NO CONFIDENCE: RESIDENTS BEGIN CALLS FOR HANKS RESIGNATION

OPINION EDITORIAL
By Joseph Wiszowaty
How can someone get it so wrong?   Mayor David Hanks has been Mayor since November, 2012 and has been on the Village Board since May, 1999 some 16 years now and yet he still doesn’t get it.  He suppose to be working for all the people of Sauk Village, not just a small handful!

Hanks has been on a whirlwind trying to ramrod all these changes and votes down the Village Board’s throat, and the Bobble Head 5 are going along with it.  Just like Pat Quinn was doing on his way out the door of the Governor's office!  Trustees Ed Myers, Rosie Williams and Lynda Washington apparently do not give a damn about what the public think and about all that has been going on.  Apparently they think Hanks is doing a “fine job”.  REALLY?  Let’s go back two weeks ago when Hanks lost 2 of his Bobble Heads John Poskin and Jeffrey Morden.  The loss of 2 incumbent trustees has not happened since 1971!  Apparently they didn’t get the message but I assure you they will hear the people in 2017!

So let’s recap the missteps and blunders this administration has made in just the last few weeks (I could go on and on but this is just a small recap):

1-      They hurried to create two political positions and without any public consideration, in a move reminiscent of Lewis Towers.  Hanks did this in anticipation of the April 7th election and how it might not turnout his way.  Hanks appointed his handpicked appointee and the Bobble Heads voted 5 to 1 to approve it!  Towers only wished he had the Bobble Heads that Hanks does!  Closed Door Politics at it's best here!

2-      Hanks’s new political hack was intended to replace Veteran Chief of Police Tim Holevis and Holevis is forced to retire after serving the People of Sauk Village for 30 years!  Holevis didn't want to retire and wanted to continue to serve as chief but was forced into an early retirement.

3-      Hanks and his Bobble Head 5 plan on ram roding Kurtz Dispatch down the throats of Sauk Village Taxpayers with virtually NO PUBLIC INPUT and closed door meetings and no input from the Sauk Village Police or Fire Departments!

4-      Hanks now apparently plans on Demoting Deputy Chief of Police Rebecca Sailsbery and hiring his own political hack to become Chief of Police, again in a move reminiscent of Lewis Towers!  Hanks condemned Towers move to bring in an outsider stating at the time that the Village “cannot afford it”. 

5-      The 2015-16 Budget.  Hanks has not publicly released any information on his secret budget process, despite the fact that his nemesis Trustee Derrick Burgess has been asking for months about the Budget.  Well Hanks plans on jamming the budget through with his 5 Bobble Heads before the new Village Trustees are sworn in!  So Hanks plans on getting the budget voted on in 22 days (or less) with virtually NO public input or review!  For the record Hanks didn't get a vote on the Budget until July of last year!   (Editor Note:  50 ILCS 330/3 "....Such budget and appropriation ordinance shall be prepared in tentative form by some person or persons designated by the governing body, and in such tentative form shall be made conveniently available to public inspection for at least thirty days prior to final action thereon. Provided, that in townships such tentative ordinance for purposes other than the road and bridge fund shall be prepared by the board of town trustees. At least one public hearing shall be held as to such budget and appropriation ordinance prior to final action thereon, notice of which shall be given by publication in an English language newspaper published in such municipality, at least 30 days prior to the time of such hearing."

6-      Hanks releases figures on the Village’s General Fund deficit showing virtually NO DEFICIT!  This is a complete lie!  Hanks is confusing the General Fund Deficit with the Village’s Accounts Payable Aging Report (the bills not yet paid).  After 16 years you would think this dunder head would have gotten it right?

He’s not done yet!  Nope Hanks actually plans on running for re-election and announced that he is running and did so in 2014!  Is this really the direction you wanted to go with the Village?  If the last 60 days has been any example of the leadership of this administration, imagine what the next 6 years could be like!  If you remember Lewis Towers and how things were done, you got that right! 

I believe Larry Steward had it right, it’s time for David Hanks to go.  It’s time for the people to start demanding Hanks's resignation!

Pride, Arrogance and Entitlement have brought you to where you are Mr. Mayor!

HANKS & WILLIAMS GET SHELLACKING TUESDAY AT THE POLLS

You're Next David! Hanks with
former Governor Quinn in
October, 2014

Opinion Editorial by Joseph Wiszowaty
SAUK VILLAGE |  Sometimes politicians take a shellacking on election night!  Sometimes they learn to work with others who have differing opinions and ideas and compromise with those who were victorious on election night, even if they don't like them personally, even if they look different, and then there are others who simply just don't get it!  Why do they do this? Self preservation perhaps, but for the most part it's because they haven't heard the people's voice or frankly they just don't give a damn!
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In this last Tuesday's election, the voters of Sauk Village sent a clear and simple message to Mayor David Hanks.  Voters reject your politics and your "Forward Motions"!  They repudiated your supporters attacks!  They're tired of the Bobble Heads, they're tired of his backward "Forward Motions" which have been stuck in the mud despite his 5 to 1 majority!  Residents were tired of the lies, deception and constant photo ops, tired of the relentless attacks, tired of your Village Clerk taking a personal trip with her daughter on the dime of Village vendors and God only knows who!  They're tired of having the Village's tax dollars go to pay for lawyers to defend their actions!  Basically, they were just too damn tired of all the bullshiznit!

This election saw 804 voters who cared enough to come out to the polls, about 14% of the actual registered voters in Sauk Village.  Hanks's nemesis the one who has not been a Bobble Head, Derrick Burgess won!  Burgess won BIG receiving 61.7% of all the ballots cast, a clear majority!  It doesn't take a political genius to see residents are tired of Hanks and yet Mayor Hanks publicly supported all 3 losing candidates in this election, while relentlessly attacking the day of the election Burgess, Cecial Tates and Kelvin Jones, calling them "negative".  Hanks then continued on his destructive diatribe Saturday at his "Meet the Mayor" event, which was attended by only a handful of his most loyal supporters in what could only be describe as a "pitty party", you think Hanks would get it.  Nope!

Many saw the contrast of Hanks and Williams's pitty party at Popeye's Chicken Tuesday night and then the continuation at Village Hall Saturday and the complete opposite where a group of residents who have worked hard over the last couple of years to bring a community together held a "Unity" meeting.  The Unity meeting brought the newly elected officials together with a diverse group of residents, to help unite a community.  Hanks and Williams have played the divide and conquer game for too long to the detriment of the Village!

Hanks and Williams must somehow believe that there are "special voters" out there that approve the nonsense they've been doing the last 29 months which clearly was not the case on Tuesday! Many of the people who voted for Hanks and Williams in 2013 were completely deceived by their mantra of "Forward Motions" and "Leadership for a Change".  The last 29 months have been self evident that Forward Motions has been stuck in the mud, despite his 5 to 1 majority and Leadership has been absent!

Well as the old saying goes be careful what you wish for you might just get it, and get it you did in 2013!  Well, the people of Sauk Village "got it" and got it RIGHT in 2015!  It didn't take them long to get fed up with the negative tactics since Hank and Williams won in 2013.  This election was a resounding defeat for Hanks and Williams and their brand of politics.

As I told many friend on election night, numbers never lie!  The people of Sauk Village are tired of Hanks and Williams!  Generally, low voter turnout is a good thing for the incumbent who is in office, that being Hanks and Williams, however, not a single one of Hanks and Williams's candidates won on Tuesday night.  Such a resounding defeat has not happened since 1971!

Today, Hanks and Williams continue to fight against the majority of the residents of Sauk Village and sit on the dais with contempt, arrogance and entitlement that I have not seen since the days of former Mayor Lewis Towers.  Oh but let's not forget who brought us Lewis Towers in the first place, Debbie Williams, the common denominator!

The people have spoken, and spoken clearly with their votes and lack of voter participation wasn't that they don't care, they want a New Direction!  Unfortunately, Debbie Williams and David Hanks didn't seem to get the  memo Tuesday night that they lost and are going to continue their destructive and divisive diatribes.

Well, I'm not going away!  I had no plans to do so regardless of the outcome of this election!  But make no mistake, this was a referendum on David Hanks and Debbie Williams's administration!  Clearly Hanks and Williams received a shellacking, the same way Lewis Towers did in 2011!  I will continue to fight with the Illinois Attorney General to expose Debbie Williams and her daughter Rosie Williams Travelgate Scandal from 2013, I will continue to attend meetings and reporting the facts!  I will seek answers and question this administration, just like I did with Lewis Towers!  This Village belongs to the People of Sauk Village!  Hanks and Williams do not want to let go of the control of the millions of YOUR tax dollars they control!  They can say that there "is no money" all they want, but when they sit and control the tax dollars and where they are spent, who the hell do they think they're kidding!

The people of Sauk Village have endured this experiment in the "big time Chicago style politics" but the people of Sauk Village aren't getting any results from this administration.  The Hanks and Williams Administration has been an abject failure!

730 very short days to the End of Error!  Election Day April 11, 2017!

SCHOOL BOARD WILL HAVE NEW FACES

By Joseph Wiszowaty
SAUK VILLAGE |  Lost in the shadows of the Village Trustees election Tuesday night was School District 168 Board race.  There were 4 seats up for grabs Tuesday night and at stake control of the School Board, which appears by the results of this election will certainly change.

Marva Campbell-Pruitt, who ran unsuccessfully for Village Clerk in 2013 has come back strong with a decisive victory Tuesday night over challenger Latonya West.  West was supported by incumbent Board President Sharon Davenport and her Team Davenport.  Campbell-Pruitt will replace Maxine Towers, wife of former Mayor Lewis Towers, who did not seek election and was appointed as an interim appointment following the abrupt resignation of Melvin Stevenson this past November. 

Davenport herself was successful in her re-elected to a second term Tuesday night, but is not likely going hold on to the Presidency following the School Board’s reorganization.  Current Board Vice President Tammy Jones won re-election garnering the most votes in which only some 620 votes were cast as many just came to the polls to vote for Village Trustee. 

The third four-year seat was apparently lost by incumbent Sene Garrett to newcomer Philip Bazile by just a small 13 vote margin.  There were about 11 absentee ballots and a few provisional ballots that will take the Cook County Clerk’s office some time to sort through before official results are posted. 

It’s likely that both Davenport and Jones will not retain the office of President and Vice President.  “It doesn’t matter, it’s always been about the children of the district and that’s what matters most” Davenport said late Tuesday night.

“It has been an honor and a privilege to serve the people of School District 168.  I wish the School Board members good luck” Garrett said.

Unofficial Election Results

4 Year Term (3 Elected)
Sharon Davenport (i)     357*
Tammy Jones (i)               377*
Sene Garrett (i)                 303
Philip Bazile                        316
Sandra Isom                       296

2 Year Term (elect 1)

Latonya West                    247
Marva Campbell-Pruitt 376*

HISTORIC ELECTION: BURGESS, TATES & JONES WIN!

By Joseph Wiszowaty
SAUK VILLAGE |  You’ve got to go back to 1971 when 2 incumbent Trustees Richard Startz and Robert Robinson were tossed out of office during a mid-term election.  In fact you’ve got to go back to 1999, when David Hanks first took office to find a voter turnout so low during an off year election.

Sauk Village voters said “NO” to the Bobble Heads, said "NO" to Travelgate, said "NO" to closed door backroom meetings, said "NO" to unbalanced budgets and “YES” to a New Direction which Trustee Derrick Burgess and now Trustees-elect Cecial Tates and Kelvin Jones promised.

Burgess, Tates and Jones greeted a euphoric crowd at Levels Sports Bar following Tuesday night’s election.  Burgess promised supporters a New Direction and said that there is a lot of hard work ahead of the Village Board.  “This was a clear message that we’ve been heading in the wrong direction.  Residents wanted a change and we’re going to give them an open, honest and transparent Village Government” Burgess said.

Trustee-elect Jones promised to remain true to the residents and thanked them for their vote and confidence.

Trustee-elect Cecial Tates was overcome with emotion and tears.  “I want to thank all of those who voted and came out to help and support making the village better” Tates said.

“We didn’t go around making crazy promises, and we ran a clean campaign.  We did not slam our opponents and the message resonated with the residents” Burgess said.  Burgess was re-elected to his third-term on the Village Board by a comfortable margin.

Burgess received 496 votes , Tates received 401, Jones received 396 according to unofficial results from Cook County.  Incumbents Jeff Morden was denied re-election to a full-term with 330 and Hanks appointee John Poskin came in dead last with 238 votes.  Housing Commission Chairman, Gary Holcomb received 294 and was the only Trustee candidates who conceited the election in person shaking hands with Burgess, Tates and Jones and wishing them well.  Morden, Poskin and Holcomb were supported and endorsed by Village Clerk Debbie Williams, Hanks and a group of calling themselves "crotchety old ladies", but it was all for naught as they failed to get their voters out to the polls.