Most people do not vote in local elections. That means the elites can get anyone in office they want. They REAL extremists are the ones who make plans with your money on non-essentials while underfunding essential services. Failure to vote keeps them in office. Tuesday is another chance to fix local governments.
Only because I’ve been asked numerous times – below is who I would vote for if I could:
Bloomington:
Only two contested races: Ward 4 and Ward 6
Ward 4 – Steven Nalefski
Ward 6 – Jordan Baker
Both of their opponents are FAR left!
Town of Normal:
Stan Nord
Mark Tiritilli
Karl Sila
Unit 5
Vote No Again to the referendum. In 2019 Unit 5 had 13,135 students. They now have 12,304.
That is 831 fewer students. Why are budgets higher? Decreasing enrollment should have eliminated dozens of positions! Worse, proficiency in both reading and math was below 50% for 9th graders. That was PRE-PANDEMIC.
Vote NO and then vote for:
Brad Wurth
Dennis Frank
Molly Emery
Amee Jada
Heartland Community College Board:
Only because Responsible Cities didn’t endorse either and you can vote for two:
David Selzer
Cecelia Long
(There are no good choices!)
District 87:
Only because Responsible Cities didn’t endorse either and you can vote for three: (You don’t have to vote for 3!)
Veleda Harvey
Courtney Turnbull
Tri-Valley:
Five people are running for 4 seats. You don’t have to vote for 4! In fact voting for 4 gives votes to 2 others you might not want to see elected.
Finally a race I can vote on, it will be:
Cally Pitzer Shane
Casey Misch
If you don’t live in one of these districts, see the County sample ballot here:
https://www.mcleancountyil.gov/DocumentCenter/View/25124/2023-Publication-SPECIMEN-Ballot
And you’ve probably all seen these before, but just in case it helps:
Normal – the bottom line is we need the bottom three!
Unit5 – No Means No, and vote for the best DAMB candidates! Dennis, Amee, Mollie, and Brad
I will be supporting the bottom 3, although trying to make a “No means no” argument about ballot measures would be hard to then support Sila or Tiritilli. From the “DAMB” candidates, I have seen a collective zilch in terms of ideas that can actually work. I would be afraid they would all resign quickly when the “We won’t cut anything.” doesn’t work and parents speak at meetings for hours on end when their Remote Learning 2.0 doesn’t work, class sizes increase by 30%, and behavior issues go off the charts.
JT,
– agree with you-
– Wurth, Jada, Emery, and Frank shouldn’t have pushed e-learning. Dissapointed to see that. Can’t bring myself to vote for them as a result.
– Also, Not a fan of turning curriculum over to a private e-learning company like Wurth, Emery, Jada, and Frank want to do. Want to keep control local.
– Conservative school board candidates need to get out there and engage the public. They’ve barely even been visible. I Question their commitment. Should take a few pointers from Jeremy De Haai. Professionalism matters- whining non-stop looks bad. Put in the work.
– Not a fan of closing Carlock like Wurth said he wants to do regardless of what happens with the referendum. Small towns are our lifeblood. Keep it open (I realize some of you disagree with me on that, which is fine)
-Agree on Normal. Appreciate Sila engaging in this forum. Excited to vote for him. Fresh ideas.
– On referendum, was undecided, but will hesitantly vote Yes. The CEO council (part of the Chamber) endorsing it was big for me. They don’t endorse lightly, are Republican-led, and we NEED to support businesses, now more than ever.
– On Bloomington, like Nalefski and Baker, but the leftists will probably win those seats. Still worth voting for them, but it’s uphill in those areas.
Just my 2 cents
I would like to see Mr. Sila respond to my comments regarding his “No means no” argument because it would be difficult to support Tiritilli and Sila if we use his argument to elections. My guess is no response. Again, I am supporting him but disagree with him on this particular ballot item.
Silly excuse!
“Silly excuse!” Not at all. One of the tenets I’m running on is greater transparency. Every elected official dreads having to vote for what’s right instead of what’s popular. Truly good ones will explain themselves rather than act like they don’t have time for the voters. And unlike most local elected officials, I know and admit that I’m not always right. So a good dialog can help convince the voter, help prove me wrong so I do what is Truly the right thing instead of what I Think is the right thing, or worst case at least foster respect for each other before agreeing to disagree.
I’ll reply in a separate post so JT will be sure to get the appropriate response notice.
Tomorrow will be interesting. I have seen lots of establishment republicans supporting the referendum DeSantis. If I had to guess, I’d think it’s likely to get at least 55% of the vote. If conservatives have lost those folks, they’re in trouble. Thinking the elearning promotion will depress turnout for Wurth, Jada, Emery, and Frank.
I’d also say that the school board races will fall in-line with the referendum. Each side has firmly staked ground either for or against. The pro side has done a much better job of getting the names of candidates out there in addition to the referendum message. My neighbors keep their mailers (God knows why) and have gotten at least 10 pieces of lit via mail or door knocking. I’ve only gotten two mailings for the othet candidates, and those were a long time ago.
Less than 50% are proficient, vote for them h people destroying kids
Unfortunately ‘the good guys’ don’t have deep-pockets special interest backing them. Special interests that have a stake in keeping those questionable government expenditures flowing. (Mailing $10K worth of postcards to support politicians that will turn around and find a way to put $100K of taxpayer money into your pocket is a great investment!) A good rule of thumb is the more postcards you get, the Less you should vote for what they’re pushing.
“No means no” – at it’s most basic, it’s an obvious parallel. Give me what I want. No? You better change that to yes or I’ll make sure your kids suffer for it!
Beyond that but still keeping it short and sweet, it doesn’t pass ‘the sniff test.’ They claimed to be $12M short. Some say only $3M. Even the ‘yessers’ have conceded down to $11M. So why do they need $20M when any increase will already be automatically pegged to inflation through property values?
(And for any that were paying attention, the Town added a big property development last night, lending credence to the claim that the yessers are underestimating future revenues.)
So now we get into the Long answer. I, my dad, and all my kids either graduated from or are still in Unit 5 schools. We have over 40 student-years in the award-winning music programs that are being threatened. And one in Jr High that will be hurt, along with many friends, if the current council makes good on their threats. So I do not take my ‘no’ recommendation lightly.
The people asking have a history of not acting in our kids’ best interests. Keeping kids out of school and forcing unnecessary masks have hurt them both academically and psychologically. DEI etc promotes division and mental illness. Teaching that whites are inherently racist, blacks have a built in excuse for failure because of their skin color, and heaping praise and attention on kids with sexual problems are all becoming self-fulfilling prophecies.
“Comprehensive Sex Education” is code for pedophilic grooming. Granted they only adopted the 8th and 9th grade recommendations, but they endorsed the full program. They could have put in ‘appropriate’ sex ed of whatever type without mapping out a plan to expand it down to Kindergartners.
But rather than cut things that may benefit a few kids but harm many more, they chose to make cuts that cause further harm. (It’s like a family budget crisis going straight to “Christmas is cancelled” while ignoring that Dad comes home an angry drunk every Friday.) These are not behaviors that should be rewarded, either with re-election or with more money.
Then the finances. I agree the ‘no crowd’ has not done a good job of laying out a convincing plan. But Unit5 has enough money to get by for at least a couple more years without drastic cuts. Time to look for more more appropriate cuts, or maybe a more appropriate tax increase. And the currently proposed tax increase has earmarks in it to expand the aforementioned bad-for-kids programs.
I’m the guy who dug through a Lot of CDC webpages and crunched the numbers, only to find that even if Unit5 Actively Infected our kids, statistically we’d have less than one death. I didn’t just take the word of some ‘right wing anti-vaxxer’, I put in the work and the consideration instead of making a frightened knee-jerk decision “for the children!!!” (And along the way I also debunked some of my right-wing friends, so I wasn’t just pushing my own biases.)
We as voters, as taxpayers, as parents are admittedly stuck between a rock and a hard place. But if you take the time to look at all the aspects and digest them and not just follow the crowd, ‘No means no’ and Dennis-Amee-Mollie-Brad are the best choices we have available. If you want better ones, you’re welcome to run in tow years.
And if you want a town council that will put that much thought and consideration into Town government decisions, policies, and finances (and who will take the time to explain Why instead of ignoring your questions and input) the bottom line is we need the bottom three – Nord, Tiritilli, and Sila.
Dave Selzer is a fake and can’t be trusted. A blowbag of the highest order and good buddy of Adam Kinzinger.
Agreed
Rino
No great people stepped up to rub!
Few and far between in BN. If there are, most don’t run for public office because they know their beliefs don’t count for shit. Selzer is a narcissistic loser who will come to board meetings in khaki shorts and talk members ears off about stuff that has anything to do with Heartland business.
Maybe that will stop them from making it even more unaffordable
Leftists will be elected to the Heartland Board no matter what. You know our choices are are crap when Diane Benjamin endorses Cecelia Long.
From WGLT…
“ Cecelia Long, an organizer with Illinois People’s Action and a board member with the Bloomington-Normal chapter of Democratic Socialists of America, said she focused on the graduated income tax proposal that failed statewide. ”
https://www.wglt.org/news/2020-11-07/dozens-gather-in-bloomington-to-bid-trump-farewell
Since responsible cities didn’t pick her and she’s elected now, maybe she obstructs. There are no good choices this time
Got some friends that moved out of state four years ago that still get Unit 5 stuff this year. Still think the elections there are fair? And it is mailed to their out of state address! Are they still on the voter rolls? I am ALL in favor of more people voting, ALL thei time. But being concerned about fairness is a real issue I believe.
The Oracle of Elsworth endorses Cecelia Long 😂
One socialist is always needed. Maybe she can push for free education. Free is always worth the price, right?
Can anyone comment on the other school board candidate, Mackowiack? (Spelling?)
I saw he was the only one to publicly criticize DEI in the pantagraph article published this weekend. Seems like a work class guy looking to put an emphasis on course work for students not selecting the college prep route. Is there a reason not to vote for him?
I like him a lot but he has a tiny reach. He needs to run again in 2 years!
Yes, Mackowiak.
The only reason not to vote for him is it theoretically takes a vote away from the ‘good slate’. If you’ve definitely decided you you’re not going to vote for one or more of the D-A-M-B candidates, he is clearly next in line.
And I agree with Diane – I would like to see him run a better organized campaign in two years!
I just read an article in the Pantagraph telling us that junior colleges are reeling, for example not enough students going to junior colleges and taking classes that prepares them for technical jobs, ie car mechanics, plumbing and heating type work. The junior colleges are getting what they deserve they have priced themselves out of business. I have complained about this for years while they are cheaper per credit hour versus a 4 year college the cost to go to a junior college exceeds what most working class families can afford. I graduated from a junior college, parkland in Champaign I worked a minimum wage job and payed for my own books and classes.
That’s not possible for students wanting to go to a junior college today.
Several years ago I saw in the paper where heartland college appointed 2 new Vice Presidents at $170 k a year, why for? just another example of why junior colleges are so expensive the students have to pay for those salaries. Another example of government ineptness.
Heartland may not be on the ballot tomorrow but Diane has pointed out those candidates that will be fiscally responsible with our tax dollars.
Vote tomorrow.
I graduated from one too, loved the school and it was cheap. The cost of Heartland is ridiculous
Diane, thank you for your guidance. I appreciate your input. I don’t have time to follow this stuff as closely as you do. I queued this up as I was standing in there voter booth
I haven’t checked All the races, but for the ones I know off the top of my head, the summary I gave my mom was
“Bad guys won, good guys lost, fill in the blank with what your question is.”