Naperville City Officials Are Running Scared

The Naperville city council election is just two days from now on Tuesday, and  Naperville city officials along with their political cronies are scrambling in fear that they will lose the election. The last thing a politician wants to do is lose an election. The next-to-last thing they want is for someone who can’t be controlled, to win an election. City officials like the way things are now in Naperville. They like the control they have over the residents, they like the political crony network they have established, they like making those special deals within the inky shadows of city hall, and they like talking about transparency while keeping residents in the dark.

They like shifting cronies around from one city department into another, like taking a finance director and moving him into the city manager’s position, or taking the assistant city manager and moving him into the police chief position. Naperville city officials like having other city officials double dip into pension plans, and they like to give hefty bonuses to officials shifting out of a position so another city official can shift into that open position with more pension dollars and an increase in salary. As I said, Naperville city officials like the way things are, so they don’t like losing an election or having someone new elected to a city official’s position. Is it any wonder why the entire Naperville political machine is working so hard, and spending so much money to demonize anybody and anything that will change the status quo.

Eleven candidates are running for four city council seats. Other than Tom Glass, Jo Malik and maybe Bill Habel, most if not all of them, to some extent, are already connected to the Naperville political machine. Three are incumbents (Brodhead, Hinterlong, and Krause). Councilman Doug Krause is the only one of three, that time and again stands up for the residents of Naperville. Chances are that the other eight council members wouldn’t mind if he lost the election, but that hasn’t happened in 24 years. Incumbent candidates Judy Brodhead and Paul Hinterlong basically do nothing more than occupy two chairs at the dais. Every now and then the mayor has them read a proclamation, and they may have been issued their own scissors so they can cut a fake ribbon at a fake grand opening. Both Brodhead and Hinterlong tag along with the majority which is good for city officials, but not good for Naperville residents.

The two candidates that cause Naperville city officials the most fear are Tom Glass and Jo Malik, which means Glass and Malik can provide the residents of Naperville with much needed relief from over-bearing and intrusive city officials. Let’s be perfectly clear here, Naperville city officials do not want either of these resident-supportive candidates to be elected, hence the all-out assault on the part of Naperville city officials and its political machine to demonize both Glass and Malik.

Unseating an incumbent is difficult, due to voter apathy, name recognition, intentional misinformation, tax-payer dollars being spent against resident-supportive candidates, and demonizing candidates. When a sitting council person’s spouse is trotted out in ‘public’ to demonize resident-supportive candidates, it’s obvious city officials are running scared. To sacrifice your spouse’s integrity and good name for a few votes, is at best despicable, or at worst, to use a councilman’s word choice, evil.

City Council Watchdog fully supports the election of candidates Tom Glass and Jo Malik, supports the re-election of incumbent Doug Krause, and guardedly supports the election of Bill Habel.

In the words of a large number of Naperville residents, it’s time to ‘Reclaim Naperville’.

Show 4 Comments

4 Comments

  1. Concerned Citizen

    This city definitely needs Jo Malik, Tom Glass, and Doug Krause and they will make excellent representatives for ALL of Naperville! And I am debating with myself whether to sacrifice my 4th vote. Voting is something Women had to fight to get the right to do, so sacrificing one of my votes is a tough decision for me. But Because I believe it is CRITICAL that these 3 get elected to the Council, it might be the best strategic option.

    Jo Malik is evolving into a well informed and classy politician who can stand up for herself and the bully’s on the dais. I’m proud to know her and look forward to having a woman that will consider the concerns of woman and children. I feel Judy Brodhead has NOT done that. Malik truly cares about the City and will address many of the issues the citizens have with dealing with city hall. She will represent all of the residents, and thoroughly review all the details to make sound business and financial decisions for our communtiy. I believe she was the only candidate to realize how important the traffic conditions on Washington St. are and the importance to balance the benefits of development with ensuring adequate parking and access to our hospitals in case of an emergency.

    Tom Glass has shown steadfast leadership and likely would upstage Wehrli in contributing to the dais. Tom has a sense of what is going on behind the scenes of city hall, he routinely questions and challenges the current dais, for the benefit of all of us. He has stood up for citizens that were afraid to speak. His high energy and fatherly sense of protecting our rights to choices we should of had and concerns that should have been addressed. His grasp of the municipal code will keep the dais from making poor decisions that has created an utter contempt and distrust for the current dais and has eroded the reputation of Naperville. Tom will work diligently to restore our city’s reputation and bring order to the community. His management style, financial background and business ethics will be a welcomed addition to this dais and I appreciate that he understands that he is suppose to enact what the voters voted for, not try to rewrite history, likely Wehrli wants to do concerning the At Large Referendum.

    I will BE voting NO! NO! NO! NO! to the “Yes at Large” Referendum…. To honor my vote in 2010 and that of 2/3 of the voting electorate. I hope everyone stands with me to get the 5 districts and the 3 at large representation established in our city.

    Doug Krause has tried to bridge the gap between the city and the residents opposed to smart meters which should be commended. He is capable of thinking independently and has a depth of history/knowledge that has been useful.

    Doug Krause has the longest tenure on the council which gives him the prized Electoral Board seat. With Ken Miller opting not to run again, that would leave Wehrli as the next up if Krause was not re-elected. Wehrli has alot to gain if he can get Krause unseated and is likely why he is not supporting him. Wehrli is probably the last person I would want to see land an Electoral Board seat, because he doesn’t level an even hand of justice, which speaks sadly to his character flaws. He selectively bully’s and harrasses groups or individuals using the powers of the city, ie. timing of work order requests and prodding the newest elected officials to do the harrassing concerning FOIA’s, and slectivly reporting campaign sign issues where he turns a blind eye to those other groups or candidates that he is either supporting or neutral to but targeting others.

    I will be Praying for the right outcome on election day!

    Respectfully,

    A Concerned Citizen

  2. Gerard H Schilling

    The time has come for all citizens to demand not request our representatives have honesty and integrity. We can disagree on policies, codes, laws etc. but not on core values such as Constitutional Rights and Freedoms.

    Unfortunately, we now have a bunch of narcissistic, uninformed, apathetic, slot fillers who are part of the in-crowd who routinely feed on the citizen’s body through taxation and wasteful programs and projects which reward them and their supporters.

    For the above reasons the only two people running for city council who manifest the attributes, skills and ability so sorely lacking is Malik and Glass and I am voting for them. As to Krause he has shown his true colors time and again against the best interest of the citizens and even holding my nose can’t bring myself to vote for him.

    Let’s talk about Habel. I am sure he does a great job as the IBEW’s Business Agent. Since our city deals with this union all the time (negations except for smart meter) there will be a direct conflict of interest.

    Our union salaries and benefits because of things like Davis/Bacon act and collusion between politicians and unions for votes is deplorable. Because of these issues I will not vote for him either.

    The rest of the field are just more establishment cronies and would be equivalent to rearranging the chairs on the Titanic so I will leave two votes blank.

  3. Me

    Look at the returns. Will you please stop with the hatred? It got you nowhere. Naperville is not interested in your rage.

    • Devoted

      @Me
      This has nothing to do with hatred but more with education. The current city management and council are nothing more than self-serving politicians. These issues will not go away and I will make sure I continue to inform Naperville residents exactly what is taking place at city hall. As the education continues the balance WILL shift.

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