Letter to the Editor: Michels, Giles Richardson the Right Choice for Village Trustee

The election for Oswego Village Trustees presents many possible choices.  Which candidates should we elect?

 Terry Michels has consistently upheld his campaign pledges.  He has been a very careful steward of the taxpayers’ money, supported business development without supporting giveaways of taxpayer money, been a strong supporter of public safety, and improved communication to the residents.  

Tony Giles has also consistently upheld his campaign pledges.  His voting record has been pro-taxpayer, pro-business without giveaways, supportive of public safety and put significant effort into ensuring quality development.   

Michels and Giles both voted to offer the Alexander Square project $800,000 in improvements for water, sewer and roads to match the quality of the previous $2.5 million Main Street public improvements to continue consistent downtown progress.

Dave Schlaker has demonstrated a poor attitude toward his fellow trustees during village board meetings, which creates a negative and unprofessional atmosphere. His Patch questionnaire answers demonstrate character issues by false statements that the board votes no on all business development despite 27 board yes votes in the last 27 opportunities, and the lack of respect shown to fellow trustees.  His voting record is consistently for supporting special interests, the TIF and the $10 million giveaway.      

The challengers are Karl Baumrucker, Scott Gryder, Gail Johnson, Amanda Mancke and David Richardson. Although not an incumbent, Karl Baumrucker has established an extensive pro-special interest record through repeated statements at the board public forum and newspaper letters that he strongly backs the TIF district and $10 million giveaway.   

Scott Gryder’s positions are contradictory. His top priority is bringing the Metra station to Oswego while his primary reason to run was to keep our taxes low.  Every Illinois county that wants a Metra station must approve an RTA sales tax.  

Gail Johnson states that the board is always voting no on development. This is a provably false statement.  The last 27 have been approved.  She also strongly supports the $10 million giveaway and has stated so at the board public forum.  

Amanda Mancke has also stated in a letter to the editor that the board has not supported businesses as well.  Her Patch statement that the board makes no effort to get input from all stakeholders ignores the extensive discussions held on projects in numerous meetings.  

David Richardson has solid budgetary experience in government and wants to bring new ideas to the board for economic development. He advocates these positions without misrepresenting the facts. Dave Richardson is clearly the challenger that most deserves to be on the board. 

 It could be argued that any of the remaining challengers are better than Dave Schlaker. However, when you study their statements and actions, none of them come close to the high standard set by Terry Michels and Tony Giles.  The future of our village depends on voting for the best candidates.  Please vote for Terry Michels, Tony Giles and Dave Richardson to be Oswego Village Trustees.

Kevin Dombkowski, Oswego