Candidates question reporter's role in Streamwood campaign

Conflict-of-interest accusations arose this week over the political relationship between Streamwood Village President Billie Roth and a reporter for the Streamwood Examiner, who is openly supporting her re-election campaign.

Richard Trzupek, a self-described staunch ally of Roth, reports part-time for The Examiner, a weekly local newspaper. He is listed as the registered owner of the Web address BillieRoth.com.

He also confirmed he authored a Feb. 21 e-mail to Streamwood Park District board President Howard Krick, threatening to withdraw his support of Krick if Krick didn't recant his own support for Rich Janiec, a park board commissioner running for village board. Krick is running for Hanover Township board.

"It's black and white for me buddy: you support Janiec, you lose my support," Trzupek wrote.

After Thursday's village board meeting, Roth acknowledged that Trzupek owns the Web domain of her re-election site. She angrily left the council chambers when she was questioned about their association, accusing her opponents of using it as an election tactic.

"I'm done," she said. "Tell them to go play their politics somewhere else. This is insane."

In his letter to Krick, Trzupek said he would use his resources - including The Examiner, his 27-friend Facebook network and e-mails - to convince voters to reject Janiec, village president candidate Jason Speer and park board candidate John Beto, calling all three "not competent to hold elected office."

Trzupek on Thursday confirmed he wrote the e-mail and said that as a part-time community reporter, there's no need to deny his allegiance.

"Everybody knows I support Billie," Trzupek said.

"People trust me for whatever reason," he added, "and I just try to make it a better town."

Trzupek, who recently moved to Palatine, was a 10-year Streamwood resident who also continues to serve on the Streamwood Park District Foundation board.

Village Trustee Jim Cecille, who is not up for re-election this cycle, said the e-mail sounds like extortion.

Speer and Cecille add that when they ran for village board in 2007 on a slate supported by Roth, Trzupek wrote campaign speeches and put together fliers. Speer said he went along with it at the time but has become increasingly uncomfortable with Trzupek's open advocacy of Roth.

Speer said Trzupek should step down as a reporter if he believes it's so important to actively campaign for Roth.

He added The Examiner shouldn't purport to be an objective news source.

"It's just been accepted, and it's a shame," he said.

Neither Examiner Publisher Randall Petrik nor Editor Bruce Leighty returned calls Friday.

Despite his open support of Roth, Trzupek said he's given other candidates fair shots.

"If you know where the story's coming from, I think it's a lot better than not knowing it and (having) to figure out what the angle is," he said. "Everyone knows my angle."

Janiec disagreed. He said he wasn't invited to an interview with The Examiner before it chose not to endorse him.

Of the e-mail, Trzupek said he simply wanted tell Krick "there are a few candidates here I think are running for the wrong reason ... and I wanted to be upfront with somebody I consider a friend."

Krick declined comment except to say Trzupek is entitled to his opinion as expressed in Trzupek's "Inside the Election" e-mail newsletter.

Beto, meanwhile, said he met Trzupek only once during Beto's long tenure as a park district employee and doesn't understand where Trzupek's criticisms are coming from.

Reporter objectivity and independence have long been pillars of journalistic ethics.

"I think it is important to serious readers," said Fred Brown, vice chairman of the Society of Professional Journalists ethics committee. "Part of the problem for mainstream publications these days is that a lot of people don't seem to care. More people in the general public are going to sources that do have a point of view, and a point of view they agree with."