Dr. Matt Harrington: Candidate Profile

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Note: Answers provided have not been edited for grammar, misspellings or typos. In some instances, candidate claims that could not be immediately verified have been omitted. Jump to:BioQA Bio City: AuroraWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Twitter: BackmattFacebook: www.facebook.com/Dr-Matt-Harrington-for-Auroras-Alderman-at-Large-2017-453565758008660/Office sought: Aurora Alderman At-Large Age: 54Family: 2 daughters, 30 years old and 26 year oldOccupation: Chairman CEO Ammo Coding SystemEducation: Bachelors in Business Administration Master in Political SciencePhD in HumanitiesCivic involvement: Vice President for Illinois Cook County Board Ancient Order of Hibernians, The A.O.H. is one of the largest Irish Catholic Non-Profit organizations. Their primary efforts are to raise money for national and local organizations, such as Misericordia, the Special Olympics, as well as local food pantries and homeless sheltersElected offices held: Former Naperville Township 34th precinct Republican CommitteemanQuestions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?Redevelopment Downtown Public Safety Plans For Aurora's Working with the Casino to move to the I-88 corridor,create A New Casino Entertainment,Hotel Convention Center.Using the former casino building and working with Aurora's famed Retailers of Our Outlet Mall,we help crate a new Shopping Dining Complex,with a Luxury Multi Screen Movie Theatre. This will help drive new business to our downtown district.work to place small docks long the river edge,to encourage people to stop and have lunch or dinner within our Restaurant Row.Enjoy the music on a summers night.To make our own Airport, Chicagoland 3rd largest. By bring in the TSA,we could then offer Airlines,gates.Along with Executive Helicopter service to the adjacent airports,giving commuters an alternative to O'Hare Midway.Bring 21st century tools to our Police Department,high number Sex Offenders,which are living in Aurora.Our Police department needs to have a better way to monitor them.Bring electronic monitoring of these felons.If we can do it for DUI, why not them,registry program. Work to bring back more of the#1505 forfeiture Funds.These are funds that come from the drug bust of heroin dealers,and other illegally cash and properties form criminal ventures.These funds should come back to our community,Most importantly I will never forget whom I work for.Too often it seen that our political leaders put their party or their reelection ahead of the citizens they are elected to represent.I have always been an independent thinker.If elected I will never for get that it's about the community and the people who I work for.What is your opinion of your community's present level of local sales and property taxes? Is the tax just right, too low or too high? Explain.I believe, that our taxes are to high for the serves Aurora has provided. We need to look at how we can improve in areas within our 500 million dollar yearly budget., I will look to shrink our costs. So we can be a beacon of light and a community that works to be fiscally sound for our future.Rate the efficiency of your town's police and fire coverage. Are the departments well prepared for the next decade? What, if anything, should be changed? Do you have specific public safety concerns?I believe we can do more, I like to add more Police. work with the department and create better community police outreach. I bring about a change of the way we are dealing with the registration of convicted child sex offenders, by implementing an ordnance for have them not just register on-line but also to have electronic monitoring of these individuals. To help insure our community and children's safety. If we can do this for DUI, why not them?Where, if anywhere, could the current budget be trimmed, and conversely, are there areas the budget does not give enough money to?I cut the the payments to lobbyist over the pass decade we have paid more then a Million dollars for a lobbyist to represent Aurora in Springfield. We don't need that. Alderman at Lager represents the entire city not just a single ward. We should be our Owen best lobbyist, we are the second largest city in Illinois. We know what we need for Aurora, we can be the best voice of our communities, and we can show them by this action that thing are changing thing up and they will no longer be the same.I will work, to fix the mismanagement of our resources and cut out the fat and inter-department waste of voter's funds from our city's budget. The answer to our city's budget is not just smaller government. We need smaller more efficient government. I will be a tireless advocate, and work for the revamping of mismanaged and bloated city departments. I believe this is a necessary first step towards lowering property taxes, increasing programs and improving services for the citizens. We need not add to the hardships that higher property taxes would create for people already struggling to make ends meet.I will bring about the change that we need from our city and reduce the redundancy of a bureaucratic and inefficient city government, in order to bring forth a better way to provide youth and senior service programs to the people of Aurora.What is one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?As Alderman, I will provide an open line of communication for our community by holding what we can call, "City Council on Your Block". This will be an open weekly meeting held in our Parks and Back Yards, so we can establish an open free forum for the community, so we can exchange ideas and share information.Together we can make our community better. Working with the near eastside community, to bring about a community center, that will offer services for those families that seem to be forgotten about.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?We need to be more proactive, with our community businesses, we can't just sit back and then react. such in Caterpillars case. We are about to loss over 800 jobs from Caterpillar, and many smaller business with then be effected by this which will hurt our city and it's abilities to provide services that our seniors and other count on. We must not loss sight that we can be leaders of change, not Steward's of neglect. Just look at Aurora's Downtown, have you seen real change over the pass 12 years. I have not.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.Robert F. Kennedy Pope FrancisWhat is the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?Thing are earned in life not given. when you are knock down, its what you do, when you get back up that matters.If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?More time with my daughters when they were younger.What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?DebateIf you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?A Quote, "People see things that are and ask why? Dream of things that have yet to be, and ask why not."