COUNTY GOVERNMENT WATCHDOG JEAN KACZMAREK TO RUN FOR DUPAGE COUNTY CLERK IN 2014

COUNTY GOVERNMENT WATCHDOG JEAN KACZMAREK 

TO RUN FOR DUPAGE COUNTY CLERK IN 2014 

Kaczmarek Promotes Returning Electoral Process to County Clerk’s Office

WHEATON, IL – In commemoration of the 100^th anniversary of women’s right to vote in Illinois, good-government advocate Jean Kaczmarek is pleased to announce her candidacy for the Democratic position of DuPage County Clerk in the 2014 election.

Kaczmarek, a 25-year Glen Ellyn resident and first-time candidate, filed campaign paperwork on Monday for the open seat at the same government agency she has voluntarily scrutinized closely for nine years – the DuPage County Election Commission. 

“For years, I have been calling for returning the Election Commission back to the County Clerk’s office,” said Kaczmarek, who regularly attends the Commission’s board meetings. 

DuPage County has the only county-wide electoral board in Illinois that is independent of the County Clerk’s office. A separate Election Commission was created 40 years ago by an ordinance passed by the County Board. Ten weeks after the vote, the Election Commission was formally disconnected with the County with one significant exception –its funding. The 2014 budget for the Election Commission is $4,211,582.00. 

“If you ask any county clerk outside of DuPage what their number one responsibility is, he or she most definitely would say ‘administering the electoral process’”, Kaczmarek said. “The positions of clerk and deputy clerk are paid far better in DuPage than any other county in Illinois – collectively $300,000 in salary and stipends, plus full benefits – yet they have the least amount of responsibility. We’re not getting our money’s worth.”

Kaczmarek says the return of the Election Commission to the Clerk’s office aligns with the DuPage County’s ACT initiative – accountability, consolidation and transparency –which was introduced in 2012. “I had hoped that the Election Commission would have been consolidated with the County by now,” she said. “It simply makes good fiscal sense.”

You can read more about Jean here.