Addison Township pols get nice deal

The attack on Rita Gonzalez by Pat Durante in his Dec. 21 letter to the editor missed the mark. Gonzalez won the county board seat in District 1 over Yolanda Campuzano for one reason - the voters wanted change. Gonzalez is an 11-time award winner for her work with communities and minorities. Now the county board is trying to hire Campuzano as Ethnic Outreach Coordinator, for $50,000 a year, which just happens to be what she earned as a board member.

However, let's talk about important matters in Addison Township, Pat's backyard. On Oct. 8, officials of Addison Township gave themselves hefty raises. The supervisor, Kathryn Cermak-Durante, Pat's wife, now earns $58,000 a year. In 2001, the supervisor made $29,000. A 100 percent pay raise over 7 years or 14.3 percent a year. Best part about the job is that it doesn't require Mrs. Durante to spend one minute in the office or to do anything else other than attend one meeting a month that lasts about 10 minutes. (The clerk no longer notes the ending time of the meetings in the minutes.)

Here are the other salaries: Town Clerk Pam Moretti now makes $22,500, compared to $7,500 in 2001, a whopping 200 percent raise or 28.6 percent a year; the assessor's salary went from $58,750 to $98,000, and the highway commissioner from $51,750 to $79,000. These figures do not include a very attractive benefits package including paid health insurance.

All of this money spent on salaries for officials and little for the residents. The food pantry is shut down, services have been scaled back, no elected official is in the office except by appointment and there's little of that. The place is run by clerks. Maybe it's time for change in Addison Township as well.

Bob Peickert

chairman, Democratic Party of DuPage County

Elmhurst