After decades, Bolingbrook residents have a choice of who to vote for mayor. I’m going to step out of character for a bit and urge Bolingbrook’s residents to choose Jackie Traynere and Bolingbrook United over Mayor Roger Claar and Bolingbrook First on April 4.
While Claar can put on a friendly face in public when he’s with Bolingbrook residents, he’s not really a friend of the average Bolingbrook resident. In 2015, the median household income was $77,929. Yet, he spent taxpayer dollars on the following: 1) a luxury golf course that most residents don’t use, 2) a subdivision of McMansions that most residents can’t afford, and 3) an international airport that most residents can’t use.
Despite being mayor of a diverse community, Claar not only endorsed Donald Trump, but served as his delegate, helped organize a fundraiser for him, and defended him in the media. Claar talks about diversity, but his support of Trump and his unwillingness to offer any resistance to Trump’s Muslim ban makes us question his current commitment.
Supporters may say that Bolingbrook is well run, but the truth is it runs well for Claar’s wealthy donors. In 2009, the Chicago Tribune stated the following:
Nearly half of his donations came from companies and individuals who have done business with Bolingbrook. Those contributors received more than $300 million in village work — nearly 60 percent of the money that Bolingbrook spent on vendors over the last decade, the Tribune analysis shows.
Because of Claar’s decisions, the village now has over $300 million dollars in debt. Relabeling it as “Visionary Investment” does not change that fact.
I do not believe in change for change’s sake. The election of Donald Trump is proof of this. I also understand that because someone opposes Claar, that does not mean they should be voted into office. Citizens for a Better Bolingbrook was an example of this, with candidates who were exceptionally dishonest and delved into conspiracy theories about Claar. Like claiming he hired someone to cause a car crash in hopes of killing one of their candidates.
I believe that Bolingbrook United’s candidates are competent and can bring about the changes Bolingbrook needs. They have promised to end pay for play, stop automatic pay raises for elected officials, and only accept one salary from the village. More importantly, they have promised to represent all of Bolingbrook’s diverse residents. I think they can make these changes, and I will do my best to hold them accountable if they do not.
I wholeheartedly disagree with you.
BOLINGBROOK United has given ZERO solutions to the problems they brought up. When you grow a town by 40000k residents there needs to be infrastructure and that costs money.
The Golf Course is used my many in the village for more than just golf. I’m not a golfer but I know that the area the course is on is primarily flood plain. It keeps the rest of the town from flooding like it used to.
By bringing in Chicago alderman, Cook County politicians and ZERO support from current Will County Colleagues that tells me more about unqualified Jackie and her team to run a multi Million dollar municipality.
Their constant hounding about TRUMP is a waste of time. TRUMP has ZERO to do with a local election.
Maybe you should ask how many companies or jobs Durbin, Duckworth, Preckwinkle or Garcia has brought to Bolingbrook.
ROGER is no angel but he is GREAT for our town. He has earned our support.
Thank you
$36 million dollars for a socialized luxury golf course and over-priced subdivision? I’ve been there. It looks nice. I know it is sometimes used for other events. There are, however, better ways to spend that money and be more beneficial to the village. Saying that the choice is between a luxury golf or flooding is a false one.
To many residents, Roger Claar’s support of Donald Trump is a very big deal, and does reflect on local politics. Many residents pride themselves on Bolingbrook’s ethnically diverse population. However, Roger not only supported Trump’s divisive and bigoted campaign, he brought him to Bolingbrook and helped him raise millions of dollars. Bolingbrook has a large Muslim population, yet Claar supported a candidate who wants to enact a Muslim ban. Claar used the influence he gained as mayor of Bolingbrook to promote a President who appointed white supremacists to his cabinet.
Taking issue with Cook County politicians, yet not having a problem with Claar’s political machine, makes no sense. Claar’s machine controls or influences most levels of government in Bolingbrook. The only way to gain municipal experience in Bolingbrook is to be an ally of Claar. If anything, residents of Cook County have more of a say in their government than Bolingbrook residents do. There’s a reason Claar’s trustees are called “Roger’s Robots.”
Bolingbrook is a great place. Imagine how much greater it could be if we could be confident that village contracts were awarded based on merit and not on campaign donation? Imagine how much greater Bolingbrook’s businesses would be if they didn’t have to pay the Roger Tax?