Kane County Reporter

A recent fundraiser hosted by Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago) on behalf of one candidate in Aurora's mayoral race has created an otherwise unlikely alliance between three candidates in the race who say they want to keep partisan politics out of their city.

"This fundraiser in a Chicago location, an invitation to a private dinner with Speaker Madigan, just seemed to be a fairly unabashed invitation for machine politics to expand their reach into Aurora," candidate Rick Guzman said during an Illinois Policy Institute podcast of "Illinois Rising," released Wednesday, Aug. 31.

Guzman, who has been an aide to Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner for almost five years, recently issued a joint statement with two other candidates in the Aurora mayoral race about Madigan's posh fundraiser on behalf of a fourth candidate, state Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia (D-Aurora). The two other candidates who joined Guzman in the statement are Alderman-at-Large Richard Irvin and Ward 6 Alderman Mike Saville. All three said the fundraiser is Madigan's way of trying to inserting himself into the Aurora race.

"That was something that we felt equally strongly about, and we wanted to bring attention to that," Guzman said. "We literally wanted people to see the invitation to a private dinner with Speaker Madigan in return for a minimum $1,000 contribution, not to the state race, but to the local mayoral fund for State Rep. Chapa LaVia."

The fundraiser that Madigan hosted for longtime supporter Chapa LaVia came soon after another on behalf of Chapa LaVia hosted by another Madigan supporter, state Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago), the joint statement said.

"By law, the Aurora mayoral race is intended to be a non-partisan election, but given Madigan's financial support of Chapa LaVia, we are concerned that Madigan is attempting to buy the local mayoral election," the trio said in the joint statement. "As the other declared candidates in this race, we do not agree on everything, but we do agree that this blatant attempt by Speaker Madigan to buy control of the next Aurora mayor cannot go unchallenged."

The three urged concerned citizens to sign a petition to keep Madigan out of the Aurora election for mayor.

  

Weisner is in his third term as mayor of the city, with a population of nearly 200,000, after he ran unopposed in the April 2013 election. Weisner said  last spring that he would not seek a fourth term as mayor of Aurora, saying that his ongoing battle with colon cancer caused him to realize that time is precious. More recently, Weisner announced he would step down as mayor effective Oct. 30.

"Let me say that I have led a fortunate life, to date," Weisner said in that announcement. "I have had both the honor and the stimulating challenge of leading Illinois’ second-largest city through the Great Recession. I am most thankful for both that honor and that challenge, for this has caused me to try to operate consistently at my very best. No doubt, I haven’t always succeeded, but as Theodore Roosevelt might say, I have been blessed to be 'the man in the arena.' "

Weisner's imminent departure has led to the crowded field of candidates for mayor, and the fundraiser on behalf of Chapa LaVia raises the specter of ugly partisan politics in the city, Guzman said.

"The potential consequences of bringing a more partisan environment to our city are very real, are very concerning, for the future or Aurora specifically," Guzman said.

Guzman contrasted Aurora's consensus-style government with the near chaos of partisan politics at the state level.

"Springfield, unlike Aurora, does not get things done," Guzman said. "So the idea that an overtly partisan fundraiser in a campaign would not bring a higher degree of partisan politics to Aurora just seems unrealistic."