Election Night Dish: Here's What Niles Candidates Had To Say

The four people who won election to the Niles Village Board Tuesday had various things to say-from whether newcomer Rosemary Palicki's victory was an upset to how the village can bounce back from the recession.

Rosemary Palicki: 

"Mary Marusek had a strong showing too. We look at it as a victory for independents. That hasn't happened in Niles in a long time. 

"It's not that people should just listen at village meetings. They should be allowed to participate."

"Diversification is something that was needed on the board. We should have women on the board (Palicki will become the second woman of six trustees) as well as the growing populations of ethnic groups."

"It's possible to be heard and be elected without the backing of a party. We had a group of about 20 committed people who got the message out. I hope this is a start for other people to take an interest."

Chris Hanusiak:

"All the candidates worked really hard on getting their message out. We need to continue the progress we've started. We've been working on a comprehensive plan, and things like the Milwaukee beautification project, those things need to be completed. We need to focus on being fiscally responsible and transparent. Transparency is one of those hot words but we really demonstrate it. We need to make the adopted ethics plan functional and put it into effect from the top down. That's the only way to get complete buy-in, we have to follow these policies. We need to be proactive, we don't want to be reactive. We are planning for the next 10-15 years, not the next one or two. I'm very proud of this team and all the people I've been working with on this campaign. We are working toward progress for this village."

Joe LoVerde:

"I feel very honored and privileged that the village of Niles have given me their trust as their voice for the next four years. Rosemary is certainly well respected and her message has gone to the citizens and made this a very tight election, but we are hoping to have our whole team (stated before final results came in). It's so close. My only disappointment tonight is that we have over 18,000 registered voters and I would have loved to see more participation. I'm focused on continuing the commitments we've made. We balanced the budget and we have made efforts toward more accountability. We want to continue meeting the best interests of the village. We have our own challenges, economically especially. But in Niles we have the unique benefit of a great business community and a solid tax base. We'll be among the first to recover from this."

Jim Hynes: 

"I can't say it's an upset. There were low voter totals and it was a close vote all around. For the village, I just want to get this budget done and get it done right. Maybe we can close the $120,000 gap without dipping into reserves. So much is dependent on sales tax revenues, and we don't know what those will be."