From the Buffalo Grove Patch publication: [Activist and Buffalo Grove resident Rob] Sherman alleges that the [Indian Trails Public Library] illegally used tax revenue to promote the referendum. Voters on Tuesday will decide whether the library’s improvement plans warrant an increase in the district’s tax levy. […] Governing bodies such as library and school districts…
Category: Political Campaigns
Tips for Poll Watchers
Poll watching is a way to spend a couple of volunteer hours supporting a party, candidate, or ballot question. Usually, poll watching is a means to keep track of which voters have already cast their ballots, in order to focus get-out-the-vote (GOTV) efforts on those who haven’t. Some poll watchers will approach it as a…
Letter to the Chronicle
The letter to the editor published April 1 in the Daily Chronicle is here for the moment. What follows is the version I sent to the paper originally. Cohen Barnes is a sharp cookie, a local success story and a civic Energizer Bunny. We need all three. However, my aim with this letter is to…
Comments on Wednesday’s Aldermanic Forum
Fifth Ward Alderman Ron Naylor seems very proud that the FY2011 budget is down $700,000 from FY2007. I went through those budgets and counted more than 40 positions eliminated since FY2008 — but, assuming a little hiring has been done this past fiscal year, let’s say we’re down about three dozen. There’s been virtually nothing…
ReNew Our Schools and Candidate Barnes
Below are listed the officers of ReNew Our Schools, the political action committee (PAC) set up to campaign for the $110 million District 428 construction referendum that passed in early 2008. One of the co-chairs of the PAC, Cohen Barnes, is currently running for a spot on the District 428 school board. In the comments…
Statements of Economic Interest, 2011 District 428 School Board Candidates
There are 11 candidates in this race, and three of them listed something other than “none” or “NA” on their Statements of Economic Interest (SEI). As is true of yesterday’s post about the City of DeKalb candidates’ SEIs, all items should be read as reports of what has occurred “in the preceding calendar year”; and…
Statements of Economic Interest, 2011 City of DeKalb Candidates
Five of the candidates for alderman had no disclosures to make (“N/A” for all items) on their Statements of Economic Interest (SEI). Three did, and the table lists them in the order they appear in a PDF file. Because I’ve shortened both disclosure item descriptions and explanations in the table, a sample of an original…
Extended Comment on the Advisability of a South 4th Street TIF
I left a comment at DeKalb County Online in response to 5th Ward candidate Rob Fischer’s possible support for a new TIF. Says Mr. Fischer: TIF’s are one of the most powerful tools municipalities have at their disposal to renovate neighborhoods. My wife and I were just talking the other day about how the city…
Petition Challenges 101
Election law attorney Thomas Jaconetty, who is a member of the team trying to keep Rahm Emanuel off the ballot in the Chicago mayoral election, explains what ballot petition challenges in Illinois are all about in this 2009 video of a Chicago Bar Association address made available by The Capitol Fax. More: Filing fees are…
Consolidated Elections and Political Parties
I do not consider it good campaign ethics for candidates for offices voted upon during consolidated elections, who filed using the “independent” paperwork, to campaign at specific political party events, which are most certainly anything but independent.