Archive for March, 2011

League of Women Voters Interest Meeting

Author: yinn

Mar 11

Women and men interested in re-organizing a local League of Women Voters in DeKalb County are welcome to attend an interest meeting on Thursday, March 17, beginning at 7:00 p.m. The meeting will be in the basement of the Kish Corner Family Restaurant, 2496 DeKalb Ave. in Sycamore. Come and enjoy some appetizers that will be provided or come hungry and order dinner off the menu.

The meeting will include planning for the upcoming local election debates that will be held in DeKalb and Cortland. Also, there will be a discussion on current issues identified by the League of Women Voters of Illinois.

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Filed under: Calendar, Community Resources

ReNew Our Schools and Candidate Barnes

Author: yinn

Mar 10

Below are listed the officers of ReNew Our Schools, the political action committee (PAC) set up to campaign for the $110 million District 428 construction referendum that passed in early 2008. One of the co-chairs of the PAC, Cohen Barnes, is currently running for a spot on the District 428 school board.

Renew Our Schools D1 page 2

In the comments section of an earlier, related post, District 428 & the Grassroots: Yeah, Right: Part 2, participants expressed dismay at ReNew Our Schools’ having accepted sizable donations from big firms that hoped to (and at least in one case, did) do business with the school district on the school construction projects resulting from the referendum. Read the rest of this entry

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Filed under: Dist 428, Local Campaigns, Political Campaigns | Tagged as:

Big Fat Correction

Author: yinn

Mar 5

I am guilty of too much talk and not enough homework done this week.

There is indeed a scenario in which Alderman Ron Naylor paid the Ellwood House room rental for a 5th Ward meet-up, even when there’s a “RM RNTL 5TH WARD 1/19/10 MTG” note in the city’s check register. The scenario is more than one 5th Ward meeting having taken place. I mistook the 1/19 meeting for his “coffee,” and did so in error. I am sorry for the mistake.

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Filed under: Council/City Watch | Tagged as: ,

Candidate Outreach

Author: yinn

Mar 4

Some of the local candidates have Facebook pages now. Here are the ones I’ve found so far. Feel free to point to other campaign pages and sites in the comments and I’ll add them.

It’s interesting how many ways one can use a Facebook campaign page. Some are newsy, some pep-talky. One has become an active tool for volunteer mobilization, another a veritable online shrine to achievements that nevertheless remain vague.

DeKalb City Council

Rob Fischer for 5th Ward Alderman

Kristen Lash for Alderman, DeKalb Ward 3

Monica O’Leary for DeKalb City Council Ward 7

Paulette Sherman for DeKalb Alderman and paulettesherman.com

Bertrand Joseph Simpson, Jr., Esq. for DeKalb Alderman (from 2007) or Bertrand Simpson for the City of DeKalb 1st Ward Alderman (also 2007).

Community Unit School District 428 School Board

Cohen Barnes for School Board

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Filed under: Council/City Watch, Dist 428, Local Campaigns, Political Campaigns | Tagged as:

Naylor Disputing City Paid for Ellwood House Ward Meeting

Author: yinn

Mar 3

[Update: Please read the Big Fat Correction I've made to this story.]

Well, I just had an interesting phone conversation. It seems an online comment I made about Ron Naylor’s letter to the Daily Chronicle about his upcoming ward meeting at Ellwood House — specifically, that he should pay the room rental this time! — is being disputed by Mr. Naylor. Apparently he’s saying he paid it out of his own pocket.

I’ve written about this before. I had been upset last June to find a check written to Ellwood House Association for $100 with the following notation: “RM RNTL 5TH WARD 1/19/10 MTG.” The payment was made May 28, 2010, several months after Naylor’s ward meeting and for some unknown reason written from TIF Fund 63. That same month, the Ellwood rental for the council’s strategic planning retreat was written from the General Fund.

Find the payment in question in the June 28, 2010 agenda packet, check register page 50.

I suppose it’s possible Naylor reimbursed the city. If so, I’d like to take a peek at the date on his canceled check, to see if he did it after June 30 (the date of the original blog post).

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Filed under: Council/City Watch | Tagged as:

Statements of Economic Interest, 2011 District 428 School Board Candidates

Author: yinn

Mar 3

There are 11 candidates in this race, and three of them listed something other than “none” or “NA” on their Statements of Economic Interest (SEI).

As is true of yesterday’s post about the City of DeKalb candidates’ SEIs, all items should be read as reports of what has occurred “in the preceding calendar year”; and again, I have shortened the descriptions in the table so have tucked a sample SEI in the post after the jump for clarification if needed.

NameSEI ItemExplanation
Robert Cohen Barnes1. Ownership interest in any entity doing business with a unit of local government of $5000+ fair market value or dividends of $1,200+Vice president & partner in DeKalb Fiber Optic, LLC
Robert Cohen Barnes3. Income of $5000+ derived from professional services rendered (non-government)Installation of fiber optic cabling
Robert Cohen Barnes6. Income of $1,200+ derived from any entity doing business with a local unit of governmentWife Amy Barnes is a teacher in the school district
Nina Fontana6. Income of $1,200+ derived from any entity doing business with a local unit of governmentSchool district 428 pension
Tracy Williams7. Name of any unit of government which employed the personSpouse occasionally compensated by 16th Judicial Circuit for attorney services involving indigent parties
Read the rest of this entry

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Filed under: Dist 428, Local Campaigns, Political Campaigns

Local Government Transparency Act

Author: yinn

Mar 2

A bill introduced into the Illinois Senate would establish minimum standards of transparency for local government websites.

SB 37, which is scheduled for a committee hearing today, would expand upon the Illinois Policy Institute’s 10-point Transparency Checklist, with which CB’s readers are already familiar.

Links:

Illinois Policy Institute summary of the standards contained in SB 37

Current status of SB 37

Online document repositories referred to in the IPI article, docstoc.com and scribd.com

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Filed under: Goo-goo Files, State Watch | Tagged as:

Statements of Economic Interest, 2011 City of DeKalb Candidates

Author: yinn

Mar 1

Five of the candidates for alderman had no disclosures to make (“N/A” for all items) on their Statements of Economic Interest (SEI). Three did, and the table lists them in the order they appear in a PDF file.

Because I’ve shortened both disclosure item descriptions and explanations in the table, a sample of an original SEI appears after the jump, and I will provide an e-mail copy of the full PDF to anyone who requests it.

Each SEI item is to be read as having occurred “in the preceding calendar year.”

NameSEI ItemExplanation
David Jacobson3. Income of $5000+ derived from professional services rendered (non-government)Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity advisor/landlord to undergrad chapter
David Jacobson4. ID of any capital asset from which a capital gain of $5,000 or more was realized.900 Greenbrier Road; 818 Sunnymeade Trail
Kristen Lash6. Income of $1,200+ derived from any entity doing business with a local unit of governmentChildren's Learning Center (4C funding)
Kristen Lash7. Name of any unit of government which employed the personState of Illinois (husband works for NIU)
Erik Calmeyer6. Income of $1,200+ derived from any entity doing business with a local unit of government NIU Student Association
Read the rest of this entry

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Filed under: Council/City Watch, Local Campaigns, Political Campaigns | Tagged as:
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