Letter to Governor Quinn Regarding HB5593

Dear Governor Quinn -

I was there the morning after you were sworn in as Governor in 2009 and you received a sustained standing ovation from attendees of the Illinois Association of Park Districts annual conference in Chicago. I remember the absolute relief I felt the day before when our prior Governor was officially removed from office. The Plainfield Township Park District is in a similar situation as the State of Illinois was back then.

Today, the Board of Commissioners of the Plainfield Township Park District is comprised of five members, two of which were seated about a year ago. These two, along with another commissioner who was on the Board prior to last year's election, formed a solid three-person majority that ran roughshod over the District. They hired a political crony to serve as Executive Director in charge of the day-to-day operations of the District along with a number of other connected employees. A significant number of qualified existing employees were fired or their positions were eliminated. Contingency funds that the District has been accumulating over many years were drained to pay for short-term fixes and pet projects.

A significant portion of our community has been motivated to show up at each meeting over the past year and call for the resignation of this three-person majority. The majority members have consistently disregarded the calls of the public to resign. Representative Tom Cross and Senator Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant heeded the call of the public by sponsoring legislation to remedy this situation. Their bill, HB5593, would allow for an increase in the number of Commissioners on the Board of the Plainfield Township Park District from five to seven – the two new commissioners would be appointed by these two and would serve only until the next general consolidated election in April 2015.

This bill, if signed into law, would not disenfranchise anyone. No one would be removed from office. Rather, the Board would be expanded to seven members – the statutory maximum allowed by the state's Park District Code. I don't believe this change sets a bad precedent, as some members of the Senate claimed when they voted against this bill. We are only asking for an increase in the number of Board members to the statutory maximum by appointment until the next election. At that time, those appointed members would have to either resign or stand for election to full terms.

Impeaching a sitting Governor was an extreme, but necessary, reaction to an extreme situation. The State of Illinois is much better off as a result. I respectfully request that you sign HB5593 to allow the residents of my park district to exhale and regain confidence in the Board of the Plainfield Township Park District.

Sincerely,

Larry Newton