Friday, February 27, 2009

It's Campaign Season AGAIN!

I know, you thought campaign season ended in November and we didn't have to think about voting again until at least 2010. Well, you're wrong.

It's LOCAL ELECTION season! Historically, local elections have embarrassingly low turnouts and I find this sad. The fact is that while the national elections are sexy, the local elections have the most impact on your day to day life. We're electing the mayor who controls the purse strings that get streets plowed in the winter and garbage collected all year long. Do you have kids or want to someday? Then you owe it to them to know who's on the school board. These are the people who determine how and what the next generation learns. That certainly shouldn't be left to just anyone. The quality of schools are a major factor in determining home sales. No one wants to live too far from their local school and no one wants to live in a crappy school district. So we simply must vote in the local elections.

To that end, I encourage you to get yourself educated on the candidates. You can do this by attending the upcoming forums. You'll see me there.

Note: The links below will take you to the candidates websites. If you know if other candidate websites, please let me know and I'll link to all of them.

Campaign Forum Season Arrives
by Sheila Ahern, Daily Herald, Feb. 27, 2009

The spring election is just a few short weeks away, and the best way to cram for April 7 is to swing by an Arlington Heights candidates forum. Here's a few:

• The Arlington Heights Chamber of Commerce hosts two debates in March to discuss business issues. The two mayoral candidates - Philip Walter and incumbent Arlene Mulder - will debate on Tuesday, March 3, at the Metropolis theater. Trustee candidates will meet a week later, on Tuesday, March 10. They are incumbents Norm Breyer, Bert Rosenberg and Joe Farwell and political newcomers Tom Glasgow, Michael Sidor, Keith Moens, Tabitha Long and Barbara "Glennie" Browne.

On both nights, a reception will be held at 4 p.m. with the candidates taking the stage from 4:30 to 6 p.m. The Metropolis is located at 111 W. Campbell St. downtown. The public is invited to both free forums.

• For serious government junkies, the League of Women Voters hosts a daylong forum Saturday, March 14, at the Arlington Heights Village Hall. Candidates running for Arlington Heights trustee and mayor, Northwest Suburban High School District 214 school board (LMS Note: The candidates are Miriam ("Mimi") Cooper-Spickard (incumbent), Lenore Gonzales Bragaw (incumbent & board president), James Perkins (incumbent), Leslie Pinney (incumbent and strong Christian Conservative who has attempted to ban books according to her Christian beliefs), and Mark Hineman), Arlington Heights Park District, Arlington Heights Memorial Library board (LMS Note: The candidates are Frank J. Biga III, Charles Drost, Kerry Pearson (incumbent), Deborah A. Nelson (incumbent), and Dawn E. Walter and you can learn about them all by clicking on the AHML link) and Wheeling Township should all be there.

The event is scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. and end around 2 p.m. It will be broadcast on local cable later in the week.

• There will be a debate for Arlington Heights Elementary District 25 candidates at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 31, at Thomas Middle School, 1430 N. Belmont Ave (LMS Note: The candidates are Kenneth Nielsen (incumbent), David Page (incumbent), Denise Glasgow (incumbent), Michael King, Philip Crusius, and Steven Weseman).

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