Radio host William Kelly claims former Lake Co. Sheriff Mark Curran committed ‘battery’ at U.S. Senate endorsement event

A north suburban candidate for U.S. Senate has filed a police report against his opponent after a testy exchange at the Lake County Republican headquarters in Grayslake.

William J. Kelly, an AM radio host, and Mark Curran, former Lake County Sheriff, both appeared before the Lake County Republican Central Committee on Nov. 2 to vie for the committee’s endorsement in the upcoming election. The winner of the Republican primary will face U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin in the general election.

In a video posted to YouTube and sent by Kelly to media outlets, Kelly can be seen verbally confronting Curran, repeatedly asking “Did you support driver’s licenses for illegal aliens, yes or no?” Curran attempts to ignore Kelly before eventually grabbing his shoulders and leading him to the door.

Kelly filed a police report with the Grayslake Police Department alleging Curran committed battery against him.

Grayslake Police Chief Phil Perlini confirmed the report had been filed but said it “is not completed, reviewed or assigned for investigation yet.”

Though Kelly claims Curran was “angry” and “unhinged,” Curran brushed off the incident as a shameless attention-grab.

“His whole endgame is to get attention,” Curran told the Chicago Sun-Times. “At the end of the day, I am somebody who is not going to say hateful things about immigrants, I have a working relationship with the immigrant community.”

“He has somebody videotaping the whole time he’s in there,” Curran said. “He edits everything else out, and even despite that, it makes him look horrible, not me.”

Curran, who served as Lake County Sheriff from 2006 to 2018, received the Republican committee’s endorsement.