That's why in my second post I mentioned Binding, creat a Dataset with the following SQL Select....
Dim strSQL As String = "SELECT SomeIdColumn, '[' + str(CandidateID) + ']' + ' ' + LastName + ' ' + FirstName AS " & _
"FullName, LastName + ' ' + FirstName AS SortName " & _
"FROM tblCandidates ORDER BY LastName, FirstName"
With cboFullName
.Datasource = myDataSet.Tables(0).DefaultView 'This uses the dataview of the first table of your dataset
.ValueMember = "SomeIdColumn"
.DisplayMember = "FullName"
End With