Interest in the four City Council seats up for election in the spring continues to grow, with 17 candidate packets picked up so far.
Up for election in April are four seats on the council. Those whose terms expire are James Boyajian, Doug Krause, Kenn Miller and John Rosanova. While Krause and Miller are both seeking another term, Boyajian and Rosanova have decided not to run again.
Two members of the city's Plan Commission intend to run for a council seat: Joe McElroy and Patty Gustin.
"Based on my many years of experience with the city of Naperville, and the village of Lisle before that, I can use those experiences in my desire to help address a broader range of city concerns and development," Gustin said via e-mail.
Also running is Judith Broadhead. She has served for 16 years on boards and commissions including Plan Commission, Zoning Board of Appeals and Transportation Advisory Board. She is also a board member of the Naperville League of Women Voters and an English professor and cultural event coordinator at North Central College.
Ken Bochenski, retired corporate vice president of operations for Spiegel catalog group, hopes to bring his business background to the council.
"The economy is bad, the city has a revenue problem," he said. "They're going to have to cut the budget or they're going to have to cut services."
Also planning to run is CPA Bill Eagan, who works as a finance manager at Kraft Foods and adjunct accounting professor at Harper College.
Those who said they are still considering a run include attorney Kevin Lynch, retired Bolingbrook Police officer John Moravecek, downtown business owner and Pepsi Co. employee Chris Finck, and computer programmer Eli Hodapp.
Others who picked up packets but could not be reached for comment include Lucy Kalkman, Michael Prueter, Charles Schneider and Chad Treisch. Resident James DerKacy previously said he picked up a packet for informational purposes, and Councilman Miller signed out two packets.
Just because 17 packets have been picked up doesn't mean the city will have to hold a primary election.
"We could have 100 packets picked up, and that's not going to do anything," City Clerk Pam LeFeber said. "It's how many packets get turned in." Seventeen candidates whose packets have been verified by election officials are needed for a primary election.
The primary election for the City Council, should one be necessary, will he held Feb. 24.
Packets can be picked up through Dec. 8 at the city clerk's office at the Naperville Municipal Center, 400 S. Eagle St.
It is refreshing to see a lot of new names may be running. This council needs a new face and fresh ideas. Not much more to say though until candidates actually file petitions and we know for sure who will be on the ballot. Only then it will be time to discuss their qualifications, experience, and platform in earnest.
Until then, best wishes to all potential candidates in getting their petitions signed!
Host Ted,
Has the Sun thought about sponsoring a "meet the candidates forum" at either City Hall or NCC where each candidate could make a five minute speech and the petitions would be available in the rear for signatures?
Could candidates wait in the reception area of the new NCC performing arts center with the petitions and speak to voters before performances? Is there room for 17 tables? At the train stations in the morning? Are there other indoor events in Naperville where this could also be done? Fox Valley Mall? Yes, I know this is Aurora.
Naperville may have its own Joe/Rosie the Plumber that has no political or economic interest backing them but is worth getting on the ballot.
Does common sense still have a place in politics?
Bubo,
Does common sense still have a place in posting? You could have answered each of your own questions if you knew even a little bit about Naperville.
It isn't the Naperville Sun's responsibility to host a forum or debate. Their role is to report on what happens at these types of events. Geeeesh!
Anonymous, which one of the two or three king maker organizations in Naperville do you belong to?
Or are you from the new, probably publicly funded, DuPage socialist party? Oops I mean Democrats.
The Sun sponsors various events, this would be a significant addition. They might even be able to get a series of stories out of it.
Lets give the little guy/gal a chance!
We need a Napergate Slate of 4 to run in this election.
All they have to do is be against government waste and for lowering taxes and they will win all 4 seats.
I hope the Napergate Man comes out of retirement and endorses a slate of 4 qualified and progressive candidates that could put our city on the right track again.
The first item on the local news today was Host Ted's home town of Joliet having over 500 foreclosures and seeking Federal Assistance despite having 4 boat casinos.
Naperville could be next. Are we going to ask the Federal Government for assistance or are we going to learn how to watch costs and keep taxes down? I hope it is the latter!
Does anyone know how many foreclosures we currently have on the McMansions in Naperville! I suspect at least 200.....and growing!
Does anyone know how much the deficit of 53 million for the police and fire pension funds increased since last year? If they were invested in stocks that are 40% down from last year, we could be approaching the 100 million dollar figure for the pension deficit.
Guess who has to come up with this money....you guessed...THE NAPERVILLE TAXPAYER!
Bubo,
You sound way more socialist than I ever would.
City Hall could schedule their own forum in their own facilities any time they want. They don't need the Naperville Sun to do it for them. In fact I wouldn't even be surprised if the Naperville Sun tried that they would want to charge them a fee for use of the facilities.
Maybe you've never heard of the League of Women Voters? Or Chamber of Commerce? Or Libraries?
These are the "big 3" of organizations that most commonly sponsor debates for local elections.
Naperville has had commonly had forums in the past, such as what you propose. The Naperville Sun routinely interviews all of the candidates, as does their competitors, and runs a series of artiles about their background and platform. The "little guy" gets lots of good exposure and their 15 minutes of fame.
Now if you actually have a new or unique idea that would help the little guy, maybe you could share it with us?
By Anonymous on October 22, 2008 6:16 PM
Maybe you've never heard of the League of Women Voters? Or Chamber of Commerce? Or Libraries?
These are the "big 3" of organizations that most commonly sponsor debates for local elections.
___________________________________________________________________
I was reading some old Napergate ads in the library and discovered that the Naperville Homeowners Association also sponsored debates and forums in the Napergate Era.
Do you have any information to indicate they will no longer sponsor forums or debates or did you just overlook mentioning them?
I believe the Naperville Homeowners Association is also a BIGGIE!!!
The vice president of the NHA is an attorney named Richard Strawbridge. He is a staunch Napergatian and has strong ties to the Napergate Movement! He is also a staunch supporter of Councilwoman Darlene Senger.
I am sure if Mr. Strawbridge was involved as a Moderator for NHA he would direct some very pointed questions to the Establishment Slate!
The Naperville Area Homeowners Confederation sponsors excellent city council and school board candidate forums every election cycle, and they are broadcast live on NCTV.
For people looking to become more involved in municipal affairs, I commend the confederation to you. They are the most active and effective resident organization that interfaces with city government on a regular basis.
Their website is here;
http://www.napervillehomeowners.com/about
There are monthly meetings on a variety of topics of interest to residents, and every other month city council members attend in a joint meeting, an excellent way to meet, and get to know your council members. Residents are always welcome to attend.
Anonymous on October 22, 2008 5:43 PM
I hope the Napergate Man comes out of retirement and endorses a slate of 4 qualified and progressive candidates that could put our city on the right track again.
_______________________________________________
Why must everyone always wait for action by the Napergate Man in order for anything to happen? Surely Napergatians are capable of independent thought and decision making, please do not wait for the Napergate Man to come out of retirement.
The cost of a campaign and the thought of running against the Establishment are rather intimidating factors. I'm just an ordinary guy. The council is already filled with wealthy lawyers and businessmen, and there are more likely to run. How can the little guy have a shot?
J47,
Independent thought and decision making will not win an election unfortunately.
You need lots of money to win an election. You need money to promote candidates and their agendas.
The reason it would be nice to have the Napergate Man back is he provided the necessary funds to neutralize the Establishment.
Ask Host Ted how much 44 full page ads cost in the Naperville Sun. He ran some ads 2 to 4 times. The Napergate Man probably spent a 100-150k on advertising the year he had his 4 endorsed candidates elected.
Many establishment folks have this kind of money since the City of Naperville subsidizes them. For example, they allow them to erect huge buildings downtown without providing underground or overground parking. In return for these subsidies, the establishment folks donate heavily to the establishment candidates during these local elections.
Some of these donations may be above the table and some of these donations may be under the table. After the Napergate Man exposed the above the table donations from developers, they suddenly all disappeared. Amazing!
The above the table donations exposed huge conflicts of interest and thus they were halted permanently after the Napergate Man exposed them from Dupage Elections Records.
Yes, at one point developers were feeding council members and council members were voting 99% for the developers and the law firms that represent them. During this time, I believe the infamous Brestal Law Firm had a 99% success ratio in jamming any development down the city council members throats.
All this debate we see these days in city council meetings only came after Napergate came to light. Before the Napergate Era, it was pretty much rubber stamping. Albeit, all this debating now is for public consumption with the decisions already made in advance behind closed doors. But at least the city council puts on a "show" before making their decision known as opposed to simply rubber stamping.
Developers still get what they want. But the City Council makes them jump through hoops and delays them for a year or two, in order for residents to think they are watching out for them.
A perfect example is the recent approval of a commercial development in the midst of a residential neighborhood on the corner of 75th St and Wehrli. It was nothing but public relations to appease the residents. The developer already had Walgreen's and Starbucks' lined up and maybe even signed to leases before the vote. They knew they had the vote in advance! Residents who appear before the city council are not listened to even though they usually heavily outnumber those in the minority who support developers.
In the early 2000s over 3500 people signed a petition against commercialization north of Hobson and south of 75th St. It was a Napergate sponsored petition and it was handed to the City Council. What good did it do? The city halted the commercialization at the time due to the heavy resistance by 90% of the residents in the area.
The City of Naperville is famous for wearing down residents who oppose it. Eight years after the Napergate Man retired they pass the project that they did not dare to pass when he was exposing them with his full page ads.
Soon, the SW corner of Naper and 75th St will probably fall to commercial development. The Napergate Man and the Napergatians were able to stop this parcel from commercialization. I suspect you will see a battle brewing soon since the the developers succeeded on the SW corner of Wehrli and 75th St.
Of course like many others, I wish the Naperate Man would come back and help neutralize the establishment. They use to be able to balance the budget when he was watching them. Now they tell us they are 10-11 million bucks in the hole. I guess when you stop minding your expenses because you are no longer being monitored, these things happen!
Let us hope we all get out and vote for a change. We can make a difference if we simply vote! Thank you!
Host Ted,
Bottom line is we need a change of government in Naperville.
If the Napergatians can provide that change I welcome them.
Of course it is much easier for them if the Napergate Man can pump out a few full page ads and get the message across. By the way, what does it cost for a full page ad in your newspaper these days? You were going to find out for us once but never got back to us.
The current council and staff are about as popular as President Bush right now.....even McCain wants nothing to do with Bush!
Anonymous on October 22, 2008 8:56 PM,
No, I didn't forget about the NAHC. I was simply referring to the 3 biggies in general in communities across the country. Without a doubt, the NAHC is def the biggie in Naperville. My point was made earlier that anyone who knew the basics about Naperville would know about these things.
Advertising rates vary, depending on the day of the week, whether the ad is color, where the ad is placed in the paper, etc. You pay a premium to get placed near the front of the paper. There are discounts if you buy multiple ads. The whole process is negotiable. It's like buying a car. Newspapers provide ad rate cards. This is a good starting point. The ad rate card for Naperville says that a full-page, black and white ad for a non-Tuesday publication day would cost $750 for a nonprofit organization and $1,200 for a for-profit business.
Host Ted,
That information may be very helpful to the Napergatians who may decide to pool their money and continue the Napergate Series.
It sounds like they can get a full page for 750 dollars or less depending upon their negotiating skills and/or frequency.
Why is Tuesday different? Is it more expensive or less expensive?
Does it have higher circulation than other days? Which days have the best circulation? In the old days, I remember the Friday Naperville Sun was extremely powerful while Sunday was weak and Wendesday was above average. In those days it was just a 3 day a week newspaper but sometimes 100 pages or more. And the pages were huge in size!
I am one of those who cancelled all my subscriptions to all newspapers and magazines a few years back and rely solely on the internet. It just seems hard to go back to print after you are on the net for a while!
I am a little surprised people are still buying print editions. I suspect in 10 years the newspaper as we know it today will be ancient and possibly obsolete. It will go the way of the video stores which are crumbling all around us. At least 5 locations in Naperville went out of business the last year or so!
I know the Chicago Tribune is having serious cash flow difficulties. Their classifieds seem to be a fraction of what they were 5 years ago. I wonder if anyone noticed that. I did pick up a Tribune today as I am in the market for a new vehicle and was looking for a loss leader in some display ad to jump on!
The last time I shopped for a car I went for the loss leader in a newspaper ad. Of course the dealer said it was already sold. After I told him I was leaving since I was only interested in the car I saw in the newspaper he pulled it out of another lot.
He was trying to pull a bait and switch on me like I was born yesterday. It was the Toyota dealer in Naperville just in case anyone wants to know! In the end they coughed up the car for the advertised price which was below cost. They tried to make some profit on financing, sealant, alarms, remote starters and rust proof but I just told them here is your money and thank you for my car. They were not happy! But I was!!!
Toyotas are great vehicles by the way. Maybe if the City of Naperville used Toyotas instead of Fords we can get 200,000 miles a vehicle instead of 55,000 miles before we had to trade them in. It would save us taxpayers tons of money and the city might not have to look forward to an 11 million budget deficit next year. Of course we need more savings than that but it would be a first good step in the right direction!
And most Toyotas are now made in America so we would be helping the American economy and workers!!!
Victoria –
If you have any proof of any “under the table “ contributions to elected officials you should call the authorities, preferably the FBI. If you don’t have any proof, your allegation does not even belong on these threads.
Also, you can whine all you want about the “evil” Brestal law firm, but how you do reconcile the law firm’s alleged bad intent with Furstenau’s acceptance of their money for his senate campaign. Isn’t Furstenau the champion of our tax dollars?
T.B.