Officials explore causes behind Roselle United upset
Depending on who you ask, the defeat of the long-dominant Roselle United Party in Tuesday’s village board election signals either voter apathy, voter dissatisfaction, or savvy campaigning.
Longtime incumbent Richard Rhode lost his seat along with fellow Roselle United candidates Eleanor “Elly” Paletta and Todd Eichholz. The trio was endorsed by party members that include Mayor Gayle Smolinski, trustees Andy Maglio, Terrence Wittman and Kory Atkinson, Village Clerk Patty Burns, nearly a dozen area business owners and several Bloomingdale Township officials.
Incumbent Barbara Rendall-Hochstadt topped the field to retain her seat with 1,306 votes, while former Roselle Park District Trustee Wayne Domke received 1,251 and part-time firefighter Ron Baker garnered 1,107.
Opponents Rhode, Eichholz and Paletta trailed with 902, 868 and 821 votes, respectively.
This year all three winners filed as independents, although Rendall-Hochstadt and Domke often campaigned together. In the 2007 election Rendall-Hochstadt actually ran as part of Roselle United — which used a different name then — with Rhode and former Trustee Ron Sass. Sass died early this election season after filing his independent nominating petition.
“People were interested in a change and they were not interested in people who were part of a party,” said Smolinski.
Wittman also said Rendall-Hochstadt “made the right move” by filing as an independent, but added that low voter turnout hurt Roselle United.
“I would say it was some voter apathy from our supporters who thought we were a shoo-in,” Wittman said. “And those that did vote — even across the whole region starting in November’s election — everyone seems to be kicking out the incumbents. We were viewed as the incumbent party, even though we had two new candidates and Barb has been on the board.”
The winners say there was more behind their victory, though.
Rendall-Hochstadt said they all ran cost-effective campaigns as Roselle United outspent them with more signs and mailings.
She and Domke added that Roselle United didn’t have a clear message that resonated with voters.
“I think they liked that we told people we would be true listeners and be totally transparent in government,” Domke said.
Baker agreed voters showed they want to be heard.
Now that the board is divided between Tuesday’s winners and Roselle United Trustees Wittman, Maglio and Atkinson, Smolinski said they all must work together on the biggest issue facing Roselle: the budget.
Like many municipalities, Roselle faces money woes due to flat property tax revenues, falling sales tax and the state budget crisis. The board recently appointed Maglio and Wittman to a long-range financial planning committee that is examining all operations to see where Roselle can cut costs. Their report is due in about a month.
“We will have a great board working forward, because we have too many important things to do,” Smolinski said. “There will be hard decisions on things people love, possibly activities we can’t support any more, and we need to work together.”