Endorsements: Bogusz for mayor, Rodd and Smith for council in Des Plaines
At his best, Des Plaines Mayor Matt Bogusz is a man who gets the job done.
Des Plaines has had its share of good mayors in the last few decades, but no one with the drive, ambition and relentless pursuit that Bogusz exhibits. Under his watch, the City Council has eliminated budget deficits and given the city back its sound financial footing — no longer needing to borrow money to buy sandbags, as it once did.
It's almost impossible to overstate how important this is to the future overall health of the city. Obviously, Bogusz built on the work of his predecessors — like Tony Arredia, whose administration secured the gaming license that brought Rivers Casino to town, giving the city a welcome boost of revenue. His successor, Marty Moylan, opened the casino in 2011, but more recently has worked to protect Des Plaines' casino revenue in Springfield, by keeping expansion of Illinois gambling at bay for as long as possible.
At his worst, Bogusz can be a bully. He browbeats colleagues as he dismantles their arguments, not infrequently in a demeaning manner. He makes unnecessary enemies.
Under Bogusz, no one will mistake the Des Plaines City Council for a gentleman's or gentlewoman's club. Not that it ever was. But these traits can undermine the support Bogusz needs to move the city forward, and create pointless blowback from people who are hurt and angry — witness the current lunacy of aldermanic lie-detector tests.
His opponent for mayor, 6th Ward Alderman Malcolm Chester, is a decent man and a good alderman. No doubt he could hold the city together for four or eight years.
But like him or hate him, Bogusz is something more. As casino revenue, which has already dipped slightly from its high-water mark, continues to drop off, his ability to grab hold of the city and drive it forward — at the same time protecting the city's newfound fiscal health — will be critical to long-term solvency.
Where Bogusz is formidable is in the details, getting the research to back up his proposals. Aldermen are learning that to have an impact, they need to do the same.
Bottom line, we cannot argue with success. We endorse Matt Bogusz for another term as Des Plaines mayor. But hang on everybody, it's going to be a bumpy ride.
Ward 1: No endorsement
Mark Lysakowski, a board member of the East River Road Townhome Association where he lives, is the choice of retiring Alderman Patti Haugeberg, but he's lived in Des Plaines for 10 years and has never voted or been involved in the city in any way other than the condo board. He registered to vote in December, shortly before he turned in his petitions to run.
Steven Mokry is retired from the construction business and is a member of the Des Plaines Library Board. Our reservations about him stem from a 2013 conviction in Wisconsin for theft and disorderly conduct. To his credit, Mokry made his arrest public knowledge, and has been an active campaigner in the 1st Ward.
Still, we believe this city council needs cool heads, and we have questions about Mokry's ability to keep cool. Neither candidate is endorsed.
Ward 3: Rodd
Both Alderman Denise Rodd and challenger Gene Fregetto are quality candidates, involved in the community and well-schooled on the issues. Rodd, who followed Matt Bogusz as Third Ward alderman, has been a pretty reliable vote for Bogusz but has some serious questions about the Des Plaines Theatre project that need to be asked publicly before the project moves ahead. If re-elected we'd like to see even more independent spirit from her. Fregetto was a longtime member of the Des Plaines Library Board until Bogusz declined to reappoint him. He has extensive experience in budgeting, capital expenditures and negotiating from his more than two-decade career in purchasing with the Chicago Transit Authority. As much as we like him, Rodd has done nothing to not deserve re-election. She is endorsed.
Ward 7: Smith
Don Smith has been an alderman for 14 years — on the council 1997-2009, appointed back to it in 2014 and re-elected in 2015. Smith is generally quiet — too quiet for some — but he knows his ward, is thoughtful, and slow to anger. Running against him is Bob Porada, who was on the Zoning Board for nine years. Both men are intelligent and both are lawyers. Our complaint with Porada is the bombast with which he campaigns, throwing words like “corruption” and “wasteful spending” around like so much red meat, when some of the spending he decries as wasteful was never approved by the council in the first place. Better to have an alderman who deals calmly in facts. Smith is endorsed.