Ethics questions emerge in Aurora mayoral race

The election filing period has been closed for barely a day and Aurora's mayoral race already is heating up with suggestions of unethical conduct against two of the three candidates.

On Monday, the last day of filing for the April 7 election, Aurora developer Joseph Vantreese of The Vanstrand Group sent a letter to Aurora city attorney Alayne Weingartz, Mayor Thomas Weisner and all aldermen outlining a "friendly manner" conversation he had with Alderman and mayoral hopeful Stephanie Kifowit in late August in which he alleges she asked him and his attorney for campaign contributions. He also alleges Kifowit has been "cold" and "aggressive" in dealing with him since he declined to contribute.

"My letter was prompted last week by the governor (Rod Blagojevich) being charged and arrested," Vantreese said Tuesday afternoon. "I'm not accusing her of her motive, but if something larger comes of it I didn't want that to be the first time it's been mentioned. Her actions didn't pass the sniff test with me then and they certainly don't now."

Several weeks after the initial conversation, Kifowit was the lone no-vote at the committee and city council levels when the city's bid to purchase the Beacon News parking lot from The Vanstrand Group for $2.9 million was addressed.

Kifowit said she supported the city purchasing the lot to meet the parking agreement for River Street Plaza, but she voted against the sale because she disagreed with the city's plan to privately finance the deal through the group instead of pursuing other "more lucrative offers."

"We were signing onto an interest-only payment with a large balloon at the end. Of course I'm not going to support that," Kifowit said Tuesday. "And the deal went through, so my one vote certainly did not affect the outcome. As far as I'm concerned, this is a pathetic attempt to discredit a candidate and I stand by my no votes as they relate to the project."

Since the incident, however, Vantreese said Kifowit's demeanor toward him has become aggressive.

"She used to walk into the chambers and say 'hello' and shake my hand. Now she won't even acknowledge me," he said. "I believe her actions all indicate she was doing it to retaliate but I can't prove that. So I just wrote the letter to lay out the facts."

Kifowit's campaign, meanwhile, came out firing against Mayor Tom Weisner on Tuesday because several city employees circulated his nominating petitions, which is legal as long as it's not done on city time.

"I assume they were properly circulating the petitions outside of their work environments," Kifowit said. "But this is what I mean when I say politics need to be taken out of the mayor's office. I'd hate to learn that those employees felt obligated or fearful for their jobs if they declined to circulate."

Weisner's campaign manager, Jordan Lystad, did not return e-mails or telephones seeking comment Tuesday.