Out With The Old And In With New

I have recenty been contemplating the candidacy of Trustee Preston and her twenty seven years of Village stewardship as Village Trustee. Listening to Preston’s speech during the March 27 candidate debate and at other speaking engagements, I noted that she takes credit for the $250,000 flower planting project that she chaired and she supported the $100,000 effort to film the Village Board meetings.  She also enthusiastically supports her party’s platform with its emphasis on term limits for Village trustees.  

During Preston’s reign, the Village was rocked by the news that for years, Mayor Blaze illegally pressured Village businesses to buy insurance from the insurance company the mayor recommend, which subsequently filtered money back to the mayor. Trustee Preston claims neither knowledge of, nor responsibility for this activity despite it occurring during a large part of her tenure. I have to now wonder how much else she is unaware of.

During Preston’s reign, the residents of the Village learned that the previous Village managers were given very large gifts of money and vehicles upon their departure. Again, Preston claims neither knowledge of, nor responsibility for this activity despite it occurring during a large part of her tenure. Again, I have to now wonder how much else she is unaware of.

During Preston’s reign, Village employees lost their jobs, positions were slashed and raises were stunted, ironically while Village directors were and still are provided Village vehicles for their own personal use. Yet Preston pressed forward during this time enthusiastically spending $250,000 on flowers for the Village grounds and parkways. I suppose the recently unemployed can take some comfort in the flower's gilded beauty as they contemplate their own bleak future. Preston, however, stands proud of this accomplishment and uses it to justify asking to begin her third decade of “service” to the Village.

I think maybe it is time to try something new. Maybe we should bring in candidates who are not proud of their years of blind eyed wonder at mayoral improprieties. Maybe we should bring in candidates who are not proud of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars during a period of budget shortfalls. Maybe we should bring in candidates who fully believe in term limits and not a candidate who supports term limits while trying to convince the voters of Niles to let her start her third decade of non-service to the community. Maybe it is time to throw out the old and bring in the new. Maybe it is just time we try voting for someone else. Someone with their eyes open. Someone who is not Louella Preston.