An Open Letter to Paul Humpfer

Mr. Humpfer,

Let me start by saying that I personally wish you no ill-will. But, my concern is of service to the greater community.

The position of Trustee is to be a standard of conduct and character in any town. Based on incidents that have occurred over the years, and your criminal conviction this week, I believe that you no longer meet appropriate standards to continue in office.

Since your defeat in the 2005 race for Village President — and your subsequent reappointment by an outgoing Board — this Village has been scandalized time and again. Each time, you have been involved in one way or another; whether it be the illegal immigration issue, the finances, the meetings held involving improper use of Village resources which may have involved policy setting decisions, apparent violations of the open meetings act, potential residency issues, and conduct unfitting of an elected representative.

Through all this, you have demonstrated no remorse — even when tried and convicted — for acts which have been detrimental to the community.

Therefore, I would urge you to show respect for the people of Carpentersville, Village staff and the other members of the Board of Trustees in accepting the penalties for your violation — removal from office.

Your presence on the Board will only continue to be a hindrance to the proper conduct of Village business. Those who value family and moral behavior will likely continue their questioning of a community and government that allows these types of acts to go without consequence.

Please show some honor and respect for the position of Village Trustee, and, for the good of the Village of Carpentersville, please step down, so that further actions will not have to be taken to remove you, bringing additional embarrassment upon you and the Village you purport to have concern for.

Sincerely,

Chrysippus

Open Letter to Trustee Sigwalt

Trustee Sigwalt,

I am directing this letter to you for reasons which are not, by any means, partisan. Your responses to some recent emails from myself and others, in addition to actions taken during Village Board meetings, have given me cause for concern. A primary concern is your insinuation that there is an agenda behind your actions on the Board. The comments I have received from others have led me to believe that as well.

Specifically, when concerns were raised about the behavior of the Board, you replied, in part: “Anytime you would like to talk and learn the reasons behind some of the actions I would oblige.” I think we all would like to know those reasons, so please share them. I believe you, as a representative of the People of Carpentersville, owe us all an explanation.

The purpose of this blog is to call those elected to office in the Village to account in hopes of moving things forward, and stopping what I believe to be a pattern of lies and games. It is in this spirit that I have pointed out areas that I believe need significant improvement — always backing my statements with evidence.

I do believe you, as the senior trustee on the Board, have been a factor in the current state of Village politics, which has now seen 3 different Village Presidents. Yet it has not changed the contentious behavior — of which you most often seem to be a part — of the Board.

However, this is not merely about you. This is not even about me. It is also not about Bill Sarto or any others. And, it is not about anyone on a personal level.

This is about the Village and residents; and about our elected officials’ service and duty to us. This is about where we have chosen to live and work and raise our families and setting things in place to continually improve that.

Unfortunately, you have seemed to make this personal. I could provide a litany of examples to back such a statement, but I think I’ve already said enough along that line.

I’ve said in the past, patterns of behavior that I have observed for some time have made it necessary for me to take these issues to the people — and provide the information that I feel has been lacking, and even ignored — using a mechanism that is commonplace on the public internet: a pseudonym or “alias”.

In the past week, I have taken some time to work on presenting a better image of what is happening in the Village … and have asked that our Village Board get past their petty bickering. I have done this because I honestly feel that the Village has finally began to move forward in the past few years.

Yet, the Board seems to continually argue about things which are irrelevant to Village business.

If it takes further criticism of the Board to get you all to play nice, I will not hesitate to say what’s on my mind. The ultimate direction of my comments on my blog is up to you and others on the Board.

Let’s pull it together so that the good work that is being done in the community can be reflected in, and assisted by, our Village Board.