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Rob Lee, candidate for D300 Board, has issued press releases regarding his position on the progress made on ethics reform and opposing increases in Student Fees. The releases are posted in their entirety below:
ROBERT LEE STATEMENT ON PROGRESS FOR DISTRICT 300 ETHICS REFORMS
I’m pleased with the progress we’ve made in the Policy Committee on important ethical reforms for District 300. I stand committed to the principle that District 300 must not engage in business with vendors or contractors that seek to influence district elections with political contributions.
More so, I have a sincere hope and belief that we, both as a committee and a school district, will implement these reforms before too long. In light of what has happened in our state within recent months, all levels of government need to look long and hard at whether an opportunity for conflicts of interest exists in their policies. District 300 has an opportunity, and I believe our board has an obligation to close that loophole as soon as possible.
In the Policy Committee, we’ve asked the question – how will this policy be implemented? I support a policy which clearly states the expectations of the district, but still allows the administrative staff enough flexibility to enforce the policy fairly and efficiently.
Including a statement of the policy with documents such as bid packets and a request for quotes is one such way. We include other requirements with those documents already, and this requirement would not be anything capricious. I do not find it unreasonable to require a vendor or contractor to avoid political conflicts of interest. For example, vendors and contractors must demonstrate they meet prevailing wage requirements, something far more stringent and pressing.
What is most important is that District 300 is that we make an effort to close this potential loophole. Waiting for our own version of the former governor to emerge is unacceptable. We have an opportunity now to pass what is a difficult, but necessary, reform. By the progress we’ve seen with this policy, I’m encouraged that we’ll soon see it done.
ROBERT LEE OPPOSES PROPOSED INCREASE IN STUDENT FEES FOR DISTRICT 300
Robert Lee opposes District 300’s proposal to increases student activity fees, as presented at the Board of Education meeting on Monday night.
“I find it ridiculous that we’re raising student fees in light of our economy and other actions of this school district,” Lee said. “Families are facing tough obstacles in the current economy, and last month the district admitted to hiring more teachers than were necessary. In light of that, the district is still asking parents to pay more activity fees on top of what is already paid.”
Lee highlighted the admission that District 300 hired fifteen and a half more full time elementary teacher positions than necessary for the current school year, costing the district hundreds of thousands of dollars that was not needed.
“I do not believe the District has asked teachers to take a pay-cut next year as a result of its poor financial planning, nor do I think it would be fair. Equally, I think it is horribly unjust to ask parents already facing tough times to pay more money for their children’s school activities.”
Lee said this demonstrates another reason his proposals for Financial Impact Statements (FIS) and quantitative program evaluation are critical to improving District 300.
“An FIS would have given the District a five year cost projection for these student activities, allowing for proper budgeting beforehand. Additionally, the District should be able to demonstrate student achievement and performance will drop without parents paying higher activity fees. I will never support an increase to student fees without both these critical pieces of information available. In fact, I wouldn’t even consider it for my vote.”
The team of Ed Ritter, Kay Teeter, Pat Schultz and Brad McFeggan (dubbed “Carpentersville Cares” by Trustee Judy Sigwalt in her endorsement of the quartet) are latching on to the coat tails of the Carpentersville Improvement Committee to make their case that they are working for the people of Carpentersville.
The Carpentersville Improvement Committee was started about 16 months ago but they seem to have done very little to improve things in the Village. The charter they crafted was intended to find and recommend ways to improve things through broader compliance with Village codes. Yet, to date they have made zero recommendations, with Pat Schultz as chairperson.
They are touting their efforts to clean-up 15 foreclosed, vacant homes. It might have been a very neighborly thing to do, but it has been extremely tainted by the fact that they did it to make it into a campaign pitch where they expected an “Atta boy!” and a pat on the back. Maybe, too, we should be cheering on the guy who put a shopping cart into the cart-stall that belonged to another shopper who neglected to get it to its proper place.
Then, they have touted this as a group effort, but they didn’t invite other members of Village government to be involved; and they haven’t involved the broader community. Instead, it appears that some have made the Committee into some Village endorsed version of the Fox Valley Citizens for Legal Immigration. (Is this how they intended to get around requirements in order to use Village conference rooms and resources without violating Village ordinances and ethics laws?)
Yet, its clear to see that this was simply a campaign stunt. They put up signs that said “Carpentersville Cares” (which, by the way, appears to have been a violation of statutes because the signs were posted on private property without the owner’s permission), and are now using that as their campaign slogan.
While the efforts are commendable, they do not address the real problems. Instead of just “doing something”, why not come up with real solutions?! For example, these 15 houses represent about 5-10% of all foreclosed, vacant homes in Carpentersville. If they were being graded for answering the problem, their score would be a miserable failure.
And, there are more questions:
Have they continued to maintain these homes through the winter, clearing snow from walks, and ensuring there are not other dangerous situations? What will these homes look like when the spring growth starts? And what of the other 135-185 vacant homes in town? Will they be going out to ALL those homes a couple times a month to see everything is ship-shape?!
I doubt it, since they ignored even the 15 homes until very late into the summer. And, I don’t think that the Carpentersville Improvement Committee should have been formed simply to become a landscaping business.
Still it begs the most significant question: Why are they doing something that the Village already has processes and procedures in place for dealing with?
Yes, that’s right. The Village already has procedures on the books for addressing homes that are not properly maintained; and they appear to address a wider range of issues than the “Carpentersville Cares” folks have. This includes recouping Village administrative costs associated with enforcing the maintenance issues with these homes.
So, while doing this work may provide a temporary fix to what may be unsightly to neighbors, it also lost taxpayers money, which can no longer be billed back to property owners. It lets the banks that own these homes off the hook. In other words, the Carpentersville Cares team has bailed out the banks, rather than providing true help to homeowners.
The Carpentersville Cares team needs to focus less on campaign sloganeering and more on really solving problems that face Village residents and government staff. To date, they have a failing grade.
Possibly Related:
I received the following email alerting Dundee Township voters to information about Don Rage, who is running for Dundee Township Supervisor, and the numerous feedback and comments from renters and residents of properties managed by Rage Property Management:
Don Rage, owner of “Rage Property Management” is running for Dundee Township Supervisor against incumbent Sue Harney. Rage has been slinging mud left and right.
Want some fun? Google “Rage Property Management” and see all the hits that come up…. Hits from ANGRY renters & residents of the properties that Rage is charged with managing. (See attached below.) Rage clearly cannot manage his present business yet he wants to run Dundee Township???!!! Forget it!
What Rage really wants to do is to treat Dundee Township and your tax dollars as his personal piggy bank – for his properties and for all his contractor and developer buddies.
Do you value Open Space in Dundee Township? Then, DON”T LET THIS HAPPEN!
Support SUE HARNEY for re-election as Dundee Township Supervisor! SUE HARNEY has faithfully and responsibly served us in Dundee Township for the past 8 years. She is responsible for most of the Open Space acquired by the Township that we all enjoy. www.citizensforsueharney.com
Please forward this message to all your neighbors and friends and be sure to vote for SUE HARNEY on Tuesday February 24th.
Trustee Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski is back on the ballot for the April 7 Consolidated Election after she proved at least 9 of the signatures that had been previously rejected were, in fact, registered voters. Further, the Electoral Board reinstated 4 additional signatures that they had wrongly rejected on the basis that they had been printed.
Read more at the Courier-News or at the Daily Herald.
As was reported in the Courier-News, fellow Trustee and political adversary, Judy Sigwalt, did not want to allow the signatures, despite the fact that they were valid.
This was not unexpected, since Judy Sigwalt was likely a party behind the objections to the petitions of Ramirez-Sliwinski, as well as Ken Andresen, Deb Lowen, Joe Haimann, Jim Krenz and Bill Sarto.
But, what was somewhat unexpected was Sigwalt’s admission that what the law required did not concern her:
Sigwalt called the objection process flawed and said she could not vote to accept signatures when she knew they were not registered voters.
“Whether the law states I can do it or not, I cannot allow an unregistered voter’s signature,” Sigwalt said.
The problem with Sigwalt’s logic is that no one was asking her to allow an “unregistered voter’s signature”. But, I appreciate Trustee Sigwalt providing such testimony to back up my statement that she — like the “Carpentersville Cares” team that has allied themselves with her, and which she endorsed — has no regard for the requirements of law, and has shown it time and again by violating ordinances and statutes.
[T]he village board had previously adopted rules that allowed an affidavit to be accepted as proof of a signature during electoral board hearings.
I’d mentioned in my last posting that the team of “Ritter, Teeter, Schultz and McFeggan” were the team of empty promises. There are several good reasons why I say this, and why I think that voters need to take a pass on what Judy Sigwalt referred to as the “Carpentersville Cares” team, in her endorsement of these candidates.
The “Cares” team is part of a group that made promises before the 2007 election — and held this Village hostage with their antics, some of which violated local and state ordinances/statutes — only to break those promises after they were back in office.
Today, I’ll remind voters of what was promised before the 2007 election, and what happened after the election.
You likely recall that the team of Sigwalt, <a href=”Humpfer and Hinz dubbed themselves “The All-American Team”. They promised to take on illegal immigrants in the Village of Carpentersville. But, their campaign really started in September 2006, when they began to talk about unpaid ambulance bills and their opinion that those unpaid bills were due to illegal Hispanic immigrants.
When Sigwalt and Humpfer tried to bring an ordinance forward, President Bill Sarto immediately cautioned that passage of such an ordinance would result in a lawsuit.
This was proven out by the fact that other communities trying to pass similar ordinances were being sued. Some, like Hazelton, PA, which the proposed Carpentersville ordinance was modeled after, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees to fight the suit.
Still, knowing the strong likelihood of the Village being sued if they passed this ordinance, Sigwalt and Humpfer continued. They met with a small group of residents and non-residents, and even other members of the Board and committees, in an attempt to press on. They even violated the Illinois Open Meetings Act (and prompted a letter of caution from the Illinois Attorney General’s office), and engaged in misappropriation of Village property.
For months they dismissed any concern of the Village being sued, and even said they’d gladly fight a lawsuit when it came.
Clearly they didn’t care about the jeopardy they were putting Village in, nor did they care about the people of Carpentersville. They continued to promise the voters that, if they voted for them, they would pass this ordinance, without mentioning any possibility of lawsuit — even though they were certainly aware of it.
Only when they had won re-election did they finally shut up about illegal immigration. At three separate meetings, they were given an opportunity to discuss it, and they refused.
They abandoned the voters to whom they had promised the illegal immigration ordinance. Their only care had obviously been “four more years” in office.
They now say that they don’t want the Village to get sued, but for those 6 months leading to the election, they accepted the threat of a lawsuit — even welcomed the challenge. Because of the months of their discriminatory talk and divisiveness, the Village has been sued — over failure to put a Hispanic child in an ambulance and transport him to the hospital, when they were saying that unpaid ambulance fees were a result of illegal Hispanic immigrants.
This was something that President Sarto warned about from the very moment the “All American Team” raised it. But, the “All American Team” had an election to win. Once they won, however, they abandoned it …
… just as Ed Ritter, Kay Teeter, Patricia “Pat” Schultz and Brad McFeggan will break any promises they make in this election.
You know what they say, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”
Next up, I’ll talk about the “respect” they are now boasting about in their campaign.
If past history and the comments on sites around the internet are any indication, you can be sure of one thing during this election season: the minions of Sigwalt & Co. will be out in full force to attempt to distort the records of their opponents in order to deflect attention from their own misdeeds.
Comments are made against those who oppose Sigwalt & Co’s tyranny tend to focus on one of the following: the illegal immigration ordinance, attempts to remove convicted wife-beater Paul Humpfer from office after his conviction, or not showing respect to the corrupt behavior of Sigwalt & Co.
As was rightly said by a commenter on another site: “It is not Sarto who broke laws in office”.
These are issues that voters need to take very, very seriously.
Over the next few days, I intend to take on these issues and show how past behavior proves the current actions of Sigwalt & Co are not intended to help Carpentersville. Instead they intend to use this election to further protect themselves by again using slogans containing empty promises to dupe voters into putting candidates into office who will look the other way at their crimes and misdeeds.
Judy Sigwalt has already made public the list of candidates she needs voters to put into office who will do her bidding. Those candidates are Ed Ritter for President, and Kay Teeter, Pat Schultz and Brad McFeggan for Trustee. Ed Ritter and Kay Teeter have already shown that they will look the other way on abuses of office and criminal convictions of elected officials. Pat Schultz has been present during the abuses of office, and also has remained silent on them. We can only assume by the company that he keeps, that Brad McFeggan is part of the deal and will fit into this same mold.
More to come, so stay tuned to Carpentersville Action Network.
Over the past year or so, I’ve read — and you probably have too — comments about going to other towns to shop, etc because they can not find what they need in Carpentersville.
To that I say, horse-puckey!
I find plenty of shopping, dining and service options in town. And, depending on where I am, what I need and/or what I feel like at the moment, I find places all over Carpentersville.
For instance, I regularly shop Woodman’s. They have just about anything I could imagine wanting in the way of grocery. On produce, though, the Village Fresh Market can’t be beat. (Sorry, Woodman’s but your quality just doesn’t cut it. Of course, if you’re an employee of Woodman’s, let me request that you — as an owner — do something to change that.)
If I have a home improvement project that I need to do, and I know exactly what I want and need, I usually go to Menard’s to get it (I like the prices a bit more than Home Depot). But, there have been times that I’ve wanted a bit of help with what I needed to do, so I’ve hit Ace Hardware, where I can usually count on a knowledgeable answer, or someone willing to spend a little extra time helping me figure out the answer.
Food is often an easy choice, especially fast food. Even though “sit down” is harder to find in town these days with Friday’s and Famous Dave’s gone to seemingly greener pastures, there are some options that I occasionally take.
For example, El Molino has to be one of the best authentic Mexican restaurants in the area. Every time I go, no matter what I order, it’s good. Village Pizza is great. Love the onion, green pepper, tomato and fresh garlic!
If I’m in a fast food mood, but want to sit down, I like Culver’s. And, Garibaldi’s sandwiches are great! Ooo, and I love that chicken from Popeye’s.
Two newer adds that I think were very welcome: White Castle and Jamba Juice. (Scary to put those two together in the same sentence, considering they seem to be at opposite ends of the spectrum — but they serve each other, after a slyder, its probably a good idea to detoxify.)
If I am in the mood for pizza, but want it quick, Little Caesar’s usually fits the bill quite nicely, since I can pick up a “hot and ready” pizza; especially if I’m in the neighborhood. And, there’s Panda Express for a quick lunch bite.
Some of my other favs though have to be Van’s Frozen Custard and Vinnie and Joe’s Cafe.
But, I’ll confess that I don’t do all my shopping and dining in Carpentersville. Walmart, Target, and some other specialty stores draw me outside. Kohl’s gets my business, as do other shops in the mall.
Still, there are just too many options available in Carpentersville to believe that anyone is forced to shop for much outside the Village.
I encourage you to help support the town with your sales tax dollars, which could encourage other stores and businesses to locate in town. Make every effort to Shop Carpenterville.
Have I missed any of your favorites places to shop, dine or whatever else? If so, let me know in the comments.
News reports are that Trustee Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski was removed from the ballot in the upcoming April 7, 2009 election.
It is a shame to hear this news. But, I am glad to hear that Trustee Ramirez-Sliwinski is intending to supply affidavits from at least 6 who’s signatures were removed, certifying that they are, in fact, registered voters in Carpentersville. I actually hope she produces many more than the 6 she needs to reinstate her position on the ballot.
Considering the 40% Hispanic population in Carpentersville, it only seems logical that there would be at least one Hispanic member vying for a position on the Board.
Good luck, Linda!
The U.S. Conference of Mayors released a list of “shovel-ready” projects that they would like to see receive federal funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the so-called “stimulus bill”).
An independent group of folks took this list and created “Stimulus Watch” to “help the new administration keep its pledge to invest stimulus money smartly, and to hold public officials to account for the taxpayer money they spend.”
The site allows people from all across the country to vote on where they think the money would be best invested. This doesn’t mean that it will be in the final stimulus bill, but are simply “candidates for funding” that could come as a part of this bill currently being decided in Congress.
According to the site, there are 14 projects listed as candidates for Carpentersville, with a total of approximately $15 million being sought for those projects.
Last night’s Special Meeting to address challenges to petitions of 8 candidates for Trustee, and 3 candidates for President, led to a decision in only 2 cases.
Ken Andresen and Debra Lowen were confirmed to be on the ballot for the position of Trustee.
In the case of Andresen, objector Frank F. Stoneham, dropped his objection. The objection against Lowen were rejected by the Electoral Board.
The signatures and addresses on the petitions of Joe Haimann and Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski will move to the verification stage.
Nothing was decided on the other candidates because of an inability to seat a deciding Board. Paul Humpfer had to recuse himself because Sarto, a candidate for re-election for President, was a state’s witness in Humpfer’s recent domestic battery conviction. Further, it had been said that Humpfer may have circulated petitions for candidates that he would have been voting on (as well as Judy Sigwalt).
Village Clerk Terri Wilde recused herself also because she may be called as a witness in the hearings on the objections.
The hearings on Sarto, Ritter, Krenz, Schultz, Teeter, Baldwin and McFadden will be continued on Friday at 6:30pm. A “public member” will be added to the Board in the cases where others recused themselves. That “public member” will be selected by the court, and may be an attorney from the State’s Attorney’s office.
Mr. Danahey, new reporter on the Carpentersville beat, might want to hold off a little bit before uploading certain stories to the Courier News web site …
Approximately 4pm today, he posted this story announcing the launch of a campaign web site for Carpentersville Village President candidate, Jim Krenz.
The short article said that Krenz’s site would be up by 5pm today. However, as of the writing of this entry (10:30pm), attempts to reach the site were unsuccessful.
Welcome to the party, Mike.
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