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Question of the day

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Illinois

* From a letter to the editor in the Champaign News-Gazette…

I have several questions for prospective Champaign council District 2 voters before the upcoming municipal election.

Do citizens prefer the current nonpartisan city council of Champaign, or do they want to follow Urbana and the Champaign County Board into the divisive morass of “real urban politics”?

Do they want a rational and experienced council person with a solid and proven track record in thoughtful and positive municipal oversight, or will they choose the progressive special interests of a social justice warrior with zero experience in municipal governance and with union ties which possibly reach all the way to Chicago’s Michael Madigan?

That Madigan guy is everywhere, apparently.

* Jake Griffin in the Daily Herald…

Suburban voters are seeing plenty of local races on their ballots this week, but they don’t always see much choice.

Barely 30 percent of the hundreds of races being decided Tuesday are contested, according to a Daily Herald analysis. That’s down from about 45 percent of races that were contested in local elections eight years ago.

“The voters I’ve talked with are excited about having a choice,” said Ron Sebonia, who is running for Elmhurst City Council against incumbent Jim Kennedy. Sebonia’s candidacy forced the only contested municipal race in Elmhurst this year, where voters have only one option for mayor, clerk, treasurer and six of the seven council seats. The number of contested races in Elmhurst has dropped steadily since 2009, when six of seven council seats, mayor and clerk were contested.

The lack of contested state legislative races is constantly blamed on gerrymandering, but citywide races aren’t gerrymandered. So, the Daily Herald editorializes today in favor of local government consolidation. The paper doesn’t suggest which towns that Elmhurst should be consolidated with, however.

* The Question: Is anything interesting happening in your local races?

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 12:14 pm

Comments

Nope. A lot of “vote for no more than four” and there are only four choices. Expect turnout to be very low. I wish there was a “No Confidence” choice for several of the incumbents running with no challengers.

Comment by Anon221 Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 12:18 pm
Term limits would solve this … oh, wait.

Comment by Michelle Flaherty Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 12:18 pm
An idealogical race is happening for mayor in Mundelein. The race is not based on municipal experience, past performances, but rather on a speech the current mayor gave on July 4th, 2016. Pretty interesting stuff, but the voters will eventually get the government they deserve.

Comment by allknowingmasterofracoondom Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 12:18 pm
Berwyn has an aldermanic race between the Mayor’s candidate who is on the ballot and a the opposition candidate who is a write in (the opposition had a candidate in the Dem Primary who got bounced). Both sides have dozens of people in the ward because it determines whether the re-elected Mayor keeps control of the City Council or whether the opposition takes a majority.

Comment by Fax Machine Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 12:24 pm
In Williamsville we have the incumbent Village President running for his third term (second consecutive term) against a prior Trustee who abruptly quit last year with no explanation I have heard. It has gotten fairly heated and accusatory regarding village priorities and finances.

Comment by Past the Rule of 85 Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 12:27 pm
Are there any actual Republicans in the People’s Republic of Urbana?

Comment by Keyser Soze Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 12:27 pm
As usual, weird stuff coming out of DeKalb: http://www.daily-chronicle.com/2017/03/27/dekalb-mayoral-candidates-hit-with-attack-ads/a88du11/

Comment by NIU Grad Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 12:30 pm
===Are there any actual Republicans in the People’s Republic of Urbana===

The new mayor won with backing from GOP voters.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 12:34 pm
Montgomery County : Incumbent Republican Mayor who signed on to Governor’s Turnaround Agenda is running for Re-election and One of his Large Signs is in the Yard of a Former 3 Decade Democrat State Representative , who also Served as a Department Secretary and as Legislative Director in the most recent Democrat Administration ; Eight next to a ” We Support State Workers ” Sign.

Confusing ; But for sure Bipartisan

Comment by x ace Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 12:40 pm
yes check back wednesday

Comment by Annonin' Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 12:44 pm
Rockford Mayoral Race… Church mouse quiet. Really, really, weird. Like no one cares who is Mayor of Rockford.

Comment by Try-4-Truth Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 12:46 pm
Marshal County: Interesting race in Lacon for mayor and school board. They are a married couple and the school board candidate is the self proclaimed “Queen of Halloween.”

Comment by G'Kar Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 12:50 pm
In the downtown Springfield area the only contested (barely)race is to elect 4 Trustees to the Capital Township Board. Four Republicans and 1 Dem. are running so all will be elected, except the candidate who finishes last! The Township has the same boundaries as Springfield and should have been eliminated a long time ago. It’s functions could be assumed by the city of Springfield and the County at a lot less cost. If anyone ran for Trustee on that platform, they’d be elected in a jiffy, but no one with that foresight around here. Either all Townships should be eliminated, or at least those that are in cities of 50,000 or more!

Comment by Johnny Justice Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 1:09 pm
“Is anything interesting happening in your local races?”

I’d have thought that the College of DuPage/Clean Slate campaign and their ongoing federal lawsuit would have merited more coverage but alas.

Seems a scandal-plagued, taxing body with a $170,000,000 budget doesn’t garner much press attention these days.

– MrJM

Comment by @misterjayem Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 1:10 pm
Really nothing in Springfield except for Ward 6. I am paying attention to it because I live in 6 and know / support one of the candidates.

Comment by RNUG Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 1:11 pm
Heard a new nickname for the speaker up here in Lake.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lake-county-news-sun/news/ct-lns-selle-warren-township-democrat-warning-st-0321-20170320-story.html

Comment by Not far from the Lake Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 1:13 pm
A picture of the candidates for Downers Grove Township offices can be blown up in size and double as a poster for why this level of government should be eliminated (in places like Downers Grove).

Comment by Rocky Rococo Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 1:17 pm
The author of that News-Gazette letter should visit Chicago Ridge, a town that has a non-partisan system, but that hasn’t stopped Madigan’s Moody brothers from running a slate in tomorrow’s election.

If the Speaker or the Governor want to get involved, they will. Regardless of whether or not D’s or R’s appear on the ballot.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 1:32 pm
==
* The Question: Is anything interesting happening in your local races?===

Anything? a wee bit.
Interesting? not one bit.

Comment by A guy Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 1:35 pm
Is “progressive social warrior” a bad thing?

Isn’t that another way of saying “onward Christian soldier?”

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 1:35 pm
I have a friend running unopposed for his third term on a suburban school board — he has never had a contested race. His school board accounts for almost half of the property tax bill for residents of their town, but never a contested race.

Comment by Telly Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 1:51 pm
We don’t have a new mayor in Urbana yet. The incumbent lost the primary, but the election is tomorrow.

Comment by SURS or Bust Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 2:38 pm
I hear tell that there’s a barn burner for alderman up in Evanston’s 6th Ward. Really nasty stuff.

Comment by A Quest! Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 2:50 pm
In New Trier Township, there are some pols and activists decrying the fact that there are contested elections for school board trustees and township trustees. It would be so much better if there were Soviet Union style elections with one candidate for each office receiving all of the votes cast.

Comment by W Flag Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 3:47 pm
There are a couple mayoral races in DuPage that are kind of interesting.
BTW the Herald article misses the point about lack of folks running for office. Anyone with sense doesn’t want to do it. Nothing to do with consolidation. Most normal folks don’t want to be involved in a Reality show, which is what politics has become.

Comment by DuPage Bard Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 3:50 pm
Traynere v Claar in Bolingbrook. Can a new grassroots wave triggered by Bernievision and antiTrump sentiments, overthrow a well-entrenched incumbent? That’s been covered here already.

School board race in Palatine, with Transgender bathroom issue separating contending slates. Both sides bathing in self-righteousness and “values.”

Comment by walker Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 3:51 pm
The U46 School Board has 2 Joe Walsh
disciples running.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 3:54 pm
Part of the problem is ballot access. Allow e-signatures for candidate petitions rather than requiring someone to collect individual signatures.

Comment by Chicagonk Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 4:42 pm
The Daily Herald missing the point is not really news.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 4:57 pm
Got a 4 person race for mayor in Beardstown.
One of the candidates has run one of the worst,if not the worst,social media campaigns I have ever seen.
More namecalling and attacking others than actual policy discussion.

Comment by btowntruthfromforgottonia Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 6:48 pm
I don’t have access to everything, but it looks like there are multiple tax initiatives in so Illinois. Kinda surprises me.

Comment by blue dog dem Monday, Apr 3, 17 @ 8:30 pm
I live in Champaign City Council District 2, and the letter writer is a various gasbag (a retired economics professor who fancies himself as a political kingmaker) who’s seeking to prop up an incumbent who can’t be bothered with constituent service. This isn’t the first challenge to him, but this one is younger, female, and has some funding, so we’ll see what tonight brings.

Comment by Lynn S. Tuesday, Apr 4, 17 @ 9:00 am
@ Johnny Justice: you are talking about a coterminous township, which is quite a different beast than a rural township.

I agree with arguments for the elimination of coterminous townships. Having grown up on a farm in Southern Illinois, I can assure you that rural townships provide valuable services for their residents.

Eliminating rural townships is a great way to force those residents to pay taxes without getting anything back.

Comment by Lynn S. Tuesday, Apr 4, 17 @ 9:12 am