The first commenter is spot on, this is just circus for the masses.

The sad thing is they just got ugly the last several years in DG. Back when Betty Cheever was the Mayor we did not see all the negativeness.

When Schnell and Krajewski ran against eachother it was strickly an issues race. They got a little tought the last couple of days but nothing to write home about.

Then came the negativeness. When Barnett ran for Park Board there was a guy in town who absolutely trashed him on the email. I was stunned. Barnett was a good guy trying to make a difference and it went very personal.

Then the next time around along came Barnett’s DG Advocates. What appeared to be a nice group of people turned into an angry mob going after anyone they did not like.

The make up changes depending on which one of them is up for reelection. Steve Daniels is the sitting President, or was for the last few years, and he seems to not like Debbie Boyle so he went after her big time. Kathy Dicola, Megan Schroeder’s sister, has been on the board for some time.

Moving on to the 2007 Mayor’s race it was terrible. So many people were saying such nasty things it was truly sad. There was so much ugliness that Chris Lavioe (SP?) moved out of town. I think he lives somewhere out west now.

In 2009, there was more of the same as the Advocates went after Deb Boyle again. Barnett ran for office so he seems to have settled down a little. The sad thing was in 2005 we had a ton of people running for office, in 2007 it dropped to 7, in 2009 it was 4 people for 3 positions. The mood in the town is don’t get involved unless you have never made a mistake in your life.

As we move forward towards 2011 it does seem that the Mayor and his forces are trying to limit the dialogue across the community.

Simply refer back to Elaine Johnson’s post of a couple of weeks ago. She appears to be under constant attack.

Yes, with these difficult times the life of a public office holder is more challenging. This is across the spectrum. The “Powers” of DG have just taken it too far. It seems we will never get people to run when they can look forward to how Deb Boyle has been treated, or William Waldack, residents and the like.

Let us hope that the Powers realize we all need to work together and make a good community.

If they don’t then let them bear the fruits of their labor as the residents are starting to wake up. They don’t like what they see.

DrJ., I too think the Village has done some good deeds in cutting. Do you think they should cut a bus system that wastes money and serves less than 150 DG residents? just wonderin? I obviously think our Bus system is a wasteful barely used service.

Enough with the whole alias thing. I could log in as the “RonS” or “BrianK”, does that make me more valid than my current name? No, it would only imply something else. Blogging by alias is not going anywhere people.

Over the past few weeks I’ve learned that the anonymous post at this and other sites is a hot topic.

I don’t think anyone should be ripped for not using their real name. Sometimes we all can be sensitive to others judging our thoughts, writing skills, etc and are more comfortable with a moniker. Hell, Ben Franklin was the King of Pseudonyms…and history tells us he was a pretty respectable guy.

If you’re more comfortable writing under a pseudonym, then do so. Just make sure you make some good points to get others thinking and talking. Don’t do it to take personal shots or revenge on elected/appointed officials, employees or anyone else. Since most on this blog call DG home, I think it is especially important to treat each other – whether elected or not – with the same dignity and respect with which you’d like to be treated.

Although I don’t think this thread has crossed that line, I wanted to comment because once again the “anonymous” issue has been raised.

Referendum, I agree with you on one thing – why anyone would run for any political office is beyond me. The scrutiny cast upon your every move (tone of voice, facial expression, arrogance), the complex issues involving competing and compelling interests (HF, employee layoffs, budget crisis), the angry citizens who have all of the answers (each of us), and don’t forget the other elected officials who will try to twist, turn and spin your every word for their own political gain (name any one of ‘em).

Politics and campaigns aren’t just ugly in DG….they’re ugly everywhere and they have been since the beginning of civilization.

Silence Dogood!!!

Chuck Goudie of ABC/WLS and Bob Shaw of the BGA did a big story about Cook County Townships and the results are fairly damning. Of the three primary functions required of Townships, most do not take care of any roads of note, some provide no or little temporary assistance to the needy, and in Cook County there is a County Assessor that takes care of assessing taxation.
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/iteam&id=7140039

http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p268987_index.html
Township Government: Essential or Expendable? The Case of Illinois and Cook County, written in 2008 by Roosevelt University’s David K. Hamilton does some downstate comparisons before drilling into Cook County. HT to Cliff Grammich on the link.

60 ILCS 1/25-5 (and the IL GA is unlikely to change this) means you’re locked into doing it county by county.

I’ve been thumbing through AFR’s filed with the State and am seeing some interesting numbers, and even though I’m supposedly on haitus, it’s kind of interesting, not exactly what I was expecting to find.

As for term limits, wholeheartedly agree! Have at it council. Put them in tomorrow. Make them retroactive to yesterday. My only suggestion, one term for mayor, two terms for council, then you need to step back and take a breather, but still stay involved helping out.