One of McLean County government's most consistent fiscal hawks over the last two decades has died.
George Wendt of Bloomington, who served on the county board from 2010 to 2024, died on Friday.
Republican county board member Geoff Tompkins served with Wendt on the board and knew each other as GOP precinct committeepersons. Tompkins said Wendt will be a remembered as a “stalwart advocate” of conservative principles.
“George Wendt has left an indelible mark of service to McLean County and all that have worked with him,” Tompkins said. “George's insights and institutional knowledge, particularly in the area of property taxes, will be fondly remembered and greatly missed.”
Wendt consistently lobbied county government to maintain or lower its property tax rate each year. “The first thing that I’d ask the [county] administrator [is] how much do we have the reduce the budget so we don’t have to raise the rate? This went on for several years,” Wendt said in a 2024 WGLT interview.
Wendt also had a long career in politics, from working on the presidential campaign of Richard Nixon and Jim Thompson’s campaign for Illinois governor. Wendt was also heavily involved in the McLean County Republican Party for many years.
Wendt continued to serve on the county board as he battled leukemia, which he discussed with WGLT in 2024. “My doctors say I’m a miracle,” Wendt said.
Wendt lost in the 2024 Republican primary to Brian Loeffler, who now represents much of western McLean County.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
