People need to pay more attention and get involved

There’s an ongoing problem with apathy when it comes to elections in this country.

We read and hear stories all the time about low election turnouts. Even when the ballot issues are divisive, like the recent presidential election, the turnout is shockingly low when compared to the number of people registered to vote. This results in a small concentration of power. If you like in a small town like Palos Hills, you see it up close and personal all the time.

Here is my favorite election day story to illustrate my point. I received word that there was a problem with the spot some of our Conrady YES volunteers were standing to distribute information. I called Mayor Bennett’s secretary, who started our conversation by threatening to file a complaint with the Cook County Clerk’s office and reminding me she could have people arrested.

Whenever I asked something she didn’t want to answer, she simply hung up on me. I wasn’t yelling or fighting or screaming. I was simply saying things like, “Oh, I didn’t know we had someone standing at city hall.”

I called four times before I discovered that the problem wasn’t with our volunteers. It turns out that Palos Hills didn’t mark the 100 foot line. (By law you have to stand 100 feet away from the doors of the polling place.) She was complaining that our people were standing on the wrong side of a line that didn’t exist.

I told her that once the line was marked, we would be sure not to stand too closely. She had the line marked. We positioned volunteers where they needed to be. All was well.

Why did Mayor Bennett’s secretary feel it was okay to hang up on me mid-sentence and threaten to arrest our volunteers? It’s simple. We live in a small town where everyone complains, but no one challenges those in office. (Yes, I live in Palos Hills.)

Think about it. If Mayor Bennett’s secretary was at all concerned about losing votes for him by her intimidation attempts, do you think she would have done it? Of course not.  

It’s an especially difficult problem in small towns like Palos Hills. People like the small town feel, but you also end up with the petty, small town politics. Ask anyone who lives in a small town anywhere in the country. I told my cousin in Colorado the story about Mayor Bennett’s secretary hanging up on me and she replied, “Oh, you should hear what happens at our city hall.” I can guarantee that the administrative staff in Orland Park or Oak Brook or Schaumburg or LaGrange wouldn’t have hung up on me. Those people aren’t blindly loyal to one person/candidate. In larger towns, the power isn’t concentrated with a few people. There are so many people involved that it’s hard for one person to feel like he/she is in total control.

If we want change, we have to step up and get involved.

Since we lost the school referendum campaign people ask me if I’m sorry I worked on the campaign. My answer is always absolutely not. I still believe that the best way to solve community problems is to ask the community for its opinion. The answer is not always going to make everyone happy, but it is up to the community to decide. We asked. The community answered. We accomplished our mission and respect the outcome.

I only wish more people would get involved in their community.

Do you know who your elected officials are? Do you know what their positions are on issues important to you? Do you know when your city council meets? Have you ever been to a meeting? Have you read your city budget? Do you know what different city offices do and who runs these offices?

When someone talks about running for office do you encourage it to make sure our incumbents don’t get too comfortable?

Too many things aren’t on people’s radar until it’s too late to make changes. It’s time for people to take back their communities from those who feel a little too comfortable in their offices. Next time you see an issue that really makes you think, ask yourself what you can do to get involved. Then go and do it.