Primary Results

A big congratulations to all the winners last night and everyone who ran.  Being a candidate is tough.

For all the results please see the link below.

Thanks to all that voted for me even though I was unopposed.  I hope I will have your support in November!

http://dupageresults.com/

Robo Calls

I had 26 messages on my phone from Friday up until  today.  I just had time to listen to them.  The majority where robo calls.

It would be much more impressive if the candidates had people from their district call on their behalf instead of other politicians.

I would love to hear a story on how a legislator made a life of someone they represented better or actually help their district.  Instead of hearing from one politician how wonderful the other is.

Primary Election Today

Good luck to all the great candidates!  Beautiful day to get out and vote!

Criticism

It appears that Senator Dillard, along with many other elected and appointed officials, need to learn to accept criticism with some grace and if they did they might even learn a thing or two.

In an opinion piece written by Jerry Moore, Mr. Moore is sharing his thoughts on the redundancy of the FOID card. His piece was about revoking the FOID card.

Mr. Moore was stating the fact that FOID cards are basically a waste of the State of Illinois resources.  He never stated that there should be no background checks.  Even though you carry a FOID card a background check is required on every gun purchase in the State of Illinois.

So the question is why have a FOID card when a background check is done?

Not only is the State performing double duty what about the small business owner who owns a sporting goods store or pawn shop and has to use his limited resources to run the background check.  One would think that presenting the FOID card at the time of purchase would be sufficient.

I do not believe that FOID card information should fall under the Freedom of Information Act.  I do agree that if you void the FOID the issue goes away.

Illinois is one of the only states that requires a FOID card.

As a mother of three children, who is driving that minivan, I am all for background checks on anyone that wants to purchase a gun and I believe that the 72 hour cooling off period is necessary.

The opinion was not about background checks it was about the FOID card.

I believe that Senator Dillard just like many elected officials just don't want to hear anyone who challenges them.  Good for Mr. Moore.  He is spot on and Senator Dillard spun the topic from one of necessity to one of emotions of the public.

Please read attached opinion piece.

http://www.mysuburbanlife.com/downersgrove/features/x1907515362/Letter-Dillard-responds-to-Moores-column-on-FOID-card-issue

Water Commission On The Right Track, Really....

Submitted by SteveKier on October 9, 2006 - 11:34pm. 

Press Release
For Immediate Release
Elizabeth “Liz” Chaplin
Democratic Candidate for DuPage County Board, District 2
630-810-9588
bchaplin03@comcast.net

DuPage Board Democratic Candidate Corrects Opponent’s Tax Knowledge

Chaplin Questions Which Social Services Redick Would Cut

 
DuPage County Democratic Candidate for District 2, Liz Chaplin, corrected her opponent’s mistaken notions about DuPage County’s taxing, offered realistic solutions and questions which services her opponent plans to cut.

“I did not realize he was an authority on the DuPage Water Commission,” said DuPage County Democratic Candidate for District 2, Liz Chaplin, on published reports by her Republican opponent, Jeff Redick on DuPage taxes.  “Mr. Redick claims that the quarter percent sales tax collected throughout the county is to be used help fund its operations.  If Mr. Redick had properly done his homework, he would have realized that the quarter percent sales tax was to be used to pay off the 150 million dollars in General Obligation Bonds.  That is how the referendum was presented to the citizens of DuPage County.”

The DuPage Water Commission (DPWC) has been using the sales tax to stabilize rates to the Commission customers.  The rate that the Charter Customers (municipalities) paid for water during the inception was 1.95 per thousand gallons. Currently, the Commission customers are paying 1.45 per thousand gallons of water. The Charter Customers also received rebates in the amount of 66.3 million dollars.

“I have serious concerns, whether the rebates or rate reductions were passed on to the citizens,” Chaplin added. “The answer is that very few municipalities passed any savings on to their citizens. In fact many of them increased the water rates to the citizens, while their water rate was decreasing.”

The Department of Natural Resources gave the DuPage Water Commission special consideration and allowed the municipalities to keep the municipal wells opened for emergency use.  The contact between the DPWC and the municipalities states that, “Nothing in this contract shall prohibit the Charter Customers from serving its customers in cases of emergency, from any source including the wells owned by the Charter Customers and maintained for emergency use.”

Many municipalities are not prepared in the event of an emergency.  The General Manager of the DPWC has stated that, "Many of the Charter Customers have gone from a system of Service, maintenance and distribution to one of distribution only.”

The contract between The City of Chicago and the DPWC states that, “The Commission shall be responsible for there being provided and maintained at all times during the terms of this contract water storage within the commissions system and participating municipalities collectively capacity to store not less than two times the annual average daily demand of Commission members.”

Collectively the Commission meets this requirement. Naperville is supplying the majority of storage. However, many municipalities do not have adequate supply of storage.

I have grave concerns,” added Ms. Chaplin. “The DuPage Water Commission and the Municipal Members of the Commission have not been good stewards of our tax dollars.   And, they have done the community on the whole a disservice. I would like to introduce legislation that changes the structure of the DPWC.”

“And, I would prefer that the sales tax be eliminated,” Chaplin concluded. “But, with the county facing a 45 million dollar deficit, I would like to see the quarter percent sales tax transferred to the county to preserve the social services that preserve our quality of life.  Jeff Redick is in favor of cutting services. What does he plan to cut? Services to senior citizens, like my father? Or, perhaps he wants to threaten my children’s health by cutting Health Department funding, after they were so helpful in the recent mumps outbreak. Maybe he wants to cancel well water testing that would be a terror to us all.”

Liz Chaplin was the past Second Vice President of the Indian Trail School P.T.A. and is currently a member of the Henry Puffer P.T.A.  For the past two years has been a member of the Downers Grove Junior Women’s Club and served as a board member.  Liz has also been a Religious Education Teacher at St. Josephs Church since 2000.

Liz is a 21 year resident of DuPage County, her Husband Brian and three children are lifetime residents.

http://elmhurst.patch.com/articles/report-confirms-dupage-water-commission-on-right-track

Chairman Cronin Press Conference Today at 10:00

Chairman Cronin will be holding a press conference at the DuPage Water Commission at 10 AM today to discuss findings from a review of all commissions that the County Board approved last fall.  While the review is a step in the right direction I have a concern that Crowe Horwath did the audit of these commissions.  Crowe Horwath is an "investor" with Choose DuPage.  Choose DuPage is about the least transparent government entity in DuPage.


Choose DuPage is a public private entity that receives 500,000.00 of our tax dollars each year.  The website is lacking any financials.  There is no way to verify what amount if any the investors have contributed.  Choose DuPage is a 501C3 they do not have to respond to FOIA requests.  


I wonder if Choose DuPage was included in the review.

Consequences Having Mayors In Dual Roles

Word on the street is that Senator Don Harmon's (D-39th, Oak Park) legislation that would make it lawful to hold the office of county board member simultaneously with an elected office of another unit of local government will breeze through the General Assembly.

The county board districts are not divided by municipality.  They are divided among many different communities.  How will the Mayor of Elmhurst or Burr Ridge be subjective in the serving of the district as a whole?  What if two of the communities in the district are competing for funding?

I think it is most admirable when Republicans and Democrats work together for the betterment of the people.  From what I see this only benefits two people the two Republican Mayors running for DuPage County Board.  Thanks to their good friend Don Harmon and the General Assembly they just might succeed.






 

Mayors in Dual Roles

The DuPage Water Commission had six municipal members sitting on the board. The majority of the municipal representatives were mayors. Look what they did to the DuPage Water Commission do we really want the same for DuPage County. Link to audit provided.


.Download 2010 Forensic Audit (PDF)

Mayor and County Board Member

The below story is wrong with our government.  I will be writing more about this at a later date.

Legislation Would Ensure DiCianni Can Serve as Mayor and County Board Member

Democratic Sen. Don Harmon of Oak Park filed the amendment in response to State's Attorney Robert Berlin's opinion that the two positions are incompatible.

• By Karen Chadra
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• 12:06 am

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Illinois Sen. Don Harmon (D-39th, Oak Park) has introduced legislation that spells out in no uncertain terms that an official may simultaneously hold the offices of mayor and county board member.

The Illinois Channel, which provides unedited coverage of state government proceedings, announced via Twitter Wednesday afternoon that the measure was working its way through a Senate committee.

DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin had previously issued an opinion that the two positions are incompatible. Berlin issued that opinion in response to Elmhurst Mayor Pete DiCianni's desire to simultaneously serve on both DuPage County Board District 2 (if elected) and as mayor of Elmhurst. Burr Ridge Mayor Gary Grasso, who is running for a seat in DuPage District 3, also has expressed a desire to retain his mayoral position if elected to the County Board.

If the proposal is approved by the full Senate, Berlin's opinion would be moot.

Harmon's measure is an amendment to Senate Bill 3332, the Public Building Commission Act.

The amendment (attached to this article) states: "The General Assembly finds and declares that questions raised regarding the legality of simultaneously holding the office of county board member and elected office of another unit of local government are unwarranted; that the General Assembly viewed the elected office of another unit of local government and the office of county board member as compatible; and that to settle the question of legality and avoid confusion among such counties and other units of local government as may be affected by such questions, it is lawful to hold the office of county board member simultaneously with an elected office of another unit of local government."

The amendment would allow a mayor to hold elected office on the DuPage County Board as long as there is no "disqualifying contractual relationship" between the county and the other unit of government.

Contractual relationships that are allowed, according to the amendment, include:

• contracts involving Homeland Security programs
• emergency management and assistance
• storm water management and assistance
• environmental protection or enhancement
• energy conservation programs
• mutual aid agreements regarding crime prevention or law enforcement activities
• grants administered by a county or unit of local government funded by either the federal or state government

Those uses, among others, are "not disqualifying contractual relationships," according to the proposed amendment.

An article in the Daily Herald said the legislation does not address the issue of elected officials' pensions.

"The legislation is silent" on whether elected officials can receive multiple pensions, said Terry Pastika of the Citizens Advocacy Center in Elmhurst.

DiCianni said last month if he is elected to the County Board, he will give up his $6,000 mayoral pay and only collect the $50,000 County Board salary. He also said he will sign up for the county's pension plan.

"I'm willing to give up my mayoral pay, compensation and pension to do this job. I'm willing to do two jobs for the price of one," DiCianni said.

It is not clear whether the mayor is legally able to give up his city pension.