Time to spin board members from office?
Two DuPage Forest Preserve Districts employees are fired for possible misuse of taxpayer funds and the district compounds this matter by squandering $66,000 to hire two firms to “spin” this latest scandal away (Daily Herald, Nov. 24). It’s very appropriate, therefore, that the larger of the two no-bid contracts went to a politically connected firm with the dubious name of Reverse Spin, LLC.
Since my tax dollars are being used to pay for this needless spinning, I’m going to give the DuPage Forest Preserve District some free advise. First: implement common sense procedures and develop a public service culture to prevent corruption in the first place Second: Don’t compound alleged wrongdoing to using my hard-earned tax dollars to paper over these shenanigans with spin, or Reverse Spin, in this case.
Forest Preserve spokesman Bill Weidner, defended the $66,000 in outside PR consulting contracts in addition to a 6-person PR staff costing $400,000 annually, by saying that with their “intensely busy environment ... I could go on and on.” When it comes to wasting our precious tax dollars they sure can and they sure do.
DuPage voters are well served by the Daily Herald’s use of the Freedom of Information Act to ferret out the details of this episode in public waste and mismanagement. Maybe it’s time for these same voters to spin the DuPage Forest Preserve District incumbents right out of office.
Walt Zlotow
Glen Ellyn