Ward war

click to enlarge

Ward 7 Alderman candidates Joe McMenamin, Sarah Delano Pavlik and Michael Higgins

Ward 7 Alderman candidates Joe McMenamin, Sarah Delano Pavlik and Michael Higgins

Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin can be forgiven if he feels like a walking bullseye.

After one term in office, McMenamin has held firm to certain principles, chief among them an insistence that the city take painful steps to deal with burgeoning deficits in pension funds. The stance has put him on the lonely end of 9-1 votes against collective bargaining agreements, which he says worsen the pension problem by including raises that the city can’t afford, and annual budgets that he says kick fiscal cans down the road.

An apex came in 2012, when McMenamin criticized his council colleagues in a radio interview, saying that he digs into issues more than other aldermen because he has more time to do research. At times, he told the interviewer, he felt like he was talking to a brick wall during council meetings. His comments were gasoline on a smoldering fire.

“I say this from the very depths of my heart: You, sir, are a bully,” Ward 2 Ald. Gail Simpson told McMenamin during the first council meeting held after the 2012 radio interview aired.

It is little surprise, then, that McMenamin has two opponents in the upcoming April 7 election. Challenger Sarah Delano Pavlik is blunt: The biggest issue in the race, she says, is McMenamin.

“I’m running because I didn’t like the representation we were getting in Ward 7,” says Pavlik, who, like McMenamin, is an attorney. “Mr. McMenamin seems to vote ‘no’ on everything. He doesn’t seem to work well with others on the council, which means if he ever has a good idea, he doesn’t have anyone to work with to get it done.”

McMenamin says that there’s a method to his maverick moves.

“There’s usually a reason for the ‘no’ votes that are understood by thinking constituents,” says McMenamin, who points out that he voted in favor of a tax increment finance district for MacArthur Boulevard and for a sewer upgrade plan. “My relationship with the voters is more important than my relationship with the other aldermen. I respect the aldermen and I respect the political parties. But, I think, ultimately, you have to do things in the public interest, the general interest, instead of the special interests.”

Asked about Pavlik’s take on the incumbent, Michael Higgins, who lost to McMenamin four years ago, said that the race isn’t about the current alderman.

“That’s her point,” Higgins said. “I think a bigger issue for Ward 7 is quality of life issues.”

Higgins, who owns Maldaner’s restaurant in downtown Springfield, said that he’s concerned about population decline in the heart of the ward. He said that his status as a ward resident and downtown business owner helps him understand and appreciate the needs of the city as a whole.

“It allows me to see the big picture,” Higgins said. “What is good for Ward 7, what makes Ward 7 strong, is also good for the city. … When we make the wards vibrant and strong and people want to move into them, we make the city strong.”

Higgins sits on the city’s bicycle advisory council and is also on the boards of the MacArthur Boulevard Association and Downtown Springfield, Inc. He favors bicycle paths in the city and supports last year’s creation of bicycle lanes on Second Street. He says that City Water, Light and Power should invest in renewable energy. He also says the city should invest in a citywide fiber optics system. Such ideas, he said, might face opposition, but that is the price of progress.

“When you start moving the city forward, sometimes there is resistance to it, but at the end, you don’t want to go back to the way it was,” Higgins says. “Does anyone here want to go back to horse-and-buggy days? Does anyone here want to go back to not having electricity?”

Higgins has faced financial challenges evidenced by more than $100,000 in federal tax liens filed against him in the Sangamon County recorder’s office dating back to the 1990s. The liens were not renewed within 10 years, indicating that they are no longer in force. Higgins said that he had established a payment plan with the Internal Revenue Service, which he says ultimately determined the debt uncollectable.

Pavlik, who is a Capital Township trustee, says that she’s concerned about CWLP’s financial stability.

“We can’t really function with this constant ‘Are we going to be in technical default (on bond debt), are we not going to be in technical default,’” Pavlik said. “I think changes do need to be made. I would look to the professionals over there (at CWLP), the utility professionals, to tell us what those need to be.”

CWLP hasn’t had a general manager since Mayor Mike Houston took office four years ago. Chief utility engineer Eric Hobbie oversees the electric division, and Pavlik says she believes that he’s done a good job.

“From what I’ve seen, I think he’s up to the task,” Pavlik said.

Pavlik is supported by the Sangamon County Republican Party. As of March 22, she had raised $16,052. Her biggest contributor is EMS Midwest LLC, a business consulting firm that gave $5,000 and is owned by Chris Stone, a lobbyist who is a co-owner of Lucy’s Place, a chain of video gambling parlors.

Higgins has raised $7,226. His largest contributor is the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 965 Political Action Committee Fund, which has contributed $1,000. He has been endorsed by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal  Employees Council 31, the Central Illinois Trades and Labor Council and the Sangamon County Democratic Party.

McMenamin, who says that he will accept no contributions from unions or businesses that hold city contracts, has raised $29,556. His top contributor is Margot Kramer, a retiree who has contributed $3,300.

Contact Bruce Rushton at [email protected].