'Emasculated': Elmhurst Feud Gets Personal

ELMHURST, IL – Elmhurst conservative leader Tom Chavez fought back Wednesday against a resident who criticized him at a school board meeting the night before.

During public comments at the meeting, resident Kevin Kresnicka repeatedly referred to Chavez as a "failed candidate." Chavez lost in the April board election.

Kresnicka also suggested Chavez had a "kink" when the conservative objected to a particular passage in a book that the board was considering. Chavez saw the book as sexually graphic.

Kresnicka said he was reading a letter from his wife, Rocca Maria Balice.

Chavez was the next speaker, but did not respond to Kresnicka's statement.

In comments on Patch on Wednesday, Chavez called the couple a "huge contradiction to themselves on a number of levels."

"Kevin, a meek husband who has been emasculated by his domineering wife, who goes by a different last name, stepped up to the podium and used her words (not his) to try to bully me," Chavez said. "Of course, it didn't work. And all along, I thought these progressive folks were anti-bullying?? Go figure?"

He also said Kresnicka is a banker, but appears to support the work of late author Howard Zinn, an "avowed anti-capitalist."

In comments on Patch, Balice responded to Chavez's criticism by saying, "It's a huge burn ... in 1963."

She joked that she wanted to frame Chavez's comment that she was a "domineering wife."

"Maybe I can needlepoint it onto a pillow? Will that make me less domineering?" she said.

Chavez leads Elmhurst Parents for Integrity in Curriculum, a local group that says it opposes the indoctrination of children.