You probably want to know where I am getting my numbers from when I say Winfield United has collected $32,000 to elect 6 out of 7 of your trustees to keep our most promising commercial corridor fallow and barren.
Well, the data is readily available from the Illinois Board of Elections and I have included it here.
Winfield United collected $31,538 for political purposes here in little old Winfield.
The thing you really have to respect is most of this political activism was done by Winfield United Treasurer Karen Skillman and her husband Jed Skillman who only put in $1228 of their own money. So with 3.8% of the contributions to Winfield United, they were able to leverage the outcomes in Winfield politics that they preferred. Not a bad return on investment.
Even smarter was Winfield United President, Steve Romanelli. He only contributed $735 to his own organization, a 2.3% contribution…
I am dying to know how much they will raise to support Glen Vade Bon Coeur, Erik Spande and Cliff Mortenson. Does anyone want to take an over / under bet on that?
We should talk about the upcoming election. In order to win, Tony Reyes and I are going to need money, volunteers to hand out materials and we are going to need places to put up signs. For the loyal 411 fans out there that would like to help us to overthrow the People’s Democratic Republic of Winfield at the ballot box, we could use some support. If you are interested in supporting Tony’s and my campaign, please email TimAllen57@gmail.com. Thank you in advance for your support.
11 Responses to Best Government Money Can Buy
JustATaxPayer on January 19, 2011 6:59 am at 6:59 am (Edit)
Count me in.
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Andrew J Jones on January 19, 2011 7:44 am at 7:44 am (Edit)
Over and unders are tough because you are dealing with imperfect information. Especially when it comes to Romanelli, Skillman’s and their organization WU – they just can’t be trusted to do the right thing. I looked up WU’s (D-2 Semiannual Report – 1/1/2009 to 6/30/2009)
http://www.elections.il.gov/CampaignDisclosure/ItemizedExpend.aspx?FiledDocID=390985&ExpenditureType=Expenditures&Archived=True&OrderBy=Last%20or%20Only%20Name%20-%20A%20to%20Z&ItemizedExpendFrom=D2Semi.aspx
It’s interesting to note, nowhere on the report do they list Stan Zegel’s Slam Publication, “The Winfield Register” as receiving any advertising funds. Now they may have hide that piece of information under the title of WWW Publishing. Now why do you think they did that? This raises a lot of other questions about WU being forthright and transparent and you would have to now wonder how much cash traded hands at one of those famous WU wine and cheese parties.
Anyway back to the over and under, not having all the information is like trying to determine the outcome of Bears/Packer game this Sunday without knowing who is playing or having access to the injury report. So will Romanelli and Skillman’s once again use a publication? Possibly, The Winfield Post to get their attacking and self-serving message out? There is no reason not to expect the normal underhanded shenanigans, that this group has made a staple of their existence in Winfield elections. Large cash inflows and ad hominem attacks on candidates not supported by the WU Club Factory.
With all that said, and because it is only the 3 trustees seats up for election and more and more people are finally realizing WU was created to take care of small tyrannical group of individuals, my ov/un number is $18,250.00
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OTC on January 19, 2011 9:33 am at 9:33 am (Edit)
Check out Winfield United’s amended D-1 Statement of Organization
amended just this passed December 21, 2010
http://www.elections.il.gov/CampaignDisclosure/CommitteeDetail.aspx?id=18758
Just click the heading: D-1 Statement of Organization (Amendment)
They removed Romanelli’s name as Chairman and put Karen Skillman down as both Chairman and Treasurer.
Also they check the boxes identifying Winfield United as:
Political Action Committee and Local Political Party
Interesting stuff!
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LMG on January 20, 2011 12:14 pm at 12:14 pm (Edit)
No, I think you read it wrong. Question #4 identifies them as a Political Action Committee and a Local Political Committee, not a Party. Their party affiliation is marked NA. Question #4 just wants to know if they’re State, State + Local or just Local.
Still, good job finding that filing.
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Chance on January 19, 2011 9:01 am at 9:01 am (Edit)
What’s really alarming is the way Steve Romanelli and the Skillman’s present themselves, especially Romanelli. Romanelli likes to go around and tell everyone all the “good” things he’s done for the community, it’s a joke! Even now he’s pretending to be a “community helper” because he’s sitting on the River Walk Committee. It’s only done to mask his own self-serving and vindictive agenda.
Romanelli formed Winfield United because he was P.O.’ed about 3 houses being built across the street from him. A true NIMBY resident. Romanelli was never looking out for the best interest of the community. You don’t have to take my word for it, check out this priceless quote he made in April 2004:
“had I been offered the opportunity to purchase the 10.6 acres of property for $250,000 and then be able to put up $1.5 million dollars worth of homes on just over 0.8 acres, I would have waited all of thirty seconds to present the check.” — Steve Romanelli
It’s pretty easy to see what type of individual Romanelli is and no matter how he tries to hide his character, in the end he is just a little man who only cares about himself and didn’t care one bit about the damage and hurt he inflicted on the town.
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Patti on January 19, 2011 12:21 pm at 12:21 pm (Edit)
“Tony & Tim for Trustees – Status Quo Must Go!”
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Ken Fuchs on January 19, 2011 6:11 pm at 6:11 pm (Edit)
“Tony For You, And Allen Too!”
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eddiehaskell on January 19, 2011 6:48 pm at 6:48 pm (Edit)
Romanelli and his board of directors spend a heck of a lot of time looking at prairie plants and devising new ways to control the town instead of planning for Winfield’s future. It’s comical. Do they really think they are a benefit to the town?
You plan for the future because any community that doesn’t plan for its future isn’t likely to have one. You plan for the future of your community by taking an objective look at today’s major trends and their implications in the years to come. Otherwise, you find your town where we find ourselves today, plummeting property values, no tangible progress, out of control spending, and the inevitable tax increase.
Just wishing away these problems along with the bad management by patting yourself on the back with your beautification projects is quaint and catastrophic at the same time. You can’t have a village that is doing so poorly with little or no hope for improvement given the current make up of the leadership and believe as Steve Romanelli does that “positive change” has taken place.
Remember, it’s WU’s and Romanelli’s zero-sum philosophy that needs to be stopped. And its time the resident sit up and take notice otherwise if we continue to run Winfield United’s game plan we will surely get toasted.
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LeRoy Budnik on January 19, 2011 10:36 pm at 10:36 pm (Edit)
It seems that we need a member area in the web for strategic discussion.
As to content, it seems that there are many words, but not enough in the supporting fact department – we know that the facts are there, we just need to document them – the guys will need help to do that work.
I will give both of you my support if you run a clean campaign, present supported facts and have a realistic plan for the future. Realistic means, for example, that you cannot expect Roosevelt Road to fix the revenue shortfall – the big box retailers already have a home, in Wheaton. Most facts should reference the work of the board itself rather than specific individuals. One can cite incompetency, overstepping range of authority, etc. Clean means no personal attacks, or responding to attacks in other than a professional manner – regardless of what the other side does.
Growing up in Chicago, one learns that you have to know where the bones are buried; knowing is a secret, best kept to oneself, used only in a personal emergency, when nothing else will work.
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Sheila on January 20, 2011 12:42 am at 12:42 am (Edit)
Our family moved to Winfield 6 1/2 years ago from San Francisco suburbs because of a job relocation. At the time (2005) the election for the Village Board was just getting started and we really didn’t know enough about the issues to cast an informed vote. What we couldn’t believe, at the time, was how intense the group of volunteers from Winfield United were in their claims of bad government, ect. We thought that the then-current Board must be really bad….well time has certainly shown that lies and distortions put forth by Steve Romanelli’s organization Winfield United were a complete and total fabrication.
“Smart Growth” was more like no-growth. “Open government” was open only to Winfield United members. “Strict adherence to the Comprehensive Plan” meant to the new plan WU created when they rezoned the south side. “Putting the stakeholders first” really meant loading every commission and Board seat with WU members. “Pedestrian-friendly areas” apparently excluded sidewalks for our seniors and disabled citizens who have to walk on Highlake Road because the Village doesn’t have 10 or 15 thousand dollars for the sidewalk but has plenty of money to send out Village updates on what’s NOT happening in town. Mr. Romanelli and his group have done absolutely nothing and in fact, have embarrassed our community. Anyone who thinks this is all the fault of a troubled economy should start looking at what’s going on in other towns around us who don’t have PAC’s running them like Winfield United.
I had hoped to find a tight-knit, small town atmosphere when my husband and our three children moved to Winfield. Instead, to our disappointment, we discovered a malicious underbelly of hatred emanating mostly from Winfield United. Hopefully good people will come forward and start to return our Village to positive growth and a tight-knit community that I am told Winfield once was.
PS: LeRoy, this isn’t a personal attack on anybody, it’s just the reality of where we are today. If WU, the Skillman’s and the Steve Romanelli’s of the town are allowed to operate unchecked as we have seen as recently as the 2009 election, we will never be able to overcome the division and strife they have caused in our community.
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lil red riding hood on January 21, 2011 1:42 pm at 1:42 pm (Edit)
Let s rock the boat and change the board and get something done that gives back to the community and increases $$$$$$$$$$ lessen the burden on poor taxpayer. Bring on the businesses and real estate. Vote Tony Tim and Cliff!!