Where do you go when City Hall says you can't win? How do you know
how to get access to information, how to get a proposition on the ballot,
where to get a problem addressed, who is in charge in your community,
what you are allowed to say and do under the law? Do you want to be
a member of a DuPage Citizen Corps and learn how to be a trained advocate
for community issues? The Citizen Advocacy Center, a nonpartisan, nonprofit
organization in the western suburbs of Chicago is dedicated to building
democracy for the 21st century by strengthening everyone's right to
participate in local affairs. We are committed to: · Making government
more accountable to the people by developing and empowering the voice
of citizens; · Promoting individual and community efforts to resolve
contemporary societal problems involving the health, safety, and general
well-being of the communities in the western and far western suburbs
of Chicago; · Furthering the public knowledge and understanding of democratic
tools and how they can be employed for societal problemsolving; · Stimulating
citizen awareness of and involvement in the community; · Helping citizens
to act on issues of public significance; · Litigating, only when necessary,
on behalf of select citizen causes to sustain access to justice; · Monitoring
local government to ensure accountability and to deter officials from
acting contrary to the general interest of the community. We provide
free legal and technical assistance on matters of public concern - community
issues, laws that affect everybody, systemic problems. And we help you
help your community. So don't call us about your personal legal problem
or a fight with your neighbor! We serve the western and far western
suburbs, and our office is in downtown Elmhurst at 238 North York Road,
where you are invited to drop in, read some of our materials, access
information, or hold a civic discussion or seminar on any public issue.
For more information about becoming a volunteer, making a charitable
contribution, or joining the DuPage Citizen Corps, please call us at
(630) 833-4080.
Letter to the Editor April 10, 2000 By Fax Exercise
Your Civic Muscles!
April 15th is rapidly approaching. Have you computed your taxes and
cursed the government? More and more citizens feel as if they receive
little in return for the yearly check to Uncle Sam. The question the
Citizen Advocacy Center proposes is how many citizens are engaged in
civic participation during the year to learn how to feel less disenfranchised?
How many people practice daily democracy? The United States government
is supposed to be a government of the people, by the people and for
the people. This requires all of us to be public citizens and civic
minded. Make a commitment today to learn how to become a public citizen.
Who are public citizens? Public citizens are those who practice democracy
on a daily basis. Public citizens are those who are involved in their
community by volunteering with organizations and participating and speaking
out on issues important to them. Public citizens are informed voters
who know who represents them at the local, state and federal level.
Public citizens read the newspaper and attend city council, school board
or park district meetings to learn and have a say in where their hard
earned and taxed money is spent. Public citizens are educated about
open government laws and First Amendment rights, write letters to the
editor and know how to request a public document. Resolving to be a
public citizen is good for your civic health. If you are a parent you
are setting an excellent example of citizenship for your children or
if you are a young person you are setting an excellent example of good
citizenship for adults. In addition, you become connected to your neighbors
and community, you become informed about the people who make important
decisions on your behalf and you learn how to participate effectively
in the democratic process. "Where can I find the time to be a public
citizen" you ask? People can start with turning off "must see TV" and
turning on the notion that "I must be a public citizen." Adults can
begin by asking themselves what kind of world they want to leave their
children and grandchildren. The Citizen Advocacy Center runs a free
civic skills seminar, the Citizen Training Corps, that can teach citizens
how to practice daily democracy and get involved in your community.
For more information about the Citizen Advocacy Center or the Citizen
Training Corps call (630) 833-4080. Terry Pastika Citizen Advocacy Center
Community Lawyer (630) 833-4080
To: Letter to the Editor From: Theresa Amato, executive
director, Citizen Advocacy Center Re: Legislation to create mutual holding
companies to allow mutual insurance companies to demutualize billions
of dollars of Illinois policyholder assets without compensating policyholders.
Date: 5.2.98
It's a Swindle It's that time of year again when you start to worry
that the General Assembly is rushing through the end of the session
and passing all kinds of legislation that the members haven't even bothered
to read -- much less understand. Remember that extortionary cable late
fee that almost got through last year? Well the swindle du jour to be
concerned about is mutual insurance. More than three million Illinoisans
have mutual auto, health, or life insurance policies. Policyholders
rather than shareholders own the assets of mutual insurance companies.
In Illinois, mutual insurance companies have billions of dollars of
assets, including at least $35 billion in surplus. Under current law,
if a mutual insurance company wants to become a stockholding company,
it would have to go through a demutualization process that would compensate
policyholders for their equity in the company. But now these mutual
companies have a fast one all lined up and already through the House
Insurance Committee. Their greedy plan, opposed by other insurance companies
and consumers alike, would gouge policyholders like this: SB1901 would
allow mutual companies to create holding companies, or parents of the
mutual company. The holding company would get to issue stock, and be
responsible to stockholders, who have shares and who want the company
to focus on the bottom line of profits, not necessarily the interests
of policyholders -- like keeping premiums low. Under the proposed legislation
-- your assets as a policyholder in the mutual company would be converted
to the assets of the shareholders in the mutual holding company. YOU
DON'T GET INFORMATION ABOUT THIS AND YOU DON'T GET A DIME FOR YOUR ASSETS
IN THE MUTUAL COMPANY AS A POLICYHOLDER! A typical policyholder could
lose thousands of dollars in assets that under the current law the company
would be forced to give the policyholder if it changed its status from
a mutual company to a stockholding company. The proposed law doesn't
even require the company to explain to you your rights. Oh, and by the
way, there is nothing in this legislation that limits executive enrichment.
So your company managers can give themselves a bunch of stock options
all while they are supposed to be managing the company for the benefit
of the policyholders -- you. This plan is all about more money for the
insurance company and no money, no control, and no rights to information
about demutualization to the policyholder. It is an outright swindle.
A vote on the House floor is anticipated soon. Call your House and Senate
representatives today to let them know that you are tired of corporate
welfare at the expense of your hard-earned assets. Policyholders have
rights too and this is a downright sneaky attempt to rip off billions
of dollars of our assets!
December 19, 1997 Letter to the Editor/Voice of the
People Chicago Tribune By Fax: (312) 222-2598
The people who work and volunteer at the Citizen Advocacy Center were
amused to read in the Voice of the People, December 9, 1997, that Ralph
Wehner, the executive director of the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority,
thinks that we are "part of a national network organized by Ralph Nader."
Would that we were such a network! If so, we would have a full-time
brigade stationed at the tollway headquarters to monitor and expose
its notorious mismanagement! Far from Mr. Wehner's fantasy (or nightmare?)
"network," the Citizen Advocacy Center is a small, independent, nonprofit
incorporated in the State of Illinois and located in DuPage County to
help the people of the western suburbs build democracy -- right here
in our very own backyard. We believe in having public bodies accountable
to the citizenry by teaching about the public's rights as citizens,
taxpayers, consumers, workers, and shareholders, and by using citizen
participation in local affairs to make our institutions more accountable
to the people they serve. Don't you, Mr. Wehner? If this sounds like
a "foreign" concept to Mr. Wehner, it is only because the Authority
is not used to being legitimately questioned about "business as usual"
at one of our more illustrious patronage parks in DuPage County. Contrary
to Mr. Wehner's assertion that the Citizen Advocacy Center ignores the
"facts and evidence," all of our incriminating information comes directly
from the Authority's own documents, public meetings, and government
records. Mr. Wehner, should know that from the number of Freedom of
Information Act requests we have made to the Authority and the ongoing
presence of our volunteers and one of our community lawyers, Ms. Myrrha
Guzman, at the tollways meetings at his publicly-funded, palatial, Downers
Grove headquarters. Moreover, our comprehensive 1997 report, entitled
"Tollgate," seems to upset the Authority because it documents the four-decade
long scandal of the public body he now runs, and that report is supported
with over 150 footnotes and 5 appendices citing public records and legal
documents. Unable to refute the facts -- as provided by the Authority's
own documents, Mr. Wehner resorts to name-calling and labels in a thinly-veiled
attempt to disparage the messenger. If Mr. Wehner and the Authority
have a problem with the Center's conclusions, why doesn't the entire
ISTHA board sit down with all of the groups -- not just the Center --
who are organizing to bring accountability of this public body to the
taxpayers and motorists of Illinois. Dozens of nonprofits and citizen
groups, and the thousands of people we have heard from since we started
looking into the Authority in 1993, have a number of questions that
they would like the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority to answer
at a public meeting. Why don't we start one morning with the budget?
Then we could talk about the political connections and campaign contributions
and contracts and how they relate to the various members of the Board.
Then we could order in dinner and go on to discuss the questionable
expansion projects and the sweetheart land deals. We could also raise
the "hiring practices" at the Authority, the in-name-only "ethics" code,
and the systemic failure to address repeated problems with the Authority's
management, as the annual audit continues to reflect -- year after year.
We could even discuss John McCarron's idea (Tribune, Dec. 15) of putting
the tollways under RTA control. Forget just dinner, I see the possibility
for a whole weekend seminar developing. Interested in setting an agenda
with the citizenry, Mr. Wehner? We can be reached at (630) 833-4080
or, feel free to call the "toll-free" Campaign to Free the Tollways
at 1 (888) NO-TOLLS. In the meantime, Mr. Wehner should stop demeaning
heroic citizen efforts to shine light on his wayward entity. He should
instead discuss the issues with and offer constructive resolutions to
the people he and the Authority are supposed to serve. Until he does
so, and until we see real, meaningful reforms, volunteers and community
lawyers from the Center will continue to attend the Authority's meetings,
inspect its documents, analyze its activities, and publicly discuss
how the Authority -- his organization -- conducts public business with
public funds.--Theresa Amato Executive Director Citizen Advocacy Center
March 10, 1997 Letter to the Editor Suburban Life
March 16th is the anniversary of James Madison's birthday, which is
often celebrated as Freedom of Information Day because Madison reminded
Americans that "[a] popular government without proper information or
the means of acquiring it is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy
- or perhaps both." One of the cornerstones of our democratic government
is the ability for the governed to hold their governors accountable.
The government in the sunshine laws - the Freedom of Information Act
and the Open Meetings Act - permit Illinoisans to know what their governments
are doing. The premise of both of these laws is that the public's business
should be conducted publicly. On Monday night, March 3, 1997, the City
of Elmhurst violated the law and the public's right to know. The City
went into closed session to discuss a litany of concerns with its controversial
Tax Increment Financing District (TIF) at 83 & St. Charles Road - and
invited the developer in for the discussion. The "official reason" proffered
for closing the meeting was "land disposition." The Act has only two
very narrow, land-related reasons which may permit a public body to
conduct business behind closed doors. When the public body is the buyer
of the land, it may discuss the terms of the land to be bought or to
be leased for the use of the public body, including meetings held for
the purpose of discussing whether a particular parcel should be acquired.
It is appropriate for the public body, as the buyer, to discuss the
seller's terms behind closed doors. When, however, the public body is
the seller of the land, as it is in this case with Elmhurst, the Act
says that the only exception to open discussion is for "[t]he setting
of a price for sale or lease of property owned by the public body."
5 ILCS 120/2 (c) (6). When a number of the Aldermen challenged the reasons
for discussing behind closed doors the terms of a contract that has
been public since at least September 16, 1996, Mayor Marcucci stated
that it was necessary to discuss the existing contract between the City
and the developer because the developer had not met some of its terms
prior to the March 1, 1997 date set in the contract. Public bodies,
however, may not discuss in executive session matters beyond the narrow
scope of the exemption for which the meeting is closed. The list of
factors cited by the Mayor to justify executive session - primarily
the developer's failure to meet the terms of the contract - were well
beyond the narrow scope of setting the price of the land, the only legitimate
and narrow topic matter for which the meeting could be closed on the
land issue. The public has a right to know about the millions of taxpayer
dollars that are being spent on this unprecedented public/private joint
venture - which appears to be floundering, at best. It is generally
difficult to prove violations of the open meetings law, but in this
case, we are not left to speculate about what was discussed and whether
it was a violation of the Open Meetings Act because the Council and
City staff left no doubt about the illegality of the closed session:
they invited the developer to participate in a discussion behind closed
doors, while keeping the rest of the public shut out. The Open Meetings
Act states that a public body may go into executive session for limited
and narrowly construed reasons. It does not state the public body plus
one chosen member of the public, a developer, may go into closed session.
It is an intolerable breach to have the public's business conducted
secretly with select members of the public - the developer or those
who do business with the City - who are privately invited to have the
attention of the full City Council sitting in closed session. Protect
your right to know and report violations of the Open Meetings law to
the State's Attorney in DuPage County. As Patrick Henry said, "the liberties
of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions
of their rulers may be concealed from them. . . ." For a free brochure
on the Illinois Freedom of Information Act and the Open Meetings Act,
call, write, or stop by the Citizen Advocacy Center at 238 N. York Road
in Elmhurst, (630) 833-4080. Theresa Amato Executive Director Citizen
Advocacy Center
March 29, 2000 Letter to the Editor BY FAX RALLY
AGAINST HATRED
Every day eight blacks, three whites, three gays, three Jews and one
Latino become hate crime victims. The suburbs are not immune from hate
crimes. Since 1996, DuPage County has witnessed an increase in hate
crimes: Mosque windows broken by slabs of concrete and bottles, vandalism
of a Vietnamese parish, a swastika and a racial slur painted on an interracial
couple's home, racial slurs against African Americans and Hispanics
and references to the KKK sprayed on picnic tables, walkways and a gazebo
in a park are only a few incidents. The DuPage County Unity Coalition
is taking a stance against hate crime and invites everyone to attend
a RALLY AGAINST HATRED. The DuPage County Unity Coalition is an umbrella
organization whose members belong to more than 21 religious, labor,
and political groups throughout DuPage County. Their purpose is to make
the people of this community know that the DuPage County Unity Coalition
is here, united and that there are many people in DuPage County who
will not tolerate hate crimes. Do your part in fighting hate crime and
attend the DuPage County Unity Coalition's RALLY AGAINST HATRED, on
April 4, 2000, the 32nd anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther
King Jr. The rally will be held at the Geneva Road Baptist Church, 602
Geneva Road from 7:00 - 9:00 P.M. The evening will be filled with inspirational
music, poetry, story telling, a children's program and a key note address
by Shoshana Buchholz-Miller of the Anti-Defamation League. Come, bring
your family and friends and speak out against hate. For more information
visit the www.pia2000.com or call 630-858-8472. Terry Pastika Citizen
Advocacy Center
By Facsimile To: Letter to the Editor Date: 6.19.99
Title: Readers Responding
Dear Mr. Randa: I was pleased to see the Friday June 18 edition of
the Elmhurst Press. Hal Dardick's smiling face peered up from the editorial
page and the top editorial read "Responding to Readers." Your recognition
that a community newspaper has more roles than just making money shows
a welcome change in attitude. We appreciate your acknowledgement that
maintaining quality in a community newspaper takes more than applying
a "national suburban success formula." You certainly have come a long
way from our conversation last month in which you pronounced that the
removal of our columnists "had to be done" in the name of "ad ratios."
The new editorial is also a marked improvement over the one you wrote
on Wednesday June 2nd to belittle your readers by summarizing their
interest in local matters as "NAMES, NAMES, NAMES." That editorial attempted
to diminish your readers' understandable displeasure with your changes
by presenting a cooked "pop quiz" that failed to include option "H"
- your real agenda - to further increase your profit margins for your
Los-Angeles based venture capitalist owners both by upping the price
50% (from 50 to 75 cents) and by trading our columnists for ad space.
In return for restoring portions of the paper, we'll take our picket
signs with your name and phone number out of our storefront window.
We would still like you to take the ads off the op-ed page. They look
tacky. The Doings does not have them. The Daily Herald, The Sun-Times,
and the Tribune certainly do not have them. Your remaining columnists
publicly disapproved of them, and it appears from the stream of letters
to the paper that many Press readers do not want them either. With your
new understanding of the diverse roles of a community newspaper, please
reconsider your placement of ads on the op-ed page. A community newspaper
does indeed have a number of roles; cheapening our democracy by replacing
civic discourse with advertisements should not be one of them. Theresa
Amato Executive Director Citizen Advocacy Center
Letter to the Editor Terry Pastika March 30, 2001
The "No More Tolls" plan revealed by Gov. Ryan lacks real reform of
the Toll Authority. The plan fails to adequately address concerns about
the operation and management of the Toll Authority. Gov. Ryan asserts
that he is responding to public sentiment about eliminating the tollways
and providing oversight of the Toll Authority but his "No More Tolls"
plan calls for massive increases of tolls, the building of new roads,
and no accountability of the Toll Authority. Gov. Ryan's plan to increase
cash tolls to 75¢ in October 2001 and to 95¢ in 2003 contradicts the
Governor's previously stated opposition to toll increases. The increased
revenue will not be allocated to repairing existing toll roads from
where the toll is collected, but will fund the costly I-355 extension.
The Toll Authority's 10-Year Plan stated that existing roads need $4.4
billion worth of repairs over the next 10 years but Gov. Ryan's plan
only provides $2.2 billion over the next 20 years and will cipher revenue
from roads that need repairs to build new roads. This plan is like proposing
to build an addition to a home when the roof is leaking, the pipes are
frozen and the mortgage payments are due. The Toll Authority is unaccountable
to the General Assembly for their budget. Taxpayers are subject to taxation
without representation of how or where revenues are spent. Instead of
addressing the Toll Authority's lack of accountability, the Governor
is rewarding the Toll Authority by promoting an increase in tolls without
oversight for five years more years, at which point the Toll Authority
will merge with IDOT. The Toll Authority is giving free reign to dip
into consumers till without having to account for how the revenues will
be spent, or even a plan for how the revenue will be spent. The only
part of Governor Ryan's plan that requires legislative approval is the
$700 million bond defeasance portion. Since the General Assembly does
not have to approve, "No More Tolls" no guarantee exists that the plan
will come to fruition. There is no assurance that the next administration
will have a commitment to dismantling the tolls or merging the Toll
Authority with IDOT yet tolls across the board will rise. Gov. Ryan's
plan needs to fix existing toll roads prior to building any new roads
and establish accountability of the Toll Authority, two elements this
plan fails to accomplish. Terry Pastika Community Lawyer Citizen Advocacy
Center Elmhurst
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY AND THE TOWNSHIP OFFICIALS
NEED REMEDIAL LESSONS IN THE CONSTITUTION
Bob Anderson, a barber and school bus driver in Wonder Lake, personally
collected over 4,000 signatures to help win the right to exercise his
Illinois Constitutional right to place a county-wide referendum to abolish
township government on the ballot in McHenry County. After doing so,
his state representative went to Springfield to introduce legislation
to protect the township officials in Illinois by making it much harder
for citizens to win a countywide referendum to abolish township government.
So much for representative government. Article VII of the 1970 Illinois
Constitution says that a countywide referendum to alter local government
requires "a majority of those voting" to pass, unless a different vote
requirement is specified in that constitutional article. In 1995, the
General Assembly, which is chock full of lawyers, passed a law to amend
a statute -- the Township Code -- to read that any attempt to abolish
townships by a countywide referendum needs a majority of those voting
in three-fourths of the townships of a county to pass. The General Assembly
tried to do an end run around the Constitution by amending a statute,
which the Constitution specifically forbids, to establish a vote requirement
that would be so hard to achieve that it would be nearly impossible
to pass a referendum that would threaten the jobs of their political
pals: the township officials. The DuPage County-based Citizen Advocacy
Center, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, asked Governor Edgar
not to sign the law because it was unconstitutional on its face and
disenfranchised citizens by discouraging them from ever undertaking
a referendum that would be nearly impossible to win. The law undemocratically
dissuaded grassroots activists like Anderson, Mike Richardson of Rock
Island County, and Rosie Fitzpatrick and Dennis Hamm of DuPage County
from circulating petitions because, for example, in DuPage County, where
Fitzpatrick and Hamm are spearheading a drive to place this important
policy question on the ballot, there are nine townships. The Illinois
Constitution says that to pass a referendum, 50% + 1 (a simple majority)
of the voters in DuPage would have to agree with the referendum. Under
the new law, petitioners would have had to make sure that 50% + 1 of
the voters in seven of the nine townships agreed with the referendum.
In other words, even if 95% of the people voted for the proposition,
if those 95% were not distributed correctly in at least 7 of the 9 townships,
the referendum would fail. Despite the clear conflict between the legislation
and the Constitution's simple majority requirement for all Article VII
referenda to create, merge, or abolish local governments, Governor Edgar
went ahead and signed the law. Earlier this month, the Circuit Court
in DuPage County agreed with the Center that the law was unconstitutional,
as we were forced to sue the DuPage County Election Commission and the
State Board of Election Commission to protect the rights of Send Township
Officials Packing (STOP) and Illinois citizens who seek to place a countywide
referendum on the ballot to abolish township government. The Honorable
Robert --. Byrne ruled that the legislation was plainly unconstitutional
as there was no way to reconcile the illegal legislation and the plain
language of the Illinois Constitution. George Miller, the executive
director of the Township Officials of Illinois, an organization that
intervened in the case to help keep people from using the ballot, wrote
a letter to the Tribune editorial page (June 17, 1996) trying to minimize
this decision by saying that it only applied to DuPage County and if
the Township Officials successfully appealed, that the judicial decision
would affect no one. George Miller and the Township Officials are wrong.
The decision makes the illegal law null and void, and it binds statewide
officials - the State Board of Elections - as well as the DuPage Election
Commission from in any way enforcing or overseeing the administration
of that unconstitutional law. The Township Officials and election boards
are of course free to appeal the decision to the Illinois Supreme Court,
but before they do they should put aside for a moment their own political
interests and think about whether it is really in the interest of the
citizens in a democracy to keep using taxpayer funds to keep citizens
from exercising their constitutional rights to the ballot, just so the
Illinois Supreme Court can also tell them that the law is plainly unconstitutional.
The Center takes no position on the merits of township government, but
does believe that citizens have the constitutional right to debate the
question at the ballot box. Isn't time our elected officials stopped
passing and pursuing patently unconstitutional laws to disenfranchise
the citizens of this state just so they can protect their cronies in
township government and continue their political posturing? Theresa
Amato Executive Director Citizen Advocacy Center
Voice of the People Chicago Tribune SUGGESTED TITLE:
TIRED OF "PAY TO PLAY?" 2.17.98 ELMHURST
With refreshing candor, William E. Dart, President of the Business
Policy Group, L.L.C., complained in the February 8, 1998, Voice of the
People that organized Illinois businesses and professional interests
were "heavily shortchanged during the 1997 Illinois General Assembly
session," because they "committed millions of dollars to assure a successful
legislative effort only to have the law [the Illinois Civil Justice
Reform] judicially sliced to pieces." Isn't it disturbing to know that
business and professional interests spent "millions of dollars to assure"
our legislators' votes on tort deform? Mr. Dart hasn't exactly let the
cat out of the bag with his admission. It is no secret the Illinois
State Medical Society and the Illinois Manufacturers Association, and
a group called the "Illinois Civil Justice League" -- a misnomer if
there ever was one, spent myriad resources to assure the passage of
legislation our representatives rammed through in a midnight maneuver,
shrouded in secrecy, to protect wrongdoers from being held accountable
in court by ordinary citizens. Wisely, the Illinois Supreme Court --
in a bipartisan decision -- put an end to the expensive folly of tort
deform and ruled the law completely unconstitutional. Not one part of
this massive and unjust overhaul of our civil justice system could be
saved. What does that tell you? Indeed, the Supreme Court said in another
decision that this law "seems to be designed to discourage tort victims
from pursuing valid claims by subjecting them to the threat of harassment
and embarrassment through unreasonable and oppressive disclosure requirements."
With one sentence, the Court exposed the maliciousness of this legislation,
which the General Assembly passed under the DuPage "leadership" of then
House Speaker Lee Daniels and Senate President Pate Philip, and then
signed by Governor Edgar. Contributions to these officials and their
campaign committees from August 1, 1981 to November 15, 1996, from the
Illinois State Medical Society: Daniels, $973,000; Philip $678,000;
Edgar, $349,000; from the Illinois Manufacturers Association: Daniels,
$455,000; Philip, $527,000; Edgar, $117,000. (SOURCE: CAMPAIGN FINANCE
RESEARCHER, KENT REDFIELD, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT SPRINGFIELD.) The
medical profession and the manufacturers' associations have spent lots
of money indeed to try to make everyone think that all kinds of people
are filing "frivolous" lawsuits and clogging the courts. The fact is
that our courts are clogged primarily with businesses suing businesses
and divorce cases. Nine of ten people who are harmed from dangerous
products and dangerous doctors never get their day in court -- it usually
costs them too much to get access to justice, and they are up against
well-heeled doctors and companies that can afford the best defense.
That is why when a jury awards some large amount of money it is news
-- precisely because it happens so infrequently. And even then the amount
awarded by a jury of peers who have heard all the facts is often reduced
by the judge. From our perspective, it is a good thing that the Illinois
Supreme Court "judicially sliced to pieces" this law and we can't feel
too sorry for the businesses and professionals that spent millions of
dollars "to assure" that consumers, workers, malpractice victims --
ordinary individuals -- would be kept from having their day in court
against wrongdoing health care providers and businesses seeking to protect
their profit margins rather than the health, safety, and welfare of
their clients and consumers. Indeed, the Citizen Advocacy Center --
we testified against this legislation in 1995 -- would like to ask all
of the complicit businesses out there to ask their members, shareholders
and Boards whether they think that spending millions of dollars to lubricate
the legislative process to enact patently unconstitutional laws that
keep injured citizens out of court is a wise way to spend corporate
assets. Do the shareholders of your businesses approve of how you spend
corporate assets? Fiduciary duty questions abound. Finally, all businesses
and other special interest groups (certainly there were many on the
other side of this issue too), and the millions they spend, make a great
case for campaign finance reform and some systemic controls to "assure"
clean elections in Illinois. If businesses want to "assure a legislative
effort," why don't they start by seeking to reform a system that hits
them up for payola to "assure" legislative efforts, instead of their
new twisted plan to target and unseat the Illinois Supreme Court Justices.
Many businesses are tired of this insanity -- the $15,000 a head golf
rounds, the "pay to play" routinely expected in DuPage County and elsewhere,
and the endless fundraisers that most ordinary citizens cannot afford
to attend. Some businesses, like General Motors and Monsanto, have set
a national example by refusing to give any more to the national parties.
Why don't we see some initiatives like this coming out of Illinois business
groups? Theresa Amato Executive Director Citizen Advocacy Center
DAILY HERALD CONTACT: TERRY PASTIKA LETTER TO THE
EDITOR
The Citizen Advocacy Center is now enrolling individuals for the Citizen
Training Corps program. This is a free, hands-on civic skill-training
course, which teaches citizens how to practice daily democracy and effectively
participate in local government. The program received national attention
for teaching participants how to use powerful civic tools such as the
Freedom of Information Act and the Open Meetings Act. Vivian Lund, the
Mayor of Warrenville, wrote a letter to the editor on August 6, 2000,
which illustrates why citizen participation in the democratic process
is essential. The Mayor's letter was a plea to Warrenville voters to
pass a referendum changing the city clerk position from one that is
elected to one that is hired or appointed by the city administrator.
The Mayor's letter highlighted three reasons for change: 1. Warrenville
citizens may elect a person without the requisite skills, leaving no
way to cure the deficiency for four years; 2. The policy change will
not affect the public because the city clerk does not influence public
policy; and 3. Impartial treatment of elected officials and citizens
will be enforced if the clerk is appointed. Each one of these reasons
belittles what it means to live in a democracy. The Mayor's attempt
to explain these reasons demonstrates a patronizing attitude toward
Warrenville citizens and implies that Warrenville citizens need to be
protected from themselves. The concern that citizens will not elect
a qualified official implies voters lack the capacity to make an informed
decision and reflects an overall distrust of voters. The Mayor's comment
about the policy change having no affect on citizens is moot. Every
individual in an administration affects the municipality. This comment
negates the fact that we live in a democracy where the government is
one of the people by the people and for the people. Centralizing governmental
decision making based on the rationale that the public would not be
effected usurps citizens' rights to participate in the democratic process.
Finally, the Mayor's comment about impartiality is ironic. It is common
sense that an elected city clerk is more likely to be impartial than
an appointed official, simply because of political loyalties and favors.
It is inappropriate that the Mayor, who is compensated by Warrenville
taxpayer dollars, is utilizing public resources such as her official
time at city hall and a city hall contact number, to "help with this
effort". Furthermore, why is the Mayor the contact person for this citizen
initiative rather than an individual from the citizen group circulating
the petition? One is left to wonder whether the mayor has a personal
ax to grind and is abusing her power to do so. Citizen Training Corps
classes begin September 13, 2000 and meet twice a month for three months.
For more information about Citizen Training Corps and how to sign up
please call 630-833-4080. Community Lawyer, Terry Pastika Citizen Advocacy
Center
Voice of the People/Guest Essay/Op-ed ELMHURST --
6/5/97
Community stability and education are suburban issues and we suburbanites
expect our legislators to be scoring As on these issues. So why did
"Pate and Lee" (also known as the Senate President and the House Minority
Leader) let everyone out of Springfield without doing something about
school funding reform as promised? In a paroxysm of myopia, the "leaders"
of the western suburbs bullied a majority of reform supporters to trash
Governor Edgar's plan because Pate and Lee seem to be under the shortsighted
impression that school reform won't be good for DuPage County. But blighted
inner cities, impoverished inner ring suburbs and tax-base polarization
are regional issues - and the poverty, disinvestment, and urban sprawl
that result from a polarized tax-base with middle-class flight are issues
that affect the whole class, including DuPage County. Marked disparities
in tax bases, coupled with education funding so insanely dependent on
the property tax, have resulted in school districts with some of the
region's highest school tax rates spending $4,000 per pupil, while others
with some of the lowest school tax rates, spend $9,000 per pupil. According
to information gathered by the Reform '97: Quality Schools and Economic
Growth Coalition, among the 43 school districts in DuPage County, the
tax base disparity is 9 to 1. As a result, even where people are paying
"their fare share" or far more than the tax rates in more affluent suburbs,
there is no guarantee that poorer school districts will have the money
to provide a minimum education for each and every child because of the
overwhelming disparity among the tax bases. For example, in DuPage County,
the Butler Elementary School District in Oak Brook has a tax rate of
1.04% which generates $10,500 per pupil in revenue for schools. Queen
Bee Elementary School District in Glendale Heights has a tax rate of
2.91% (almost three times that of Butler) which generates just $3239
per pupil in revenue for schools. Why should we in Elmhurst and Wood
Dale be concerned Mr. Daniels (R-Elmhurst) and Mr. Philip (R-Wood Dale)?
First, the health and stability - job growth and wealth accumulation
- of DuPage County is intrinsically tied to the health of the entire
Chicagoland region. For example, according to the MetroDuPage Tribune
headlines June 3, 1997, DuPage job growth is outpacing population growth.
Where do you think the workers for all of our businesses are going to
come from? From school systems throughout the metro region where children
do not get an adequate education and where there are insufficient means
to hire decent teachers and insufficient controls to get rid of bad
ones. And where are Elmhurst and Wood Dale located? As the Chicago Tribune
pointed out in a series last year, we are among the "greying suburbs"
-- we are the next inner ring. Wake up Pate and Lee and smell the high-priced
coffee: We are the metropolitan fringe and Eastern DuPage County - your
political base -- is the next ring, with aging populations and old economic
bases, that could soon see disinvestment as people move out to McHenry
and DeKalb counties in droves because the open land in DuPage is almost
gone and unavailable for more new housing and commercial development,
and because, as people move further west (the Chicago region has grown
in land area development by 40 percent in the last decade), it will
become increasingly difficult for us to keep our tax base intact to
keep taxes low and schools adequately financed. If regional polarization
continues because we have a state legislature incapable of understanding
that the stability of the communities depend upon statewide leadership
for regional issues like housing, transportation, and education -- where
every school child - no matter how poor the tax base - must have a chance
for a decent education, with good teachers, in a decent school -- we
are only mortgaging our own future interests for current political expediency.
The Citizen Advocacy Center builds democracy in the western suburbs
- both the inner ring old and the outer ring new ones - by increasing
civic education and participation, and by holding local officials and
institutions accountable. Because we have a suburban-wide regional view,
we are part of the Reform '97 coalition that recognizes that it is in
the region's interest to do something about disparate school funding,
corporate disinvestment that leaves the State because of high property
taxes, and inadequate local control over the schools. Money doesn't
necessarily guarantee an education, but no money from a 28 to 1 disparity
in tax bases throughout Chicagoland will never guarantee an adequate
chance at an education. The people of Illinois were under the impression
Mr. Daniels and Mr. Philip that you were both going to write something
good this year to address this topic. Alas, the bell may have rung,
but we think you flunked. If you want to serve the long-term interests
of your county and the region, you should go to summer school and not
let anyone out until you try again and do better before the end of the
year. Theresa Amato Executive Director of the Elmhurst-based Citizen
Advocacy Center
PRESS RELEASES
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: THERESA AMATO JULY
1, 1997 (630) 833-4080 CENTER SUES CITY OF ELMHURST ALLEGING FIRST AMENDMENT
VIOLATION IN DISCRIMINATORY DENIAL OF GRAND OPENING BANNER PERMIT ELMHURST
Yesterday, the Citizen Advocacy Center, a three-year-old nonprofit
organization serving the western suburbs, filed a complaint against
the City of Elmhurst, the City Manager, and the Mayor of Elmhurst in
federal court alleging a discriminatory denial of a City permit to fly
the Center's Grand Opening banner on the Robert Palmer Drive Underpass
in downtown Elmhurst. The Center's complaint asserts that the City's
zoning code ordinance is unconstitutional on its face in that it gives
public officials undue discretion to discriminate among applicants,
and that the City acted unconstitutionally in denying the banner permit
to the Center, which is incorporated under Illinois state law as a charitable
and educational organization dedicated to building democracy in the
western suburbs. The Center applied for the permit on June 11th, in
time to have its banner permit application considered by the City Council
at its regularly-scheduled June 16th meeting. The contents of the banner
read "Citizen Advocacy Center Downtown Grand Opening, 238 N. York Road,
Sunday July 13th 4-6 p.m." City Manager Thomas Borchert refused to place
the permit application on the Elmhurst City Council's consent agenda,
which is the customary method of obtaining approval. Borchert instead
told the Center that it was not "a charitable organization, local government
unit, accredited Elmhurst educational institution, or local civic organization"
eligible to apply within the meaning of the Elmhurst Zoning Code. The
Mayor was quoted in Press Publications on June 20th justifying the decision
on the basis that the Center is not a charitable organization because
it does not "feed anyone." The Center filed a Freedom of Information
Act request on June 17th, which discovered that in over two dozen applications
no organization has been denied a permit in the years for which the
City retains records. Indeed, groups such as the Chamber of Commerce,
museums and other fundraising organizations/events have all obtained
permits, and records reflect that the City was even willing to consider
a banner permit from a commercial business, if the content of the banner
was charitable. After showing the City Manager the Center's papers of
incorporation as a charitable and educational organization in the State
of Illinois, and its letter of federal tax exemption from the Internal
Revenue Service, the Center requested several times over the course
of two weeks that City Manager Borchert reconsider his decision. The
Center also filed a formal notice of appeal to the City Manager, the
Mayor, the City Council, the Zoning Administrator, and the Zoning Board
of Appeals, but was told by City Manager Borchert late Friday afternoon,
June 27th, that "there is no further appeal" and that he was "not going
to change his position" or place the matter on the City Council's July
7th agenda so that the Council could at least consider the matter. On
Monday afternoon, the Center filed a three-count complaint in the federal
court of the Northern District of Illinois contending that the City
has made the underpass a designated public forum for all kinds of charitable
events and that the banner permit denial was a discriminatory violation
of the Center's rights to have its announcement treated equally under
the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution.
The Center is represented by its own lawyers - who all live in Elmhurst,
and Jennifer Soule, who is also an Elmhurst resident and attorney at
Soule & Bradtke. The Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order will be
heard in federal court before The Honorable Wayne Anderson at 9:00 a.m.
on Wednesday July 2, 1997. The case number is 97 C4 666.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: THERESA AMATO DECEMBER
19, 1996
Statement on behalf of the Citizen Advocacy Center Uncontrolled and
unwise transportation and development strategies in the Chicagoland
area have resulted in unplanned patterns of growth that jeopardize the
entire metropolitan region, including the suburbs. The Northeastern
Illinois Planning Commission should recommend population and employment
forecasts based on the implementation of infill strategies because suburban
residents also want smarter growth. Today the homeowners, rather than
the developers, are paying the price for sprawling development, through
higher property taxes, increasing congestion, and a loss of open space.
Suburban taxpayers are tired of paying for new roads and schools and
TIF districts, they are tired of seeing their parks and open spaces
disappear for another strip mall, and they are tired of fighting an
ongoing battle to keep businesses in their communities -- only to see
that they cannot break the cycle of corporate welfare to developers
and business because citizens must open their wallets to lure investment
into their communities or to keep other communities from poaching their
existing economic base. Moreover, many suburbanites are now traveling
from one suburban community to another and they want efficient means
of public transportation, paths for their bikes, and good roads that
they are not forced to pay tolls on when they have already paid off
the construction bonds of those roads several times over. On behalf
of the citizens we serve in the western and far western suburbs, the
Citizen Advocacy Center urges the NIPC to choose infill strategies rather
than the current trends pattern that has already cost -- and continues
to cost -- all of our communities too much.
Press Release of the Citizen Advocacy Center June
24, 2000
Citizen Advocacy Center to host Second Annual Suburban Civic Fair
In celebration of the sixth anniversary the Citizen Advocacy Center,
the Center is hosting the second annual Suburban Civic Fair, DEMOCRACY
& ACTIVISM, at the College of DuPage, Building K, Saturday, June 24,
2000 from 10-4 p.m. 50 nonprofit organizations, panel discussions with
community leaders and keynote speaker Dr. Quentin Young will be present
to encourage community activism. The Suburban Civic fair is an opportunity
for citizens and nonprofit organizations to meet one another, to share
information, accomplishments and ongoing goals. The Suburban Civic Fair
is designed to encourage people to resolve to get involved in their
communities and to refresh the faith of those who are already committed
to making a difference. In addition to exhibitors, there will be panel
discussions with community leaders on Affordable Housing in DuPage County
and Democracy & Activism from 10:00 - 11:00 and panels on Smart Growth:
Quality of Life in our Communities and Regions and & Democracy & Cyber
Space from 12:00 - 1:00. We are proud to have public health advocate,
Dr. Quentin Young as our keynote speaker from 2:00 - 3:00. There will
be fun activities for the whole family including concessions, children's
games, speaker's corner and the game of civic knowledge, "Is That Your
Final Answer". Admission and Parking are free.
For Immediate Release: Contact: Terry Pastika February
20, 2001 Community Lawyer DUPAGE COUNTY UNITY COALITION TO HOST TOWN
HALL MEETING TO ADDRESS RACIAL PROFILING. Elmhurst
The DuPage County Unity Coalition will host a free public forum titled:
A CALL TO ACTION: STOP RACIAL PROFILING at the College of DuPage in
Glen Ellyn, Room 1046 in the Student Resource Center, Friday, February
23, 2001 at 7:30 PM. This is the first event in a continuing series
of town hall meetings to be organized across DuPage County to address
racial profiling. Speakers at the town hall meeting will include Frank
Jarrett, President of the DuPage County Chapter of the NAACP, Michael
Rodriguez of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund,
Ed Yonka, Director of Communications for the ACLU and Steve DeLaRosa
from the DuPage County Unity Coalition. The panel will address various
aspects of racial profiling in DuPage County, Illinois and nationally
in addition to recent efforts to introduce legislation in the Illinois
General Assembly. The DuPage County Unity Coalition's website, www.geocities.com/justicenow01/
provides information concerning the efforts of the DuPage County Unity
Coalition as well as solicits responses to a recently commissioned RACIAL
PROFILING SURVEY. The survey, available on the website and at the town
hall meeting on Friday, is designed to gauge public perception and opinion
of racial profiling and to collect anecdotal information throughout
DuPage and the surrounding counties. The DuPage County Unity Coalition
is an umbrella organization whose members belong to more than 21 religious,
labor, non-profit and political groups throughout DuPage County. The
mission is to volunteer, organize and work to establish civic, multicultural,
cross-issue coalitions dedicated towards the establishment of political
actions necessary to realize human rights and economic and environmental
justice for all.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Theresa Amato Thursday
Citizen Advocacy Center April 10, 1997 (630) 833-4080 HYDE HOLDS HEARINGS
THAT COULD HARM CONSUMER PROTECTIONS IN COURT ELMHURST-
Throughout American history, the most dangerous products to American
health and safety have been discovered through the courts and the media,
not by the Congress or some regulatory agency in Washington, D.C. Americans
have a high expectation for safe products because we have state laws
that are designed to protect our safety and we have a judicial system
that allows citizen juries - who listen to the facts of specific cases
-- to determine the facts and make sure that people injured from defective
products have access to justice. The State of Illinois just revised
its tort laws in the last session of the General Assembly. And there
is a bill pending right now in the Illinois General Assembly (HB 538
- Sunshine in Litigation) that would prevent shrouding in secrecy the
facts about dangerous products. Do we really need Congress to tell us
what to do about protecting the people in our state from wrongdoers
who sell dangerous products to Illinoisans? Congress is trying to take
away the state's right to determine how citizens can make wrongdoers
pay for defective products. Today, April 10th, the House Judiciary Committee,
which is chaired by our own Representative Henry Hyde, is conducting
hearings to explore whether the federal government should override state
products liability law, the laws that determine what rights citizens
have to hold wrongdoers accountable in state courts. The House of Representatives,
under Newt Gingrich, is trying to pass legislation that will limit damages
to injured people, and prevent some people from recovering from wrongdoers.
The federal legislation would federalize state tort law, and limit the
ability of our state judges and citizen jurors to determine how to compensate
people who are seriously injured by defective products. Newt Gingrich
and Henry Hyde could you please explain to the people of Illinois: ·
Why we should have the federal government telling us as plaintiffs and
jurors what the outcome should be in the state courts of Illinois? ·
What does the federal government know about setting damage awards for
a specific case in an Illinois court of law? · Does the federal government
know something that the good people of Illinois and the Illinois judges
cannot figure out for themselves? We live in the safest country in the
world. We have the safest homes, safest workplaces, and safest environment
thanks to freedom of information in the free market and the American
jury system, which, warts and all, is the best in the world at holding
people accountable because it is operated by ordinary citizens and not
government bureaucrats! Everybody who cherishes their right to justice
should get the facts on the so-called "products liability reforms" Representative
Hyde's committee is hearing about today: Call Representative Hyde today
to object to the federal government telling the State of Illinois and
Illinois citizens what to do in state courts: (630) 832-5950 in Addison,
or (202) 225-4561 in Washington, D.C. No consumer organization in the
United States supports the so-called reforms and the Conference of the
Chief Justices of the State Courts has opposed these measures for more
than a decade. It is time to call now and to stand up for the rights
of ordinary citizens, not Congress, to determine what should happen
in our state courts.
PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Theresa
Amato MAY 25, 1999 (630) 833-4080 ELMHURST
Today the Citizen Advocacy Center, along with concerned readers of
Press Publications, held a protest of Liberty Group Publishing, the
new owners of Press Publications, outside of the Press Publications
building in downtown Elmhurst. The Center, an Elmhurst-based nonprofit,
nonpartisan organization dedicated to building democracy in the western
suburbs, organized the event to protest Liberty's conversion of the
award-winning Press Publications into a cash cow advertising forum.
Liberty Group Publishing of Northbrook, IL, with the backing of Los
Angeles-based Leonard Green & Partners L.P., has been buying up community
newspapers across the country. Liberty purchased Press Publications
last year. Since then the price has increased 50% from 50 to 75 cents,
while text has been increasingly replaced by advertisements. Last week
Liberty replaced three columnists with advertisements on the op-ed page.
Key management people have been forced out of the decisionmaking process
at Press Publications, and issue pages of text have been replaced with
ads. The new publisher, Mr. Larry Randa, told the Center's executive
director that he is "just following the successful national formula
for handling suburban news." Theresa Amato, the Center's executive director
and a community lawyer said, "We want our columnists back. We do not
want our local newspaper turned into a home shopping channel by venture
capitalists more concerned with portfolio diversification than the quality
of news coverage in our communities. Our democracy is cheapened when
our community newspaper becomes little more than a vehicle for peddling
advertisements." Mike Nevin, another Elmhurst resident and reader of
the Press said: "I can find advertising in the mail, on billboards,
the radio - it's everywhere. An op-ed is an individual voice. Whether
or not you agree, it is always valuable to hear another person' thoughts
and ideas. Who wants to start the day with a cup of coffee and a page
of ads?" The Center's protest is just one of several planned until Liberty
Group Publishing reverses course and brings back the columnists.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Theresa Amato November
9, 1999 (630) 833-4080 CITIZEN ADVOCACY CENTER RECEIVES 1999 AWARD FOR
NONPROFIT EXCELLENCE ELMHURST
Yesterday, the DuPage-based Citizen Advocacy Center received a $25,000
advocacy award presented by WPWR-TV Channel 50 Foundation during a ceremony
at the Hothouse in downtown Chicago. The foundation honored the nonprofit
Citizen Advocacy Center with its "Innovation in Advocacy" award in recognition
of the Center's pioneering strategy - community lawyering. The Center,
which celebrated its fifth anniversary this year, has three community
lawyers and dozens of community volunteers who work with citizen advocates
throughout the western suburbs to build democracy at the local level.
Community lawyers train citizens with civic skills to help them advance
their causes, and they also serve as catalytic resources in the community.
The idea of community lawyering was conceived by the Center's founding
grantor, The Shafeek Nader Trust for the Community Interest. The Trust,
The Joyce Foundation, the Woods Fund of Chicago, the John D. and Catherine
T. MacArthur Foundation, and hundreds of individuals support the Center's
work. The WPWR-TV Channel 50 Foundation presented an elegant etched
glass award and a check to Citizen Advocacy Center President Patricia
Hicks of Elmhurst and to the Center's founder and executive director,
Theresa Amato, also of Elmhurst. The foundation's program director,
Ms. Leslie Ramyk, noted the Center's accomplishments, and said that,
"The Citizen Advocacy Center is the antidote to the old, 'You can't
take on City Hall' mentality. Indeed, you can take on City Hall. It
is perfectly within your rights, and the Citizen Advocacy Center can
tell you what you are legally entitled to do." On behalf of the Center,
Amato said, "the award is for the dedicated efforts of citizen advocates
throughout the region who fight against civic shut-out and insist on
having their voices heard in the democratic process to improve all of
our communities." More than 45 applications were submitted for consideration
from the nonprofit community. The other 1999 award recipients were the
Environmental Law and Policy Center, for sustained excellence in advocacy,
and the Everybody Counts Center for Independent Living, for excellence
in advocacy in Northwest Indiana. The Center plans to use the award
to expand its presence in the region.
