Vote for Charlene Sligting

Tomorrow, Tuesday, is decision day for those who have not yet voted (early) in the city council primary. If you haven’t voted yet and haven’t made your decision yet, it could be because you’re a chronic procrastinator like me, or perhaps it’s actually hard to decide between the candidates. Each has their strengths after all, and none can be dismissed out of hand.

If you are comfortable with the current city council and feel that no new changes are in order, then you will probably have a tough time deciding between Mike Warren and Emi Morales. Both of these candidates– insiders active in the city’s civic circles–represent the status quo.

Well, how about Brenda Rodgers? Ms. Rodgers voted at odds often enough with the council that I’m not sure I would put her in that group. Among politicians, there are those who are vision people with big ideas, and there are those who are more comfortable perhaps focusing on the small details of life that concern their constituents: parking problems, potholes, etc. Ms. Rodgers falls into the latter group.

There’s nothing wrong with that. And if you think that is the important thing right now, you might find that she is your best candidate.

All three of the candidates aforementioned have similar ideas about illegal immigration. Ms. Rodgers favors amnesty, Mr. Warren describes efforts to curtail illegal immigration as a witch hunt, and Ms. Morales says there is no problem with “illegal immigration” in Elgin–the quotation marks are hers not mine.

If you view illegal immigration as a serious issue for this community, however, then you will probably be more interested in one of the three other candidates.

Mike Robins started his campaign on a platform that centered on the issue of dog tethering. That platform evolved into one that now centers on illegal immigration. It’s good that Mr. Robins had an open mind when he talked to residents who brought up the issue that concerned them most. It’s good that he read up on the topic, and educated himself on the challenges that illegal immigration poses at the local level. And I have no doubt that Mr. Robins is sincere in his concern about illegal immigration, but the short space of time in which he went from being primarily concerned with dog tethering to being primarily concerned with illegal immigration gives me pause.

It’s not the sincerity that I doubt, but I am concerned about the possibility of a councilman rushing into something that he does not fully understand.

Mr. Robins gets credit for refusing to take money from the SEIU and other city unions, but went too far in refusing to take money from anybody. There is virtue in refusing to take money when conflicts of interest may come into play or when you do not want to implicitly endorse the political positions of donors, but there is no reason to refuse money from the grassroots. Money is the lifeblood of political campaigns, and if moguls like Jim Oberweis and Bill Foster can’t afford to say no to donations neither can Mike Robins.

Now Mr. Robins has mentioned the possibility of taking money after the primary, but I’m afraid that if he does so it will undermine his credibility in more ways than one. And if he doesn’t accept money and is unable to get his message out, he would not be competitive in the general election.

Like Mike Robins, Al Fernandez said early on that he would not take money from city unions, including the SEIU. Uniquely among the candidates, he is in favor of term limits. If the election was based just on smarts and ideas, Mr. Fernandez could be the strongest candidate. He is a good communicator with a good educational background, and his positions on the issues are reasonable. What Mr. Fernandez lacks is experience serving on city commissions, non-profit boards and so on, a problem that can be rectified before the next city council election, but not in time for this one. He also lacks a campaign organization and funding, again something that can be rectified before a future election, but not this one.

Is it important to serve on a board? There is a danger of course for somebody serving on some kind of a community board to become an insider, and to become complacent and afraid to raise issues that could alienate them among this group or otherwise make them unpopular. This is probably the biggest problem that we have now among city leaders. But such service is also reassuring for obvious reasons: It shows that a candidate can work in a leadership position, that he or she can make a time commitment, etc.

Oftentimes if you’re looking for reform, you want an outsider, someone who won’t be afraid to break a few eggs in order to…well, make a souffle. But while Mr. Fernandez’s outsider credentials are probably stronger than any of the other candidates, his reform ideas are not strong enough where we would say, “We don’t care who you are, just do it. Just give us reform!”

But rare is that candidate who could just come out of the blue and blow you away on the strength of his ideas alone. Rare indeed. We do not have one in this election.

Five candidates considered. One left.

Charlene Sligting.

Nobody has taken more flak in this election. Everybody has come after her, all of them anonymously and pointing fingers at the other plausible parties: Emi Morales, Mike Warren, Brenda Rodgers, a disgruntled ex, the guy she forgot to tip. Okay, not that guy.

But seriously, the mud they slung would have buried a more delicate flower.

How much can somebody take? And what gives her the strength to endure calumny and evisceration of her private life for the sake of a job that nobody is going to thank her for anyway?

Well, I asked Life in Elgin blogger Jessica Thompson why she’s supporting Charlene Sligting, and her response was that Charlene Sligting has a genuine concern for this city and has proved it better than any other candidate through her devotion to the community organizations in which she is actively and energetically involved.

She puts up with the claptrap and cybercrap because her concern for Elgin outweighs any personal costs she will pay just for being in the race.

Wow. Fair enough.

Even Ms. Sligting’s detractors acknowledge the hard work that she puts into her volunteer commitments. She is seemingly a member of every organization that was ever incorporated in any of three possible centuries on either side of the Fox River.

Charlene Sligting is an insider…to such an extent that I actually held it against her…as a candidate for city council. Why? Well sometimes, you want a team player, and sometimes you want a reformer. Sometimes you may want an insider and sometimes you want an outsider. It depends on what the situation is, and right now the situation for the city of Elgin is one that calls for reform. It calls for an outsider.

But woe is we. We have no–

Do we? Could…we?

Possibly?

Have a…

Reformer?

Who could…win?

Time for my morning cocoa and jumping jacks. I’ll be right back.

(Two minutes later.)

I’m back.

Did I say “reformer?” Pshaaaaaw!

What I meant was a candidate who can serve on the council without being beholden to the SEIU, without indiscriminately saying yes to every other councilman’s pet project–whether it is a softball team, a softball stadium or the Floating Gardens of Babylon, who is not BFF with every developer or will annex every open parcel of land in site, who will not drink the Kool-Aid that equates illegal immigration with diversity, who will be the pen that signs the dissent and not the rubber stamp. And perhaps, even at times be a councilman who will vote her conviction and not her convenience.

That is as good as we can do in this election.

And there’s only one candidate who can do that: Charlene Sligting.

She is endorsed.

See also:

Daily Herald Picks Warren
Comment policy
Candidates forum Thursday
Brenda Rodgers: City Council Candidate
Al Fernandez: City Council Candidate
Mike Warren: City Council Candidate
Questions for candidates
The SEIU candidates
Upcoming candidate forums
Candidate responses to AFLA questionnaire
City Council Candidates Forum (AFLA)
Linda Quezada: City Council Candidate
Emi Morales: City Council Candidate
John Prigge: City Council Candidate
Lenora Scruggs: City Council Candidate
Mike Robins: City Council Candidate
Charlene Sligting: City Council Candidate
Elgin candidates websites
Elgin City Council elections
Elgin City Council Candidates

Possibly related posts:

• Charlene Sligting: City Council Candidate [2009]
• The SEIU candidates
• Mike Robins Advances
• Vote for Julie Schmitt
• Candidate responses to AFLA questionnaire