We are not recruiting people. We’re worried about our county,” Michelle Bettag said.

“We are a group of friends who get together. We eat dinner together and gab,” Michelle Bettage said. “We are literally having friends over who are not happy with Kane County government. ... We are eating our dinner and visiting and doing a lot of socializing.”

Larry Bettag declined to comment.

Roth said he tried to work with the Warriors.

“The joke about that organization (the Warriors) is it’s ‘my way or the highway,’” Roth said. “I was trying to counsel them on what I was finding as a County Board member.”

Roth said he retired the day he was elected so he could devote as much time as possible to county business.

“I’ve been interviewing one-on-one with each board member, finding out where they stand, to see where we are going to agree to disagree” Roth said. “Some did not want to talk to me. I thought it was important to know the people I’m going to work with. We have to work together. I’m a conservative. I talk to Democrats.”