Saturday, March 26, 2011
Challengers Claim Newsletter Profiles of Incumbent Board Members Provide Unfair Advantage
Newsletter draws fire from Bensenville library candidates. (Daily Herald, 3/25/2011)
Excerpt: Two challengers running for seats on the Bensenville Community Public Library board said a new feature in the library’s newsletter gives unfair publicity to their two incumbent opponents.
The library launched a “Meet Your Trustees” feature last year in the November-December issue of its newsletter and first highlighted board President Alan Heff. [I think that might be spelled Herff.] Soon after, current trustees Linda Kochanski and Tina McCauley filed for re-election — and both were respectively featured in the next two issues
Library Director Jill Rodriguez said the articles were created to give residents “a better idea of who we are and what we do.”
“When we had a focus group, people were suggesting ideas we have already been doing for decades, and that’s really frustrating,” Rodriguez said. “Our marketing coordinator was eliminated last year when we had to make budget cuts, so we must take advantage of every opportunity to connect with residents."
After reading the article on Heff, challenger Nancy Rizzo voiced concerns at the next board meeting about the possibility of future articles conflicting with campaign efforts.
Kochanski was featured in the next issue, though it did not mention her re-election efforts. Still, the article prompted challenger Susan Diamond to protest in January that it was a poor use of taxpayer money.
Dear Nancy and Susan,
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