Arredia to run for mayor in Des Plaines
Former Des Plaines Mayor Tony Arredia said this week that he will be running for the Des Plaines mayoral seat in April 2013.
Arredia plans to make a formal announcement on Monday, Aug. 27. He could face a serious challenge if several aldermen who have been considering a run throw their hats in the ring.
Current Mayor Marty Moylan, who is vying to be state representative in the newly drawn 55th House District, plans to serve out his mayoral term if elected to the House seat in November but won’t run for re-election as mayor and try to hold both jobs.
It’s unclear whether Moylan would run for re-election if he loses the House race in November.
Arredia, who left the mayor’s office reluctantly in April 2009 due to voter-imposed term limits, formed an exploratory committee earlier this year and has raised roughly $10,000 over two months, he said.
“When I left, I was asked if I was going to come back, and I said I’m through,” Arredia said. “It took a long time for me to make up my mind (to run).”
Arredia served as 8th Ward alderman for six years before being appointed Mayor Jan. 5, 2000. He replaced Mayor Paul W. Jung, who died in October 1999. Since leaving office, Arredia has been working as director of government relations for Maryville Academy in Des Plaines, which pays considerably more than the mayor’s roughly $9,000 yearly salary.
“To me, the dollar amount is not important,” he said. “The city is going through a period where you need experienced people in there. There’s good aldermen, and there’s all these new people coming in. They’ve got problems with the police department. This is not the time to be training a new mayor.”
Des Plaines’ term limits do not prevent a candidate who has held office for two consecutive 4-year terms from running again as long as there is a break between terms of service. Also considering a bid for mayor in 2013 is Ward 4 Alderman Dick Sayad, who served the ward from 1999 to 2007, left due to term limits, then was re-elected in April 2011. Sayad ran for mayor in 2009 and lost to then-Ward 2 Alderman Moylan in a four-way contest.
“My committee and I have been talking, and maybe within the next month we’ll make an announcement,” Sayad said Wednesday. “There’s no rush.”
Candidates are not allowed to circulate petitions until Sept. 25, and the first day of filing candidate petitions doesn’t start until Dec. 17.
Sayad said Arredia’s announcement was expected and shouldn’t affect any serious contenders one way or another.
Sayad used $12,000 of his money during the 2009 mayoral campaign.
“I have nothing in my campaign trust as of now,” he said.
Ward 6 Alderman Mark Walsten, who also is considering a bid for mayor in April, said he hasn’t collected any money thus far.
“Once I’ve decided if I’m going to run for sure, then I’ll put a fundraiser together,” he said.
The four candidates vying for the part-time mayor’s job in 2009 collectively spent roughly $75,000 — as much as two candidates raised in the 2001 Des Plaines mayoral race. Arredia raised roughly $50,000, largely from business donors, in 2001 during his first election campaign while serving as acting mayor.