Morton Grove Trustee Dan DiMaria got Morton Grove residents talking last week when he threw his hat into the ring for mayor in the April 2013 election.
DiMaria plans to run in the February primary election, against Mayor Dan Staackmann, for the nomination of Morton Grove's Action Party. Trustee Larry Gomberg has also announed his intention to run for mayor.
Earlier: DiMaria Will Run for Mayor
Earlier: Gomberg Announces Candidacy
In the question and answer interview below, DiMaria explains why he wants to run, why he chose to run in the Action Party primary, and what he would do as mayor.
Patch: What experience do you have in government?
DiMaria: I moved to Morton Grove in 1997 and got active pretty much right away. I was a Poli Sci major, interested in government, in the political realm. I was put on the appearance commission by Mayor Scanlan, ran for village clerk, filled a vacant seat for trustee, and been trustee pretty much ever since. I did take a two-year sabbatical. At the time my kids were a lot younger. I’ve also served on liasons to various commissions.
Did you take the two-year sabbatical because you lost an election?
No, I’ve been the top vote getter in every election. I don’t know why, I’m always humbled by it. I vote for what’s in the best interest of Morton Grove. I don’t put ego or politics out front, I vote my conscience for what is important for Morton Grove.
Why are you running in the Action Party primary in February rather than the general election in April?
I’m an Action Party guy in the tradition of Dan Scanlan and Jack O'Brien. The Action Party people are good people. The first objective is to do what’s right for Morton Grove.
The thing about the Action Party is no one pressures you to vote one way or the other.
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I didn’t want to run as an independent because I’m an Action Party person. The action party was basically split between me and Dan (Staackmann, the current mayor). I though it was too close to end it there; I thought people should decide who should become the mayor. I wanted to do it as an Action Party member.
No one runs in politics if they don’t believe they can do a better job than the person holding office at that time. I’m not running against Dan (Staackmann) personally, I’m running against his policies and views for the future. If you feel you can do a better job, which I do, what's wrong with exercising my right to run?
Does your decision cause a primary to be necessary? In other words, would there have been no primary if you had not chosen to run in a primary?
No, the Action Party called for the primary, not me. They filed for a primary, they put a petition in before I made my decision to run, and I felt if they filed for a primary, I can use my right to challenge.
If you are an established political party, you have the right to run in the primary. So I thought, I will run in the primary--perfect, I dont want to leave the Action Party.
Why would a political party choose to do that?
Because then they're positioned first on the general election ballot.
Someone raised a question that when you ran for Niles Township Republican Committeeman, there was something amiss with your candidate petitions.
i was unaware of all the rules that related to the petition process. By the time I realized it, I got thrown off the ballot, and rightly so. I admitted that I made a mistake on a technicality.
Apparently the voters still have enough confidence in me because I ran again four years ago and was top vote getter again.
What are your views on what's happening with the village and what the future should look like?
There’s too much turnover in the village--that’s a problem. We’ve been through two economic development directors. The current mayor believes you just keep cutting costs. It doesn’t work that way.
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We need the right-sized staff. You can’t make senseless cuts, you have to look to see where you can make an investment in the future. To me it’s better to invest in our economic development department than to invest in the Morton Grove Exchange (village newsletter), for example.
There's so much potential for this villlage, and under the current leadership I don't feel we're reaching that potential.
What would be your style as mayor, and how would it be different?
I believe in person to person relationships with businesspeople. A mayor should be a promoter, to get business excited about the village.
Look out the window (at Starbucks in Prairie View Plaza). We have 50,000 cars going by, that’s good. But look at the mall we're sitting in, not so good.
I’ve made suggestions; I’m not saying Dan hasn’t.
Usually in these malls, you are dealing with an agent. You’ve got to reach out to him, show him your town, market your town. Philosophically, I don’t think Dan’s aggressive enough.
I was in sales 16 years, which teaches you how to deal with people, how to respond to people. I’m currently a trader and I’m managing people at very difficult times when there’s a lot of pressure on them.
As far as at village hall, I can keep the spirit up and keep everybody moving in the right direction.
Please say more about your background and work experience.
I’m the youngest board member with the most years of experience on the board-- 10 years total. I’m 45.
As to my job, I’m an independent futures trader. I work for myself. I’m also a mortgage loan originator, and I work out of C&R Mortgage in Niles, working with residential loans.
If you notice, especially as a loan originator, it’s dealing with money and people and I’m comfortable with both of those.
At the Aug. 3 village board meeting, when dozens of people showed up to protest the idea of a garbage transfer station being located in the village, you stated that there should be a town hall meeting to air out the issues with residents. Some people accused you of grandstanding, because at that time, trustees were legally under a type of gag order which prevented them from discussing the proposed transfer station. So in effect, trustees could not have spoken or discussed the issue at such a town hall meeting.
The village was complying with the law and following the correct rules. It did the right thing in the process that was set up. However, those residents came to the meeting and they wanted to express opinions. We could still have set up a Q and A session to have the company (Lakeshore Waste Services) answer residents' questions.
In the future, the village needs to have town hall meetings to keep residents informed. There is information that is executive session material (Illinois law permits village boards to go into executive, or closed, session to discuss sensitive financial, legal and personnel matters), but once it became public, they should have set up a Q and A with residents.
Speaking of controversial issues, what would you have done when the idea of putting a Tilted Kilt pub in Morton Grove was proposed?
Earlier: Residents split between wanting new business and opposing Tilted Kilt's too-sexy waitress costumes
DiMaria: I dont believe this mayor made that business feel welcome. I'd say let's have a town hall meeting, tell people the profit it can generate.
I would have encouraged the Tilted Kilt, with resident input and a town hall meeting, but I think this mayor cut it short too quickly. I think he made the owner feel unwelcome. Even if it didn't work, you'd have a building there instead of just a vacant lot with a for sale sign on it.
Could you summarize in just a few words what your candidacy will be about?
I’m a promoter and an outside the box thinker. I would promote business in Morton Grove, and I like to think outside the box.
Mr. Rats
10:39 am on Wednesday, November 21, 2012
You lost me on the Tilted Kilt. We didn't get ranked #1 and #3 best places to live, by respected publications, by having our young MG girls participating or being influenced by the kind of establishment that makes boobies their selling point. I love boobies as much as the next guy but we don't need it here. That's what Chicago is for.
Old Time Grover
10:39 am on Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Nice to see a reporter asking some real questions here instead of people just posting their opinions as gospel truths. I would bet there will be more postings for both sides of this election. I want to see Pam DeFiglio's interview Staackmann so we get both sides of the story from each of them about why they should be our next Mayor. On top of that, she has to check the answers like a good journalist to verify the answers any candidate for office gives us otherwise this is still nothing more than public opinion with a pretty picture attached.
Brad
10:39 am on Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Dimaria is right! The mall at Waukegan and Dempster could be double the size if the town homes just south of it were not there. Monogram Models left years ago and the land was zoned industrial and the board and mayor signed off on a residential re classification.s. Zone it commercial and join it up with the current mall and by George you have a winner! But no MG goes with a residential project that generates very little revenue for the village. Costco is busting at the seams in Niles and wants bigger space. We could have had them if this was played out right and planned better.
Frankly I give Dimaria created for wanting the mayor job at all. Look at the village web site and look at the last four budgets. This town is broke. This years budget was balanced by not making the proper contributions to pensions. Can't do that this year.
sherwin dubren
12:11 pm on Wednesday, November 21, 2012
I still question Dan on his ignorance of the rules of the submission of petitions to run for office in MG. He was a village clerk and was in a position to know the rules more than most other people. I think he just thought it would slip through and his comments at the hearing indicated he did not think much of the rules. This may not have been a major infraction of the law, but it does indicate his ideology about bending the rules if it suits his purposes.
He claims Dan Staackman is too tight on spending. I don't think so. Buying a building for over 1 million for an expanded police department is not what I would call frugal. I agree with him that Dan Staackman is not the best communicator and tends to make decisions without taping into opinions of the residents. Making the Prairie View Mall a TIF was unnecessary. It is not a blighted area. MG residents will have to be fiscally responsible for the success or failure of this project. The owners of the
Mall are wealthy enough to shoulder the burdens of revitalizing it.
.
sherwin dubren
12:11 pm on Wednesday, November 21, 2012
DiMaria's vision of MG allowing any business in that produces revenue is not my idea
of the best one for our village. He bemoans the loss of the Off Track Betting Facility and the Tilted Kilt with no regard for the family oriented environment we all enjoy here. The problem with the economic directors of the past was not their having enough salary, it was the choice of their individual talents in not bringing in new businesses. We have seen a few new businesses come into MG, but we had to bribe them with big tax incentives to snag them. I think our location has more to offer than these expensive incentives. It will be interesting to see if the new Prairie View Plaza can bring in any popular big box operations. The Walmart on Golf is bursting at the seams, so they could easily add another store here.
Finally, I wish more people would get involved in running for mayor. All the choices now are either Action Party or former Action Party people
steve
6:48 pm on Wednesday, November 21, 2012
No ego? How often do we have to hear that he's been the top vote getter? How about running on your record? Where is it? What have YOU done to make me want to vote for you? Promises are just that ... promises. Didn't Dimaria sit on the board that made the cuts he's talking about? I don't recall reading about him voting against the budgets that were presented, which apparently cut staff members. So does he now want to hire more staff? With what money? I see a major property tax increase in this village's future if Dimaria wants "the right-sized staff". What the heck does that mean? And does he honestly think people have time to show up for town-hall meetings? Most of us are working long hours just to stay in our homes. I can't see people taking time to venture out to a special meeting. Communicate with us by updating the website (it's dated and old) and increase the newsletters to once a month. These I can check into on my own time, in addition to what I read here and in the local paper.
sherwin dubren
7:45 pm on Thursday, November 22, 2012
I have to concure with much of what Steve has said about DiMaria. He has never been a strong proponent for openess until recently when he senses a political advantage catering to the outcry to end the lack of communication with the residents.
Dan Staakman has been no better on the issue of openess. The problem is the one party system we have had for the past 4 years. Imagine the US government run exclusively by Democrats or Republicans. We need some true opposition people in the Morton Grove government. Many of the problems that have arisen of late could have been brought to light sooner if there was more open discussion at the village board meetings. DiMaria says the Action Party trustees are given a free hand to vote and talk about issues at these meetings. I don't believe that is true. Any opposition is planned out ahead of time and only allowed if it would not jeaprodize the final outcome of the voting. I saw some of this when attending a Niles board meeting when Nick Blase was manueuvering to get his way. One of his trustees spoke elequantly about the dangers of gambling, but then voted to accept their OTB.
We need some new, fresh, and independent voices in MG.
sherwin dubren
7:45 pm on Thursday, November 22, 2012
The last town hall meeting I went to on the Prarie View Plaza was rigged to favor the
owners. Residents only got to speak at the end and could not address their questions directly to the village or the Plaza owners.
Jac Charlier
7:45 pm on Thursday, November 22, 2012
In the 2012 Illinois general election cycle, 56% of state reps and state senators were unopposed, meaning no choice. Nice to see that Morton Grove will have choices for mayor in both the primary and general election. Different ideas, different approaches, different appeals all make what I call the "civic soup" much tastier.
sherwin dubren
9:13 pm on Thursday, November 22, 2012
Jac, what makes you think DiMaria is any different from Dan Staackman? This is strictly an issue of jockying for power within a single political party. The only way to make this soup tasty is to get people from outside the influence and traditions of the Action Party. It would be like Barack Obama running against Nancy Polosi. They would have some differences, but they would be nowhere near differences if they were running against say Mitt Romney.
Z
7:45 pm on Thursday, November 22, 2012
The bottom line is that Morton Grove does not bring confidence for businesses. This needs to change moving forward because raising taxes on home owners is not the answer. I pay a large chunk of property taxes and have no issue doing it, but when I see horribly dated commercial space (waukegan/dempster) and a lack of leadership, I have to question why I chose to live here.
sherwin dubren
9:55 pm on Thursday, November 22, 2012
Best solution here is to get rid of the old guard. That includes both Staackman and DiMaria and the other Action Party trustees up for re-election.
Lizzy T
10:14 pm on Friday, November 23, 2012
I think there have been new businesses in town like a much bigger Produce World and the Culver's. My friends just love that new Indian restaurant Tava and others that we have too. We can't lay any blame for taxes on the village because a lion's share of my tax bill shows it is going to the schools. They are working on new space at the mall on Waukegan and I remember the stories about meetings that said next year is when they will start working on that area. If Mr Z has questions about living here maybe he should start looking at who is really causing his tax bill to be so high.
Just Call Me George
10:32 pm on Monday, November 26, 2012
Business confindence.... Hmmm. Let's look into that one: Land of Nod, Athans Motors, Culvers, Homestead, North Grove Manor, Tava, Produce World, Safe Glass, Fear CIty, and on and on and on. There are TONS of businesses that have opened in Morton Grove in the past four years, even in the midst of a terrible national economy. And that "horribly dated commercial space" on dempster and waukegan is the target of redevelopment by this administration, and has been discussed at many Village Board meetings (ever been to one?). I would say the current administration has done a pretty good job facing bad enviromental conditions, and has attracted many new and quite substantial businesses to Morton Grove. And, that shows a lot of confidence by business owners. Lets stick with the facts.
sherwin dubren
12:14 am on Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Mg879 has failed to mention all the businesses that have left Morton Grove in the past few years. Produce World is not a new business, but a transplanted one. Culvers was bribed into coming to MG at the cost of being given tax breaks. We continue to see large substancial businesses spring up in our neighboring suburbs.
There are two Walmarts in Niles and none here. Crazy Jaws closed down. There has been a revolving door of businesses springing up and disappearing soon afterwords. East Dempster street is emptying out. The list goes on.
Jac Charlier
9:55 pm on Thursday, November 22, 2012
If true Sherwin, then fair enough. I would not expect candidates of the same party to be too much different. Others (more) may step forward to run then, as is already the case in the general election.
Mark V. Matz
10:14 pm on Friday, November 23, 2012
Not sure how long Jac has been reading Morton Grove posts or where he votes, but it's nice to see someone taking a logical approach and willing to take in others' opinions. But it is misleading to make assumptions about the differences in viewpoints from those elected officials in the Morton Grove Action Party. The experience and viewpoints vary with the person and those who get to vote for candidates here look at the people, not the party. We are all entitled to our opinions, Sherwin has his. It is well documented that no matter what Morton Grove's Action Party does, it is wrong in his view. The "facts" he uses to support his positions are often less than accurate as proven over time. The great thing about America is that we're all privileged to have our opinions, but we vote into or out of any candidate or elected official based on their record. I encourage everyone to look at those records and not rhetoric of any candidate they want to elect into office in Morton Grove. And for the record, Mr. Dubren only received 5.38% of the vote when he ran in 2007 and Dan Staackmann personally received 20.38%. Sherwin's entire ticket of 3 garnered just 15.83% of MG's voters. So once again, Sherwin's facts have to corrected (which can be verified by anyone willing to look on the Cook County Clerk's website). Thanks for reading everyone, please enjoy the rest of your Thanksgiving Day holiday with your family and friends.
Brad
10:50 pm on Thursday, November 22, 2012
Dimaria has been stone walled by Staackmann and the village administrator for years. He has brought forth ideas to save money and keep taxes low but the sensible ideas were put on the back burner because it would give him more popularity. I cannot get particular now but look for the issues to come out in the next few weeks. Getting back to the comments by Z. Your right about Dempster Waukegan. How does Niles entice every big box store and their brother to come into town and we have a village administrator who was quoted in a recent article in the Champion saying,"We will never have a big box store in this town." This is ridiculous! The East end of that mall could easily fit a large store with some creative thinking. We need to act now gang before drastic measures are taken. Residents cannot afford another large tax increase.
Old Time Grover
10:14 pm on Friday, November 23, 2012
It is my opinion that Brad must be DiMaria's mouthpiece. For the rest of us just trying to keep an eye on what's happening here, how would we know his boy was being "stone walled" as he put it? Ideas put on the back burner? OK, enough Brad you are obviously an insider pushing your boy. Look for more issues in the next few weeks? So what other dribble about your candidate are you going to feed us? Had enough political antics with the Presidential election so enough is enough. Act now gang before drastic measures are taken, what kind of nonsense are you trying to stir up here? Give it a rest but answer some of the questions Steve asked "How about running on your record? Where is it? What have YOU done to make me want to vote for you? Didn't Dimaria sit on the board that made the cuts he's talking about? So does he now want to hire more staff? With what money? or Sherwin Dubren's posting which said "I still question Dan on his ignorance of the rules of the submission of petitions to run for office in MG. He was a village clerk and was in a position to know the rules more than most other people. I think he just thought it would slip through and his comments at the hearing indicated he did not think much of the rules. This may not have been a major infraction of the law, but it does indicate his ideology about bending the rules if it suits his purposes." We're waiting!
sherwin dubren
11:56 pm on Saturday, November 24, 2012
I don't know how Mr. Matz does his math and I checked the Cook County Clerk's web site. Unfortunately, the data I found did not go back far enough to show the results of our election. I do know that each of the three Reform candidates received about 450 votes out of a total of 4592 votes cast. That puts me closer to 10 percent of the vote.
It should be pointed out that the Action Party spent well over 10 times the money we spent on this election campaign. This party has received contributions from businesses in the village. Over the years they were in office, they established many contacts in the village, so going up against them was not an easy task.
Mr. Matz thinks I oppose any measures of the Action Party, but he finds absolutely no fault with them. I do not find fault with everything the Action Party does, but I think
they are not doing a good job overall. Not having a viable opposition party to keep them in line allows them to portray the village as a perfect place to live. The Action Party controls the village newspaper, press releases, village board meetings, village web site, etc. Village residents almost never see the realities of what's going on. If
you ask Mr. Matz, the village government is above criticism and we should all rest easy that we are being looked after by the current village officials. I don't think so.
Mark V. Matz
4:05 pm on Sunday, November 25, 2012
Mathematics was one of my better subjects in school...along with history. The official records of results from the 2007 Consolidated Municipal Election can be found on the Cook County Clerk's website. Anyone wishing to see for themselves to verify this, even Mr. Dubren. I hope every reader takes a look since he is now claiming 10% of the vote when earlier he claimed 17%. The question remains, what else has he gotten wrong in so many postings and letters over the years?
http://results.cookcountyclerk.com/electionresults/041707/SummaryElection041707RaceNum131.html?Party=ALL
Just one more thing, if Sherwin or any resident actually asked me if the village government (or the county, state and federal ones for that matter) were above criticism?, I would say no as being able to voice an opinion is part of our American liberties. Are we being served in Morton Grove by good people, working hard and moving the village forward during difficult times? To that I would say yes. One last question, as Mr. Dubren wrote "I do not find fault with everything the Action Party does", can he cite an example or two?
sherwin dubren
11:34 pm on Sunday, November 25, 2012
Mr. Matz, I never claimed 15% of the vote. I did claim my Reform Party received that amount totaling the results of our three candidates. I admit an error in stating 10 percent for myself, as I was having trouble getting to the Clerk's web site and based my percentage on total votes cast for Staackman and Krier. That total was half of what was cast for all the trustees, so that is how I arrived at 10 percent. In any case,
Mr. Matz is in the business of side stepping the issues and trying to discredit people who have opposing viewpoints. One thousand three hundred and fifty six votes were cast for Reform Party Candidates, and that is not a trivial amount. Mr. Matz wants me to give some kind of endorsement for Action by specifying things I find acceptable about them. That's his job as mouthpiece for the Action Party. You can say Mousollini accomplished a few things like making the trains run on time, but that is not worthy of an endorsement of his policies.
Residents who complain about enchroachment of garbage, tearing down parks for
auto dealerships, and lack of communication will get nowhere with this current Action Party, no matter who they put up for mayor and trustees. The only solution is for new faces to appear for mayor and the village trustees. Otherwise, it will be business, as usual.
grandpa
10:29 am on Monday, November 26, 2012
Mr. Dubrin, there you go again. 1356 votes split between 3 candidates comes out to an average of 452 votes per candidate. In most elections, those who oppose the incumbents could run a head of cabbage and get those kind of numbers.
We get it Mr. Dubrin. You don't like the Action Party and you especially don't like Mark Matz.
What many of us don't understand is your continued lack of accuracy regarding your assertions, especially when you have been presented with the facts many times over. And yes, there have been times when you have been correct, but it would be good to note that even a stopped clock shows the right time twice in 24 hours.
sherwin dubren
12:14 pm on Monday, November 26, 2012
Grandpa, the only ones who would vote for you are your grandchildren.
grandpa
1:17 pm on Monday, November 26, 2012
Actually Mr. Dubrin, I have no desire to run others lives as you apparently do.Your ad hominem attack however, still does not explain your fuzzy math and fuzzy logic
sherwin dubren
5:24 pm on Monday, November 26, 2012
Grandpa, if you are not interested in running for office, you should not criticize those who did so,or are thinking of doing so. The only thing fuzzy here is your thinking about what is important and what is trivial. You can't even spell my name right. How fuzzy is that?
grandpa
11:55 am on Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Is that a new DUBRIN law, if you don't run for office you shouldn't criticize? What is trivial is your pathetic ad hominems when you have nothing else to say. By the way the misspelling is deliberate.
sherwin dubren
2:00 pm on Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Fuji, I'm sure some people appreciate your interest in better government, but we also like to keep outsiders from getting involved in our politics. I wish we had some Morton Grove people with your enthusiasm to run for office here.
To Grandpa, you are pathetic.
Brad
3:09 pm on Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Fuji sounds like Staackmann trying to pass the 2013 budget.