Well, the Mayor has now reaffirmed his belief that pay-to-play is the means by which he is governing the City of Crest Hill. His re-election committee has accepted money from Allied Waste. This is the same company that is looking to get a five year garbage services contract from the City without bidding. Mayor Churnovic expressed his strong support that the Council not go out for bid but instead consider only proposals from Allied Waste. The reason for this is now very clear.
Apparently, there is no need to bid for contracts with the City if you contribute to the Mayor's re-election campaign. This is a clear abuse of his office as Mayor and a betrayal of the public trust. How many other instances are there of the Mayor accepting donations from those either doing business with or seeking to do business with the City? After seeing how the State has been hurt by this type of corruption, do we really want this for Crest Hill?
The time has come to demand better from our politicians. We do not need a Mayor who trades city contracts for campaign contributions any more than we need a Governor who sells a Senate seat for campaign contributions. Why would we want the shame of pay-to-play politics on a local level? The Mayor has shown repeatedly that he desires to run the city in this manner though. The voters need to send a clear message come April by voting to replace the Mayor and any other official that supports his way of running this city.
