The Crystal Lake mayoral campaign between 16-year incumbent Aaron Shepley and write-in Sascha Chadwick has entered the video arena.
The following was posted on YouTube by Chadwick:
Here is the text:
YouTube Video Transcript for Sascha Chadwick Write-In for CL Mayor-Paid for by Citizens to Elect Sascha Chadwick
Hi my name is Sascha Chadwick and I am running for Mayor of Crystal Lake.
Today my family, friends, and volunteers visited you looking for your support on April 7th for my Mayoral bid.
I am a lifelong resident of Crystal Lake and a 1996 graduate of Central. I have my business located here in Crystal Lake as well.
I am an entrepreneur and I can only see opportunity for Crystal Lake and all the things it possibly could be.
The reason why I was going around today with my family, friends, and volunteers was to encourage an open and honest dialogue between the City as well as its residents, the park district, and the school districts.
It’s time that we stop fighting against each other and time that we start working together.
My three reasons I am running for Mayor of Crystal Lake:
- To attract AND keep businesses
- To simplify the zoning and permitting process
- To have our community work together as a cohesive unit.
If elected, I will fight against tax increases, I will have self-imposed term limits, and I will respect you and your ideas.
I want to see you in the Community NOT just at City Hall.
Is he like 13 years old?
Does he need to shave every day, or is it one of those “I guess the mustache is getting a little dark, time to ask dad for a shaver” type of things?
Really Fedor….
I learned when I was a little kid that if you can’t say something nice then don’t say anything.
How does you 6:08 comment benefit the upcoming election, voters, anything or anyone?
Fedor – Just sit back and have another beer as you clearly have such a limited understanding of the issues at hand.
Older than Shepley when he became mayor.
What a limited mentality, Fedor.
Good Luck, Sascha!
Look, I dislike Shepley and most of the CL Council as much as the next person (they are anti-business, pro-spending), but I can’t get behind someone who made such a dilettantish effort to get on the ballot.
Sascha’s entire campaign is an afterthought.
Mayor is not a difficult job, but at a bare minimum it requires some attention to detail (lest we have another tax levy without a quorum http://mchenrycountyblog.com/2015/03/26/judge-rules-in-favor-of-cl-tax-protesters-in-3-2-passage-of-levy/).
Why should I believe that Chadwick will be a good mayor when he couldn’t even number the pages of his petition correctly?
Fedor – have you ever had to handle petitions?
This can easily happen.
It was not like getting removed for false signatures, dead people signatures, etc.
It was NOT something dishonest.
Shepley has had an easy ride.
Did not want ANY competition.
I think that speaks volumes about him.
Chadwick seems like a great leader for the people of Crystal lake!
I have some serious concerns about Mr Chadwick.
While I would agree that his petition was NOT dishonest, the fact remains that he did not follow the rules – plain and simple. The fact that he continues to whine about it and blames someone else is childish behavior.
He did not follow the rules, he was caught – be a man and accept it.
In addition, I find it quite disturbing that one of his main platforms is ensuring a good relationship between other government bodies yet he was petitioned to be thrown off his OWN homeowners association.
http://www.wyndmuir.org/minutes/WHOA_Minutes_Dec_2010.pdf
Seems like he cannot seem to get along with his own neighbors and friends yet claims to be the best person to building relationships between the Park District and D155!
FYI,
Yes, I have.
The requirements for nominating petitions are about as simple as you can get. http://www.iasb.com/pdf/somerules.pdf
I personally don’t blame Shepley for having Chadwick removed from the ballot.
Why spend tens of thousands of dollars on an election when you don’t have to?
Politicians have a responsibility to their donors to make good use of campaign contributions, and going through a contested election that you do not have to go through is pretty irresponsible.
The arguments being brought forth on this blog regarding the petition signatures are really a total ruse.
Fedor and Shackelton are obviously political supporters of Mayor Shepley – and that’s fine – but don’t pretend to be objective analyzers of the petition process.
In doing so, you both feign a legitimate argument. W
hat Fedor and Shackelton are really doing is a concerted effort to delegitimize Mr. Chadwick while appearing as objective citizens.
What a laugh.
FYI is correct.
Anyone who has ever passed petitions knows what ridiculous rules that candidates are burdened with. The rules themselves are purposely nebulous to empower those who hold office.
Whether the pages are “numbered” correctly, whether they are stapled or paper-clipped, whether the addresses are spelled-out fully etc. are meaningless rules that are intended on trapping upstart politicians like Mr. Chadwick.
The purpose of petition signatures is simply to limit the candidates on the ballot to those who can affirm at least some community support.
Chadwick has done that, clearly.
The CL City Council voted down his petitions simply because they like their little gig.
They don’t want to be criticized and challenged by an upstart.
That’s the issue here.
Just don’t cloak it in a phony sense of outrage that Mr.
Chadwick didn’t correctly fill out his paper work.
That is a joke; that’s the type of argument that gives politicians their bad reputation.
Skeptic – you can certainly disagree with my personal point of view regarding Mr. Chadwicks capabilities to improve relationships between government bodies (although I feel that D155 should take the lead on that) but you cannot deny the facts – he did not follow the rules.
Thousands of politicians new and old follow simple basic rules to complete a petition.
However ridiculous you perceive those rules, they are anything BUT a burden!
I would agree with you that most of the current Council members likely enjoy their positions, but its a bit of a stretch to say they bounced Mr Chadwick because they don’t want to be challenged by an upstart.
He did not follow the rules!
The fact that we put the blame on others for our own mistakes is a growing trend in America.
And that my friend is the joke!
Mr. Powell should clarify his comments… is his judgement based on the video on this site?
If so will he bring the same level of insight and judgement to the board in Spring Grove?
Mr. Shackleton, you are a supporter of Mr. Shepley.
That is the reason you have such an obsequious interest in “the rules”.
Insistence on following the rules for its own sake is the sign of a little man.
When clearly the intent, desire, are reason all reveal that in the spirit of the REASON the petitions are even required, Mr. Chadwick met all the criteria…he should have been approved.
If you disagree, that’s fine, but I sure would not be interested in being your friend….
I might break one of your inane rules.
I understand Jeff Thorsen is postbg on Facebook to vote for Shepley.
If you know Crystal Lake politics and the relationship between Jeff and the Mayor that says a lot.
To make it completely clear, I am not a supporter of Shepley, and I did begrudgingly vote for Chadwick but only because I always vote against Shepley.
If look at my post history, I have been vocally against Shepley on numerous occasions.
Chadwick is still going to lose big today, though.
My criticism of Chadwick is more of a general criticism of numerous people around the county who are making half-assed attempts to unseat our terrible incumbents.
There’s only so much political will to get rid of these goons, and dilettantes like Chadwick are wasting that political will on their doomed-from-the-start campaigns.
Congratulations, Sascha.
You may capture 35% of the vote (at most, and I have a $5 bill for anyone who is willing to take the over on that 35% number if you agree to put up your own money before 5:00 p.m. today), and you may be able to contorted that result into a small victory (the same old “We made the power take notice of us! It wasn’t in vain! I’ll be back!” concession speech), but you’ve set us back in the war against the entrenched power.
The reformers in the county need to have their Come to Jesus moment.
Quit wasting resources (and, more importantly, the credibility of the reform movement) on doomed attempts.
Skeptic – I’m not clear on your point.
I WILL be voting for Aaron Shepley primarily because Mr Chadwicks platform is full of holes.
Mr. Chadwick wants to expedite the Zoning and Planning process.
That was done years ago by combining both committees into a consolidated group.
I have not heard one word from him on HOW he plans to further expedite this process.
He made claims on the NWHerald site that the fiscal health of the city is ‘poor and deteriorating’ yet the FACTS prove otherwise through independent audits.
Given his background – that is a problem.
His flyer points out that he wants to “encourage open dialogue and cooperation among the various governmental entities”.
I would agree that this would be beneficial (although quite obvious) but given the FACT that he was petitioned by his neighbors (people who live next to him) to be thrown off the homeowners board I think you’ll agree that he is not the right man for the job.
These are FACTS – not opinions and these are the reasons why Mr. Shepley will EARN my vote.
Finally, regarding your comment about “following the rules for its own sake”, unfortunately these are not “rules” – it is the LAW.
If I’m a little man for wanting people to follow the law then I’m certainly guilty as charged.