Anita Loch, Chair
Anita Loch was born in Nebraska, married her husband Randy after high school, and relocated multiple times in the United States due to military and career opportunities. They raised two wonderful sons who are now married and enjoy their four grandchildren immensely.
Anita had a long career in human resources working for several global companies with travel around the world before retiring a few years ago. She also participated in the family business upon their relocation from Chicago to Wisconsin in 2000. Anita received her B.S. in Business from the University of Nebraska and an MBA from Northwestern University.
Anita has volunteered with many organizations over the years and served in various leadership roles, including the Democratic Party, League of Women Voters, Fair Maps Coalition, Human Resources Management Association, and Make-A-Wish as well as many others. She has been an active volunteer with the Walworth Dems for the last five years primarily in elections, communications and related community advocacy, as well as serving as Elections & Legislative Committee Chair, Whitewater Action Team Co-Chair and Walworth County Vice-Chair.
Sue Chandler, previously an Academic Faculty member in the Music department at UW- Whitewater, taught music education and string instruments for 13 years with 30+ years as public school music teacher – orchestra, and served 10 years as youth orchestra director with the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra organization.
Sue has been involved with the Walworth County Democratic Party since 2018 when she joined the Whitewater Neighborhood Team. Sue, with her husband of 50-years, Bill, along with some great volunteers, has led the management of the Whitewater office as well.
In addition to the Vice Chair position, Sue leads the Elections and Legislative committee which leads the direction and a multitude of activities to drive Democratic values in elections up and down the ballot as well as legislative actions.
Additionally, Sue was the campaign manager for Brienne Brown, who ran for State Assembly in 2022.
Chris Hammerstrom, Secretary
Christine (Chris) is officially retired (education and farming) but found the changes in our government so shockingly negative that she needed to get involved in ways that were more pro-active. She has always been interested in government and has noticed how over the past 40 years the power, money, and greed of a few has slowly but surely corrupted far too many politicians. They forget “service for the people.” During the past 10 years in our government, she feels the loss of ethical behavior and common sense norms by certain members of Congress is dangerous to a fair democracy.
Christine wants future generations to enjoy a fair democracy in which politicians pay attention to the needs of the people in our country, and put country over party.
Patti Guilfoyle, Treasurer
Patti Guilfoyle, a longtime Wisconsin resident, recently moved to Elkhorn from Fontana, where she raised four great kids with her husband of 50 years, Jim.
Patti’s experience includes serving two terms as Fontana Village Board member, former owner/operator of the Grog Shop in Lake Geneva, co-owner/business manager of Hairloft Ltd and ten year employee with Horizon Behavioral Health. As a receptionist there, Patti was able to attend Gateway and Upper Iowa U in Beloit to earn both her Associates and Bachelor degree, graduating in 2004 with her BS in Accounting. Using her experience, she worked for Newport Financial Services LTD and Frederick Tax & Accounting.
Since retiring in January 2019, she has become more involved with the Democratic Party of Walworth County, finding a niche as Treasurer using her extensive experience in business accounting to manage the budget and the many reporting details required by government.
Cathy Bloss
Cathy Bloss was born and raised in Wisconsin, but lived most of her professional life in Illinois with her husband of 50 years, Bill. They raised their three children there (and in several other states).
Cathy’s professional experience is primarily in education. She taught Special Education in Chicago, and Humanities and Language Arts in both 6th and 8th grade, in Northbrook, IL. She helped to develop the Humanities curriculum there and was on the Blue Ribbon team that helped bring that award to her middle school. Cathy received her B.A. at the University of Illinois and her masters in Reading Education at National Lewis U. She retired in 2011 and moved back to Wisconsin with her husband.
Cathy and her husband have been active volunteers at DPWC for several years and Cathy currently chairs the Membership/Hospitality Committee. She also manages a local Book Club and has been a volunteer at Aurora Lakeland Hospital. Her favorite pastime, however, is being grandma to her six grandchildren ages 11 months to 19 years.
George Wen
George was born in Austria and arrived in the US in Chicago on his 7th birthday. He’s a graduate of St Xavier University with Political Science and History major and an Education minor. Met and married wife Merryann in Chicago and moved to WI soon after. They have 3 children (raised in Delavan) and 6 grandchildren. He taught middle school briefly after which he had a lengthy career as an IT professional and retired from Aurora Health Care.
His parents experienced Nazi rule as young teens and from their knowledge and stories has acquired a keen appreciation for what our Democratic Party stands for and yes, the answer is democracy.
George is an avid Musky fisherman, loves movies and bowling, and is active member of his church as well.
Bob Cole
Bob Cole worked as a union ironworker for 40 years throughout the Chicago and Milwaukee metropolitan areas. After retirement, Bob became active in the Recall Walker campaigns with the Democratic Party of Walworth County. Bob does everything from knocking on doors and lit drops to putting up campaign signs around the County. Bob has been promoting the Walworth County Dems in various parades driving his antique tractor. Look for him at the County Fair in the Dems tent every day!
Suzi Arnold
Born and raised in Lake Geneva. Suzi has been a member of the Walworth County Dems for 4-years and has been in technology sales for almost 40 years. Suzi began organizing in Milwaukee in 1985 and then in Chicago, where she lived for 25 years before relocating back to the area. She has been honored by being inducted into the Hall of Fame with three organizations, including the City of Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame. Suzi’s incentive has always been to create a safe place and to empower people. Her work with the Walworth County Dems includes supporting technical needs, canvassing, staffing events and recruiting volunteers, with the goal of preserving freedom and to make this country a place for every person to thrive.
Sue Beyler
Sue is a 33-year Walworth County resident/homeowner and retired from the Wisconsin DNR after 36 years as a fisheries supervisor. She has been married to her husband, Warren, for 40 years and they have 3 grown children and 3 grandchildren.
Susan Kinast-Porter, aka Dr. Susie, is a retired physician who spent her professional career in southern WI. First as a family physician in Green county and then as a night hospitalist in Rock and Walworth counties.
She grew up in suburbs around NYC and started dropping lit for democrats while in grade school. She has been active with the democrats ever since. She went to college at the Univ. of Michigan, med school at the University of Illinois, and residency at UW-Madison.
She has been married to Tom, a retired nurse. They have an adult daughter, Heather. All three of them are active with the Walworth County Democratic Party.
The Walworth County Dems Board meets the second Monday of every month at 6:30pm. Members interested in attending are welcome.
The membership/hospitality committee is for anyone who is interested in growing our membership base and welcoming new and existing members! Membership in your local county party also means you are automatically a member of the state party (Democratic Party of Wisconsin) – in order to vote as a delegate at the state convention for items like DNC reps and State Party chair, you must be a member of your local county party. It’s thanks to this committee that we have lots of tasty treats around the office.
The fundraising/finance committee is in charge of raising funds to keep our doors open and lights on, keeping our financial house in order, and ensuring we can continue to grow and flip Walworth County Blue!
The elections/legislative committee is for all who are interested in developing a local plan to influence elections and create real political action! Subcommittees of the political action committee include the environmental committee and the legislative action committee.
The communications/outreach committee is tasked with developing our weekly email newsletters, updating our website, being present at local events, writing blogs and letters-to-the-editor, and ensuring all members are informed of meetings and events through the mail.