At a fundraising event on Thursday evening where he asked cronies and contractors who do business with the city to stuff his pockets with cash, Tom Weisner announced he is running for Mayor of Aurora again.
Weisner campaign spokesgirl Carie Ergo confirmed months ago he has been piling up cash and trading future favors at taxpayer expense in anticipation of another campaign.
Just a few weeks ago, Wegman Construction, which "coincidentally" gets most city construction contracts, threw a fundraiser for Weisner, "encouraging" subcontractors and others to pay cash so they can be part of the next taxpayer-funded projects.
While Weisner has had two failed terms after spending over TWO BILLION taxdollars, many wondered if he would run again, but instead of starting his luxury retirement with two pensions and piles of cash now, he's choosing to stay in the game and, like most regimes that become addicted to power and greed, exit when he's forced to.
At Thursday's fundraising event, Weisner made his theme clear "it's all about me...Tom Weisner." Thank to him, crime is down. Thanks to him, there's a new park along the river being built for $20 million with no parking and, thanks to him, Aurora has an Irish bar in downtown that cost taxpayers $2 million.
But, what about Weisner's other accomplishments?
Thanks to Weisner, Aurora has higher unemployment, massive increases in property taxes, fees, sales taxes, wild spending, skyrocketing debt and he has made Aurora "second to none" for corruption.
During Weisner's tenure as mayor, Aurora has seen REVERSE economic development with more businesses and jobs fleeing the city.
Despite the city's fiscal crisis, Weisner has spent millions of taxpayer funds on projects to reward cronies such as the Weisner Crime Palace (Aurora Police HQ), RiverEdge Park and the new library.
At the moment, there is no opponent for Weisner. Most believe Alderman Rick Lawerence would have the best opportunity to defeat Weisner, but he is likely to run for Alderman-at-Large due to having a full-time business to run as well.
There are others who have been talked about as possible mayoral candidates or supporters who would like to see them run against Weisner.
From Aurora Housing Authority (AHA) Chairman Little Al Schuler to State Rep. Linda Chapa-LaVia to former Mayor David Pierce, there are people in addition to Lawrence who could defeat Weisner and send him into early retirement.
While those opponents are not likely, his past opponents are also not likely. Richard Irvin, who has twice lost to Weisner, threw all self-respect down the drain and is now supporting Weisner for Mayor because he wants help to run for judge, which would be a disaster for the legal system.
Stephanie Kifowit, who finished dead-last in 2009, traded her soul to Michael Madigan and is running against Pat Fee for State Representative. It's possible Kifowit could still run for mayor after she loses in November, but unlikely since she is a chronic failure.
Alderman Rick Mervine and former Alderman Chris Beykirch are among other names that have been tossed around, but neither are expected to run.
Like Rick Lawrence, State Senator Chris Lauzen has strong support and would likely be able to defeat Weisner, but Lauzen is on track to become Kane County Board Chairman after November.
However, as one viewer noted, "running against Tom Weisner with all his cash, support from unions and cronies might seem like a difficult challenge, but the reality is Weisner is extremely vulnerable, paranoid and sitting on a house of cards that could fall at any second."
Weisner's close buddy and fundraiser, Raghuveer Nayak, was recently arrested by the Feds. Nayak owns the Old Copley Hospital in the 3rd Ward, which has sat vacant and deteriorated under the watch of Weisner and incompetent alderman Stephanie Kifowit.
53 comments:
I am surprised he didn't make the annoucement at the Latin King's establishment on Broadway and New York.
If Weisner wins re-election then OpenlineBlog should think about shutting down this site.
If Weisner is a failed mayor with a weak record, why are there NO announced opponents? Lawrence dropped out last time before the race began.
Perhaps Weisner's failings are only in the eye of openline. Failed mayors have candidates lining up to take them on. Where is that line of candidates?
I am waiting to see who steps up.
Richard Irvin never had any self respect.
12;12 - you don't know much about winning elections do you?
Rick Lawrence won't run for the same reason he dropped out the last time -- he knows he can't win. It's also doubtful he can win the at-large seat. He can win 4th ward, but probably not any wider election.
Rick will win At-Large. He has excellent,positive name recognition in the 1st, 9th 10th Wards, and will easily carry the 5th and 50% of the 4th.
Wow. You're saying he can only get 50% of his own ward? The one that knows him best? I would have thought he'd be much higher than that in the 4th. So basically he's going to rely on people from other wards to elect him? I guess that explains why he's not running in the 4th again.
3:01
It's ok to wake up anytime.
You know who would win in a landslide if she ran for mayor?,,, Juany Garza.
Another idiot emerges. The new 4th is not the old 4th - read the papers much? It now encompasses part of the old 3rd ward.
You know who would win in a landslide if she ran for mayor?,,, Juany Garza.
True dat.
Is O'Connor running? Rick thinks he can win with him in?
Rick Lawrence: toughest guy on the block, fastest kid in the neighborhood, smartest kid in the class, star quarterback, all city, all conference, first team all state, homecoming king, class president, valedictorian, multi scholarshiped student, Rhodes scholar, fraternity president, president of the Jaycees, driver of the red sports car, leader of men extraordinaire.
I'll be voting for Tom Weisner for the third time. Given the difficulty of managing a economically, socially, and racially diverse community, he has helped this community to positively move forward. I know there are many Openwhine bloggers who won't be satisified until they wake up one morning and discover they are living in Napervile. Guess what? I've been living in Aurora since the early 60's, I didn't hear about Naperville until the 90's. Grow up, if you want to be in Naperville, just move there, it's a short distance. Last I checked anybody has the right to live wherever they choose. Kind of like voting.
I'll be voting for Tom Weisner for the third time.
Proof that Aurora public schools are failures.
So jacking up taxes that few in Aurora actually pay, taking Federal tax and state tax dollars that only a small group actually contribute to and spending it on parks, community outreach programs, and giant police stations etc is your idea of good Government.
It seems like the Weisner administration is nothing short of a bunch of goons who keep bashing the same group of people in the head over and over and taking their wallet using their goon squad friends on the county, state, and national level and toll authority to assist them in their mugging.
Does anybody why Bill Wyatt does not run for Mayor? It seemed to me that when he ran that he got a fair amount of votes. Obviously, it wasn't enough. But he is a active and decent campigner with good people skills and his resume is good enough to be Mayor of a large city like Aurora. I see where Jim Oberweis has renounced his retirement from politics/government and he is running for something again. Would he ever consider running for Mayor? Just asking......
Jim Oberweis does not live in Aurora.
Does Tom Weisner live in Aurora?
Got a corner office at the age of 28, company president at 30, millionaire at 32, defender of the weak and weary, opponent of all evil cabals, advocate for the voiceless, dedicated family man, selective philanthropist, alderman for all his ward, ward protector, maverick, legend and still looks good in a speedo.
Oberweis running for ANY office is a gauranteed week for his opponent.
I am glad Tom Weisner is running again for mayor. I would much rather see him get arrested, convicted and sent to prison for his crimes as a sitting mayor than from his home in Florida.
Rick Lawrence easily could beat Weisner if it were an even-playing field, but aside from Rick, the person I would really love to see run is David Pierce. That would be the ultimate slap in the face to Weisner, who repeatedly stabbed Pierce in the back when he worked for him.
Neither Pierce nor Stover have any respect for Weisner.
4:13 what types of crimes?
I love seeing Weisner supporters claiming there has been anything good in Aurora under him.
Where is it? What didn't cost taxpayers or involve corruption or giveaways or something that wouldn't have happened regardless of who's mayor?
Police station? Cost taxpayers $140 million
Park? Cost taxpayers $20 million
Ballydoyle? Cost taxpayers $2 million
Two Bros? Cost taxpayers $5 million
Waubonsee College? Cost taxpayers $10 million
Shodeen? Cost taxpayers $7 million and there's a large swamp in a field
Buffalo Wild Wings? Cost taxpayers $150,000
Oh wait, there's that Hampton Inn Suites on Rt. 59 that had zero cost to taxpayers and would have been econ dev and tax revenue, but TOM WEISNER killed it.
Anyone who is foolish enough to think Weisner has been good at anything other wasting money and rewarding cronies deserves to pay higher taxes. Another 4 years of Weisner and only idiots who fall for him will be left to pay the taxes.
One of my neighbors remembers Jim Oberweis as a kid always running a business, lemonade stand, cutting grass whatever, and always trying to take it to the next level even as a kid.
One of my friends has a kid who plays chess with Oberwies, he donates his time at places like Mooseheart, funds a bunch of philanthropic endeavors you hardly ever hear of. I don't get all the negativity I see directed at him.
It seems pretty petty to me. I would rather have a man who has run a business of three, who has made something of himself and who remains humble and charitable than many of the alternatives.
7:38 - that was an awesome post. I totally agree.
8:43 you must have never seen any of his campaign literature. There was never any hint of his "humble and charitable" nature. There was a lot of negativity and just outright meanness. The message I clearly got was that he would rather run a negative campaign and lose than run a positive campaign and win. If that's not the real him, then he and his advisors and PR people all sucked big time in getting the true message across. And before you blame the press, I'm talking about the literature his campaign put out and mailed to my house and I saw with my own eyes.
9:47 _ I don't recall anything like that. I do remember the Lauzen Oberweis campaign being nasty but it seemed to me both campaign camps were giving as good as they got if that is your reference.
As an FYI I have stood next to both men at the same time and they seem to get along fine. I think fans in both men's camps tend to harbor far more animosity then the two of them do toward one another.
This last campaign the only dirty tactics I recall seeing came from Dan Proft in support of Dave Richmond attacking Oberweis. Slocum ran a a clean campaign and so did Oberweis. And Richmond was running a clean campaign and then Proft jumped in.
Most of the people who support Weisner are:
1. Cronies
2. Political Mafia
3. Idiots
4. All of the Above
answer: 4
P.S. you forgot Democrats!
The white man isn't a majority with Weisner in office. This town has been taken over by the Mexican and Negro gang bangers and the only one who can save this town is Rick Lawrence. We need someone to clean up this place. Certain neighborhoods can just be bulldozed. RUN THESE BASTARDS OUT OF TOWN!!!!!
Looks like Weisner's the right choice. Everyone else is on the sidelines afraid to make a move.
Rick Lawrence:
Fastest kid on the beach, swam out the farthest, could do more chin ups than any other boy in the class, champion rock and roll dancer, first place prize for the best exhibit at the science fair, read 120 books while on summer break, always selected to help the teacher pick up after class, editor of the yearbook, captain of the lifeguard crew, head of the rowing team, leader of the school patrol team, played varsity sports as a freshman, best dressed young man in his school.
10:06 he's not a choice until there's somebody else running. Until then, he's the default.
Hey 12:39-
Dream time ended five hours ago.
I love all the people who know nothing about what it takes to win a campaign in Aurora proving their ignorance with their posts.
Won the state spelling bee seven years in a row, high honor role since 6th grade, fashion and trend setter, Gogo boy tandem dancer at the middle school talent show, sat first chair in the band playing four different musical instruments (roving member of the band between the brass and woodwind sections depending on the engineered instrumentation of each song), eagle scout at 12, earned 40 differenent merit badges, never needed a flashlight for his night time pee break while camping, always told the best stories around the campfire, never needed a match for a bonfire, never wore a hat in the winter, started shaving at the age of 11 and read war and peace for his 4th grade book report.
The "accomplished" Rick Lawrence posts are pretty funny, especially 2:46. All laughter aside, Lawrence is a force to be reckoned with.
Shiniest shoes in ninth grade, hairiest and most muscular legs in town, best bulls eye shooter in the county, had his own numbers racket when he was twelve, ran a profitable juice loan operation for people who forgot their lunch money, was chauffeured to school every day, first kid in his neighborhood to have a ten speed bike, never bought a pop or ice cream cone after school, used the family fruit tree to propagate a 40 acre apple orchard, made pruno in the family basement and sold it at the county lock up, wore paisley three months before the other boys at school, could sense the trend back to stripes, checks and pastels faster than a camillion, made neck wear a center point for his wardrobe when the other school boys were wearing pull away ties and became the theme for a future salt n pepper hit song.
He sure is, 6:00. Weisner had to reckon with the force of Lawrence running away from him.
Meanwhile The Wizs girlfriend Theodia Gillespe hires a rapist he gets thrown in jail and she allows him to be around students wow sure looks good
So what does it take?
Played Strauss and Dvorak by ear when he was nine, passed the bar exam at the age of 12, did complex math in his head when he was ten, quad lingual by age 13 (English, pig Latin, street corner, and inuet), raced cigar shaped speedboats by 14, bench pressed 400 lbs. in 8th grade, recruited by the Aryan Brotherhood at 13, keynote speaker at the 4th of July parade at age 15, mastered alchemy in 8th grade science lab, built a generator to power his neighborhood in middle school shop class, wrote an essay on the benefit of hearty discourse in freshman extremism and cognition class which still is on display in the language arts wing of his high school, learned how to compost bovine excrement for healthy compost and found a solution to world hunger in ninth grade biology.
6:59 - received his first blowjob at age 13 from your mother and fucked your wife in the ass at age 14.
Now that's an accomplishment!
Gee, 7:20, you've really got a lot of class.
All low.
9:01 at least I do not lay next to a woman knowing Rick Lawrence has been there first and knowing she still longs for his embrace.
7:20/1:03 this is 9:01. First, to make it clear, I'm not 6:59 and haven't been posting all this amusing Rick-Lawrence-Walks-on-Water stuff. Second, your follow-up just doubles down on the low class. Except maybe it shows I gave you too much credit. Your responses from the gutter show you to be scum.
Loser
Anonymous said...
Loser
10/9/12 9:18 AM
You really didn't have to admit it, we already all knew you are.
I am rubber you are glue...nay nay
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