WurfWhile

I’m playing a bit of catch-up this week with the blog, so here are two items that should have made it earlier.

The Voters Deserve A Choice

I recently wrote about Wayne Township GOP Chair and Trustee Randy Ramey trying to prevent Democratic candidates Frank Bellino (trustee), Charles Francis (trustee) and 30-year township highway commissioner veteran John Ryvold Jr. from appearing on the April ballot. Ramey’s challenge to placing Democrats on the ballot failed an electoral panel ruling and subsequent court appeal - both rulings found Democrats in substantial compliance with election rules. At the time I said that this seemed like an act of desperation by a Republican official, who apparently feared a challenge from the one-year old Wayne Township Democratic Party (Ryvold was highway commissioner as a Republican, he switched after the GOP abandoned him).

In Naperville last week there may have been a similar fear held by at least one Republican elected official that, given a fair chance to air their views and constructively engage their Republican opponents, voters might find Democrats more to their liking.

Rick Klau, Chair of the Naperville Democrats and Naperville Trustee candidate has blogged about the incident involving Fred Spitzzeri, who had the temerity to attack Rick for not filling out a questionnaire and attending a Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce candidate forum when it was the township (with all Republican elected officials) that failed to include Rick and fellow Democrat Naperville Trustee candidate Janice Ilg - but somehow managed to include every Republican Trustee candidate on a list of all candidates sent to the Chamber at its request (for invitation purposes). The Naperville Area Chamber apologized for the lack of inclusion and has posted the Democratic candidate responses along with the Republican ones - but obviously being informed on March 23 and invited on March 24 to an event on March 8 meant that the Naperville business community, and Naperville in general, lost out on a chance to meet the candidates and explore the innovative ideas that Rick and Janice have for improving the township. It’s a shame.

Perhaps Republican Naperville Trustee and Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce Legislative Committee member Fred Spitzzeri made a mistake. Perhaps he did not realize that the township, where he serves as a trustee and is a candidate seeking re-election, did not send out the names of Democratic candidates (along with the Republican candidates) to the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce Legislative Committee of which he is a member. In that case, Fred should publicly apologize to Rick and Janice for attacking them publicly in the Naperville Sun offices last Wednesday for not participating in an event that they were (through no fault of their own) not invited to despite the Chamber’s wishes.

More importantly, Fred should apologize to the residents of Naperville Township - who were denied a chance to meet candidates committed to making the Township a better place to live. As a Naperville Trustee, Fred owes it to his constituents to investigate and report publicly why all candidates running for Trustee were not sent by Naperville Township to the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce as requested by the Chamber - and Fred should make sure it never happens again. It isn’t because Fred has a legal obligation to do this, but because he and the Township have a moral obligation. No party, and no person, has a lock on all the best ideas. Our community is stronger and better for engaging in a community of ideas - and adopting the best ones. I’ll leave you with what one local Republican has said about the benefit of diverse opinions in elections and what one Naperville Democrat has said about the unique appropriateness of every contributor to our city.

Wayne Township Republican Precinct Committeeman and former York Township Republican Chairman Jerry Marchese, in the context of arguing against the ballot challenges to Democrats in Wayne (mentioned above), said this about our local elections:

“Be assured that we Republicans believe in a two-party system. Those confident Republican candidates who ultimately win their posts do so not by attempting to remove their lawful opponent, but through downright good old-fashioned hard work…. I wish to assure our counterpart Democrats that we welcome the challenges of the two-party system, as well as that ancient but true adage, let the best candidate win.”

A Naperville Democrat reflecting on our history had this to say about the particular appropriateness of bringing new ideas to Naperville for the improvement of all:

“[L]et us not forget the story of a visionary leader who moved his family to the area with a pioneering spirit and a wealth of ideas… A man who was considered to be quite the outsider and was rejected by locals at the time of his arrival. A man who went on to become a school superintendent, a Naperville Township Supervisor, an architect of the local business community and eventually a state legislator. This man’s name was Joseph Naper and he moved here back in 1831, long before the first Starbucks was built in downtown.”

It is time to dust off the energy and innovation that is Naperville’s birthright. For those of you who haven’t met Rick Klau and Janice Ilg, what encourages and inspires me most about them is their interest in trying to find, and do, the right thing - because they love this community and want to make it even better. Both have an interest in hearing diverse viewpoints, and both currently, and in the past, have worked with local Republicans and Democrats to get a job done. On April 5th I hope residents of Naperville Township will join me in supporting Janice and Rick and reinvigorating Naperville local government. It’s about a change for the better.

[Editor Note: Thanks to Liberty Suburban correspondent Deborah Schultz for background on Jerry Marchese]

District 204 Bond Referendum

The Naperville Township Democrats voted overwhelmingly to support the bond referendum at our last meeting (I voted for it there too). I am very sympathetic to those who are concerned about rising taxes - but when students in one school have a lunch period before 11 AM and are told to leave on the ground anything they drop in the halls while moving between classes (because it is too mobbed for anyone to stop and have everyone make the next class) - it’s simply way too crowded.

Naperville City Council candidate Matt Freeman is also sympathetic to the problem of high taxes - and he has a sensible tax solution for Naperville. We need a plan to fill up empty office/commercial space in Naperville (to collect the taxes) and increase the balance between business and residential space in Naperville, so that taxes don’t rely so heavily on residents alone (currently 78% of Naperville property is residential). It’s a common-sense approach that will save residents money on taxes - and would lessen the residential tax support of schools (among other government bodies). We need better approaches to funding government in Naperville - I’m voting for Matt for his sensible solutions that will save residents money and improve our local economy.