Elmhurst Official Admits Mistake In Wearing Pin, Removes Facebook Pic

ELMHURST, IL – Elmhurst Alderman Guido Nardini, who is running for the DuPage County Board, wore his city-issued pin identifying himself as an alderman while collecting petition signatures to get on next year's ballot.

He posted a photo of himself on Facebook during the petition effort on Sept. 14. A reader alerted Patch to the potential violation of the city code, which reflects state law.

Under the code, city employees and officials are barred from misappropriating any public property for the benefit of a campaign for elective office or any political organization.

In this case, the pin is considered public property.

Asked about this, Nardini, who is running as a Democrat, said he appreciated the reader's attention.

"I wore a name tag because I'm a stranger walking up to people's doors, and it helps me to introduce myself," Nardini said in an email to Patch this week. "It was a mistake. Going forward, I have one that doesn't have the City of Elmhurst seal. I'll use that."

Nardini has removed the photo from Facebook, but kept the message.

"It’s my birthday, and 40 minutes before my Chicago Bears face the brutish and ignoble Lions of Detroit, instead of marinating chicken wings, starting the coals and drinking a bloody mary, I'm circulating a petition for office," Nardini wrote. "25-year-old Guido Nardini at The Mutiny Chicago wouldn’t even recognize me."

Three years ago, the stamp of an Elmhurst area fire district was used to promote a campaign fundraiser for then-state Rep. Deanne Mazzochi, an Elmhurst Republican.

A board member for the district, which covers unincorporated areas between Elmhurst and Bensenville, admitted to a state's attorney investigator that he placed the flyer in mailboxes.

More recently, a Burr Ridge resident sued a village trustee over his Facebook page. She alleges the trustee made his page appear as if it were part of his official village role. He has included campaign endorsements on the page.