Here's the story on campaign finance

In a feeble attempt to divert attention from the facts about the Republican Party and Addison Township, Pat Durante's May 9 letter once again relies on name-calling, innuendo and a twisting of the facts.

For those interested in campaign finance, the state board of elections shows that in 2006, Don Puchalski spent over $85,000 in his run for county board. In that election, I ran a clean and frugal campaign for $3,195. And my finance report was accepted by the commission. I also ran on a platform that included returning the $48,000 salary (and thousands in benefits) to the taxpayers if I won the seat. Neither Puchalski, Mrs. Durante nor any other Republican offered to do the same.

Ask yourself: Why would anyone spend $85,000 on a county board seat? Perhaps the answer can be found in Jake Griffin's article of April 23 when he said "[W]with a 5 year, $200 million capitol improvement program proposed by chair Robert Schillerstrom in limbo, Puchalski's role as transportation chairman makes him the gatekeeper."

Puchalski is a former Addison trustee, and Mr. Durante is licking his chops over the $200 million.

Mr. Durante has continually ducked taxpayers' questions about how their tax dollars are spent in Addison Township. According to the township treasurer's report, nearly $1.7 million is spent on salaries alone. Mrs. Durante voted herself a 100 percent pay raise and now pockets $58,000 a year for a job that requires no office time. It also shows an embarrassingly paltry sum of $5,000 for the food pantry that requires needy families to make appointments and limits them to a bag of food a month. Great ways to spend, or not, tax dollars by Durante standards.

Bob Peickert

chairman, Democratic Party of DuPage County, Lombard