Oak Park school board vet to run for Cook County board

Wednesday Journal (Terry Dean):

Former District 97 school board member Ade Onayemi is looking to replace incumbent Commissioner Earlean Collins on the Cook County board next year.

Are there other potential candidates?

This is a race I want to give some extra attention.

Oak Park boots homeless veteran from ballot

This morning the Village of Oak Park's electoral board voted to removed Daniel Fore, a U.S. military veteran, from the ballot for village trustee because he is homeless. He is registered to vote at a relative's home in Oak Park. See Wednesday Journal for background.

I heard about this case through someone. My initial reaction was, what's the harm if a homeless person runs for office? If s/he's high enough functioning to get the votes, why should voters be deprived of a quality candidate?

I had a friend who worked in a nursing home caring for the developmentally disabled in western New York. One of the residents regularly ran for elected office. He did the paperwork and got his name on the ballot. My friend thought he got a kick from seeing his name on the ballot when he went to vote.

Is Oak Park's democracy so fragile that Daniel Fore being on the ballot will damage the village?

When I researched the story, I realized I've met Daniel Fore. He was getting signatures to oppose the village closing Eddy Garcia's restaurant. While I wasn't so impressed with the guy that I'd campaign for him, he wouldn't be the biggest idiot elected to local government in the western suburbs either.

While I know and respect all the members of the electoral board, Village President David Pope, Village Clerk Sandra Sokol and Trustee Ray Johnson, I think the right outcome is to let Fore run for office. However, Pope, Sokol and Johnson may have felt Illinois law tied their hands and punted the issue to federal court. Recently, a federal court has overturned the requirement that one must be a registered voter to circulate nominating petitions. Allowing homeless people to run for office from their address where they are registered to vote seems a logical extension of this thinking. Arbitrary rules should not keep people from participating in the political process.

RIP Agustin Gomez, 48, Melrose Park

Wednesday Journal (Bill Dwyer):

A high-speed single car crash in the 1150 block of South Cuyler Avenue claimed the life of a Melrose Park man Saturday night. Agustin Gomez, 48, was killed after the vehicle 17 year old Eric Gomez was driving left the roadway around 9:15 p.m., struck a street light pole, two houses and a tree before flipping over on the parkway at Cuyler and Fillmore.

A07, Sen. Don Harmon's picks for Triton [D504]

Sen. Don Harmon wrote in the Wednesday Journal:

Oak Park and River Forest voters also have an opportunity to open a new era at Triton College. Oak Park resident Thomas Gary is poised to be the first African-American trustee in the college's history, and the first Oak Parker in recent memory to serve on the board. Thomas brings an impressive record to the table. He served two terms on the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners, served on my legislative staff and the staff of Cong. Jesse Jackson Jr., worked on the Service Academy Nominating Committee of Senator Barack Obama, and currently works at the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity bringing economic development and job training programs to communities in our metropolitan region. He also recently returned from a tour of duty with the Naval Reserve in Iraq.

Thomas has chosen to coordinate his campaign with the campaigns of incumbent trustees Diane Viverito of Elmwood Park and Steve Kubiczky of Riverside. I applaud his efforts to build a district-wide coalition that will help not only his election efforts but also his ability to work with his future colleagues on the Triton Board. I know Diane Viverito through her work with Cook County Commissioner Peter Silvestri, and she is a thoughtful and hard-working public servant. Mr. Kubiczky is a dedicated and detail-oriented trustee. I expect these three candidates will work as well at the board table as they do on the campaign trail.

Thomas Gary was motivated to run for the Triton Board, in part, by the series of articles in Wednesday Journal detailing the board's operation. He has long been a proponent of open and transparent government, dating back to his service on the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners. I have encouraged Thomas to make compliance with the Open Meetings Act a top priority for his service on the Triton Board, should he be elected. I trust he will do his best, and I know that Oak Park and River Forest will be better served by having him at the board table.

No matter how you vote, I strongly encourage you to cast a ballot in our local elections. I hope you will join me in voting "yes" to abolish the Cicero Township Trustee of Schools, and to elect trustee candidates Maureen Sherwood and Louis Angeloni. I also hope you'll join with me in supporting a balanced coalition of leadership for Triton College by supporting Oak Parker Thomas Gary and his coalition partners Diane Viverito and Steven Kubiczky.

This was at least partially in response to the Wednesday Journal endorsing Irene Moskal Del Giudice, Alfonza "Al" McKinnor and Thomas Gary.

Harmon is a master deal maker. I think it's reasonable to speculate Harmon got the Stephens political machine to support Gary so he's supporting the Stephens candidates in Oak Park.

Harmon is Oak Park Township's Democratic Committeeman and his senate district includes Melrose Park and Stone Park.

GOV, Blagojevich coming to Oak Park [D88]

Wednesday Journal (Terry Dean):

Gov. Rod Blagojevich is scheduled to attend Tuesday's public forum on his education and health care funding proposal.

"Health care, Schools, Taxes: What you need to know right now ... What you can do today" takes place Tuesday night at Beye Elementary School, 230 N. Cuyler, from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

What do you think of Gov. Rob Blagojevich's plan to tax the gross receipts of Illinois business grossing over $2 million per year?

What would you tell the governor about other issues?

Should Proviso round up a posse to ask for the state to intervene in District 88, seeing as how the district fired Dr. Nichelle Rivers in the 2006-07 school year and Dr. Willie Mack in the 2005-06 school year? BTW, was Dr. Montoya fired during the school year too? Montoya preceded Mack.

[UPDATE: Nichelle Rivers contends that she wasn't fired. At one point she resigned but subsequently rescinded the resignation. The board failed to fulfill its obligations under the resignation agreement. The lawyers are sorting out who owes whom how much money.]

CRIME, did you lose a pipe bomb in Oak Park?

Wednesday Journal (Bill Dwyer):

A functional pipe bomb found lying on a snow bank in South Oak Park was defused by the Cook County Bomb squad Tuesday afternoon. Experts described the bomb as functional and "well made."

The bomb was spotted on a pile of snow in a parkway by a man walking in the 1150 block of Lyman Avenue around 3:30 Tuesday afternoon. He immediately called 911, and responding Oak Park police, after a cursory examination, called in the county's bomb and arson squad stationed at the Maybrook complex in Maywood.

How would a "well made" pipe bomb end up in an Oak Park snow bank?

A07, Tapia-Reyes quits race for Triton board [D504]

Dolores Tapia-Reyes has withdrawn her candidacy for the Triton College board of trustees.See Wednesday Journal (Bill Dwyer).

Tapia-Reyes wouldn't confirm other's contentions that she was pressured into withdrawing, or any motives for someone doing so. However she said that she felt her effort lacked adequate support, and realized she wasn't adequately prepared personally and politically for the undertaking.

One observer of the Triton scene, who asked to remain anonymous, insisted that Tapia-Reyes was pressured to back off her candidacy by people concerned that her presence on the ballot would hurt Oak Parker Thomas Gary's chances for election. State Senator and Oak Park Township Democratic Committeeman Don Harmon, the source added, wanted her off the ballot.

Harmon denied pressuring Tapia-Reyes off the ballot.


Harmon's district covers a large section of Leyden Township where Don Stephens is the Republican Committeeman. Stephens' committee raised over $250,000 in the second half of 2006 and gave most of it to things he didn't need to fund. One of the causes Stephens didn't fund was Harmon's Republican challenger, Jim Rowe.

Stephens' son, Mark, is the president of the Triton board.

Did Harmon and Stephens clan make a deal or come to some sort of understanding?

Mark Stephens did withdraw his support of current trustee Irene Moskal Del Giudice of Schiller Park.

SPORT, two significant local hoops games tonight and tomorrow [D208, D209]

In regional girls hoops playoff action Proviso East will be at Riverside-Brookfield tonight at 7:30 PM. See Riverside/Brookfield Landmark (Brad Spencer).

And tomorrow Proviso West goes to Oak Park and River Forest (boys hoops). Both the Pirates and the Huskies have one conference loss. The Huskies won the first encounter at Proviso West. See Wednesday Journal (Marty Farmer).