Vaughn defeat a surprise
February 24th, 2009 at 10:00pm Chuck Sweeny
Wow. We thought it was going to be a non-event, this election. But not in Machesney Park.Voters have thrown out incumbent President Linda Vaughn in the Democratic primary and replaced her with Tom Strickland, a persistent critic. Under Vaughn MP made tremendous progress, developing a steady source of sales tax on the Illinois 173 corridor. Her defeat puts community development chief Karen Lemmons, the brains of the MP outfit, on shaky ground.
Lest Strickland gloat too much, he won with very few votes, 821 to 731, a 90 vote margin.
Hardly anybody voted.Vaughn should have done some more campaigning.
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9 Comments Add your own
1. Nelson | February 24th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Her defeat doesn’t surprise me.
My wife and I left Machesney Park four years ago…partly because of the idiocy of the Vaughn administration.
I appreciate the fact that business is booming on the 173 corridor. However, to be an effective leader, one must be attentive to the people, not just business. In that area, she was severely lacking.
2. Barb | February 25th, 2009 at 1:05 am
First of all, can we call her what she is…she’s the President. I don’t know where the mayor bit started but she is not the mayor.
The fact that she’s surprised says a lot. She should not have been surprised. Anyone who attended a meeting is not surprised by the outcome of today’s election. The people who tried to get answers, tried to voice their opinions at those meetings were not being heard. All we got is her standard reply….anyone else.
Its sad when community leaders know the rules of whether or not you can use a paper clip on election paperwork yet I wonder how many of them know how many residents are still out of their homes since the floods last June.
Even now after the results of the election have been counted, President Vaughn isn’t hearing what we have to say.
3. dudessabides | February 25th, 2009 at 3:21 am
“Vaughn should have done some more campaigning”. You think that is the problem because the rrstar has done such a poor job of reporting concerning what has been happening in Machesney Park for the last 20 years.
What is good for a few business men is not always what is good for the people who live in the community, believe it or not. The unconstitutional way that the special assessment program was administered stole the equity from the homes of many people and put many families out of their homes.
Vaughn was in MP politics from the beginning of the incorporation of the village, a fact that the rrstar ignored. She did not just appear in 2001. She and her friends were in on helping the real estate speculators make money through forcing people out of their homes through the spec. assess. program.
The primary purpose of government is to provide services for its citizens that they cannot provide for themselves as individuals. The primary purpose is not to help your friends or campaign fundraisers become wealthy by using your office while ignoring the needs of the citizens.
What happened to the $250,000 that Dick Durbin came up with four years ago to repair Roosevelt Road? Roosevelt Road is still crappy.
4. dudessabides | February 25th, 2009 at 7:01 am
Oops. I just found the February 17th story about Strickland and Vaughn that says she was trustee two terms, then clerk for two terms. Why didn’t the rrstar point that out the last two times she ran for mayor? That wouldn’t have been in her favor.
5. Sarah | February 25th, 2009 at 11:04 am
I think Linda Vaughn’s betrayal to the democratic party is one reason she lost. When she decided to support republicans over democratics that was wrong. Then she lied and said she wasn’t supporting the Jerry Lemons group. Jerry Lemons is quoted in the paper, he was with her election night. You can’t play both side Linda, when you do this is what happens. You don’t listen, listening to your constituents is what you are suppose to do. You didn’t listen and you lost. Doug Aurand listens to the people. You may want to learn from this.
6. Jen | February 25th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Her loss to the election shouldnt be some big suprise. I agree w/ Barb(above) about the Village President thing. Hahah. As soon as she took office she became “mayor” instead of Village President..which annoyed me.. She has done nothing for Machesney Park. Roosevelt Road should have been fixed a LONNNG time ago instead she wants to put in retail stores, which a majority of the places still sit unrented. Besides her not getting Roosevelt Rd fixed, theres MANY MANY more roads that needed tending to, but she fixed roads that were in good condition… I guess she feels the “low rents” of machesney park shouldnt get treated w/ such royalties.
Most of the time, when I used to watch to village meetings, she would sit there and act like she was all so high and mighty..PLEASE! I guess its hard to act like a wanna be mayor doing their job right.
7. Mary | February 25th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
If Mr. Strickland wins I hope he cleans house. The attitudes of some of the employees area shameful. When you ask questions about “why 173 was built up but not planned well, a two lane road for all the stores there”? Come on it’s common sense to plan, and plan roadways aswell. You are treated like it’s none of your business. Well, guess what it is our business. Then you have Ms. Lemmons as Economic Director and her husband is a Trustee. Conflict of Interest if you ask me. Then he yells at residents that question that or any thing else for that matter. Doesn’t sit well with me and it’s time it was straightened out.
8. Harry | February 25th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
A while back the village board wanted to sensure Lemons for his disrespectful treatment of a citizen. It was a 3-3 tie guess who broke the tie in favor of Lemons and against the citizen of the village. Yep you got it! Linda Vaughn… Bye Bye Linda
9. MP Resident | February 26th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Not a surprise for me! All the elected officials and their appointed adminstration are getting the same treatment as the citizens have been treated. It will come back to bite you in two fold. The Village President ran on her first campaign and yelled about the mall, open door policies, build from within and she was against 173. She received a paycheck for 8 years and none of the above has been completed during her first election. Now she alone takes credit for the 173 corridor when all the sweat, ground work and plans were completed by the former Village Presidents. She has closed the door for citizens to ask questions at the meetings, the mall is worse than 8 years ago and we have empty buildings in MP because they never received the support for these small businesess that they deserved. Surprised…Not really! Happy about having another change in MP, we will see how the next Village President does. We needed an overhaul and I am sure we will see it… I hope this is a start of a new beginning!
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