Come to the Executive Committee Meeting Thursday April 4th and voice your opinion 10am 302 N. Chicago, Joliet.
Slowik: Some say bill to abolish select Will County township clerks is a form of revenge, others call it a power grab
A bill proposing to abolish the offices of six elected township clerks has sparked a political firestorm in Will County.
The furor has created a rift among Democrats and prompted an outcry from Republicanswho typically support reducing layers of government.
The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Natalie Manley, D-Joliet, said Thursday the measure would reduce government waste and improve efficiency.
Critics want to know more about purported cost savings, since the proposal calls for the Will County Clerk to appoint deputy clerks in each of the affected townships.
Some say the legislation is political retribution. If approved, the measure would eliminate the job of Lockport Township Clerk Debbie Mushro-Rumchak, who ran against a Manley ally — Will County Clerk Lauren Staley-Ferry — in the 2018 Democratic primary.
Manley supported Staley-Ferry in that election, in which Mushro-Rumchak’s campaign uncovered information that Staley-Ferry faced a felony forgery charge in 2002 in Arizona.Prosecutors dismissed the charge 10 years after Staley-Ferry left the state.
“To question my integrity is absurd,” Manley told me Thursday. “I went with the person I thought was most qualified (in the primary for county clerk). The way you retaliate in an election is you win.”
Manley’s legislation, House Bill 3301, proposes to eliminate the offices of township clerk in Lockport, Joliet, Plainfield, Troy, Wheatland and DuPage townships. Portions of each township are within her 98th District.
The constitutionality of the proposal is being questioned, as it seeks to immediately terminate offices held by elected officials, rather than at the conclusion of their current terms. Also questioned is why the six townships are targeted and why Manley filed the bill without consulting local officials.
“It’s problematic on many levels,” Joliet Township Clerk Beth Ann May said.
Manley’s claims that the measure would reduce the size of government are suspect, May said. The proposal states that not only would the Will County Clerk appoint deputies to replace the township clerks, the deputies could then hire assistants.
“There would be no savings,” May said.
In a March 18 letter to Manley, Will County Executive Larry Walsh and Will County Board Speaker Denise Winfrey expressed concerns about how county taxpayers would fund the newly created positions within the county clerk’s office.
“We do have some concern about the proposed legislation in that we do not have a clear understanding of the fiscal implications of the proposed actions,” Walsh and Winfrey wrote. “We are asking you to hold this legislation until further information can be collected from the impacted township clerks and the Will County clerk.”
Manley claimed opponents had weeks to air their concerns, and that it was not her responsibility to inform township officials of the proposal.
“That’s not how this works,” Manley said. “I’m working closely with the Will County clerk’s office.”
Manley filed a one-paragraph summary of the bill on Feb. 15, but details were not publicly available until an amendment was filed on March 14. The House Counties and Townships Committee approved the measure by a 10-3 vote a week later on March 21, and the bill is speeding toward a second reading before the full House.
The timing of the legislation also is questionable, as Staley-Ferry is busy dealing with complications related to running her first election since becoming county clerk. Last month, Manley was named assistant majority leader for the House Democratic Caucus.
“Since the bill was filed we’ve talked to Leader Manley quite a few times,” Staley-Ferry said Thursday. “We have an election right now — that is our priority. I wish we had more time to do research. I’m confident we would be able to handle the duties” of township clerks.
This week, the county clerk’s office said a printing error was to blame for incorrect mail-in ballots being sent to five voters. The clerk’s office recalled the ballots and provided the affected voters with correct ones.
The speed at which the bill is zipping through the legislature concerns those who would be affected and who question the claims of cost savings.
“I think the real reason behind it is to consolidate power,” said Wheatland Township Clerk Jacob Snitko. “(Manley) is really interested in dissolving local government and taking away services provided by (the townships) and consolidat(ing) power by the higher office — the county — under the pretense to save money … I consider such (a) move foolish and outrageous.”
Manley brushed off critics as “naysayers.”
“Of course (the township clerks) are not going to like it,” she said.
Manley describes the proposal as a “pilot program,” though critics contend the legislation is crafted to target political rivals within her district. The township clerk posts are held by four Republicans and two Democrats who did not support Staley-Ferry in last year’s primary for county clerk.
“If the reasons (for the bill) were about good government, we could answer,” May said. “If it’s not about government, is it because Denise Mushro-Rumchak ran for clerk? It was not a healthy race. It was a stressful race.”
Mushro-Rumchak declined to speak at length about the proposal.
“I oppose the bill,” she told me. “I just want to serve my constituents. That’s what I was elected to do.”
Staley-Ferry said there was no connection between Manley’s bill and her contest last year with Mushro-Rumchak.
“There is no basis for that (criticism) whatsoever,” Staley-Ferry said. “It’s not my bill. I’m not the legislator.”
But critics such as Will County Republican Party Chair George Pearson of Monee blasted Manley’s proposal.
“As a conservative Republican I’m all about eliminating layers of government,” Pearson told me Thursday. “I’m for good legislation in which all the parties are consulted. This bill is done selectively out of revenge and they’re not addressing the issue” of waste in government.
Not only does the bill face a likely court challenge — at taxpayer expense — by unconstitutionally eliminating offices of elected representatives in the middle of their terms, the proposal conflicts with numerous state statutes regarding township government, Pearson said.
“It doesn’t recognize the duties and responsibilities of township clerks,” he said. For example, township clerks by law must co-sign contracts awarded by highway commissioners after bids are sought for projects.
The proposal doesn’t consider travel costs for deputies assigned to work in townships or overtime costs for deputy clerks to attend township meetings during evening hours, Pearson said.
Four of the six affected township clerks currently work part-time for about $15,000 a year without benefits and would be replaced by union county employees earning $35,000 to $60,000 a year, plus benefits, Pearson said.
Pearson provided a letter signed by the clerks of Joliet, Wheatland, Troy, DuPage and Plainfield townships, criticizing Manley for a lack of communication about the proposal.
“No contact was ever made,” the clerks wrote. “Given the lack of communication, lack of research, lack of a substantial sound basis and the financial impact on the county one must ask, is there another motive here?”
Pearson also provided a copy of a March 19 news release he issued.
“I am indignant that Representative Manley would stoop to such depths to target her political enemies,” Pearson said in the release.
The letter by the clerks and the release by Pearson urged people to contact their legislators and ask them to vote against HB 3301.
“The Will County Republican Central Committee is outraged by this bald-faced attack on our elections and on our townships’ autonomy,” Pearson wrote. “Manley has no respect for the citizens of Will County and their duly elected township clerks.”
