More no-shows than primary candidates at forum in Batavia

BATAVIA – What happens when you hold a public event and more than half the people invited don’t show up?

That’s what happened Tuesday night at the League of Women Voters candidate forum at the Batavia City Hall Council Chambers.

In candidate forums of the past, Batavia’s Council Chambers would be packed with standing room only.

This time, 16 people attended — and that included the four in contested races in the March 19 primary.

According to the League’s empty chair policy, if an opponent doesn’t show, the one who does gets three minutes to state their platform.

And that’s it.

Four candidates, three minutes each, forum done in 12 minutes – plus the time to be announced, change seats and be applauded.

The ones who showed up were Democrat Brenda Rodgers running for Kane County Recorder; Republican Aris Garcia for the 49th Illinois Representative District; and incumbent Republican County Board candidates Bill Roth and Mark Davoust for the 12th and 14th Districts, respectively.

Rodgers said she has lived in Elgin more than 40 years and had previously served on the Elgin City Council.

“When I was on city council, I did some wonderful things for the city,” Rodgers said.

Among these were supporting the Association for Individual Development, working with her colleagues to get a big box store located to bring jobs and ancillary retail stores in that area.

“I also did a job fair with ECC (Elgin Community College) and other businesses in our community,” Rodgers said.

“As a Realtor, I started a mentor program with my former company. I was in the top 10% nationwide,” Rodgers said. “Everything that I do, I excel at and I’m very good at. This is my third time running for this seat. I don’t give up. Losing is not in my vocabulary. I’m very determined.”

As a Democrat, Rodgers said she was the first person to take former First Lady Michelle Obama out to campaign for Barack Obama when he ran first for U.S. Senator, and then for now-Judge Michael Nolan, when he ran for Illinois Senate.

“I have put the work in, both professionally and with my volunteerism” Rodgers said.

The primary winner would run against incumbent Republican Sandy Wegman.

Bill Roth

Roth, who was elected to represent District 12 in 2022, said he ran on a communication platform.

“One of the things I would say when I went door-to-door was, ‘The only time I hear from the county is when I get my tax bill,’” Roth said.

“And the other comment I would make to people, ‘99% of the people I talk to don’t know who their county board rep is,’” Roth said. “When I got elected, I said if that’s still true this time, I’m in trouble.”

Roth said he retired the day after he was elected so he could concentrate on serving on the board.

He began meeting with the other 23 members of the county board.

“One-on-one to get to know them and to work with them, whether they are a Dem or a Republican,” Roth said. “The next thing I did is, I started to meet with all the directors in the county. I was in IT (information technology) my whole career. And I would always meet with the business. You have to know the business to help the business. I’m the only board member currently doing that.”

Roth said he was assigned to four committees, but he goes to all the committee meetings.

Noting his background in IT, and his education in finance and financial systems, Roth said half the board members are not comfortable with technology or with finance.

“It’s critical that we understand our budget,” Roth said.

One of the issues for the county is adjusting to no longer getting millions in federal money for COVID-19 relief and the American Rescue Plan Act, Roth said.

“That is drying up,” Roth said. “We need to run more efficiently. I’ve been told, ‘We got all the efficiencies out.’ Those are some of the issues. Change is hard. I worked for Sears. I was told forever, ‘We’ve always done it that way.’”

Roth said he has identified some technology initiatives that can be done to increase efficiency.

“Most people volunteer after they retire. I’ve been volunteering for 20 years. It’s how I was raised,” Roth said. “Why am I running for the board? For me, it’s just a higher level of service. I’m able to help more people.”

Mark Davoust

Davoust, who is seeking re-election to District 14, said he was drawn to serve on the county board as opposed to Springfield or Washington D.C.

“I like this because it’s here,” Davoust said. “It’s our community. I’m a board member. I’ve been a board member for a few years now. I’m also a husband, a father, a proud grandfather ... I’m a small business owner. I bring those things with me to the board to have a perspective of watching every penny, making sensible choices. It’s important to me. It’s important because this is where we live.”

He said the common denominator is always the tax bill.

“And I’m vigilant in watching that,” Davoust said.

He credited Roth and other board Republicans in staving off tax increases in the most recent budget.

“There was an effort to increase the property tax levy, the motor fuel tax and to reallocate RTA sales tax dollars that we use for transportation and public safety,” Davoust said. “We said no.”

As for the Democrats on the board, Davoust said they work together.

“I will talk to anyone there. It’s important to get the job done,” Davoust said. “That’s why I’m there and why I do it.”

Aris Garcia

Garcia is seeking the GOP nomination for the 49th Illinois Representative District, hoping to challenge incumbent State Rep. Maura Hirschauer, D-Batavia, in November.

Garcia, who immigrated from Germany a little more than a decade ago, said his mother worked three jobs to keep a roof over their heads.

“I was able to go to university, thanks to her hard work,” Garcia said.

But he also worked to pay for his schooling.

“I started my first business at 18 to pay for university,” Garcia said. “It was a small photo booth business I was able to put $100 into and $1,000 on my credit card. After that, I was able to study aerospace engineering at Central Florida Aerospace Academy.”

As a resident of Streamwood, Garcia currently serves on the village’s Community Relations Committee and was elected to the Des Plaines Friends of the Park Foundation board.

“I’ve been there for a little over half a decade. Since then, we’ve been able to raise over $100,000 for children under the poverty level in Des Plaines,” Garcia said.

“The reason I am running is because I am sick and tired of politicians using their power to help themselves and not the people,” Garcia said.

“I’m not a politician. I recently became an American. I am here on an America First agenda,” Garcia said. “And that means a strong economy. We all see it — manufacturing jobs are leaving Illinois. We used to be a hub for manufacturing.”

Garcia said people are seeing smaller retirement benefits, seeing their coworkers getting laid off.

“We are seeing it all around and nothing is being done,” Garcia said.

Garcia cited the state’s strict gun laws and asserted that crime and gun violence have increased.

“The laws don’t help because we need to hold criminals accountable and we need to make sure that we have safe communities,” Gacia said.

Garcia said Illinois was one of the highest paid states for education.

“The problem is, in my district, three out of four students cannot read or write or do mathematics efficiently,” Garcia said. “I would like that money spent on teachers, not on union bosses ... but on the good teachers that change hearts and minds of our residents, the people in our communities.”

The primary winner will face incumbent State Rep. Maura Hirschauer, D-Batavia, in November.

Garcia’s opponent in the GOP primary, Hannah Billingsley, did not attend because she was ill, League representatives said.

Candidates who were invited but did not attend were Marisela Villagas, who is also seeking the Democratic nomination for Kane County Recorder; Michelle Geen for County Board District 12 and Jonathan Gripe for County Board District 14; incumbent Ron Ford, D-Aurora, nor opponent Sonia Garcia, for County Board District 6.

The League of Women Voters will host a second candidate forum at 7 p.m. Thursday, also at Batavia City Hall, 100 N. Island Ave., Batavia.

Candidates will be incumbent State Rep. Matt Hanson, D-Montgomery and Arad Boxenbaum for the 83rd District. U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Naperville was invited, but cannot attend due to his schedule. His primary opponent, Qasim Rashid for the 11th Congressional District, is expected to attend.

The Leagues of Women Voters of the Aurora Area, Central Kane County and Elgin area co-hosted Tuesday’s forum; the Central and Aurora Leagues are hosting the Thursday’s forum.

Both will be available for late viewing on the BATV YouTube channel. The recordings will also be posted to the Leagues’ websites and to the IL Vote Guide.