City Council vs. Furstenau

1. I support Dick Furstenau 100%.
2. The city should not be paying severance to a city manager who has embarrassed himself and the city. The guy quit, whey in hell would we pay him severance? I say show Peter Burchard the exit asap. If you quit your job, would your boss give you a severance?
3. It seems the police department brought false charges against Dick Furstenau, the city should settle the case and move on to more important matters.

Hey Peter, how come you didn't tell the council about all these "Problems" until you quit. Do not give this guy any severance, he doesn't deserve it.

Mr. Adams,
I agree with all your 3 remarks.

The city should settle with Mr. Furstenau. To spend 400k in legal expenses and than lose would be like a double settlement and a half.

The city learned nothing from that long Napergate battle. They spent over a million dollars in legal fees to prevent Mr. Napergate from getting a second liquor store and still lost and had to settle with him as well as granting him the liquor license.

Why does the city want to repeat the same mistakes of the 1990's. They should take Peter's severance pay which he should not be getting anyway for quitting and give it to Fustenau and we can all go home.

How dare they give our hard earned tax money to Peter for quitting?? I hope we all make them pay by voting them out of office.

I wish I had the money to expose them in Napergate ads like that liquor store owner did. I would be writing ads daily as he did until they are all ousted from office. Maybe Furstenau should do a sequel to Napergate and force them to settle by exposing them and ridding us of this wasted time.

Amy
PS. And how dumb of the city that they need 400k to defend such a simple case. Don't they know how to negotiate with good attorneys. That should be no more than a 10k or 20k case. Another waste of taxpayer money due to incompetence of city officials. Can't even bargain with attorneys...how shameful!!!

it is obvious that the actions the city council in response to Burchard's letter, by now entertaining the idea of censuring furstenau, is nothing more than an attempt to save their own reputations by spinelessly caving to public pressure. the city council has been aware of mr. furstenau's behavior for years. nearly all the allegations took place either in council forums or with another councilman present. if the allegations are accurate and real, why not censure mr. furstenau long ago, acting on your own, as a council, to do the right thing? why wait until a letter like this surfaces? the fact they are doing so now is transparent, and leaves only one logical conclusion...

the allegations in burchard's letter, may have some truth, but are drastically over stated. that would explain why the council hasn't felt like anything needed to be done until now to satisfy public pressure. some council members don't care about how accurate the allegations are because they don't like mr. furstenau to begin with. so they are using it as an opportunity to blast him. it is also interesting because, if his behavior was so bad, why did 2 of the remaining 8 councilman vote not to censure him.

How did this get twisted around to Burchard's severance pay? That's another issue. The point is the city should not bow down to settle with Furstenau just to avoid his frivolous law suit claiming he lost a state election due to being charged with slapping a police officer over a dispute about parking regulations during a Naperville event, claiming his civil rights were violated by a police force that is out to get him for his stance on police funding as city councilman, and the slapping charge was thrown out. Get real, Dick. Most of us would count our blessing to have a charge for hitting a police officer dropped, and drop it. There are a lot of frivolous law suits that are won to the benefit of lawyers. I'm sure we have all received a $.50 or $1.00 settlement on multimillion dollar frivolous class action suits that have lined lawyer’s pockets under the guise of a noble cause. Furstenau's cause is less than noble. Rather than allowing Furstenau to bully his way to a settlement to avoid a case he might win or lose, he should just drop the suit, and save everybody the time and money. The Burchard charges are just icing on the cake of problems with Furstenau's behavior.

I hope for the sake of all the "silent us too" who have been man-handled and mis-treated by bad elements of the Naperville Police that Richard Furstenau civil rights violation lawsuit against the City of Naperville is successful and he gets every penny he is seeking, since it seems that there is a passive reluctance to reign in those cops who are bad apples and give all police officers a bad name.

I moved away and now live in an area where the village police serve and protect regardless of race/sex/other areas of potential red flags and do not not behave nor are allowed by those in village power positions to act as the Gestapo by pretending to be pizza delivery men in the middle of the night as they treat the harmless as public enemy number one under the guise of arresting on a warrant for a traffic violation. Yep, they got away with mistreating me and mine, so I wish Councilman Furstenau well in his brave move to hold somebody or something accountable for all that he and his family was put through.

I do remember there being a lot of words and hatred of Councilman Furstenau because he asked the "why" questions and watched the pennies of the citizens. I never really met the man, but he stuck me as trying to do his best for the people of Naperville.

Concerned people of Naperville, this man is not nuts or the troublemaker they are trying to make him out to be. Ask questions and get involved!!!

hey taxpayer, you are way off base. mr. fustenau isn't claiming his civil rights were violated because it cost him the state election. he is claiming that the police targeted him and falsely charged him in order to derail his campaign. he is suing because his civil rights were violated by the false charges and allegations and the made-up investigation that followed.

the charges were dropped because the judge determined that he never touched the officer in a manner that was intimidating, threatening, or offensive. so by the facts of the case that can be determined by the statements made by the judge who acquitted mr. frustenau, he either didn't touch the officer at all, or he touched him with the back of his hand in a way that one might normally do to get someones attention before a conversation. it is a fact that one of those two things happened.

that being said, the npd waited several days to file a report, refused to interview eye witnesses, changed police reports, lied about how and when they reported the incident, and had the time and location incorrect. but above all, they attempted to file felony aggravated assault charges against an officer, punishable by up to 15 years in prison. does that sound fair if all he did was touch him in a non-threatening way to get his attention or maybe even not at all? the county prosecutor wouldn't support their felony charge because there was no evidence of it. so they settled for a misdemeanor charge which had a much, much smaller burden of proof, and, still, it was thrown out.

if you ask me, it is no coincidence that this all has taken place after he filed suit. i believe it is all an orchestrated bully tactic to intimidate him into dropping the suit. i for one, hope he has the guts to stick it out and make them pay.

Tom W., I learned at an early age that you don't "touch" a police officer on duty. Furstenau and the officer know if they touched or did not touch. I guess Furstenau's lawyers earned their pay to make the judge unsure if it happened at all. Furstenau is great at perpetuating conspiracy theories by police, city staff, councilmen, etc. My contact with Naperville police officers have always been respectful, and professional. The city should not be bullies into settling. To avoid the conflict of interest by Furstenau's continued presence at council meetings while he continues to pursue the case, he should RESIGN!

hey taxpayer, touching a cop in a non-threatening way is not a crime. are you suggesting that simply touching an officer in a non-threatening way is grounds to be thrown in prison for 15 years. imagine if you touched an officer in a non-threating way to get his attention and the officer gave you no indication he was upset or that you did anything wrong, then 2 weeks later found out they were filing felony assault charges to put you away for 15 years. would you be upset by that?

are you also saying it is ok for the police to lie in their report and investigation. in the end, everyone concedes that if any contact was made, it was a non-threatening touch on the shoulder. don't forget the fact that the officers first account of what took place was that furstenau punched him in the chest so hard an officer across the street didn't see it but heard it, and that the reason he didn't arrest furstenau on the spot was because he was so stunned by how hard the hit was. that was their whole reason for filing for felony aggravated assault. by the time it went to trial, after being caught in the lie, the officer acknowledged it was just a tap on the shoulder. does that sound like something a cop should be able to get away with.

im glad you aren't cop. you would be just as dirty as they are.

no one was expressing concern over conflict of interest with furstenau being on the council while the bogus arrest and investigation took place for a year and a half. to say it is now that he is seeking justice is hypocritical.

I don't condone lies by either side. Probable cause does not equal "bogus arrest".

----- Original Message -----
From: Daniel Denys
To: 'swininoga'
Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2007 11:59 AM
Subject: RE: Severance packages for employees who quit

Bob,

Send it to the Sun and Herald (although you did that as well).

Dan

To: mayor@naperville.il.us

Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2007 11:51 AM

Subject: Severance packages for employees who quit

To all Council members:

The article in today's Daily Herald (see text, below) on the severance package the council is in the process of approving for departing City Manager Burchard makes me truly sad.

Why? Well, in my opinion, Mr.Burchard has shown himself to be both duplicitous and gutless. If he was such a great leader and city manager, why did he do nothing earlier about the alleged Fursteneau abuses? Why did he wait until he quit to do it? It makes one wonder if his attack letter on Fursteneau was a ploy to ensure the council would all be intimidated to agree to his severance demands DESPITE the fact he quit!!!!

He argues that health problems are forcing him out as the City Manager, yet he is able to take a full-time job elsewhere? Are there some heavy-lifting requirements of the City Manager's job that the rest of us don't know about and which will not be there in another sit-on-your-butt office job in the health field? Of course not! Yet, it appears the council members all seem to have bought into this crock of crap. Not unlike the "heroic" whistle blowers of 2000-2001 in the business realm, he had a personal agenda that fell short so he went the gutless route.

It is hard to fathom that they would even consider giving a severance package to an employee who quit to take another job ----shame on them!

Good riddance to Mr. Burchard, and I truly hope the Council has SOME backbone on this one (though I doubt it!)!

I can truly state that after 3terms as a council member voted in by the people should speak for itself. If all these things were true being said about Mr.Furstenau then I would hold Mr.Burchard responsible for not reporting these reports to the public or officials who would handle this matter a lot more sooner. I feel the whole thing is made up and people in Naperville do know this and will remember this for a long time. It was like a witch hunt at the council meeting and all one sided where poor Mr.Furstenau and his family surely felt the pain. This was not even on the schedule to be heard so he could defend himself.

knuckleheads ! don't you get it ? DICK is a psychopathic liar ! he came out of the lantern demanding the cop stop towing those cars ! dont you know who i am !!!! how dare you tow those cars ! he lies and he lies. he will never accept blame, he is always right. dick knows what he has or hasn't done. he must live with himself everyday. very sad.

I think we need a definition of terms here. What does "touching in a non-threatening way" mean. Did he tap the cop on the shoulder while he was facing the opposite direction? That would certainly be non-threatening, and not the sort of thing that should be misinterpreted by the officer, even if it is ill-advised. OTOH, did his hand graze the officer's shirt while he waved it about in the course of a heated discussion? That might not be threatening, but it would be easy for the officer he construe (misconstrue?) it as such.

I should add that Councilman Furstenau should either resign his position, or drop his lawsuit. I can't imagine how he can carry out the duties of his office in an even-handed manner as long as he is engaged in this suit.

It strikes me that Peter Burchard's letter tells us all a lot more about Peter than it does about Richard Furstenau. A careful reading of his letter yields strong clues to his opinion that staff governance of a city is superior, especially if he's the one in charge. To me it says "thank goodness he's leaving"!

Peter clearly believes(ed) that he was Naperville's "governor" and that the people are to be protected from the potentially corruptable council. What electorate elected him? Who works for who? Who should be making policy and who should be implementing it?

I for one vote so that the elected officials do the thinking out in public. They, not a City Manager, should be doing the policy making. Under Peter they have seemed to feign interest but rarely have made a tough decision.

They are elected to view the big picture for this wonderful city. I see a council pretending to make policy and usually avoiding deep thinking about a soon to be "built out" and eventually "aging suburb". Where are we in 25 years? More strip malls that need to hve "Cheap Gas Prices" to prosper?

Naperville is living on its past leadership today. Where are they today so that our tomorrow is even better? Not on council that's for sure, and not on staff either. The debate on the future of Edward hospital has been myopic at best. Perhaps Peter's controlling philosophy has nurtured this weakness.

As I read the local papers each day and consider the many issues of growth, traffic, global warming and regional competitiveness, etc. and then hear the council debate at length the most unimportant of issues, I have wondered too often who frames so much of the debate.

I thought previously, and now think I know, that Peter and his staff were framing most of the issues (just as he is doing with his post resignation letter about Mr. Furstenau). We need vision in our debate if we want a great future, not just a great past.

We in Illinois have legal rules regarding our elected officials meeting to discuss policy issues. The staff does not. Does staff always deliberate in public? Does staff always meet in groups of no more than two?

Seems we have perhaps have been in need of protection from staff that perhaps feel they are the ones "in Charge". If Council was smart, this is the time to move to either a strong mayor or stronger council form of government and operation. At a minimum, these issues and the issue of dominance should be considered as a new City Manger is considered.

The recent turn of events at the council is tantamount to the deification of Mr. Burchard and near absolute trust in his written word. A Censure action presumes guilt. Is it proven yet?

Severence payment...that is a RIDICULOUS concept in this situation. He quit, then gave us his "wisdom" as a parting gift even before he left. If he is going to the "private" sector, he will find the "accountability" to be much stricter than his recent years.

Good Luck!

Tapped on the shoulder, touched with the back of the hand, or hit in the chest. Who knows?

We can agree on one thing, if he had done this to a Chicago police officer, he would have been shot in the back.

Isn't it wonderful to live in Naperville, where you don't have to worry about being shot by a cop.

I do not think that Mr. Furstenau is a nut. He has always struck me as a sincere, intelligent representative of the people, though I do not know him personally. That being said, Mr. Furstenau should resign his seat. I see an inherit conflict of interest for him to perport to represent the citizens of this city while suing them. I will not comment on what happened with Officer Hull however, I have a professional contact, unfortunately, with Officer Hull and he was nothing but professional, friendly even. Who in their right mind would even touch an officer on duty? The police officers in Naperville do a fine, professional job. I wonder why he even was questioning the fact that cars were being towed from the street that day. When He, himself, had voted on the matter at a council meeting. I thought it was common sense to keep a respectful distance from a police officer. I can not believe, at last night's council meeting, that he tried to speak to issue of how to finance the city's defense of the lawsuit he filed against the city. The Mayor rightly ignored his speaking light. I was dumbfounded when he actually thought that he should speak on the topic. In truth, he should have been asked to recuse himself prior to the start of the agenda item. I bet his recusal will be more common in the coming months. The potential censure of Mr. Furstenau has nothing to do with any of this. It has to do with an issue that apparently was a dirty little secret at City Hall. His treatment of city staff. The staff works for the City Manager not the council members. Shame on the City Manager and the Council for not taking care of this issue sooner. Mr. Burchard should get whatever serverance is called out in his contract and not a penny more. He cut the deal he can live with what he agreed to. When did Doug Krause lose his backbone? Praise in public, correct in private?? What was that? The days he reflected upon metioning Peg Price are long over. You aren't in Kansas anymore. It sounds like a censure resolution is way way overdue.

From a competing suburban Newspaper today, why not also in SUN or did I miss it?

Peter Burchard has attorneys negotiating a severance package that includes cash, health coverage and forgiveness of an interest-free $50,000 loan given to him by the city, sources say.

Burchard initially had asked for a year's salary, roughly $175,000.

The council's offer stipulated that the health care coverage would be extended for six months and the loan would be forgiven if he remained in a "sort of consultant" capacity for six months during the transition of a new city manager, a source said.

On Friday, Burchard's lawyers sent a response to the council's offer agreeing to the terms, but requesting an additional $32,000 cash pay-out.

"Since when does a city official get a golden parachute?"

My Comments:

When does a manager get a no interest loan and why? Where do I apply?

Why does he need to stay on the city's health insurance if he's going to the private sector for his next job...or like so many of us these days, does health insurance no longer come with our employment? Welcome to the real world Peter!

I'm sure his request for severence drove the fiscally conservative Mr. Furstenau through the roof!

Peter was quite the "Machiavelli" to ensure that Furstenau's certain disagreement to such a preposterous idea would be impossibly compromised and that the overall discussion of its appropriateness would be minimized through misdirection of the media and its discussion toward a debate to censure an opponent rather than a preposterous demand by an employee that is quitting.

Is the "Furstenau letter" a kind of "blackmail" to other council members that they could be next? And is it also a veiled suggestion that the city remains exposed to "harassment" legalities and he can remain a friendly witness if he is properly cared for as he exits? The timing is all quite curious.

Why does the SUN, seem so PRO Burchard in its post resignation editorials and coverage. Or was it just "scooped" on this issue?

If Furstenau sues Burchard for slander because of a letter sent by Burchard before his last day of employ, does the city allocate $400,000 more in legal fees to defend its employee?

This is bad governance. But its hard to exactly tell which of the bums to throw out.

Again, how do I get a $50,000 no interest loan and then get it (or most of it) forgiven via a "sham" consulting agreement. And Peter's letter takes the holier than thou position regarding suggestions of Furstenau as an influence peddler? Seems a bit hypocritical at best.

Show him the door. Sooner the better.

I hope the blog editor posits (rather than deletes) this entry as appropriate as it will restore my faith in the paper's position as a leading member of the Fourth Estate.

Wikipedia: The term Fourth Estate refers to the press, both in its explicit capacity of advocacy and in its implicit ability to frame political issues.

dear mr. incredulous. i hazard to guess you do not have the credentials to run this fine city. as for mr. burchards contract. it is a contract negotiated by your beloved city council including, DICK F. he entitled to whatever was put in his contract ! DICK's lawyer is doing a fine job of trying to turn the tables on peter burchard. you all seem to forget there are serious allegations against DICK. surely we will see a lawsuit against peter burchard now. already his lawyer has made his slimy way into the paper questioning burchards motives and integrity. censure him now !

another day of blogs that again remind me to vote for the removal of public access computers in the Naperville Library.

City Council - Please settle this case with Mr. Furstenau! King Burchard's Smear Proclamation just turned this thing into a multi-million defamation of character suit. Please do not fall into this silly trap and move forward to censure Furstenau without a fact-finding investigation of King Burchard's allegations. PLEASE CITY COUNCIL - USE WISDOM HERE AND SETTLE WITH FURSTENAU.

As to everyone on the blog debating whether or not Furstenau committed a crime. That matter has been settled - Furstenau was found not guilty - end of story. NOT GUILTY. The NPD held an 18 month investigation - with the City's top investigative officer - and could not produce a single eye witness against Furstenau for an event that happened in downtown Naperville in the middle of a parade! You might not like the guy... but he's not guilty. The NPD took their best shot and failed to prove guilt.

how serious are the allegations against dick? non of them are of illegal conduct. all the allegations say is that he can be jerk. how serious is that. so he lacks tact and can be abrasive. so what. whats wrong with telling the manager that it appears he's steering a bid because of the circumstances surrounding his actions. have the guts to call it like you see it. isn't that what we would want in a representative.

burchard's contract says that if he quits, he's entitled to nothing. his 50,000 interest free loan isn't supposed to be forgiven, its supposed to go to a rate of prime +1%. he's not entitled to any severance pay or extended medical coverage according to his contract. furstenau voted against severance and against forgiving the loan. he voted in favor of extending medical coverage to be nice and help burchards pre-existing back problems. it makes it seem like less of a coincidence that burchard's letter came out only days after furstenau was the most vocal person against giving him anything more than extending his medical coverage.

on the issue of towing cars, furstenau was not questioning why cars were being towed. he voted to tow cars parked in that area. what he was questioning is the fact that the street was supposed to be marked with temporary "No Parking" signs that we supposed to be place early in the morning. they were not posted. so many people parked there. the signs were put out only minutes before the towing took place, and police were also writing tickets for the illegal parking. many people who's cars were being towed were furious. he was questioning the fact that they shouldn't be ticketing since they themselves failed to put out the no parking sings. the cop relied by saying he could do what ever he wanted. all this mess started because furstenau was trying to stand up for some citizens who were getting screwed by the cops.

Does Dick have no conscience whatsoever? How could he possibly sit there Monday night and vote on his own issue? And he voted on the issue of apartments - and he is an apartment building owner! I was waiting for every other councilman to yell, "leave the room, @#$%" but only Pradel said something, and he didn't ask Furstenau to leave, just said he was amazed he was still there.
Monday night's meeting was like a scene from "bizarro world." And only in Naperville would you get all these comments defending the guy. Most of them say they don't know him - start paying attention, get around town and find out for yourself as I have.
He is a poison personality and only a sociopath could stay on the council of a city he is suing.
Resign, Dick!

My son was a student rep on the DPIC for four years in high school. Councilman Furstenau heads that committee and always treated Stephen with kindness. He listened to my son's questions and comments inside and outside of the meetings, encouraged input, respected Stephen's views and implemented some of them in plans for the downtown.

We heard alot about those DPIC meetings at the dinner table and feel thankful for Dick Furstenau's efforts to teach our son, by word and example, how to make meaningful contributions to government processes for our city, Naperville.

During the state congressional race, the editorials in the major Chicago newspapers cited the arrest of Furstenau as a major reason for not endorsing him. I thought it then and I still think that the false arrest ruined his chances. When he was re-elected to city council, that was because we, his constituents, know him and knew he would never "hit a police officer."

When I spoke to my son about Mr. Burchard's allegations, he said that Mr. Burchard was always very nice too.

But over the course of his four years on the DPIC, our son rarely missed a meeting and from all we've heard and experienced, Dick Furstenau is patient, kind, passionate about what he believes, and an effective councilman.

it is truly unreal how many times DICK can write into this blog using different names each time. he truly is a man of the people. mr. whatever, previous blogger. aka DICK. you seem to know so many details, how is it you are such an expert ? and by the way, when a petty little councilman threatens your job, it is very serious.

this isn't dick. i am a very active political participant in naperville, a friend, and have always supported him. as for the details, they are all a matter of public record. you simply have to read and pay attention to the details rather than make snap judgments based on the "crib note" details most people read.

Save time,money and all this chatter...next time give Dick a taste of the "Tazer"

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN MR. FURSTENAU AND MR. NAPERGATE.....UNBELIEVABLE!!!

Mr. Furstenau would never impersonate another person or hog this blog. Why is it so hard for his bashers to realize he has genuine supporters of which I am one?

Dick did not invent the wheel when he uncovered alleged corruption in City Hall. Why are people shocked by his allegations against the City? Most likely they are all true.

I have been a resident of Naperville for 32.5 years and this alleged corruption has always been there. Dick is just reminding us it is continuing despite the lessons of Napergate and Yesterdate. Mr. Napergate exposed corruption throughout all the 1990's and early 2000's within the majority of city departments. He never stopped until the courts ruled in his favor. I think he and the rest of the citizens thought corruption would stop after he uncovered it. No such luck! Here we are a decade later and it remains ravaging and rampant, led by the police force who has now been joined by a City Manager, looking for a severance pay for the first time in the history of the world for SOMEONE WHO RESIGNS... Amazing!!! And our City Council is actually considering it and you folks are bashing Dick and want him off the council. My God, just like those Napergate days! Paint the sane guy crazy and more on with Business as Usual. Yes, Mr Napergte was sane and so is Mr.Furstenau. Somehow he had the sources and resources to not only expose but document the corruption at the time.

While I have no direct evidence, I believe Dick was involved with Mr. Napergate. Yes, Mr. Napergate endorsed him in all his ads. Each and every time!!! Deservedly so as we can now see why!! Mr. Napergate discovered Dick way before the rest of us did. And Dick has delivered in a way that would make Mr. Napergate and our citizens proud. I do not know if Mr. Napergate moved or passed away but if he were around he would be writing ads for Dick. I am sure of that!!!

Dick reminds so much of Mr. Napergate (I) that I consider him Mr. Napergate (II). Who better to continue the job of the founder of Napergate and continue exposing City Corruption??? I can not think of a better and more dedicated person to pass the baton to in order to follow in his footsteps and keep this alleged corruption at bay. Dick is so brave as Mr.Napergate was then, in yesteryears!! And everyone in that era tried to paint Mr.Napergate as a radical but somehow the courts sided with the "radical."

Now we have a daily character assasination on Dick?? It must stop! We have police allegdedly attempting to frame him for his views. Did police not attemtpt to frame Mr. Napergate too??? If I recall he did nothing more than run a sting operation to make sure his employees were not selling to minors. And the city went after him for a sale to a minor....absolutely ridiculous and ludicrous!!! Only after the Illinois Apellant Court condemned the City Police and Proseuctors, resulting in a vindicate him, did Napervile finally surrender.

So what is the difference! NONE! The Police are stating falsely that Dick punched a cop(changed to touched) a cop to prevent some improper towing. And they went after him just like Mr. Napergate!!!

And all his bashers believe he is 100% guilty just as they believed Mr. Napergate was 100% guilty. They were wrong then and they will be wrong now! History tends to repeat itself and circle like a wheel that Dick did not invent. And watch!!! All of those bashing him will all have EGG on thier face once more. Rubber stamping knee jerk supporters of the city may as well go and join a herd of sheep. Sheep don't think much, just as his bashers..

Good luck Mr.Furstenau and I promise to all the readers I am not YOU. How silly!!!

Virgina

VIRGINIA AND AMY,

THANKS FOR POINTING OUT THE SIMILATARIES BETWEEN MR. FURSTENAU AND MR. NAPERGATE. JUST SO EERILY SIMILAR INDICATING NO ONE IN THE CITY HAS LEARNED A THING FROM PAST EXPERIENCES.

I WAS OUTRAGED THIS MORNING WHEN I READ IN THE SUN MY TAX BILL WOULD BE INCREASED $8 DOLLARS A YEAR BECAUSE OF REPEATED INCOMPETECE OF CITY OFFICIALS. WASN'T THIS BUCHARD GUY ASLO IN CHARGE DURING THE NAPERGATE DAYS? IF MY MEMORY SEVERES ME RIGHT, HE WAS!!!

I ALSO WISH SOMEONE COULD CONTACT MR.NAPERGATE AND GET HIM GOING AGAIN WITH HIS WONDERFUL AD SEQUENCE OF THE PAST. IT SEEMS LIKE THE NAPERVILLE SUN IS FEARFUL OF TAKING ON CITY OFFICIALS. HISTORICALLY THEY HAVE ALWAYS BEEN. WITHOUT THE MEDIA PLAYING ITS ROLE AS WATCHDOG AGAINST CITY ACTIONS, CORRUPTION GROWS LIKE CANCER CELLS. AND EVEN AFTER REMISSION SUBSEQUENT TO THE NAPERGATE DAYS, IT IS NOW BACK... THE CANCER AND WORSE THAN EVER!!! IF MR. NAPERGATE IS NO LONGER WITH US, I AM SURE HE IS ROLLING IN HIS GRAVE!!!

MR. NAPERGATE WAS FEARFUL OF NO ONE AND MR. FURSTENAU IS JUST LIKE HIM.

KUDOS TO MR. FURSTENAU AND KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK AND HOPEFULLY ONE DAY MR. NAPERGATE WILL SURFACE TO GIVE YOU AN ASSIST.

Yes, yes, yes, pay Dick Furstenau. We're lucky to have this man on our council. He's not afraid to make people accountable and stand up for the citizens of Naperville. No, no, no, do not pay Burchard anything on his way out.
I agree with 'Glad to be Gone'. Anyone walk down the streets of Naperville, only to be pulled up to by one of Naperville's finest and asked where they're going? Ever be pulled over by them in your car and asked the same thing? It happens. I know you think they must've had their reasons, but no. (maybe young and cute?) I'm glad we have a councilman not afraid to speak up when his rights were violated.
He has helped this community in so many ways and as a long time Napervillian, I support Dick Furstenau. He had my vote for major,(one without NPD history).
I agree with 'Virginia' and No, I'm not Mr. Furstenau either!

Can someone tell us who Mr. Napergate was and what went on?

I feel the City Council must have a lot to hide and is afraid that it will be brought out for the public to see. Why else would they react so angry against Mr.Furstenau when only one person has aired any problems against him & waited 10 years to do it! (It reminds me of the whistle blower at Public Works which we have not heard anymore about). I don't understand how the City can pay,"out of taxpayers money" for 2 City Managers & also payoff Mr.Burchard's $50,000.00 free loan, and give him a paycheck of $32,000.00 plus 6mos. of free health insurance. I thought the City raised our taxes because they were short on money.

Posted by: Eyes Open | December 7, 2007 11:58 AM

Can someone tell us who Mr. Napergate was and what went on?

***********************************************************************************************
You are asking a tough question, that no one can answer with a short answer. I think if you read all the blogs above some writers mentioned him. I think I saw him mentioned in Virginia, Amy and McFarland above which pretty much all said that he was fighting corruption in City Hall. I think he started doing that at a later date, though!

As to who he is, I do know. He was an owner of a liquor store on Bailey Rd. for about 20 years. I use to go there to shop and saw him often. He use to plaster his latest Napergate Ads all over his store instead of liquor ads. Obviously that got my attention and I started buying the Naperville Sun just to read his ads. I never seen anything like that. He fought everyone in the City and he just kept coming up with hard facts that they could not dispute. He would run graphs with legal dept.waste of money so when I saw that $400,000 needed to fight Furtenau, I literally flipped out. It reminded me of Napergate days when graphs in his Sun ads would show exponential increases in the city budget of the legal dept year after year so they could quiet their number 1 enemy....that being the Napergate Man!!

Is Mr. Napergate still around? I am not sure but I think he left town. I am sure he sold his liquor store in 2002 as I have never seen him since and my guess is he left town with the sale of his store. I suspect his fingers were killing him from all those Napergate ads he wrote. Sometimes 3 full pages in the Sun in one week. Most of the times one or two!!

I am guessing "Curious" you were not around in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s or you did not subcribe to the Sun. It started with the City accusing him of being lax towards minors but he stating he was very strict and it took off from there in all directions like a 4th of July fireworks show! I recall ads in his store and in the Sun, showing he won the top national award for the toughest program in the country against minors. And the city would continue to say he sold to minors. And he would publish ads with hundreds of confiscated IDs of minors each documented with a police report number. And the city would keep saying he sold to minors. It never ended!!! Until the courts ruled in his favor and then everything ended regardng this issue.

As a customer of the store I know he did not sell to minors and even carded old people. But the city did not like him for other reasons. Possibly because he was not a "YES" man, kind of like Dick.

Anyway to make a long story short he went from the defensive on the issue of sale of minors, to the offensive from exposing city corruption within the police dept. especially, city manager's office, he hated some prosecutor(can't remember his name), and he attacked every Mayor day and night with the exception of the current Mayor(Pradel) who he once told me he liked, respected and even admired. But he hated former Mayors Price and and Macrane. I mean he hated them! One time I heard him cussing on them in his store. And the next day he would have a full page ad letting out steam. It was weird!!!

He ran a petion against the city and some 3 to 4 thousand people came to sign it in just a few weeks. It was the size of an Encyclopedia when I got around to signing it.

That is what I remember first hand. The rest was all published in 10 or 12 years of full page ads in the Naperville Sun. I am sure they have them in their achives. They could probably tell you more than I can. I never saved any of his ads but enjoyed reading them and they were informative but very incriminating towards the city. The city seemed to be unable to deny his allegations against corruption all over the place. I don't think they ever experienced anything like that before so they were not ready for him. They seem more prepared to fight Fustenau than they were Mr. Napergate. Maybe they got some experience from the Napergate days. I don't know!!!

I can't remember specifics about all the corruption he found. He filled over a hundred ads with it but most of it was rather well documented. The other bloggers described some it in above ads.

Unfortunately, I do not think he lives in Naperville anymore. I have never seen him since 2002. So Mr. Furstenau may have to fight his battle without Mr. Napergate. It appears he is very capable and intelligent just like Mr. Napergate as the bloggers above indicated.

In the meantime, I am worred about my tax bill from all these legal expenses and parachute severance pay-outs. It just seems hilarious that a resigning person can get severance pay. I have never heard of that ever. And forgiving a 50k loan!!! My bank would never forgive me on my mortgage. Never!!! How could the city do such an outrageous thing with my money. It really is getting expensive to live in Naperville. I don't know how much longer I can afford to live here. And with the city council not controlling the city manager, I may have to follow Mr. Napergate and leave town. I love Naperville but I can no longer afford to pay for this corruption. I hope the citizens rise to help Mr. Furstenau stop it.

Blake.
__________________________________________________________
Footnote:
I am not Mr. Furstenau either. Those bashers are so obvious. I read those posts and all the bloggers seem like different people with different opnions and different styles of writing. I think the city supporters are just in denial, having a hard time believing that the city officials could have done something so hideous such as charging Furtenau with touching a cop. They want to paint all of us bloggers as ONE PERSON who is Furstenau. Just like they tried to paint Mr. Napergate a whacko they are now trying to paint us all as whackos for standing behind our elected coucilman. Makes no sense to me!!! People just no longer are as stupid as they think. It is the internet age and news travels even without the help of the local newspapers. So there is nowhere for the city officials to hide and not be held accountable. They will be found and made to pay for their injustice to Mr. Furstenau. I wish Mayor Pradel would stand up and bring some law and order back to this town especially the police dept. Chief Dial seems tired and his troops are out of control on the streets. Why do we need a "Bolingbrook" to wake up? Can't we do it before that happens to us. Please help Mr Mayor and do something!!!
________________________________________________________________

Good gosh. Why in the world would anyone call Mr. Fursteneau a nut?

He isn't a nut; far from it. He is a self-centered, vainglorious, vindictive man who not only thinks he is above the law; he thinks he is a law unto himself. A lowly staffer disagrees with him? Threaten his job! The Council wants to censure him? He votes no! He loses an election for state-wide office? He sues the city!

The guy isn't a nut. He's a power-hungry hypocrite who needs to be voted off this town's Council. Until he is removed, Naperville will become a joke; a sort of mini-Chicago where the elected officials operate with impunity.

Really, who would support this guy?

I did not vote for Mr. Furstenau last time.

But I've taken the time to research his past votes and positions (it's easy, just search the archives on this site). Without exception, he is on the side of not waisting tax payer money!! Those are the facts documented by the local papers. It appears, that he has told City staff "No" more than any other councilman.

I cannot wait for the opportunity to vote for him in the next election! Or, in the silly recall that Grant Wherli is trying to put in place.

Mark,
You make a serious allegation: " A lowly staffer disagrees with him? Threatens his job!"

What proof do you have that he made this allegation??? Another person's word!!! That is not proof. That is he said she said heresay.

I just don't believe Mr.Furstenau would threaten anyone in this manner. If you can provide me with video or audio evidence of such a threat being made, I would consider reversing my support of Mr. Furtenau. But I will not reverse my position based on heresay which I don't believe.

When people have a vendetta against a person people come out of the woodworks with false allegations. I am considering this nothing more than a false allegation until Mark, the above blogger, can provide us some evidence to the contrary. Simply disagreeing with a city official or making recommendations, is not tantamout to a threat.

It seems silly that each male supporter of Mr. Furstenau is required to deny that he is Mr. Furstenau. But the Naperville Sun has my e-mail address and can contact me anytime to verify I am not Mr. Furstenau as no one else is either, most likely. When such allegations are made against me and others as being Mr. Furstenau, it just gives you more reason to believe those who make so many false allegations against Mr. Furstenau, are just not credible. And if you know they are making false allegations such as "you are him," they are most probably making false allegations against Dick that he threatens people

This really disturbs me! I think people need to document their allegations as Mr. Napergate did before he aired them in public. And I am saying this to both sides of this debate. Document your allegations with fact and evidence and not hearsay. Until I see one iota of proof that Mr. Furstenau is not the man I know and believe he is, I am backing him 100%.

Thank you,
Blake..

So far 80% of people who have voted whether Furstenau should resign or not have voted YES. One would think it would be a closer tally given that he is so well supported on these blogs. I guess Dick and all 20 of his kids could only vote once. Ultimately if he doesn't resign soon, he will be embarrassed and voted out of office the next go around. Can't wait for the arrows to fly.

Carl - Did you notice that Dick started gaining more support as soon as the Sun reported the complete story behind the Burchard memo? I would be much more interested is seeing a poll taken on whether or not anyone now believes that the Burchard Memo was released for "the good of Naperville" or "the Good of Burchard".

Blake

Thanks for all the info, I should go dust off some old copies of the Sun at the library. Sounds like it was quite a time to live in Naperville!

Blake,

My comments stem from allegations in Mr. Burchard's letter.

And I think your support of Mr. Furstenau is admirable. You have the courage of your convictions.

Wow! Today's (12/11/07) Sun has a column implicating improprieties by Doug Krause based on an "anonymous" letter. A few days ago it was a article about how much Mr. Furstenau's lawsuit is going to cost each homeowner. Shame on the Sun! I think there is a movement afoot in our little "Camelot" to get rid of all of the honest, fiscally responsible and observing folks around town. Yep, it happened during the last District 203 school board election. It happened during the last local city election.

Call me "paranoid" or, maybe, call me "observant".

Paranoid - I thought I was the only one noticing the Sun's slanted coverage of the issue. (Definitely not pulitzer quality). Did you notice that they took the time to put a link to the Burchard Letter on the "Should Furstenau Resign" Vote.

Here's my challenge to the Sun Editorial - When will you conduct a "Should Burchard Get A Golden Parachute" Vote? I doubt you have the chops for anything so controversial. In fact, I doubt the Sun would even "balance" the Furstenau vote button.

Michele B,

DON'T EXPECT MUCH HELP FROM THE NAPERVILLE SUN. THE SUN HAS ALWAYS BEEN PRO ESTABLISHMENT TRYING TO MAINTAIN THE STATUS QUO. IN THE NAPERGATE DAYS WE ONLY LEARNED OF CITY CORRUPTION THRU NAPERGATE ADS. NOTHING FROM THE SUN! DON'T EXPECT THINGS TO BE ANY DIFFERENT THESE DAYS. THE SUN WILL NEVER CHANGE. UNLESS DICK IS WILLING TO SPEND SOME MONEY THRU ADVERTISING WE WILL NEVER KNOW THE ENTIRE DEPTH OF THE DIRTY LAUNDRY OF THE CITY. IT WILL REMAIN TOP SECRET.

Michelle B. and Mike:

Moderator here. You're entitled to your opinions about The Sun's coverage, but I respectfully disagree with your stances.

Mike, regardless of the source, I believe the report about the Furstenau/Krause relationship was a fair and valid presentation of information that simply explored whether a conflict of interest existed. Krause explained his position. We gave Furstenau the opportunity as well. Don't you think at the very least, given Krause's business dealings with Furstenau's company, he should have considered abstaining from the vote on whether to proceed with a censure motion?

Thank you for the suggestion about a poll on Burchard's severance package--we'll see if we can get that question up on our site. I think it's a good one.

In my view, the matters of Burchard's severance and Furstenau's lawsuit are completely separate issues, connected only by Burchard's parting letter. And we have put up links to responses by Furstenau's attorney, so in that respect I feel we have fairly presented both sides.

ted

your story about krause's and furstenau's business dealings was intended to do nothing more then create controversy. that is what most of the sun's articles attempt to do.

furstenau and krause's business dealings have been above board, done in the open, with nothing secret about it for years. you presented it like it was some back ally, under the table, dirty secret.

your argument that it creates conflict of interest is flimsy at best. lets extrapolate your reasoning out:

1) mayor pradel is a former npd officer. therefore, there is inherent conflict of interest for him to vote on any matters regarding the npd. after all, he is likely to be more loyal to his old buddies then his is to the city he was elected to serve. furthermore, he should abstain from any votes reguarding furstenau's suit because it is primarily against 3 npd officers. how can he be expected to vote unbiasedly instead of sticking up for the "old gang."

2) mr kause is a real estate agent, and since real estate agents are paid by commission. it can't be expected that he could cast an unbiased vote that may effect home prices.

3) all councilman are homeowners in naperville, they should all abstain from voting that effects home ownership issues because they may do what is in their own best interest, instead of the city's.

if these scenarios sound ridiculous, then so should your own implication that a small, legal, business agreement done openly and honestly and publicly is a conflict of interest.

in terms of presenting both sides. you have published mr burchards entire open letter about furstenau, but you haven't printed for us even 1 fact regarding furstenau's suite vs. the city. what are the facts of that case? you still haven't presented anything except for the fact furstenau believed his arrest was retaliation. what are the facts of the "sham investigation?" you were at the press conference weren't you? if you are going to call for a censure of furstenau by accepting mr. burchards letter as fact, then what were the circumstances around mr. furstenau thinking bid steering was taking place? who was he accusing? mr. burchard? what were the circumstances behind it? maybe if we heard about those circumstances we would be thinking that mr. furstenau's actions were appropriate and in the best interest of the tax payers. we still haven't heard one word about that from the sun either. doesn't seem fair and balanced to me.

great timing,

We've repeatedly reported the facts of the Furstenau case dating back to the arrest. For the record, The Sun has not called for a censure of the councilman; a Sun editorial prior to the most recent council meeting -- when it was unclear whether the council would even discuss the allegations raised by Burchard -- was that the council should take action on the issue, meaning not ignore it.

If you can get Furstenau to elaborate on some of Burchard's specific claims, more power to you. We've tried. The indications I'm hearing from city officials are that Furstenau's claims of bid steering are unfounded. Only Furstenau himself could provide details to back up what Burchard alleges Furstenau to have said and done. We would be more than happy to provide the forum for him to respond to Burchard's claims about that. You're the one taking Burchard's claims as gospel, not us.

Burchard's letter was newsworthy, as were Ely's and Collins' responses. We put those out there, unfiltered, so people could make up their own minds.

Ted,

Thanks for your comments. My trouble with the Sun's reporting is that it seems superficial. Why not on occasion call Naperville City Hall to task. Ask, for example:

1) How can the City claim Furstenau's claims are frivolous and then set aside $400k for defense? Frivolous claims simply do not cost that much to defend.

2) Why is Burchard not being questioned about the propriety of issuing the Furstenau memo while not disclosing in that same memo that Furstenau was voting against his serverence package?

3) What is the core allegation or series of allegations against Furstenau? So far, they seem to be nothing more than Furstenau is an "in your face" polititian that more than occasionally "makes people feel bad". Is that a "crime" worthy of council censure? Or, as I suspect, is the council pursuing the censure for purely political reasons.

You will not get answers to these questions from City Hall. But by asking the questions, you will be stepping up to the role that only the press can perform.

As the major paper in what has become a "national" city. I hope the Sun steps up and holds our local government accountable. Holding government accountable requires much more work that posting the unedited letters of local officials. There is a great story here. "Big City Politics find their way to Mr. Roger's Naperhood" Analysis, digging and having the courage to ask tough questions is not easy.

Ted Slowik,
I just wanted to thank you for this blog and moderating it. Also not censuring it in any way!!! I think the exchange of views here will eventually result in a surfacing of the truth. It is good to see you come on once in a while and give your 2 cents worth.

I do think 1000 dollars of commission from Furstenau or his son to Councilman Douglas Krause is nothing more than a pimple that amounts to nothing.

I totally agree with all the points of Great Timing who I am sure he is Mr. Furstenau. 100% sure!!! He makes so much sense and I believe he is right.

What bothers me just a little is that he is not using his real name. He should be proud of himself and he seems to have near 80% support on this blog and others by the citizens and residents of Naperville.

I would like to ask Mr. Furstenau to come out and identify himself on this blog and other threads being put out by the Sun. It will make the conversation more meaningful.

The Napergate man came out and he was very effective. Mr. Furstenau is also extremely effective but he needs to come out of the closet on these blogs to gain more respect which he are so worthy of.

I have recognized his style of writing and know when he writes. His writings are admirable! Keep up the good work, Mr Furstenau, but please don't hide. There is no need for it. We all have your back covered in more ways than one. You are a great man, and great men are always out in the open as you should be!!!

Blake...

if i was mr. furstenau, i would admit to it. i am not, but i have been a supporter of his for a long time. i know him personally and do believe he is blunt and direct and passionate about what he believes, and can rub people the wrong way. but i am also certain that he is honest in his dealings, and that he has the guts to call it like he sees it. i would highly doubt that mr. furstenau's attorney would let him in the same vicinity of this blog. so don't count on anything written here being his.

ted-

i agree with the above blogger who commended you for this blog and in not editing it. if mr. furstenau has not made comments about burchards letter im sure it is because he doesn't want this to turn into a he said/they said type fiasco. im sure he intends to vindicate himself through the court system, which he is entitled to do.

however, in terms of the suite, you haven't shared one bit of the accusations against the city. you have shared the court proceedings, you have shared the verdict, you have shared what the poice department alleged mr. furstenau did, but you have not issued one ounce of the evidence filed in the suite against the city or the officers. not one. you have only shared mr. furstenau opinion that the arrest was retaliation for a long standing feud between he and the npd. mr. furstenau and his attorney held a press conference detailing all the CONCRETE evidence in the case, most of which taken from the npd investigation files and dispatch tapes themselves, and you haven't reported one allegation. nothing about how officer hull lied about how he reported the incident. not one thing about how officer hulls first 3 written versions did not match eye witness accounts so he was instructed to go back and change his reports. nothing about how their version of the story started out as a punch in the chest and an attempt to file felony aggravated assault charges, punishable by 15 years in prison, and ended up being a tap on the shoulder with the back of the hand.

furthermore, your accounting of the suns reporting against furstenau are inaccurate. as you said, the sun wrote 1 article stating the allegations should be looked into. but, jim lynch wrote and editorial about how furstenau should resign while the suite is filed. which is ridiculous. no one wanted him to resign while he was getting shammed by the npd for 18 months. the sun wrote that the council was correct in asking the staff to draft a letter of censure. in another article, it also blasted mr. krause for not voting to censure, even before the anonymous letter about their business dealings. then there is the anonymous letter "tipping you off" about a public and legal and legit business dealing that amounts to nothing. what does it tell you about the anonymous person who felt they couldn't share their name (even to the sun)in drawing attention to a meaningless, public agreement. yeah, thats a credible source. i wonder where that came from.

doesn't anyone wonder why burchards open letter, informing people of events up to 4 years old, the censure, the investigation into a recall vote, and the anonymous letter have all come out within weeks of furstenau filing suit? he's been in office for 8 years, and under investigation by the police the last two years. why does all this happen now within weeks after he files a federal civil right lawsuit against the city and pd that is legitimate enough to take a half million dollars to defend?

when the sun starts to report the facts of furstnau's suit as much as they do ely's or burchards letter, and when they look into the timing of all the allegations against mr. furstenau, then the coverage will be fair.

Michelle,

To address you most recent questions:

1.) The city saying the lawsuit is frivolous is mere rhetoric. We'll see how well it works as legal defense. I would hope the city is getting for its $400K than the "frivolous" argument.
2.) Burchard has been questioned, more than once, about the timing of his parting memo, and his response was (I paraphrase), "It was building up over time and the moment was right to say something." As for whether to disclose Furstenau's vote on the severance package in his parting memo, it was Burchard's memo--he could say what he wanted. I will agree that the timing, contents and omissions of Burchard's memo are valid subjects for debate and criticism.
3.) Good question. As for the "core" of subject material regarding Furstenau, I believe we will find out next week when the council votes on whether to censure him. I would imagine there should be some specific cause given in such a resolution, or at least discussion about it, before the council acts, if it does.

great timing,

OK, I get what your saying. You would like to see more details reported from Furstenau's actual complaint--the basis of his suit against the city. The building blocks of his case, if you will--the crux of his argument. OK, I can't turn back time to when we reported on the press conference about the filing of the suit, but I can take a look at the written complaint and see if there are details in there we may have under-reported. Thanks for the suggestion.

ted

i am one who believes that people can disagree without being disagreeable. i want to commend you for this blog and your willingness to answer some criticisms. although i don't agree with everything you have said, i appreciate your responses.

since the sun has taken the stance that the censure of mr. furstenau is an appropriate action (ref. dec 6, sun article, council right to move toward censure), and since you agree that the timing of all these events, as well as the contents of burchards memo, are valid points for debate, when does the sun intend to write editorials questioning or debating them?

Blake,

I have no idea if great timing is Richard Furstenau or not. I think the person has some valid criticism about The Sun I felt needed a response. Some of the criticism I think is not so valid. If people don't want to use their real names, they don't have to--this is the Internet, after all. What happens on the blog stays on the blog.

I thought we "played" the Krause/Furstenau story appropriately. It wasn't a BIG page 1 deal, merely a mention. Do you see a post on this blog about it? No, we put it out there, we're not dwelling on it, we're moving on. And the revelation about the business relationship was news to us when we learned of it. If you want to think less of The Sun because we didn't know sooner that two council members occasionally engaged in business together, then that's a valid opinion.

funny,

That's a question I'll pass along to Tim West, opinions editor.

let's agree to use our real names first or last, the person who signed mrs quigley and called everyone names is so obvious whenever he posts. Mr. F would only sign his name ONLY. and he told me weeks ago he had never visited Potluck ,yes his son posted and guess what,THEY SIGNED THEIR NAMES. Honest people unite, the combine is alive and well in DuPage Cty.

I am distraut over what the city of Naperville is doing to an honest family man who was elected by the people to fight for them on matters of great concern. I have known Dick Furstenau for many years, and whatever it takes from the people who believe in him, we WILL stand by him to see he is given the respect he so truly deserves. It seems the entire situation arises from the police incident of which he was totally acquitted on. All this should make the taxpayers suspicious to what the police, Buschard, Mayor Pradel, etc. are trying to hide. Is there some sort of problem that Dick Furstenau is trying unveil here. There is so much to this saga, and the people of Naperville are only getting one side of the story.........and that is whatever the Newspaper decides to print. I was so sorry to see that now they have decided to drag in Dick Furstenau son, Scott into the picture. How sad, to work on the entire family. As for as Burchard is concerned.........I have never heard of anyone leaving a job to accept another and asked for a severance package let alone to forgive his major loan. Wow, would I like for a few debts removed from my life by just asking.

I truly hope Dick continues to fight for what he believes in and that is a right to fight for the citizens of Naperville, a city he so truly loves and believes in.

To all,

I think they will be discussing this whole Fursteneau/Burchard/Severance/Censor issue at Tuesday's COuncil meeting.

I would suggest that everyone who has a lot to say (all of us based on this blog!) should attend and speak our minds at the open forum.

It is important that the Council hear all of us on this.

Ted Slowik,

Thanks for your comments. As to the "core" of the Furstenau Censure, it is now posted on the City's Meeting Agenda & Packet for Tuesday's council meeting. The City of Naperville seems to have forgotten some fundamental notions of justice.

I think it would be great if the Sun were to summarize the complaints and take a position on the process & timing being followed by the City Staff. At the risk of over simplifying:

1. City Staff has made a number of allegations: Every allegation involves some event where Furstenau is challenging some staffer in a way that the staffer felt was "bullying or threatening." The specific allegations never state a "cause of action" they for the most part "complaining" about Furstenau's micromanaging issues and disagreeing with staff. In the "real world" when you hear the words "abuse, harrassment, threats" there is usually some outrageous behavior, focused on one person or a class of people. That's not what the allegations of Furstenau contain.

2. It's worth pointing out that no staff member has ever sued Furstenau for abusive behaviour. In fact, the staff members are not even willing to have their names listed in the allegations that are the subject of the censure. Are we to believe that Furstenau is so threatening and abusive that these people are afraid to come forward in a public way. Our Court system never allows "anonymous allegations" to form the basis of a lawsuit. Even a serial killer has the right to face his accuser in court. There has never been an independent "fact finding" investigation of the allegations. And, Furstenau disputes the specific allegations of abusive behaviour.

3. If the City moves forward to Censure Furstenau based on anonymous staff allegations, a staff-led investigation, staff recommended & drafted punishment, the process seems tainted, politically driven and retalitory. The City would be wise to find a way to initiate an independent, neutral body to investigate and make a recommendation concerning the alledged behavior and the propery solution. If the City is not willing to take this action, then they cuold simply wait a while until the Furstenau lawsuit works its way through the courts. His claims are the reverse of the City staff, both claims can't be rights.

There may be enough votes on Council to push through the Censure on Tuesday night. Unfortunately, this makes it even more clear that Furstenau's only chance to get an impartial hearing will be in the Federal Courts. Wouldn't it be "cool" if the City created an independent, transparent investigation that would give Furstenau a chance to answer the allegations & "clear his name". How about some type of "arbitration"? If the City were smart enough to do this, the City would appear to "have nothing to hide" and Furstenau might lose the moral high ground in his Federal lawsuit.