Election 2011: Trustee Candidates Answer the Special Interest Question

Some candidates and their supporters on all sides have leveled charges that their opponents are beholden only to special interests or small groups of residents. What proof can you offer voters that you will have the interests of all Oswego residents in mind while serving on the Village Board?

I am definitely not a one- issue candidate. We need to find new sources of revenue and I already suggested that we have a grant writer. I have said that cuts do not solve anything.

Of course we should cut waste if we find it, but I think you will find much more of that in other taxing bodies. We not only need to work on downtown (I gave an idea to the Community Development Committee), but also water, police, roads and Metra. We need an updated comprehensive plan.

The fact that I read to the Board “TheFool’s Prayer” by Edward Rowland Sills, should tell everyone that I am grounded to allthe challenges that face Oswego now and in the future.

In 2007 when I ran for Village Trustee I did not accept a single dime of anyone’s money.

As of today I have not taken any money for this election. I’m not beholden to any special interest groups or developers. As a member of the Oswego Village Board of Trustees, it is my solemn pledge that I will work for the residents of this town and will put their interest ahead of my own.

What concerns me and what should concern the voters of Oswego is the number of other candidates who have the majority of their signs on developers’ property. Although I have not inferred that these candidates are supported by or beholden to the developers it does raise the question of where the loyalty lies with those individuals.

Is it to the developer or to the residents? A sign in a resident’s yard is a big statement about the passion that resident has for a candidate. My signs are in the yards of residents. The residents are my first priority, and that is where my loyalty lies.

The only special interests I am beholden to are my family.  I take special interest in making sure they live in the best community possible.  

I take it as my challenge and my responsibility to make our community a desirable place to live and this is a role I take very seriously.  I study issues as thoroughly as I can and do not make snap judgments. 

I view my role as trustee as that of a board of directors at a large corporation.  In a private business the director’s goal is to maximize shareholder value.  As a Village Trustee my goal is the same, but to maximize the value of living in the 60543 zip code. 

I can point to an example of how I have kept Oswego residents in mind while on the library district board.  We were able to negotiate seven free acres of land to build a new campus on, we did so and revamped the existing campus all for around the same cost as Village Hall.  

Also, by making the commitment to downtown Oswego, roughly 30,000 people a month now come there that otherwise would not.  No private development would bring in more people or help our downtown businesses more in that location.  By remaining there we were fiscally prudent and a great bi-product is that it can feed into our business community.

My voting record is my proof. I ran for office specifically because I felt that the previous board had not represented all the residents. I made it clear that I would work to end special interest giveaways, to end the awarding of contracts without multiple company bidding, to end tax increases and to spend residents’ money carefully while holding the line on increases spending.

There were not promises made to just a few folks. They were made to all voters and a majority of the voters agreed that these goals should be met. I have followed through on every campaign promise and I intend to follow through on my commitments these next four years as well. In addition, it’s important to observe where candidate’s election signs are placed throughout the Village. You can tell who is backed by special interests by noticing where candidates signs are placed on all the HRM properties throughout the Village.

Editor's note: Trustee candidates , , and did not return answers to candidate followup questions.