Over the past four years, I have circulated several petitions to place substantive questions on the ballot that pertain to crucial issues facing the village. More than once trustees of the current and prior Board have voted to suppress our voice in total disregard of our right to address key issues by putting three irrelevant, ambiguous questions on the ballot to fill it up. They did this to prevent questions that they do not want asked or answered from appearing on the ballot.
The most recently circulated petition asked: “Shall the Village of Winfield give millions of dollars and public property to the developer of a proposed 147-unit apartment complex (“Winfield Reserve”) in downtown Winfield?”
The Village board, however, did not want you to be able to answer that question, so they again stuffed the ballot with three trivial, meaningless questions. It is highly doubtful that bandstand use is more important than the voters knowing the Village plans on giving millions of dollars to a private developer!
A citizen-driven initiative is one of the few tools ordinary citizens have to directly influence public policy, so when the Board denies us the right to vote on important issues, it silences our voice and places power exclusively in the hands of those elected. Although they are endowed with decision-making power, that power is not absolute! When elected officials actively work to suppress the voices of their constituents, they fail in their duty to represent — breaking the trust voters have placed in them. Any trustee who votes for this kind of suppression has little to no interest in the concerns of the residents nor can they claim to represent anyone but themselves when they prevent a vote on pressing issues. They are effectively saying to those who elected them: “Your voice does not matter, we know better than you and we alone will decide what matters, NOT YOU.”
Our team strongly opposes obstructive tactics — we want fair and inclusive representation, transparency and active participation. We will advocate for rules to insure that referendums submitted by citizens are respected and are not blocked by manipulative means.
We aim to serve, NOT DICTATE!
