There is a reason residents vote for term limits, and that reason is enough is enough when it comes to politicians taking up space at the dais, and wasting time during meetings. Naperville’s classic example why term limits are necessary is city council member Judy Brodhead. She has been taking up space on the council since 2009 and will be finishing her third term this spring; that’s 12 years, which is about 10 years too long. After 4,380 days on the council and almost 300 council meetings can anyone point to any accomplishments by Brodhead? Ask Naperville residents who Judy Brodhead is, and the response you will get is “who ?”
If it wasn’t for a landslide vote to approve term limits years ago by Naperville residents, she would likely continue to be an empty vessel at the dais. She claims to be an educator by vocation, however she lectures to those who have to watch and listen to her during council meetings. Being ‘lectured to’ is a requirement for students wishing to graduate, however not for folks viewing meetings.
Being a member of the city council and voting on issues important to others would seem to require learning as much about an issue as possible, however for Brodhead she has others doing her work, thereby shirking her responsibility as a council member.
Watch and listen to Brodhead as she explains her method of understanding agenda items upon which she will be voting:
Brodhead states, “we do not look at every word in these bills, they tend to be quite lengthy, do you know who does that, our staff and lobbyists”. Wow, if that’s not being lazy as a council member, then what is? Apparently Brodhead subscribes to the same strategy as Nancy Pelosi:
She uses the word ‘we’ rather than ‘I’ implying that other council members are just as lazy as she is, when in fact council member Patrick Kelly who spoke prior to Brodhead, made it crystal clear that he did read the pertinent pages of the bill for a better understanding of what he was going to be voting for.
He didn’t delegate the responsibility to others to do his due diligence, he made time to do it right.
Couldn’t Brodhead have shown the same respect and support for police officers by at least reading the bill! Obviously not. Brodhead can’t be bothered with minutiae.
It makes one wonder how many of Brodhead’s students use her strategy of ‘don’t read to learn, just wing it’, when it comes to understanding issues.
In my dealings w her she didn’t know anything about what she was voting on. She’s educating our kids.