Clear message sent — by 16.4 percent of you

A week ago, I dared you, gentle voter, to make me eat my words as I predicted the typical lousy turnout in Tuesday's local elections:

DuPage County: 19 percent.

Naperville: 22 percent.

Winfield: 23 percent.

Turns out I was overly optimistic, as 16.4 percent of the county's registered voters flocked to the polls. In Naperville, where 16-year Mayor George Pradel faced what one could argue was his stiffest challenge, from two members of his city council, 20.3 percent of eligible voters turned out.

But in Winfield, an amazingly political and contentious suburb of 8,000 people, 32 percent of the electorate went to the polls and repudiated the long-entrenched Winfield United and its slate of candidates. That tally was fractionally exceeded in Wood Dale, where longtime Mayor Ken Johnson was ousted. The overall get-out-the-vote winner, was even tinier and tonier Oak Brook, where 40.1 percent of the voters showed up. The campaign rhetoric here was every bit as vituperative as in Winfield.

Victorious Oak Brook village president candidate Gopal Lalmalani opened his campaign by announcing the village had become a “laughingstock” because of the war of words between tough-talking Village President John Craig and village employees over pay, pensions and the antics of his supporter Constantine Xinos, who tore into a child at a public meeting for sticking up for the library staff.

Lalmalani spoke early and often about the need for greater transparency and accountability and hammered Craig for his multiple government pensions, poor morale in the police department and a late-night run-in with cops at a local bar. Craig took a lie-detector test on the latter and shot back that Lalmalani had ties to the Better Government Association, which had been digging up all the dirt on Craig.

Voters elected Lalmalani by a narrow margin.

So, what does it all mean? A few of us who gather in my office every morning to plan out our day had a fairly, um, lively discussion Wednesday morning about the apathy in Tuesday's election. A couple of us took the position that it's incredible voters don't care, that you're voting for the people who set policy, make laws — and levy the property taxes you pay — right where you live. The contrarian in our midst didn't see it that way and suggested it's only logical to get passionate about the leaders who decide if we go to war, make life-and-death decisions about our physical and economic security.

I'm not sure we're ever going to explain that phenomenon, but I did ask Robert Sanchez, our county and big-picture reporter, to take a crack at explaining what our 16 percent did have to say. The slug (newspaperspeak for “title”) we gave the story was DUPANGER.

And what were they angry about? It was clear the few who voted wanted a) change, and b) nothing that resembled a tax increase.

The example of the latter was Medinah Elementary District 11, where a tax increase was on the ballot for a third time. One might have thought it had a decent shot at passage because some of the very residents who had opposed the measure previously were now campaigning for it. Nope. The measure was trounced, 841 to 342 votes.

But perhaps an even better example could be found in West Chicago, where the electorate rejected the idea of a $10 real estate transfer tax. This is a tax, mind you, that would be paid only by the seller of a home. And the point wasn't to give the homeowner a kick in the backside on the way out of town as much as to prompt a records check that would red-flag overdue city bills. And wouldn't getting someone to settle their bills before leaving town be a good thing?

Other examples of discontent with the status quo abound. Numerous incumbents were ousted in municipalities and on school boards. Even the Carol Stream library board drew candidates still angry about a tax-increase referendum voters rejected three times.

And in Roselle, similar to Winfield, a slate of candidates endorsed by a dominant local political party was defeated by voters. Mayor Gayle Smolinski said she believes voters happy with the status quo were the ones who stayed home.

So, if you're happy or complacent with all the upheaval that occurred while you were staying home, great. But remember this: The minority has spoken.

jdavis@dailyherald.com