Listen To Elmhurst Politician's Controversial Robocall

ELMHURST, IL — Despite repeated Patch questions, DuPage County Board Member Pete DiCianni, R-Elmhurst, has declined to say whether he was responsible for a robocall that the Republican county board chairman denounced. And DiCianni has not said whether he would release it if it were his work.

Patch, however, obtained the automated call through other sources. The call was intended to drum up support for the police at last week's county board meeting. In early June, DiCianni's conduct at a pro-police rally outside the Elmhurst police station drew criticism. He later told a constituent in an email to "stick" her vote in "her a--." He represents District 2, which includes Elmhurst and parts of Hinsdale, Clarendon Hills and other towns.

In the robocall, DiCianni identified himself and said he had a "very important message."

"As you may already know, law enforcement has been under siege since the May 25 shooting of George Floyd. While the police work in that situation was obviously wrong, DuPage County officers are being painted with a broad brush that they are all bad," said DiCianni, a former Elmhurst mayor.

DiCianni noted recently that he had taken part in a Back the Blue event in Elmhurst and called out a group that said it was Black Lives Matters.

"They called our officers bastards and murderers. Naturally, I defended our men and women in blue," DiCianni said. "Now, the Democrats are trying to make this political and remove me from my seat representing you."

Then he moved to the subject that board Chairman Dan Cronin, R-Elmhurst, called misleading. DiCianni said the Democratic board members "also asked recently to defund our law enforcement budgets and manpower. I am sorry, but enough is enough." He then urged the call's recipients to show up at the next county board meeting.

DiCianni gave the details on the meeting and asked people to bring masks.

Last week, DiCianni sent Patch a screenshot from the Facebook page of Indivisible DuPage, a progressive group, which asked the public to attend the county board meeting. It demanded the board censure DiCianni for his actions, remove him as chairman of the board's health and human services committee, and remove him from the board entirely.

DiCianni said Indivisible and Black Lives Matter reserved space for more than 200 protesters, but maybe only had 30 to 40.

"We had hundreds show in person filling every room, cafeteria, auditorium and overflow room," he said in an email to Patch. "We advocated just like they did. Our people showed up peaceful with masks and they spoke with conviction."

Under pressure, DiCianni announced at the meeting that he was stepping down as the committee's chairman. And he acknowledged regrets in dealings with counterprotesters at the pro-police event, particularly when he spoke loudly in a woman's face without a mask. He said his email to his constituent, who is a college student, was not his best moment.

In an email to Patch last week, DiCianni called out board member Ashley Selmon, D-Addison, by name as one of those supporting the defunding of police at a finance committee meeting.

Selmon told Patch in an email that DiCianni was wrong.

"As you can confirm on video, I did not make any such suggestion. Nor have my colleagues. Rather, I have offered clarifying context about the conversation that was being discussed in the national context," Selmon said. "Unfortunately, member DiCianni's recollection of the facts both of this discussion as part of county business and of his actions personally last month are not correct and do not match video of both events."

During a finance committee meeting in early June, Selmon opposed giving proposed raises to certain sheriff's office employees. Most were in the thousands of dollars, the highest being $25,000.

In an email to Patch last week, DiCianni said Selmon was pushing for defunding of police.

"When you don't want to give the Sheriff's Office funds they request, you are not funding his operations," he said.

DiCianni couldn't be reached for immediate comment Thursday.

Other recent stories about DiCianni:

Elmhurst Politician Tells Off Constituent About Protest

Elmhurst Politician's Rebuke Of Constituent Sparks Reaction

Elmhurst Politician Chastised By DuPage County Leader

Elmhurst Politician Expresses Regret In Handling Critics

Is Elmhurst Politician Right On Police Defunding Claim?