Elmhurst Aldermen Chastised For Making Endorsements

ELMHURST, IL — Most Elmhurst aldermen made endorsements in this month's mayoral election — through their words, money or both.

Three aldermen — Scott Levin, Michael Bram and Mark Mulliner — were running for mayor in the April 6 election.

That leaves 11 aldermen who did not run for mayor. Of them, seven indicated their favorite candidates, while another announced who he would not support.

The winner, Levin, drew endorsements from aldermen Marti Deuter, Bob Dunn, Tina Park and Dannee Polomsky, Bram's fellow Ward 3 representative.

Mulliner, who finished third, gained the backing of Mike Brennan, Mike Honquest and Noel Talluto.

Bram received no aldermanic endorsements.

Alderman Jim Kennedy, who did not seek re-election, wrote a letter to the editor of the Elmhurst Independent laying out the case against Bram.

Three aldermen — Brian Cahill, Jacob Hill and Jennifer Veremis — were the only members who did not publicly weigh in on the mayoral contest. All three were appointed to the council within the last year and were running in their own right. Hill and Veremis had competition.

At Monday's City Council meeting, resident Irene Dinning took aldermen to task for making endorsements. She compared it to Chicago when a precinct captain took her in the voting booth for the first time and told her who she should and would vote for. She said she voted independently anyway.

Such memories, she said, came back with the recent Elmhurst mayoral election when aldermen "felt it necessary to publicly endorse specific individuals."

"Some comments were made about one candidate in particular that could only be characterized as mean-spirited, inappropriate and not representative of a town whose motto has been 'character counts,'" Dinning said. "I don't need my elected Elmhurst officials to tell me who to vote for. I appreciate those aldermen who did not offer public endorsements in this race."

Dinning praised Alderman Bram as "above board in all respects."

"He has been transparent in his communications, his decision-making and is fiscally prudent," she said.

The council did not respond to Dinning's comments. It usually does not react to public input.