A complaint has been filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections alleging the group seeking to change Danville’s form of government is violating election codes. Jerry Hawker says he filed the complaint as an individual, and not as a member of the group opposed to having a city manager.
Hawker claims the financial records of Moving Danville Forward cannot be easily obtained, even though it is a requirement of election laws. ‘’We don’t know where any of the expenses before October 1st occurred,’’ says Hawker. But Pat O’Shaughnessy, one of the organizers of Moving Danville Forward, says they are not hiding anything.
‘’It’s right there. Everything is there (on papers filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections),’’ says O’Shaughnessy. But the information is not listed under Moving Danville Forward because there has been no paperwork filed under that name. Instead, proponents of the change called their group ‘To Support Adoption City Manager Government for Danville, Illinois’ when they filed paperwork with the State Board of Elections.
Total contributions to ‘To Support Adoption City Management Government for Danville, Illinois’ totaled nearly $20-thousand dollars on October 1st. But Hawker notes it lists no expenditures.
And a portion of the group’s income includes a more than $9,000 matching grant from the International City Managers Association – something Hawker says shows there is money from Washington D.C. backing the effort to change Danville to a city manager. O’Shaughnessy says they are thrilled to get the grant money. And he adds, hopefully the City Council will turn to the group for expertise to help in the selection of a new city manager. He also notes ‘Moving Danville Forward’ has ‘’always just been our slogan. We haven’t hid one thing,’’ proclaimed O’Shaughnessy.
Danville residents vote November 6th on whether the city will have a city manager and a part-time mayor. No matter how the vote goes there will continue to be 14 city council members – with two elected from each of the seven wards.
