Taxpayers paying for Ritter team campaign?

Yesterday, I alerted readers to probable conflicts with the use of “Carpentersville Cares” as the campaign slogan of Ed Ritter, Kay Teeter, Pat Schultz and Brad McFeggan.  The conflict is due to the phrase being established as a mark of service for official Village activities conducted by the Carpentersville Improvement Committee (CIC).

There has been a lot of interest in this particular issue as evidenced by the large number of hits on that article. So, today, I present more information about the CIC, and try to fill-in some of the missing pieces for fellow residents in the community about problematic issues with the CIC.

The idea for the CIC was hatched in mid-2007. When appointments were made to the committee in October 2007, Trustees Ritter, Teeter and Humpfer all tried to get Trustee Sigwalt appointed — so that the committee would comprise Sigwalt, Teeter, and Schultz, along with the 2 other resident members. Enough to establish the bloc that they needed to accomplish their goals, and which, now, seems to have been part of their plan from the start.

The intent of forming this group appears absolutely clear now — to establish this Committee and use it to achieve the agenda of a political group. Sigwalt, Ritter, Teeter, Humpfer, and Schultz appear to have all been complicit in this scheme.  In fact, in meeting minutes recorded September 2, 2008, Ed Ritter was already referring to the CIC as the “Carpentersville Cares Committee” — a reference to the phrase now used in his campaign.

As was noted in a previous posting, this group has not come up with solutions for any of the problems which they were formed to address. Instead, they have merely used this group as an extension of the Fox Valley Citizens for Legal Immigration group that they established for the last election.

This is evidenced by Judy Sigwalt’s own admission that she was attributing this Committee’s work to the Fox Valley Citizens for Legal Immigration:

Trustee Sigwalt worked on the CIC project cleaning up yards and did wear her Fox Valley Citizens For Legal Immigration shirt. She distributed flyers to area residents who were aware of what the organization stood for. She discussed the positive feedback the volunteers received from the neighbors and the number of people that have asked for assistance from them.

[Source: Village Board Meeting Minutes, October 7, 2008]

In other words, Trustee Sigwalt was campaigning and politicking while she was supposed to be working as a volunteer on behalf of the Village of Carpentersville, under the direction of the CIC.  It is probable that after discovery of Sigwalt and Humpfer having exploited their trustee positions to obtain the use of Village conference rooms for meetings held with the Fox Valley Citizens for Legal Immigration, they suggested the formation of the CIC in an attempt to legitimize any such usage in the future, so they could call it a “volunteer meeting”.

This also explains why greater efforts had not previously been made to involve more members of the community (and why some were even unaware of the existence of the Committee’s “clean-up days”.)

Simply outrageous!!  Yet there is more…

The first signs that the CIC put up at the sites they were working on contained the logo/initials for Fox Valley Citizens (FVCLI).  These signs were apparently paid for by FVCLI.

Why was a political special interest group like FVCLI allowed to pay for signage and other materials that were for an official Village committee?

After the Oct. 7 Village Board meeting that brought to light several legal and ethical problems with recent CIC activity — and potentially fearing that some may be on to their scheme — the CIC established rules that volunteers not wear clothing that advertised or said things that might be offensive to some.  When told that these signs could not be placed on the property, Trustee Humpfer said he gave permission for the signs.  (Paul Humpfer is not a member of the CIC, but is a founding member of FVCLI.  Furthermore, he had no authority to allow this.)

At the Oct. 22 meeting of the CIC they were directed that state law and local zoning ordinance prohibited them from putting up any signs in the future at the sites they were landscaping.

Putting “Carpentersville Cares” signs in yards of abandoned house where the CIC has made improvements – This cannot be done.

(Cindy [McCammack] later checked and these or similar signs cannot be placed in any residentially zoned area with or without the consent of the property owner. To do so is a violation of the Zoning Ordinance)

And to think that the CIC was actually violating the very Codes that they were supposed to be raising awareness of!

Also at that meeting,  “Carpentersville Cares” t-shirts were unveiled.  According to published meeting minutes from previous meetings, nothing with this language had been discussed.

Shirts will have “Carpentersville Cares” on the front.
Shirts were white with red lettering.
“Improvement Committee” will be printed on the back

The “white with red lettering” matches the “Carpentersville Cares” campaign signage of Ritter, Teeter, Schultz and McFeggan.  However, other members of the group requested the shirts have “Carpentersville Improvement Committee” and the Village logo on it, in neon with black lettering.

Why was the Chairperson of the Committee attempting to get shirts that would advertise a campaign slogan for her and other members of the slate she was to be a part of?

The CIC, like the Fox Valley Citizen for Legal Immigration before them, was created as a political group to try to get campaign support for this election.

Considering this information, and that Trustees Sigwalt, Humpfer, Ritter and Teeter — plus Schultz and members of the FVCLI — appear to be running this Committee, members of this group should be removed from the Carpentersville Improvement Committee immediately and should be required to pay back the taxpayers any materials and related costs.  It should be paid back from donations to their political campaigns because, for all intents and purposes, this should be classified as campaign activity.

In fact, I would encourage other residents to contact the Kane County Clerk, Jack Cunningham, ( Email: elections@co.kane.il.us Address: 719 SOUTH BATAVIA AVENUE, P. O. BOX 70 GENEVA, IL 60134, Phone: 630/232-5990, Fax: 630/232-5870 ) and the Illinois State Board of Elections to investigate these matters as possible campaign violations by members of this group who engaged in election activity while working on behalf of the Village.

Or, you can do the next best thing and not vote for any of those involved.  Say “no” to Ed Ritter, Kay Teeter, Pat Schultz and Brad McFeggan.

Using Village property for whatever suits them?

We have seen that Trustees Sigwalt and Humpfer appear to have no problem using their office to do and use things — like Village property — to which they are not entitled.

So, it is probably no great surprise that those who are part of their group — Ed Ritter, Kay Teeter, Pat Schultz and Brad McFeggan — decided to “borrow” a Village-sanctioned service mark to use as the label for their own political purposes.

The “Carpentersville Cares” slogan became a service mark of the Village of Carpentersville when it was made a brand associated with the Carpentersville Improvement Committee.  This is something that Chairperson Pat Schultz — now running for Trustee — should have known and not allowed to be used as a campaign slogan because of the appearance of conflict of interest that it creates.

However, Patricia “Pat” Schultz has allowed other things that she should have known about and not have allowed — including violating Village zoning ordinances and Illinois state statues, when she and other volunteers did unsanctioned work on several properties in the Village while acting in the capacity of the Improvement Committee.

The team of Ritter, Teeter, Schultz and McFeggan seem to be not only foolhardy,  but their lack of necessary knowledge and reckless behavior could prove to be downright dangerous for the Village of Carpentersville.

[Read Part 2: Taxpayers paying for Ritter team campaign? for even more information about how this Committee is engaged in campaign activity]

“Cares” is a new name for an old group

If we look at recent history of the politics involving Trustees Sigwalt and Humpfer, it has always seemed something of a crusade against groups that they felt were a burden on the Village of Carpentersville.  Their campaign in 2006 focused on immigrants — in reaction to Carpentersville’s large Latino community.  They latched on to the talking-point of the day, illegal immigration, to make their plans more palatable, hoping they could obtain votes in the process.

Fox Valley Citizens for Legal Immigration was born to legitimize those efforts.  And soon, they fielded their own slate of candidates, dubbed the “All-American Team”.  (Of course, even the name seemed intended as a slap in the face to immigrants in the community.)  Sigwalt and Humpfer were clearly at the helm, steering the ship in ways that would benefit them politically.

Once the election was over, however, the group name basically faded away into the recesses from which it was born.

Over the next few years, there were glimpses of the a small core of the group that appeared here and there, mostly when Sigwalt and Humpfer needed them to do some “dirty work”, like block some piece of Village business that they didn’t want to get done.

Enter 2009. With the election fast approaching, we see members of that core group once again jumping into action to target another segment of the community.

Again fielding a slate of candidates — Ed Ritter, Kay Teeter, Patricia (Pat) Schultz, and Brad McFeggan — they have found a new name — “Carpentersville Cares”; legitimized their group under the Carpentersville Improvement Committee banner, and gone after their next victims: low-income and disabled residents.

This could be considered some good news for the Latino community, as they shift the focus of their ire.

Low-income, disabled and senior citizens, who use services like Ride-In-Kane/Dial-A-Ride, are now the new “burden” to the Village, just as in 2006 when Humpfer cited unpaid ambulance bills as proof of immigrants draining vital dollars from Village coffers.

When asked to explain why they voted against funding Ride-In-Kane they answer that it is a burden on taxpayers:

Humpfer … argues Carpentersville residents are being taxed under three different governments for the program: the village, the township and the Dundee Township Park District.

“That is not fair to the taxpayers of Carpentersville, especially during these hard economic times,” according to Trustee Judy Sigwalt, who also voted against the funding, along with Humpfer and Trustees Kay Teeter and Ed Ritter. [Kane bus program facing funding troubles, Courier-News, Mar 12, 2009]

The idea that it is “not fair to the taxpayers of Carpentersville” to pay for programs that help low-income and disabled residents — and also some seniors — is made more problematic by something contained in Humpfer’s email to the Courier-News that didn’t get published (but which was posted on another blog site run by members in the Sigwalt/Humpfer camp):

Why does Dundee Township have a line item for the Salvation Army, FISH and other not for profits?  Could the township not use this money to be more efficient in its fiduciary responsibility?

So, not only is the “Carpentersville Cares” team critical of funding programs like “Ride-In-Kane”, but also of other services, such as “the Salvation Army and FISH Food Pantry…”, that low-income residents often rely on to get a leg-up in hard times.

Remember that in late 2007, Humpfer and Sigwalt were also against providing funding to the Boys and Girls Club of Carpentersville.  Teeter also voted against the funding. (They said then it was because it wasn’t a line item in the budget.)

“Cares” needs to be exposed for the frauds they appear to be; since it seems that they “Care” about no one but themselves and those they consider acceptable.

Keep in mind that Judy Sigwalt and Paul Humpfer are still leading this group … as Sigwalt kicked off their campaign in January with two Letters to the Editor, endorsing Ed Ritter, Kay Teeter, Pat Schultz and Brad McFeggan.  And, they continue to act as a group, using another gimmick intended to get your vote.

Just as they used public reaction to illegal immigration in 2006/07 to prey on a so-called “burdensome” sector of the Village, they are now using the economic situation in the world to prey on another segment they consider to be undesirable.

Don’t be fooled again.

They are the same group, doing the same things.  They’ve just slapped a new name and catchy little slogan on it.

Group gets a failing grade

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:

Something is rotten in Carpentersville

New committee has a mission

The committee that will be determining the direction, guidelines and focus for what will become the Carpentersville Improvement Committee has come up with a mission statement:

The Carpentersville Improvement Committee pledges to assist residents to understand the importance of property maintenance as it pertains to the general welfare, safety and aesthetics of our community.

Our objective is to preserve existing housing through code enforcement activities and preventative maintenance programming. We are committed to research all avenues of county, state and federal financial resources and to assemble these along with local resources to educate and aid our residents in improving their neighborhoods.

It seems ok … although I would have put “preventative maintenance programming” before “code enforcement activities” as the it would show that education is valued (and preferred) over penalization.

Coinciding with this, the Village has posted information from the Community Development Department that answers “When is a Permit needed?”