Letter to the Editors: What is Wrong With Transparency?

The DuPage Forest Preserve Board's motives in fighting the transparency initiatives via their objections to the Freedom of Information Act are understandable: it's in their interest to operate in secrecy. For too long, this Board has spent taxpayer's money with impunity or any taxpayer oversight.

The Forest Preserve Board has made great fanfare in complaining that "individuals are abusing the system" and "costing significant amounts of money." What's missing however is a discussion of what these FOI Act requests have uncovered. Here is just a short list:

1.  An annual no-bid contract with general counsel [Robert] Mork has cost taxpayers nearly $3,500,000 since 2002.  No wonder some Commissioners receive significant campaign contributions from Mork.

2.  An estimated $20,000,000 is planned to be spent on the tri-building
industrial complex in Blackwell with no public hearings or zoning requirements.

3.  President Pierotti claims the Golf Courses make money. A recent independent audit clearly shows that hundreds of thousands of dollars each year are currently lost by the courses.

4.  President Pierotti's public claim of reimbursement to the District for
all of the signage at the forest preserve entrances that sport his name is blatantly false!

It should be easy to understand why the Board needs to fight letting the
public know this information. In seeking information via use of FOI Act
requests, the public is not harassing the Board.  It is our right to know
whether the Board is honest, how our tax dollars are being spent and it is
our right to monitor our elected officials.  The fact remains that if there
is nothing to hide, there is no reason to fight laws that allow the public
access to internal records.  This naturally leads to the question: What ARE
they hiding behind those Forest Preserve Board doors??

Dennis Clark
Winfield

Letters to the Editor may be sent for consideration through e-mail to Mary Ann Lopez at maryl@patch.com or Carrie Frillman at carrie@patch.com. Please include your name and a phone number where you may be contacted.