Elmhurst Politico Calls Her Posts 'Sarcastic'

ELMHURST, IL – In recent months, state Rep. Deanne Mazzochi urged Elmhurst School District 205 to "clean house" and called out a York High teacher by name for lessons the lawmaker sees as inappropriate.

Mazzochi said parents want to hold the school district accountable. She advised school officials to be open with the public.

For nearly two years, though, Mazzochi has not taken specific questions about her "Snark of the day" posts from six years ago.

In October 2020, Patch found Facebook posts written by Mazzochi, an Elmhurst Republican, that, among other things, said a "white, male Republican" was best for liberty and that Obama wanted revenge against "colonialist white men."

They were among Mazzochi's "Snark" posts that she wrote for a short while in 2016. She was then the president of the College of DuPage board.

In 2020, Mazzochi did not respond to Patch's requests for comment about the posts.

After Mazzochi called out the teacher last week, Patch contacted her spokeswoman, Amy Shanks, about the 2016 Facebook posts that the lawmaker had remained silent on.

Shanks released a statement from Mazzochi shortly after. The lawmaker was not made available for an interview.

"I believe district residents have more pressing matters on their mind than to rehash clearly sarcastic, ancient Facebook posts," Mazzochi said. "Their concerns involve inflation, gas prices, the cost of living, crime, school quality, personal dignity and safety, public corruption, and actual legislation. That is what I will continue to work on, and speak about, because those are the topics where people in our district are hurting, and which impact their quality of life."

After Patch discovered the Facebook posts in 2020, it asked a spokesman for Mazzochi's biggest contributor, Ken Griffin, about them. A spokesman for Griffin, who gave Mazzochi's campaign $200,000, said her posts did not represent the billionaire's values.

In one post, Mazzochi wrote, "In Obamaland, it is more important to attack women who don't want to have to worry about perverts molesting their kids in public bathrooms than it is to attack ISIS."

In another, she said, "JFK wanted to send a man to the moon. Obama wants to send a man to the girls' bathroom."

Mazzochi also had choice words for then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

"We just had a president who was clearly in it to get historic revenge against 'colonialist white men.' Now we're supposed to elect a revenge-hungry shrew who wants to punish all men in general? No thanks," Mazzochi wrote.

In yet another post, she wrote to explain why Donald Trump was succeeding: "For the majority of Americans who love America, we have seen decades of 'giving it away' to those who don't love America, by those who want to keep power in America. Say whatever you want about the candidates, but their histories show Trump loves America, Hillary loves power."

Mazzochi even referred to Trump's theory about the "deep state."

"If you favor liberty then the President should be a white, male Republican. Because only then will the Deep State and the Media keep him in check," she wrote.

Despite her apparent affection for Trump in 2016, she declined to endorse him during an October 2020 interview with Patch. She would not say who would get her vote for president.

In last week's message to Patch, Mazzochi defended her service. She suggested it was rival Democrats bringing up the Facebook posts; Patch discovered the messages on its own in October 2020 shortly after the interview with Mazzochi.

“If you need proof that I have successfully and carefully represented district residents in Springfield, look no further than this non-issue being trotted out once again," Mazzochi said. "Machine Democrats cannot meaningfully challenge me on the merits of my legislative votes, because I work hard to ensure my votes best reflect the will of our district. Machine Democrats do not want to debate me on the merits of legislation impacting our district, which is why they went out of their way to gerrymander it 'for political purposes to assist with increasing the political advantage' of their party (See HR 359)."

She also said, "Unlike many Illinois Democrats sent to Springfield who care more about optics than outcomes, I am concentrating on substantive, intellectual analysis and debates on the issues relevant to our district. That is what our district wants from someone who represents them in the House.”

In November's election, Mazzochi's Democratic opponent is Elmhurst resident Jenn Ladisch Douglass.