Naperville City Council candidate Joe McElroy and his wife Kay have responded to a recently surfaced conviction of domestic battery in 1996.
The two spoke with NCTV17 about what happened.
“About 24 years ago, there was a night when Joe and I got into a bad argument,” said Kay. “It was different than anything that had happened before, largely because it ended so badly. I was so mad at him I struck him across the face and he responded and struck me back.”
Kay said the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s office decided to prosecute her husband against her wishes.
The two repeatedly said the incident was isolated and they have no plans of dropping out of the election.
“It never happened before that and it hasn’t happened since. It was a one-off and I think there are a lot of people out there that just can’t wrap their minds around that. They think there’s only one kind of situation and it’s chronic, and that’s not the case,” said Kay.
“If people want to judge me by the worst thing I ever did, then they can do that. And it’s up to the voters to decide if this one-off incident is the most important,” said Joe.
The couple spent years in marriage counseling to work on their relationship and said they will continue to persevere now that their personal life has been made public.
“I believe very firmly in second chances and giving people the chance to redeem themselves and to bring things back to center and balance,” said Kay. “I think it’s possible for many people to do that and if someone can change and turn their life around and turn our marriage around.”
McElroy previously sat on the board for NCTV17.
Naperville News 17’s Casey Krajewski reports.
