IVI-IPO Endorsements for April 17, 2007
Municipal Elections
CANDIDATE RESPONSES TO IVI-IPO QUESTIONNAIRES
Candidates
endorsed by IVI-IPO are in bold red typeface
* indicates candidates who are no longer on the ballot
Park Forest Mayor John Ostenburg
Park
Forest Mayor Paul Jasinevicius
One of the most honest, incorruptible public officials in
Illinois, Miguel del Valle is the perfect choice to fill the
office of Clerk, with its sad history of bribery, kickbacks
and other official misconduct. With twenty years of
legislative efforts to reduce the influence of money in politics,
and his pledge not to accept contributions from city vendors
or employees of the office, del Valle will be an official
who uses his position for the public good, and not for
private gain. He has already begun the effort to transform
the clerk’s website into a better information source
for city services and city council legislation and promises
to continue to make the city council workings more transparent
and city services more accessible to the public.
A civil rights attorney, Bob Fioretti has been an advocate
for those who did not have a voice. He is running to
give the residents of the 2nd ward, one of the most economically,
ethnically and geographically diverse wards in the city, a
voice in the decisions that affect them. Fioretti will
set up community advisory councils to consult on local issues
and will work with neighborhood and business groups to generate
new ideas for economic development that go beyond high-end
residential construction. He has pledged not to accept
campaign contributions from developers, and to introduce an
ordinance that bans Pay to Play politics in the City Council.
Urban planner and community activist Pat Dowell’s main
goal for the aldermanic office is to restore the people’s
confidence by providing an accessible and courteous office
and focusing on the ward’s need for better public safety,
education, retail opportunities, job growth and consistent,
high quality city services. She would create a community
accountability council to furnish residents and community
organizations input into the larger decisions affecting the
ward. Dowell has several innovative ideas for securing
business support for local schools, including asking developers
in TIF districts to adopt a school and provide funds for special
projects to offset the revenue that the school will not be
receiving due to the TIF.
A sharp critic of Renaissance 2010, attorney Felicia Simmons-Stovall
presents thoughtful and realistic alternatives for dealing
with the problem of failing schools. She suggests state
certification for teachers as a condition for tenure and endorsement
in the subject they teach. Reconstitution, as a last
resort, would involve only teachers and administrators under
Simmons-Stovall’s plan, and students would not have
to leave their neighborhood schools. She also supports
all-day kindergarden, more local control over school spending,
and an elected School Board.
Urban Planner Paul Stewart is already working with community
organizations in the Ashburn neighborhood to develop a direct
marketing plan to attract new retail and commercial development
to the business areas of the ward. He also intends to
create advisory councils to provide residents with input in
planning and to hold monthly accountability sessions with
his constituents. Stewart’s top priority is to
end the overcrowding at Bogan High School through construction
of a new high school which has been long-promised, but not
yet built. He also calls for realignment of Police
Districts to better serve all neighborhoods and supplementing
beat officers with specialized units that would be deployed
as needed to address specific instances of crime patterns.
Scott
Waguespack
Alderman 32nd Ward
Rey
Colón
Alderman 35th Ward
Endorsed by IVI-IPO and elected four years
ago in the most stunning electoral upset of the year, Rey
Colón has
become a leader for social and economic justice in the City
Council. A chief sponsor of the Big Box Living Wage
Ordinance, he worked tirelessly lobbying his colleagues to
support the bill, and to defeat the Mayoral veto. Undaunted
by the successful override, he pledges to support a new, more
comprehensive ordinance and secure a veto-proof majority. Colón
is also a co-sponsor of the inclusionary zoning ordinance
requiring set-asides for affordable housing and has already
instituted a set-aside requirement for developments in his
ward.
Michelle Smith
Alderman 43rd Ward
Joe Moore
Alderman 49th Ward
Few alderman ever exhibit any independence from the Mayor;
Joe Moore speaks out frequently and assertively against patronage,
corruption, government waste and inefficiency. He has
introduced the Accountability in Privatization Ordinance,
to examine whether public funds paid to private contractors
are being properly spent, and is chief sponsor of an ordinance
requiring the City to cease fighting the Shakman decree. Moore
is also a leader for social and economic justice, as co-sponsor
of the Big Box Living Wage and Affordable Housing Set-aside
ordinances, and resolutions condemning the Patriot Act and
calling for withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. In his
ward, he has initiated and presided over a dramatic revival
of several neighborhood commercial districts, while being
vigilant in preserving the diverse ethnic and economic character
of Rogers Park. Moore is a diligent representative and
trustworthy leader of his community, and the independent conscience
of the City Council.
Community and political activist Naisy Dolar promises energetic
leadership and true participatory democracy in the 50th ward. She
has already established a Residents’ Action and Advisory
Council and will support creation of Community Planning and
TIF Oversight boards whose recommendations she pledges to
follow. Her priorities for the development of the ward
include enabling Devon Avenue to realize its full potential
as a thriving international marketplace, revitalizing the
Touhy Avenue business district, and ensuring that housing
remains affordable to renters as well as homeowners. Dolar
also will establish a service office with staff that is efficient
and responsive to the multi-lingual population of the ward.
