'Demise' Of Western Springs Caucus May Happen: Ex-Official

WESTERN SPRINGS, IL – For more than two decades, Western Springs has gone without competition in the elections for the village, park and library boards.

For every election, the century-old Western Springs Caucus has advanced candidates for local political offices.

Subscribe

But the group may see its "demise" soon, a former Western Springs official says.

"I have been encouraging and challenging the Officers of the Caucus Party to recognize its failures in not adhering to its Constitution and By-Laws," Jim Horvath, a former trustee and clerk, said in an email to Patch.

The next election is April 6.

The caucus enjoys the village government's recognition. It's featured in the village's Tower Topics newletter.

In the recent edition, the village said the caucus and the Village Board do not endorse any political party. The caucus, the village said, uses a "town hall" method to select candidates for local officials, except the school board.

According to the village, every Western Springs resident is a caucus member and welcome to join the process.

Later in the Tower Topics piece, the village says people can also run as independents, outside of the caucus system. But it says such candidates must submit required paperwork to the state.

In a 2024 message to caucus leaders, Horvath said he had spoken to other residents about the caucus.

"Our consensus is that, even though every resident of voting age is a member of the Caucus, the vast majority of that group does not know what the Caucus is nor how it is supposed to operate," Horvath said. "I say 'supposed to operate' because after my recent delving into the Constitution and the By-Laws, I found that many mandated requirements are no longer being followed."

In one meeting, the group's executive committee met, but only a dozen members showed up, making up less than 10 percent of the panel's membership, Horvath said.

"I found that most disappointing," he said.

Horvath urged the caucus to be more aggressive about getting the word out, particularly on social media.

He acknowledged that more publicity wouldn't generate massive involvement, given residents' other priorities, such as job, home, school and church.

"Local governance brings up the rear if it shows up on their radar at all," Horvath said. "But we need an informed populace. What they do with that knowledge is up to them; but it is the Caucus' responsibility to get that knowledge out to its residents."

In response, James Maragos and Jack Lynch, the caucus' chair and past chair, respectively, said the group should not be measured by the number of attendees at caucus meetings, but by the quality of the selected candidates.

They said the village has been fortunate that so many talented people have stepped forward for unpaid board seats..

"The caucus/townhall model makes it easier for candidates for Village office because they know they do not have to declare a party affiliation nor raise money for their campaign," the caucus officials said.

Candidates file their petitions from Nov. 16 to Nov. 23.

The Western Springs Caucus is not alone in facing criticism. Recently, the Clarendon Hills Caucus has encountered difficulties.