A handful of candidates on the ballot in the April election for offices and positions in Park Ridge met Monday night at a candidates forum hosted by the Park Ridge Chamber of Commerce.
Voters head to the polls April 1.
In Park Ridge, mayor and other city offices, school board seats for Park Ridge Consolidated Community School District 64 and Maine Township High School District 207, as well as positions in Maine Township, will be on the ballot.
For voters, the forum was a chance to evaluate the candidates and ask them questions directly.
“I’m new, back in Park Ridge,” said Siobhan Hunter, who is from Park Ridge but moved away and then, last year, returned.
She said she had been away from local politics for years, but with a kid in school, she wanted to see what school board candidates had to offer.
“I’m not sure who I’m voting for, so I wanted to hear from the candidates and find out more about them,” Hunter said.
The forum was not a debate. But, all candidates in contested races were invited to speak from a podium to give a short pitch to voters. Then all candidates could meet with voters one-on-one.
The tone was congenial, attracting a couple dozen residents and candidates who focused on their own achievements and goals. The evening avoided any personal attacks or anything resembling the rough and tumble of national politics.
“If there’s one thing I’d like to leave everyone with, it’s this: Partisan politics should have no place in local elections,” said Michael Lupo, who is running for Park Ridge city clerk against Joan Mattingly, a mother of 12 and a former architect.
Mattingly offered her reason for being in the race.
“I think there are always things we can do to support our community and build our community,” she said. “There are always more things we can do to help each other and support each other.”
No candidate proposed any sweeping changes or big initiatives as part of their platform.
Both school districts previously had referendums on the ballot. District 207 had one in 2018 and District 64 asked voters for money last year. Both districts continue making ambitious capital updates.
Incumbent Mayor Marty Maloney, who is seeking reelection, bragged that property taxes haven’t increased in recent years while sales tax revenue has been rising.
With revenues stable and improvement plans well underway, candidates for the public bodies mostly pitched the idea of stability and a continuation of the same.
“I don’t want to shake up anything,” said Beth Rankin, who is a candidate for the District 64 school board.
Without politics to bicker over or political visions to debate, the candidates mostly pitched themselves and their personal connections to the community. But even familiar faces like Maloney, visible in local politics for over a decade, relied on his personal history to win the undecided.
“I met my wife in seventh grade,” he said. “l I don’t know how many of you know or can pinpoint the day when you met your future partner but I can. It was in seventh grade French class.”
The mayor race is contested. Maloney’s opponent is current City Clerk Sal Raspanti.
Raspanti told Pioneer Press he declined the invitation to participate in the candidate forum. He said he didn’t like the short speech format of the night, calling them elevator pitches, and the chamber’s involvement did not feel right to him.
“My other concerns center around the fact that it appears the chamber is becoming a political organization,” Raspanti wrote in an email to Pioneer Press. “Several of their board members, past and present have been actively supporting and campaigning for my opponent for the past several months (circulating nominating petitions on his behalf, endorsing my opponent while leading chamber events, yard signs, etc….).”
Raspanti said he called for something different.
“I suggested more of an open house format, whereby encouraging more one-on-one dialogue with attendees, but was denied,” he wrote in the email.
He chose to have his own event, Sal Raspanti for Mayor Open House, at Prospect Park.
Win or lose, Alderman John Moran, who moderated the event forum, closed the event offering a reminder for people to remain engaged in their communities.
“I know there’s some contested races and I know there’s some folks who won’t end up serving. Stay involved,” said Moran. “Don’t fade away if you don’t win. Stay involved. We need you.”
And he had some words for voters, too.
“Your vote matters, especially in these local elections,” he said. “It’s amplified, so take your time and study the candidates.”
Jesse Wright is a freelancer.
