Come on in, the beach is open and the water is fine.
If U.S. Representative Peter Roskam of the 6th District is the prey, then Naperville councilwoman Becky Anderson is the latest shark to join in the feeding frenzy. Anderson announced last Thursday that she is in the race to unseat Roskam. She said she is in it to win it; well, sort of.
Anderson joins six other Democratic candidates with undoubtedly more to follow. The 6th District stretches from Crystal Lake down through West Chicago to Hinsdale. Districts are not like counties which have some semblance of recognizable shapes. Districts require a higher-degree mathematician to determine the number of square miles within a district, along with a Doctorate of Art to draw the exact district map. Part of the philosophy for politicians drawing up districts is to keep the populace guessing.
Anderson can’t lose. She either wins the election (doubtful) or she wins by staying in the Naperville city council; the district election is in 2018, and her council term ends 2019. To say she is playing it safe would be accurate. The last Naperville city council member to play it safe in an election was Grant Wehrli when he ran unopposed as a state representative.
When Anderson ran for election to the Naperville city council in 2015, she came in 4th place out of eight elected candidates. Paul Hinterlong, Patty Gustin, and Rebecca Boyd-Obarski received more votes than Anderson. Coming in 4th place in the Democratic primary won’t work for her this time. For those of you satisfied with her performance on the Naperville city council, rest assured she will be on the council at least until 2019. For the rest of us, her defeat in the primary is a mixed blessing; good news that she is not moving on to a position with more impact, but not-so-good news that she will continue her ineffective presence on the council.
Prior to being elected to the city council, Anderson was on the city’s Special Events and Cultural Amenities (SECA) Commission, which means that part of her responsibility was to select which groups, money should be given to, hence making her a perfect fit for a Democratic primary. Most likely part of her platform will be the acceleration of entitlement and pushing for sanctuary cities.
If Anderson loses in the primary (the smart money is on that happening) she will not be losing as Becky Anderson. Very cleverly, she is using the name Becky Anderson Wilkins, hence councilwoman Becky Anderson will be able to say that ‘Becky Anderson’ never lost a Democratic primary. You’ve got to hand it to her; even she wants to distance herself from herself.
Come on in, the beach is open and the water is fine.
I take exception to the dismissive and demeaning tone this post displays toward local elections and governments. The truth is what local governments do has far greater impact on our daily lives then anything happening in Springfield or D.C. The decisions of these local governments effect the value of the biggest investment most Americans make, their house! The future of the most important people in their lives, through their children’s education. The likelihood of being the victim of a criminal as a result of the strength of local law enforcement. Just to name a few of the quality of life aspects dominated by local government actions.
Yes, state and federal government does impact these dimensions of our lives but that impact is trivial compared to influence local government has in our day to day lives. If it were all about state and federal government then it would not matter what city you lived in, we would all have the same quality of life, which we clearly do not.
It is this dismissive tone by outlets like the watchdog that results in the poor voter turnout and poor resident participation in local elections and government. The erroneous continued perpetuation of the false believe that it is state and federal elections that are most important. Just because something get more attention does not make it more important, it only makes it popular. Responsible government and responsible government leadership should never be a popularity contest. Far to much is at stake for such a flippant attitude.
Ms. Anderson cant win because she is for sanctuary cities or like they call them today – welcoming cities . A very sneaky play on words
Based on the number of “Hate not Welcome here” signs I have seen driving around the city I would not be so quite to say the majority of Naperville residents are against a Welcoming city ordinance. (remember that while most voting age residents are registered to vote only about 1 in 10 actually vote in local elections every other April)