Category Archives: 2011 Election

2011 Election, City Council, City of Peoria

How much the candidates spent per vote

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The latest financial reports are in for the City Council race. Here are the totals, along with how much that works out to per vote (i.e., total spent divided number of votes cast for that candidate):

Candidate 7/1/10-
12/31/10		 1/1/11-
3/31/11		 Total $ Total Votes $/Vote
Chuck Weaver $9,241.18 $46,980.83 $56,222.01 14,785 $3.80
Ryan Spain $3,611.43 $40,409.68 $44,021.11 10,072 $4.37
W. Eric Turner $2,176.16 $14,470.73 $16,646.89 6,911 $2.41
Beth Akeson $0 $10,445.37 $10,445.37 6,040 $1.73
Charles V. Grayeb $0 $11,729.60 $11,729.60 5,559 $2.11

The other candidates (Gary Sandberg, Jim Stowell, André Williams, C.J. Summers, and George Azouri) did not file reports because they neither raised nor spent more than $3,000. The city council position pays $14,000 per year, or $56,000 per four-year term.

2011 Election, City Council, City of Peoria, Peoria Public Schools

Election Results 4/5/2011

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Here are Tuesday’s election results for City Council and District 150:

Peoria City Council

# Candidate Votes Pct
1 Chuck Weaver 14,784.5839 24.95%
2 ♦ Ryan M. Spain 10,071.9164 17.00%
3 ♦ Gary Sandberg 8,390.0000 14.16%
4 ♦ W. Eric Turner 6,911.3335 11.67%
5 Beth Akeson 6,040.0832 10.20%
6 Charles V. Grayeb 5,559.3335 9.38%
7 Jim Stowell 2,402.7500 4.06%
8 André Williams 2,261.2499 3.82%
9 Christopher (C.J.) Summers 1,812.4167 3.06%
10 George Azouri 1,011.3333 1.71%

District 150, Ward 2

Candidate Votes Pct
♦ Debbie L. Wolfmeyer 1,150 55.66%
Mike Mitchell 916 44.34%

District 150, Ward 3
(All candidates were write-in candidates)

Candidate Votes Pct
Rick Cloyd 2,120 67.11%
Janice K. Deissler 759 24.03%
Jody Pitcher 181 5.73%
Phillip E. Cline 99 3.13%

♦ = Incumbent

2011 Election, City Council, City of Peoria

Please vote for me on Tuesday, April 5, and then come to the party!

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Tomorrow is the election. There are ten candidates for City Council, and the top five vote-getters will be our at-large council members for the next four years. I’m asking for your vote so that I’ll be one of those five.

Here’s my radio ad which has played the past several business days on WMBD (1470 AM), WSWT/Lite Rock 107 (106.9 FM), and WPIA/KISS-FM (98.5 FM); it explains what my priorities will be if I’m elected:

[audio:http://peoriachronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/Audio/Summers-for-Council-2011_192K.mp3]

I would like to thank everyone who has supported me, those who have already cast their vote for me during the early voting period, those who have endorsed me and given me advice, those who have put my sign in their yard, those who have encouraged their friends and family to vote for me, and all those who will be voting for me tomorrow.

You’re all invited to join me at the G.A.R. Hall, 416 Hamilton Blvd., on Tuesday night starting at 7 p.m. for an election night party. (In the spirit of consolidating services, Beth Akeson and I will be having our election night party together.) I hope you can all attend!

2011 Election

Endorsements 2011 (other than me)

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Obviously, I hope you all vote for me. But besides that, there are a couple of candidates that I also endorse for Peoria City Council: Beth Akeson and Gary Sandberg.

Beth is a former Heart of Peoria Commissioner, school board candidate, and city council candidate. She lost her bid for the third district seat two years ago by just 12 votes. But she doesn’t give up. She’s running again this year — this time as an at-large council candidate. I support Beth because I share her vision for Peoria. She’s not content with the low standard of “better than nothing,” but rather aims for excellence. She’s accessible. She does her homework–often making calls and traveling to other cities to gather first-hand information. Just as one example, when researching the East Village TIF, she not only attended the presentation of a city planner from Decatur, but then followed up by visiting Decatur to see their residential TIF for herself and asking follow-up questions of the planner there. If you’ve been to any of the candidates forums, you will have heard Beth say that she’ll be a “full time council person.” Believe it. I saw how much she poured herself into her work as a Heart of Peoria Commissioner; she’ll do the same as a City Council Member.

Gary has the same philosophy I do about the purpose of municipal government: it exists to provide basic, essential services to taxpayers in the most efficient and cost-effective manner. His votes are always consistent with that philosophy. Having been on the council for several terms, and having been a city employee before that, Gary has a lot of institutional knowledge. He too is accessible and does his homework. The criticism against Gary is that he’s often the lone “no” vote on controversial issues. I think this criticism is misplaced. Given that even his critics concede that Gary is often right on these controversial votes, a critical eye should be cast toward the other council members who mysteriously vote in concert on nearly everything, often without any public deliberation or discussion. I don’t think Gary should be held responsible for the apparent collusion of the other council members. Instead, we need to reelect Gary and replace the other council members with candidates who share a basic-services philosophy.

2011 Election, City Council, City of Peoria, Peoria Public Schools

The District 150 conundrum

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I find it really interesting that, as a City Council candidate, I regularly get asked about what the City can do (or what I can/will do as a City Council person) to help District 150. Oftentimes, the questions go beyond the support areas over which the City has control, and gets into school board policy — concerns over school closures, returning schools to a K-8 configuration, and similar things. In fact, from the questions I get asked at forums and in personal interactions, it looks to me like the state of District 150 is, if not number one, at least the number two priority of Peoria residents.

And yet…

Not a single person circulated petitions for the third ward school board seat. As a result, all the candidates there are write-in candidates. The third ward school board member vacating his seat this year is running for City Council instead. In the second ward, there’s only one challenger to sitting school board president Debbie Wolfmeyer. The last time Martha Ross was up for reelection, she ran unopposed. If I were to judge the public’s concern for District 150 by their efforts to change policy by getting on the board and challenging the status quo, I’d have to say it’s not a very high priority at all.

How are we to explain this strange phenomenon?

2011 Election, City Council, City of Peoria

Last scheduled Council candidates forum tonight

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There’s a candidates forum for the Peoria City Council at-large race tonight at 7:00 p.m. at the G.A.R. Hall, 416 Hamilton Blvd., downtown Peoria. The event is sponsored by the Central Illinois Landmarks Foundation (CILF), so there will certainly be questions about the candidates’ views on historic preservation. However, the questions will not be limited to that topic. Any city- or council-related issues are fair game.

2011 Election

Peoria 9/12 Project candidate forum cancelled

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The candidate forum scheduled for this evening has been cancelled. The candidates received the following e-mail today:

Dear Candidates,

Tonight’s Meet the Candidates scheduled for Wednesday, March 16, 6pm, The Peoria Theater has been Canceled.

Due to lack of confirmation for participation of the audience, we are canceling tonight’s event.

“We respect your time. If we cannot guarantee good attendance, then we are reluctant to continue forward with the event.

We wish you the best in your campaign and look forward to working with you in the future.

2011 Election, Peoria Public Schools

How Debbie Wolfmeyer sees her job

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District 150 School Board president Debbie Wolfmeyer is up for reelection this year to another five-year term. You may recall that during her first term she sent a rather infamous e-mail to concerned parents.

In May 2008, Ms. Wolfmeyer told a concerned parent via e-mail, “I must respectfully decline your invitation to meet with you. It is not my role as a Board member to meet with individuals or groups. None of us as an individual Board member has any authority. Our authority comes as we work as a body. Also, I am not an educator. Therefore, it is important that any ideas, solutions, etc that are presented go through the administration so that they can assess them and report to us.”

At the Uplands candidate forum Thursday night, I asked Wolfmeyer if she would be accessible to her constituents were she to be reelected, and if she saw her role as representing her constituents to the administration, or vice versa.

Wolfmeyer said, first of all, that even though she’s elected from the second school board district, she sees her role as representing the whole school district (meaning all of District 150, not just the second board district), and specifically the children of the whole school district. Secondly, she said she will not “negotiate” with parents or constituents because she’s only one board member and cannot make any decisions unilaterally. She’s willing to sit down and listen to the concerns of her constituents, but in the end, she has to do what’s in the best interests of the children. I mentioned that many of these constituents of whom she spoke are parents who also have the best interests of their children in mind. Wolfmeyer said yes, but there are always parents and other constituents on both sides of an issue.

It doesn’t sound to me like Ms. Wolfmeyer’s views have changed significantly over the past three years. But second board district voters who disagree with her views don’t have many alternatives this election. Wolfmeyer’s only opponent is Mike Mitchell, whose appearances at recent candidate forums do not inspire confidence in his ability to do the job. He is a pleasant and sincere person, but doesn’t display an understanding of the issues facing District 150 or articulate any solution to them. He admits that he’s not a good public speaker, but invites everyone to sit down with him over a beer to discuss his ideas about District 150. I can only presume that he means he’s better able to communicate in a casual setting, not that his views make more sense when heard under the influence of alcohol.

2011 Election, City Council, City of Peoria

Upcoming Council candidate forums

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Here are some upcoming Peoria City Council candidate forums:

  • March 14 (Mon.) @ 7:00 p.m.: Central Bluff Neighborhood Association candidates forum, Lippman Community Center, 2514 N. Sheridan Rd.
  • March 16 (Wed.) @ 6:00 p.m.: Peoria 9/12 Project candidates forum, Peoria Theatre, 3225 North Dries Lane
  • March 19 (Sat.) @ 9:00 a.m.: League of Women Voters candidates forum, Methodist North at Allen Road (community room), 2338 W. SUD Parkway
  • March 21 (Mon.) @ 6:00 p.m.: NAACP candidates forum, Ward Chapel AME, 511 North Richard Allen Dr.
  • March 24 (Thu.) @ 7:00 p.m.: Central Illinois Landmark Foundation (CILF) candidates forum, G.A.R. Hall, 416 Hamilton Blvd.

Come on out and meet the candidates, hear all our speeches, and ask us your questions! The future of Peoria is in your hands.