At the Naperville City Council meeting on July 19, when council members expressed their thoughts about specific agenda items, Councilman Paul Hinterlong said he thought there had been a lot of political theater recently in council meetings, which belonged in Springfield.
I couldn’t agree more. I was disturbed by what appeared to me to be campaigning from the dais by Councilwoman Jennifer Bruzan Taylor.
When former Councilman Kevin Coyne spoke during the public forum and played a video clip of the Will County state’s attorney’s concerns about the SAFE-T Act, I was puzzled and wondered why he was bringing up a bill from Springfield. When Councilwoman Bruzan Taylor later announced she was going to reintroduce a resolution against the SAFE-T Act proposed by the previous council, I understood that to be connected with her campaign for the District 41 seat in the Illinois House. Voting for the resolution will make her seem “tough on crime” while giving her latitude to potentially support the proposed ban on the commercial sale of assault weapons and high capacity magazines that is most likely favored by the “suburban moms.”
Councilwoman Bruzan Taylor has received help from former Councilman Coyne before, starting with her campaign for City Council. She received two campaign contributions from him then and in June received $1,000 from Mr. Coyne’s Safe Suburbs USA PAC for her campaign for District 41. He was on the host committee for her recent fundraiser. In turn, Councilwoman Bruzan Taylor voted to confirm Mr. Coyne as a library trustee and appeared to be coordinating this action with Mr. Coyne on July 19 to benefit her campaign.
The Municipal Code has conflict of interest guidelines, which define campaign contributions as “money, employment, goods, services, or objects with any intrinsic value.” Councilwoman Bruzan Taylor’s actions on the dais violate the spirit of these guidelines.
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Nancy Turner, Naperville
While I was unable to attend the Naperville City Council meeting on July 19, I did read some of the highlights, particularly those related to the banning of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
Local minister, Mark Winter, gave an eloquent speech referencing the ever-present danger of firearms in today’s society.
But more interesting was the commentary of funeral director, Frank Marik, who went on record as opposed to any ban whatsoever. Even more surprising was the fact that no one in the packed chamber bothered to call out Mr. Marik for his obvious conflict of interest.
Bob Ory, Elgin
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