A Political Agenda Shown By Some

What I find very interesting is that there are some who post on this site as well as other sites who have a very clear political agenda at work.

How did I become the poster boy for solving the illegal immigration issue of our nation? I’ve read over the past couple of years that it’s up to ME to solve this national problem. WOW! Thanks for having that kind of faith in me as a public official, but I really have to tell you and others who are “depending on ME” to solve this, I can’t do it. I never like to say that I can’t do something, but in this case, saying anything else would be blatantly dishonest. Sorry to disappoint you, but it’s NOT up to ME. It’s also not up to any other Village official, nor any Mayor or Village President or Trustee or Alderman or Councilman.

You see, this is very simple, there are my political foes, who would much rather have you distracted by a national problem and focus ONLY on ONE issue than to have you see the good things that have been done over the past 3+ years. When I came into office we had NO Capital Improvement Program. NONE. This Village had ignored its streets and infrastructure for 30 – 40 years. This Village had just started to come out of a financial mess that had dragged on for 4 years. The Village of Carpentersville couldn’t seem to get an “OPINION AUDIT”. That is a very serious problem. Honestly, Carpentersville should have had a forensic audit performed, at that time, to be sure no money had been taken. The Village couldn’t keep finance directors. There was big time mismanagement of our finances going on. To any auditor that is a huge red flag. That’s why the auditors would not sign off on the audits. In fact, this Village was the ONLY municipality or taxing body in the whole state of Illinois that couldn’t file their financial paperwork on time. That too has changed. We now routinely get favorable audits. That is how it’s supposed to work. This is no great feat, this is how government is supposed to perform. When I ran for Village President, I said, that we must do the routine things routinely. I’m happy to report that we finally are doing just that.

Now streets have been fixed, sidewalks replaced and new street lighting has been installed in some neighborhoods. Our one and only bridge at Main Street was rebuilt, which was in terrible condition. It had not had any major work done to it in 75 years. New water and sewer lines have been installed. A stacking lane was built at Liberty School on the west side to help with safety issues. There are far more things that have improved, too many to mention here. But the bottom line is we have made vast improvements during my short time in this position as YOUR Village President. These are the real issues. Things are getting done!

Illegal Immigration has been going on in this area and throughout the country for at least 30+ years. I had written letters to the editor on this issue long before I ran for Village President. I wrote letters to the newspapers when I was still living in Elgin about Illegal Immigration. I knew back in the mid-1980s that this was a federal issue and not a local matter. My letters to the editor never called upon our local officials to solve this national problem. Where were these Johnny Come Lately folks then? No one picked up on that issue. Why not? Where were the Fox Valley Citizens for Legal Immigration then? Where were the Fox Valley Citizens for Legal Immigration when my predecessor had this job? Who are the Fox Valley Citizens for Legal Immigration? Where were Trustees Judy Sigwalt and Paul Humpfer then? Where were Ed Ritter, Kay Teeter and Keith Hinz. They lived here, where were they? They were right there supporting their friends on the Village board, who were saying nothing. These Johnny Come Latelys act as if the illegal immigrants fell out of the Carpentersville sky one night in October of 2006. I guess they never noticed the Hispanics in town until Sigwalt and Humpfer pointed them out to them. Does that seem as odd to you as it does to me? Suddenly, people were making all kinds of noise about something that had been all around them for years. You know there is a saying: That an empty wagon makes the most noise.

Now it really is time to move past this foolishness and get on with issues that I and other Village officials CAN and HAVE BEEN doing something about. We have plenty of them to keep us busy. It’s time to stop playing politics with illegal immigration. I truly do hope that this next Congress and our New President do find a solution to this problem. No one town is going to solve this issue. The Federal Government, Congress and the White House are the ONLY ones who can come up with a real national solution!

Setting The Record Straight

I feel it’s important to set the record straight on my true position on illegal immigration. During the course of this long drawn out debate over this issue, that began in October of 2006, my position has been distorted and the public intentionally mislead by my political foes.

The public has a right to know the truth. So, I ask that you pay close attention to what I’m going to write on this subject, so that there is no further misunderstanding of my position. First and foremost, I want to make it very clear that I do not now, nor have I ever supported people living in this country illegally.I do not condone any law breakers living in Carpentersville or any place else. I support ALL the laws of our country, state and Village. I’ve taken an oath to uphold the laws of the land and I take that oath seriously.

Carpentersville has roughly a 40% Hispanic population. I was elected to represent ALL the residents of this Village. When the issue of illegal immigration was brought up by Trustees Paul Humpfer and Judy Sigwalt they brought this up without going through the normal “vetting” process that is required to bring an issue before the Village board. It was obvious from the beginning that they were looking to create controversy to help themselves in the upcoming Village board election that was held in the spring of 2007. I said that then and my position has not changed. I also said from the beginning that if we went down that road where they were trying to lead us, that we would be sued as a Village. My feelings were based in fact. There had been three places that tried to crack down on illegal immigration locally and all three had been sued. So this wasn’t my personal opinion this was a fact. The truth is that since the election these same two trustees have now decided that I was right and that we will be sued if we try to enact any local ordinance in regard to illegal immigration. What caused this shift in thinking by these two trustees? Well, I’ll leave that up to you to decide. I know the answer and I trust that you do too.

In 2000, I wrote a letter to the Editor of both the Courier-News and the Daily Herald, that letter was widely cirrculated during the often heated debate over the immigration issue. It was cirrculated by my political foes attempting to discredit me. In that letter, I called upon Congress to do something to deal with the influx of illegal immigrants coming across our borders. I was openly crittical of our federal government not acting to stop the flow of illegals coming into our country. That was my position then and it still is my position today. I support law enforcement. What good are laws if they are not enforced?

As much as some of my political foes would like you to believe that as a mayor I have the authority to enforce immigration laws, the truth is, I don’t. Those laws are clearly under the control of the federal government. Anyone who tells you differently is not telling the truth. The courts have held this to be true. As a local mayor I have no authority to deport anyone from this country. Only the federal government has that authority. As a government, Carpentersville has no immigration expert on staff who can clearly identify an illegal immigrant. We have applied for 287(g) training, this is a federal program to train local police officers to work with the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to help identify criminals who have broken the law and are eligible for deportation. We can suspect a person may be in this country illegally, but we do not have the authority to hold a person merely based on a suspicion of their legal status in this country. This is a matter that is solely up to the federal government. The states do have some latitude in this regard under the state’s rights provision of the United States Constitution. But local government has no jurisdiction or legal authority in this regard. If you understand the law, certain levels of government have control over certain legal matters. For example: If a person is found to be breaking U.S. postal laws, mail fraud, this is a matter generally investigated and prosecuted by the federal government. The reason is that a federal law has been broken, the same is true of bank robbery, kidnapping, espionage and many other laws that fall under the control of the federal government. Even though local law enforcement can and do arrest bank robbers if they are caught in the act of committing the crime, the legal case is handled by federal prosecutors. These are just a couple of examples of how law enforcement works in regard to federal laws. Being in this country without documentation is not a felony, it’s a misdemeanor. However, It is clearly a federal matter that is dealt with in the federal courts. All immigration matters go before the immigration court, which is a branch of the federal judicial system. The bottom line is we have done all that we legally can do in Carpentersville to enforce the present laws that are on the books in regard to illegal immigration.

I do support a strickter code enforcement policy in Carpentersville. That is not aimed at any one group, but it could help with over crowding issues of single family homes. I supported an ordinance that would give the Village the right to impound the vehicle of anyone caught driving without a valid driver’s license or insurance. I also supported the application for the 287(g) program training for some of our police officers. Unfortunately, I do not believe that program was set up for local government training, it seems to be aimed at state and county law enforcement. So, we are still waiting for a response to our application.

Those are the hard facts and the truth about my position on illegal immigration. I would like to end by saying the final answer to his issue rests with our federal lawmakers and the President of the United States. I’m hopeful that in this next year we will see some real action taken by the new Congress and the new President on this very important matter.

Thank you for allowing me to clarify my position on this important issue.

Sincerely,

Bill Sarto – President

Village of Carpentersville

Carpentersville Leads All Towns In Foreclosures

We here in Carpentersville have the highest number of foreclosures (682) than any other city, town or village in all of Kane county. We hold another dubious distinction. We have 33% of our home mortgages listed as sub-prime. That puts even more homes at risk of ending up in foreclosure. That means that literally thousands of our homes are at risk. This is in fact a looming economic disaster for our village.

Thanks to some on our Village board we are also now known as the village of intolerance that does not welcome Hispanics. Recently, I attended a meeting of local clergy and one of our local pastor’s said that he was planning a retreat at his church, when the Hispanics he was talking with from another city heard that his church was in Carpentersville they refused to come to his church.  This is a direct result of the negative reputation that Carpentersville has because of Trustees Judy Sigwalt, Paul Humpfer, Kay Teeter and Keith Hinz.  Trustees, Sigwalt, Humpfer and Hinz campaigned in the last election as the “All American Team” using the illegal immigration issue to ride into office. Trustee Ed Ritter supported this group of candidates. So, he too is to blame. Even resorting to this fear mongering type of campaign tactic they won by a very small margin. They did accomplish one thing, they divided our community. They have done irreparable harm to our village. This is not just going to go away. This will have a long lasting effect on home values throughout our community. This is another self inflicted wound caused by bad politics. In all of the state of Illinois, Carpentersville is the lone place to do such a foolish thing. We are now about to pay for this foolishness in real terms. This was plain and simply very poor judgment by these trustees. Their irresponsible behavior has caused us all to be affected. Perhaps this is fitting since those who supported this idea will suffer along with everyone else. Those who supported these candidates may even directly feel the pain more because many of these empty homes will be in their neighborhoods. There is a lesson to be learned in this. Fear, Hatred and Ignorance always comes home to roost.

There is no excuse for those who mislead the public, this includes our local newspapers, who helped to promote this foolishness by even giving their endorsement to these candidates. Instead of publishing the truth the local media was part of the problem. The Courier-News and the Daily Herald sided with these candidates and ended up supporting their ideas. The media then covered for these very same trustees after the election, by not holding them accountable for their actions, but then, how could they hold anyone accountable, since they themselves share in the blame? There is much blame to go around. Too many people bought into this intolerance. People were quick to judge without any facts to back up their misconceptions.

Now we face a real dilemma, how do we resell these empty houses? Who is going to buy them? What is to become of these neighborhoods? How many more homes will be lost? How many more businesses will move out of Carpentersville? These are all very serious questions that we now face.

One thing for sure, we must change our image as quickly as possible to regain any hope of saving this village. The hand of WELCOME must be extended to ALL. A good start would be for those trustees that supported the foolish notion that local government can solve the illegal immigration problem in this country should admit that they were wrong. They should make this a public announcement so that ALL will hear them. To do less will only add to our already dire situation. I’m waiting Trustees Humpfer, Sigwalt, Hinz, Teeter and Ritter. You talk about wanting to do good things for our village, well, here is your chance to correct a mistake that you ALL have made that is hurting Carpentersville. Do the right thing, say that you were wrong. This is NOT too much to ask since you have caused this problem. I don’t expect the media to apologize, they just keep going along; while their mistakes leave a path of ruin in their wake.

What Should Be Done To Improve The Rt. 25 Corridor

I’ve been very pleased with the numerous comments on the subject of the Meadowdale Shopping Center and more retail shopping opportunities along the Rt. 25 corridor. Let’s continue this dialog.

Okay, let’s get serious now. Let’s hear some ideas on what WE would like to see at the Shopping Center and along Rt. 25. I believe that most everyone realizes that doing NOTHING is NOT an acceptable option.

Frank Scarpelli, let’s be honest here. That large open field that your family leases (For a dollar a year) to the Park District that sits across the street from Village Hall benefits your family. If that was not leased to the Park District it would cost your family real money to maintain that property. I would think you are also getting a tax benefit from that lease agreement. Right now, we the taxpayers of Dundee Township are picking up that cost by the Park District taking care of that open field that is owned by your family.  Frank, you as the President of the Dundee Township Park District are directly benefiting from your elected position. Let’s get even more honest while we’re at it. The land that the Dundee Park District bought from your family at Raceway Woods, also benefited your family. Once again, you were on the Park District Board when that purchase took place. Frank, your holding the position on the Park District is a clear conflict of interest. A Kane County Judge ruled that you could not hold a position as trustee on the East Dundee Village Board, while you served on the Park District. It was ruled to be a conflict of interest. That was the reason you chose not to run again for East Dundee Village trustee in the 2007 election. I understand that you currently serve as a member of the East Dundee Planning and Zoning Commission. That too seems to be at cross-purposes with you having any interest in providing improvements on your property in Carpentersville. There is a saying that comes from scripture, “You cannot serve two masters.”

[Correction: Frank Scarpelli was not on the Park District board when the purchase of the land was made at Raceway Woods.] However, I stand by my posting that the Besinger family has benefited by that purchase of land at Raceway Woods by the Park District and by lease agreements with the Park District.  Frank Scarpelli currently is the President of the Dundee Township Park District, he has been a member of the DTPD since the spring of 1999, while those lease agreements have been in force. That is a benefit to the Besinger family paid for by the taxpayers of Dundee Township.

Frank Scarpelli, this is not meant to insult you or impugn your family, but I think many of us, if not all of us are really getting fed up with the excuses as to why nothing is being done at the Shopping Center and the other parcels of land that your family owns on the east side of the Village.  The Besinger family needs to be a serious player as a huge stake holder in this community. Along with your land holdings comes real responsibility to work with the Village to improve this community. Your inaction is causing other businesses to under perform. Your lack of initiative is hurting us all.

To truly improve the east side is going to take cooperation on the part of the Besinger family. Frank, what you have currently on your land is not helping the Village of Carpentersville. You are not providing the BEST USE of your real estate holdings. What is it going to take to get you and your family to step up to do what is right for this community? That’s a serious question. So far, you have not been serious. So, you tell me, what is it going to take?

As the Village President of Carpentersville, I call on you and the other members of your family to sit down with the Village and get real about what can be done to improve our current situation. The status quo is NOT working. I look forward to others comments on this subject. Please voice your opinions.  

It’s Time To Unite – America

Election night is just far enough behind us that it now is really sinking in just what happened. It is time for real CHANGE. President-Elect, Barack Obama, our very own United States Senator from Illinois has become the first African-American to win the Presidency of the United State’s. How fitting this is coming from Illinois, the Land of Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln was of course the first Republican president. He also was the President who held our country together when it was threatened to be torn apart by slavery. It’s as if this national sin was wiped away by the election returns Tuesday night. As state after state fell into the Obama victory column, it was as if the nation was indeed saying loud and clear, with a resounding, YES, WE CAN! Not only did the nation say YES, WE CAN, it said, YES, WE DID. We witnessed HISTORY. We witnessed the fullfillment of a DREAM – By a young African-American preacher, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. When Dr. King spoke so eloquently on the mall in Washington, DC on August 28, 1963.

” I Have a Dream “

…I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day, on the red hills of Georgia, sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day “every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plains, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.”

This is my hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day. This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning “My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, and when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of that old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God almighty, we are free at last!”

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Reaction today from around the world was that of great HOPE for the future. I’m old enough to remember the election of 1960, when this country at that time, made history by electing the first Roman Catholic to the Presidency of the United State’s. The presidency of John F. Kennedy also came with the prospect of great HOPE. The young John F. Kennedy was an inspiration not only to millions in this country, but like Barack Obama, Kennedy also represented HOPE to those around the world. This is an exciting time for our nation. As John McCain so aptly put it on Tuesday night, whether you voted for him or for the next president Barack Obama, this is a time to not only congratulate our next President, but it’s time to lend our full support to help him with the difficult challenges ahead.

We, here in America have once again proven to the world just what this country is all about. It’s not about our wealth, or our military power, what makes us truly special is our diversity. That is our real edge that we hold over every other place on earth. America is the face of the world. Because of our rich heritage and our willingness to become that more perfect union, that our founding father’s wrote about, we stand today, as never before, as that shinning beacon of HOPE for all the world.

We are a country of immigrants, but more importantly, we are Americans. That’s our common bond that unites us ALL. We should all be very proud to be a part of the greatest nation on earth. Last night, we once again demonstrated in a real way why this is not just an empty claim. Last night, we Americans did something that no other western world country has ever done. We’ve practiced what we have preached. All men and women can rest assured that in this country, All men are created EQUAL. HOPE lives and OUR future is what we make of it. Again, quoting John McCain, We are Americans, We make HISTORY. We made history last night. Looking at those many faces, of men and women of ALL colors, with tears streaming down, it was evident that we are living at a very special time in this nation’s history.  The kind of history that should make everyone of us very proud. Never forget this America-YES, WE CAN! John McCain recognizes what this means for ALL of us. He gave a unifying speech that was well suited for this historic moment in time. So, America, it is time to move past the partisanship that has seperated us for so long. It’s time to get this country moving again. It’s time to UNITE!