How about a debate to cap off war of words?
May I direct your attention to Fence Post, found under the letters tab of the opinion Web page.
Those letters are the latest salvos in a monthslong feud among leaders of our local Democratic and Republican parties. Mostly, it's Bob Peickert, head of the DuPage Democratic Party, tangling with Pat Durante, one of the county's best-known and longest-standing GOP operatives. But lately a few other characters have entered the fray, which is why you'll see Addison Township Trustee Gus Leventis taking another Democratic leader, Amy Tauchman, to task for not mentioning, in her earlier letter, that she was an important Democratic operative.
With me so far?
I'm not certain how this war of words got started, exactly how far back it goes and precisely who's paying attention (some of these letters, though, have prompted dozens of comments), but I've found the exchanges fascinating.
A recap, just from the first of the year:
Jan. 3: "Addison Township pols get nice deal" - Peickert replying to a Durante "attack" on Rita Gonzalez, a Democrat who won a county board seat. Peickert skewers Addison Township officials, including Durante's wife, the township supervisor, for giving themselves big pay raises.
Jan. 10: "Another side of Addison Twp. flap" - Durante accuses Peickert of trying to divert attention away from Peickert's "favorite elected official, Gov. Rod Blagojevich."
March 13: "Could this be GOP helping GOP?" - Peickert says Addison Township provided cheap office space to GOP state Rep. Dennis Reboletti, calls for explanation from Durante, whom he says is "the spokesman for township government."
March 16: "Just saving the taxpayers some money" - Supervisor Kathryn Cermak-Durante says Peickert got the numbers wrong in calculating office space, jabs Dems for "driving the state $10 billion in debt."
April 2: "More on township office space flap" - Peickert says Cermak-Durante's math is wrong, says she fails to address her 100 percent salary increase during a seven-year span.
May 2: "DuPage GOP's double standard" - Peickert blasts county board member Don Puchalski for taking campaign money from unions. "When Democrats do it, the Republicans complain about Cook County influence."
May 9: "Democrat's ire is hypocritical" - Pat Durante says Peickert was fined by the state elections board for improper campaign finance disclosure.
Add a letter from Puchalski and a rebuttal to his letter from Tauchman, and that brings you today's Fence Post.
This comes as today's paper is jammed with even more DuPage-centric political activity. You'll see that state Sen. Kirk Dillard may join DuPage County Board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom in seeking the Republican nomination for governor. There's also a story about interest in the chairman's post from former House Speaker Lee Daniels and state Sen. Carole Pankau. This follows Jake Griffin's report a couple weeks ago that state Sen. Dan Cronin, head of the DuPage GOP, might run for the chairman's job, while a half dozen members of the county board say they might throw their hats in the ring.
This is really good stuff, especially in a year in which we have no more elections. And that's why I want to share an idea that came while watching the Durante-Peickert battle unfold and expand.
Why not come to the Daily Herald offices for a good, old-fashioned debate, I suggested to the two foes. I'd moderate, Jake would be there to write up any necessary stories and we'd videotape the session. Could be great theater, and maybe through good, old-fashioned reporting, we could dig up some pertinent facts to frame the debate.
Durante says he's in. Peickert, who got the invitation more recently, says he wants to think about it.
But even if it doesn't work out, we'll always have Fence Post.
jdavis@dailyherald.com