Lake County Gazette

Although the name of Lake County Board Chairman Aaron Lawlor is still listed on the Central Committee’s website, his page has apparently been taken down after the announcement last week that he was seeking drug addiction treatment.

“Every community in America is touched by addiction; and Lake County is no different,” reads Lawlor’s statement, quoted in the July 30 issue of the Chicago Tribune. “Like so many, I am dealing with an addiction and am getting help.”

Mark L. Shaw, Chairman Lake County Republican Party

A letter to supporters of the Lake County Republican Central Committee referred to Lawlor’s leave of absence, which ostensibly will last 30 days. Representing the 18th District, Lawlor first joined the board in 2009 and is an MBA graduate of Lake Forest Graduate School of Management. The Chicago Tribune reported that Lawlor revealed he is gay at a public event in 2017.

“I commend Chairman Aaron Lawlor for coming forward and publicly sharing his personal battles with addiction and for taking personal responsibility for his actions,” Chairman Mark Shaw wrote in the letter.

During his time away, Lawlor will attend a clinic operated by the Hazelden-Betty Ford Foundation, located in Center City, MN. Whether Lawlor is addicted to opioids or another type of drug has not been disclosed.

“In my professional experience as a registered pharmacist and licensed attorney, I have seen first-hand how addiction can sneak up on good people from all walks of life and destroy them, their loved ones and their way of life,” Shaw’s letter said.

In fact, Lawlor alluded to the toll his problems have taken on his financial situation. The Chicago Tribune listed credit card debt disclosed in small-claims court totaling nearly $5,000. Lawlor was also “named in a residential foreclosure case with MB Financial,” the Tribune reported. According to the Better Government Association’s payroll database, Lawlor earned $86,036 in 2016 as chairman.

“I trust that Chairman Lawlor will take all necessary steps to confront and move beyond the trials he faces with this personal affliction,” Shaw’s letter stated. “For those who are disappointed in, and/or are critical of, Chairman Lawlor's conduct, I pray they will replace their feelings of disappointment with feelings of compassion, and/or lower their voices of condemnation, and grant Aaron the time and space that he deserves over the next 30 days to make appropriate choices for himself, his family and for Lake County's residents.”

According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, Illinois has a mixed record when it comes to overdose deaths from either opioids or heroin. While overdose deaths from heroin increased fourfold between 1996 and 2016, deaths from synthetic opioids ballooned from 84 annually to 907. This number ranks the state 22nd nationally. However, the number of opioid prescriptions per 100 people is 60, below the national rate of 70 per 100 people.