With expenditures from the opponents to the Kishwaukee Valley Water Authority being seen beyond signs, the following press release has been received from the Citizens for Formation of the Kishwaukee Valley Water Authority and the Alliance For Land Agriculture and Water.

It expresses outrage at misrepresentations being made by the referendum’s opponents. The opposition ad can be enlarged to reading size by clicking on the image. It was paid for by the Citizens Against Water Authority.

Citizens for Formation of the Kishwaukee Valley Water Authority and the Alliance For Land Agriculture and Water issue the following warning: Don’t Be Misled.

Woodstock, IL, April 16, 2007. If a four color, half page ad, in the most recent edition of the Woodstock Independent is an indication of what $30,000 and a total lack of integrity can buy, we can expect to see this or similar ads in other publications today and tomorrow.

This is the Kishwaukee Valley Water Authority (KVWA) opponents’ last-ditch effort to weaken the resolve of our supportive constituency prior to the election on Tuesday.

This ad and their previous flyers and public presentations have knowingly provided misinformation and misrepresentations to scare citizens away from considering the water authority and its advantages

Last week one of water authority opponents’ highly respected spokesmen stated in a public forum that the water authority could zone farmers’ land.

A-LAW Director, Emily Berendt, reports,

“When I challenged him about the veracity of the information he was presenting, he admitted that he was only repeating what he was told.

“The truth is that a water authority cannot zone farmers’ lands. A water authority can only zone land the water authority itself owns as it would for a reservoir.

“This is one of the many scare tactics they are using. They recruited a trusting, well-intentioned, well-respected citizen and used him to promote an agenda of intentional half-truths and out of context statements in their own self interest.”

Another recent scare tactic is the attempt to pit county against county at the ballot box, by promoting their personal interpretation that the Water Authorities Act would allow more than one trustee from DeKalb County.

This will be the first water authority to encompass three counties and it is A-LAW’s position that this interpretation does not apply.

In any event, ALL trustees of the water authority will be held to an objective standard and are responsible to all the residents within the authority. There is no room for personal favors, political pressures or private interest buy-offs.

All decisions to permit or not permit must be made based on sound science, with input from experts, advisors and the public, and are subject to judicial review.

Again, the statute insures that there is at least one trustee from each county and we believe that balance would be maintained even if a Judge were to interpret the law differently.

Speculation by the Kishwaukee Valley Water Authority opponents is intended to play to fears and paint a worst case scenario; assuming any additional trustees, above three, appointed would not adhere to their obligations as trustee for the entire water authority.

This also begs the question how anyone believes that in lieu of a water authority our local governments will voluntarily enter into intergovernmental agreements covering water usage. The amount of distrust displayed shows that a water authority is the only immediate route to protecting our water on a regional basis.

A-LAW President Patricia Kennedy says,

“We have answered all our opponents’ questions, countered all their arguments.

“This type of advertising represents their last desperate attempt to discredit the campaign for the Kishwaukee Valley Water Authority.

“It comes down to the simple fact that we are trying to save our water and they are trying to save their profits.

“We have taken great care to present the facts in our presentations, our literature and on our web site. We continue to urge citizens to self-educate, to explore the issue. The KVWA opponents are grasping at straws.”