Letter: Proud To Cast 'Yes' Votes In Favor Of Skokie Electoral Reform

By Andrea Rosen

To my Skokie friends and neighbors,

I just came back from early voting and was proud to cast three yes votes in favor of election reform in Skokie. While I have the greatest respect for the many friends who have been part of the Caucus Party over the years and have worked hard to make Skokie a great place to live, the election process has been broken for a long time and is in need of reform to ensure it is inclusive, fair and transparent.

The need for change was made especially clear last year in the last local election cycle, which saw the Caucus Party slate a candidate who had made sexist and misogynistic social media posts. Even though the Caucus Party subsequently withdrew its support, it did so after changes could no longer be made to the ballot. It also refused to back another well-qualified candidate who had already secured a place on the ballot, current Trustee James Johnson. In fact leaders of the Caucus Party, who are also village employees (a conflict of interest in itself) tried to dissuade Johnson from running by promising to make him chair of the village’s sustainability committee.

The need for reform also became abundantly clear in light of the Village Board’s inexplicable decision earlier this year to approve a zoning change authorizing Carvana to construct a hideous glass tower “car vending machine” adjacent to Harms Woods, an important migratory bird path. All Skokie Caucus Party trustees voted as a block to approve the development, despite overwhelming community opposition, testimony from bird experts that the building would have devastating consequences, and national news stories about Carvana’s questionable business practices.

I was disheartened to receive a mailer last week from the Skokie Caucus Party that characterized the three referenda on the ballot as an extremist effort. The first two measures—non-partisan elections and staggered terms—are already the norm for all the other local elections we vote in here in Skokie, including school boards, the park district, library board, etc. As far as the third question regarding hybrid representation, it is not unusual for communities of Skokie’s size to have some geographic representation. Given the history of most trustees being concentrated in one section of Skokie, it’s a good step toward ensuring that all sections of Skokie have representation on the board. All three referenda have been endorsed by the non-partisan League of Women Voters, Evanston/Skokie chapter–hardly an extremist organization.

I hope you’ll join me in voting yes.
Andrea Rosen
Former District 73.5 School Board Member (2002-2009)

This letter to the editor was produced by Andrea Rosen. The views expressed here are the author’s own.