Carol Stream voters pick new voices for library board

Nine months ago, a new majority took control of the Carol Stream Library Board and proceeded to fire the director, put land that once was intended for a new library up for sale, and censure an opposition board member.

Now, that censured board member and four other candidates on his slate will take back control of the board.

All five candidates on the Support the Library slate, including incumbent board Vice President Jim Bailey, won election Tuesday, defeating board President Mike Wade and his Support Your Library slate, according to unofficial final results.

In the race for four available 4-year seats, the top finishers — all on the STL slate — were Patricia Johnson with 1,758 votes, Nadia Sheikh with 1,582, Bonita Gilliam with 1,505 and Edward Jourdan with 1,495. Losing candidates included Susan Galle with 1,073 votes, Jerry Clark with 912, Wade with 824 and Justin Moran with 730.

In the race for a 2-year position, Bailey defeated Joshua Jeffrey 1,765 to 838.

The STL slate will now have a 5-2 majority on the board, with current trustees Dave DeRango and Dominick Jeffrey remaining, both of whom are aligned with Wade’s slate.

Wade gained a majority on the board last spring when Clark and Galle were appointed to the board following the resignation of two longtime trustees — Rob Douglas, the board president who was appointed as a DuPage County Circuit Court judge, and Tom Arends, who moved to Chicago and was often considered a swing vote. Wade met Clark and Galle as organizer of the Chicago West Patriots Tea Party.

Wade led the charge last July to fire Director Ann Kennedy, who was one of the forces behind the STL slate.

Wade hasn’t said publicly why he urged Kennedy’s firing, but a four-page document he distributed to trustees and later obtained by the Daily Herald listed several “issues of communication with the board” since 2009, when he was elected.

In an email to the Daily Herald Tuesday night, Kennedy said the STL group was “ecstatic with the outcome.”

“The American system of government is not broken when a group of concerned citizens can rally against bad government and give it back to the people,” she said.