Campaign Site: http://www.diannemcguire.com/

There are several elected positions within each township: supervisor, assessor, highway commissioner, clerk, and four trustees. I am running for the position of Naperville Township Clerk, whose primary duties include the keeping of the minutes of all official meetings and of properly maintaining all records within the township, as well as other responsibilities. The mandated functions of the township include providing general assistance to those in need, maintenance of all roads and bridges within unincorporated areas, and the assessing of local property within the township for taxing purposes. In addition to these mandated functions, townships often provide or help sponsor special services for seniors such as meeting needs for transportation, caregiving, recreation, and meals. Some Townships also work with other groups or governmental bodies to sponsor programs for the young people in a community. In these tough economic times, townships may also provide job counseling services, as well as maintaining a food bank for residents. With ingenuity, planning, and resourcefulness there is no limit to the positive programs that might be implemented.

As a candidate for Naperville Township Clerk, I promise to you that I will work cooperatively with all the elected officials of the township, as well as the loyal employees, to bring a new energy, excitement and focus to Naperville Township government. Having been a teacher for so many years, I know what families want and what they need and I want to deliver services that can positively impact their lives.

Dianne McGuire's Biography

Dianne McGuire was born and raised in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She graduated from O’Gorman High School and was the first in her family to complete college, earning a Bachelor of Arts Degree from South Dakota State University, as well as a Masters in Education/ Reading from Northern Illinois University.

In 1979 she began her full time teaching career at Madison Junior High School in the Naperville Consolidated Unit District 203 as a reading teacher. For the next twenty seven years she taught language arts and geography to 6th, 7th, and 8th grade Madison students, retiring in 2006. During this time she also served in a variety of leadership roles within the Naperville Unit Education Association, the Illinois Education Association, and the National Education Association.

In 1996, she and her husband, Fred Greenwood, opened The Guilty Party, Ltd., a small business which specializes in catered parties and corporate functions. Dianne has also recently (2006) received a Certificate of Professional Achievement in Mediation Training from the DePaul University Center for Dispute Resolution.

As an educator and a business owner, Dianne knows firsthand the needs of the children, families, and hardworking residents of District 96. She wants to be their voice in Naperville Township, working with both local and state officials to make sure that the needs of the citizens of Naperville, Aurora and Warrenville are met.

Dianne is an energetic, resourceful, compassionate problem solver who will be an effective advocate for the many concerns of the residents of the three communities included within Naperville Township. She will lobby with others for our fair share of state and federal resources, necessary to keep property taxes down; as a small business owner, she knows firsthand the importance of allocating resources in a responsible, effective manner and she will work hard to ensure that Township funds provide maximum benefit for residents; with over twenty-five years in the classroom, Dianne will seek ways to enhance educational opportunities for all through new Township programs; she will be a leader who listens.

Dianne is currently active in Naperville as the Secretary of the Villas of the Fields Homeowner’s Association, as an appointed member of the Fair Housing Commission for the City of Naperville, and is a member of the American Association of University Women, the League of Women Voters, and the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce. Dianne also ran for State Representative in District 96 in 2008, receiving 48% of the vote and actually winning in Naperville Township.

Dianne is the mother of two grown daughters, Lisa Brennan and Molly Dickman.

From: http://www.napervilletaxpayer.org/Dianne_McGuire.html

Dianne McGuire is seeking votes from the very same community she once threatened with strikes? Priceless. Former D203 teacher's union president, Dianne McGuire, is at it again. Apparently, she's not content living off her $75,000 teacher's pension. This time the extremely liberal Ms. McGuire is running for Naperville Township Clerk. You might recall McGuire ran unsuccessfully for State Representative last fall despite spending almost $1M thanks to contributions from the Illinois Democratic Party and the Illinois Ed Assoc. (two organizations notorious for their disdain and disregard of the taxpayer).

Back in 2007, with $25,000 in funding from the teachers' union, McGuire created an organization called PURE. Pretending to be an independent organization, PURE campaigned for the three school board candidates endorsed by the union. McGuire never disclosed that her organization was funded by the teachers' union.

McGUIRE'S CAMPAIGN MATERIAL SAYS SHE WILL BE FISCALLY RESPONSIBLE AND SUPPORT LOWER TAXES! LIES. ANOTHER LIBERAL MASQUERADING AS A FISCAL CONSERVATIVE AT ELECTION TIME. McGUIRE'S LEADERSHIP OF THE TEACHERS' UNION HAS ACTUALLY RESULTED IN HIGHER PROPERTY TAXES! THE ILLINOIS DEMOCRATS & THE IEA CONTRIBUTED CLOSE TO $1M IN A FAILED ATTEMPT TO GET THIS TAX-AND-SPEND LIBERAL ELECTED TO REPRESENT THE 96TH DISTRICT. THIS WOMAN HAS NO MORAL COMPASS WHATSOEVER, AND WILL SAY ANYTHING TO GET ELECTED.

It's ironic that McGuire is now seeking votes from the very same community she threatened with strikes back when she was president of the NUEA. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “No change of circumstances can repair a defect of character.” What does McGuire stand for? Articles from the Daily Herald and the Sun paint a pretty clear picture of the real Dianne McGuire.

From: http://www.dailyherald.com/news/politics/elections/2009/race/candidates/?id=490&candidate=745

Key Issue 1 Transparency: With regard to transparency, I would like to point to the recent online accessibility of all DuPage County financial matters; it is currently the only county in the State of Illinois with its financial affairs online. I believe the Township should form a Transparency Committee, much as the County has done, to make recommendations for disclosure. Currently, the only publicly available financial information is found at the State of Illinois' State Comptroller's Web site under Annual Reports. We must be more accountable and transparent to the taxpayers.

Key Issue 2 The second issue of greatest concern to me involves the services currently made available to the residents. I believe the township needs to re-evaluate all existing programs, espcially in these perilous economic times. I believe there is great opportunity to more positively impact the welfare of our seniors, our youth, our veterans, and our families, within existing revenue, and to expand our public/private partnerships and volunteer opportunities. We can do better!

Key Issue 3 Greater efficiency, less waste of taxpayer dollars. Every program needs to be examined to be sure it is necessary and relevant; we need to look at what we could be doing within our current revenue to offer necessary and important services to our residents and to cut what is unnecessary. As stated above, greater emphasis on volunteerism and partnerships with other governmental bodies will help the Township to do more with less.

Q&A:

1. Name the three most important goals or objectives this board should tackle in the coming term. Prioritize them, and briefly discuss why you believe each to be critical, and how the board should go about addressing them.

1) Transparency: per my discussion above, it is key to restoring trust in government in general. A resident should not have to file a Freedom of Information Request to determine if the budget for the Township makes sense.

2) As a candidate, I have attempted to learn as much as I can regarding the expenditures in the category of general assistance. I have been disheartened by some of what I have learned. I believe, without going into specifics, that we must do better within existing revenue or even with less, especially now.

3) Greater efficiency in the use of taxpayer dollars. Every department must be scrutinized to look for waste; services must be prioritized and maximized for the greatest benefit for the greatest number of residents and we must cut out programs/services which do not meet our criteria.

2. In the 21st century, with municipalities gobbling up vacant land, why are townships needed? Should they be serving a new role? If so, what?

Townships serve a variety of purposes, depending on their location. Those located in more rural communities,of course, provide for more locally accessible government for their residents. In urban areas such as ours they can also personalize government for folks in a much more small scale, user friendly way. Of the three major responsiblities of Township government–maintenance of all township roads/bridges, assessment of all real estate within the township and providing general assistance–it is in the area of general assistance where a township can really shine, if it so chooses. A casual perusal of various township Web sites will reveal a vast array of services offered by various Townships, programs that are either initiated at the Township level or programs supported by Township funding. It is my belief that this Township could be doing so much more with its current resources in the way of enhancing life for our residents than they are currently doing, especially for our youth. We must all learn to do more with less, and that is what I will strive to do.

3. What should be the primary responsibility of township government?

Township government is the most grassroots form of government in our nation, allowing the voice of the people to be heard. It is the real Town Hall Meeting, the attributes of which are so often espoused by national politicians. With no other form of government are the people given so much freedom to direct the activities of an elected group (38 actual options for directing the actions of the elected officials). In an urban area such as ours, it provides a forum for discussion of important issues, such as the impact of the recent Canadian National merger with the EJ & E railroad; it can be a source of aid and support for those in need, as well as providing very small scale responsive government for road maintenance and property assessment. You can find and talk to a real person, quickly. So, in essence, I believe townships should stay and, in fact, in a world which can become very big and very impersonal, it should strive to be the most responsive and most cost effective governmental body.

4. In these hard economic times, can you identify some township expenses/programs that could be trimmed or eliminated to reduce the tax burden?

In these hard economic times and even when times are ”“good””, governmental bodies must always be respectful of the hard working taxpayers who fund their programs. I would take a hard look at all current assets and expenditures to determine if they are truly cost effective and necessary. Partnering with other governmental agencies and private entities and seeking more volunteer participation will be considered in an effort to achieve greater savings.

5. What makes you the best candidate for the job?

I am an energetic, hard working, resourceful person. I will bring the lessons learned from a lifetime of working with families in this community to the position of Clerk. I am a trained mediator who will be able to work collaboratively with all elected leaders and employees of the township as we seek to energize our leaders and staff, better utilize the resources at our disposal, and become more transparent and accountable to the folks we represent and serve. I will take very seriously the role of Clerk and will bring to it the same enthusiasm, thoroughness, and thoughtfulness that I brought to the classroom and to my leadership positions over the course of my career.

 
dianne_a._mc_guire.txt · Last modified: 2010/06/16 13:42 by 127.0.0.1
[unknown button type]
 
Except where otherwise noted, content on this wiki is licensed under the following license: CC Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International
Recent changes RSS feed Donate Powered by PHP Valid XHTML 1.0 Valid CSS Driven by DokuWiki