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Name: Paul Drabik
What office are you seeking? Village Commissioner
What is your political party? Republican
What is your current age? 42
Occupation and employer: Financial Data Sales, TransUnion
What offices, if any, have you previously held? I am a current Downers Grove Human Services Commission member. I have been in the position since 2022. In the past, I have held an elected position as a Republican Committeeman.
City: Downers Grove
Campaign Website: https://www.pauldrabik.com/
Education: Bachelor’s of Science, Organizational Development - Eastern Illinois University
Master’s of Science, Communication - Northwestern University
Community Involvement: F3 - Men’s wellness group. We are a workout group specific to men. We workout in parks like McCollum in the early mornings. We also do charity work and raise money for groups like VET Service Dogs, and collect food and donations for food pantries and similar organizations.
Marital status/Immediate family: I have a wife and 2 children.
Questions:
How will your personal/professional/political experiences benefit you as a member of the board?
I’m a lifelong resident of DuPage County. I grew up next door in Westmont. My mother is an avid reader and even worked at Anderson’s Book Shop when I was a young boy. She used to take me to the library in Downers Grove before Westmont upgraded their library. My wife is a lifelong resident of Downers Grove and I was happy to follow her here to start, and raise, our family here. I am a father and an active member of the community.
I’m uniquely positioned to be a representative of the community given my background in public service. Growing up in Westmont I worked in public works for 5 summers. Taking on work like concrete, blacktop, sewer maintenance, brush cleanup amongst other things I learned the value of hard work. I also learned not to take for granted our streets and village infrastructure and especially the people who maintain it.
I furthered my passion for service after the tragedy of 9/11 having joined the U.S. Army as an artilleryman in August of 2002. I served in the 1st Infantry Division out of Fort Riley, Kansas. I deployed to Iraq in September of 2003 for a year. There, my mission was to protect the city of Ramadi from terrorist insurgents, and help rebuild the community including training local Army and law enforcement. Additionally, I was EMT certified so that I could be a backup to our medical team in cases of emergency casualty situations. I saw first hand, and learned the toll that emergency responders experience. Supporting the business of emergency response and safety should be our main priority as a community. My experience awarded me the Army Commendation Medal for heroism and meritorious achievement and/or service. I was also awarded the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medals.
I am also a member of a men’s wellness group in Downers Grove. We focus on physical fitness and charity work. It is mostly made up of fathers in the community. It is a good source of networking and understanding the family makeup of our community. On top of this I have served with both the American Legion and VFW over the years.
Lastly, I have been a member of the Downers Grove Human Services Commission since 2022. Our mandate is to help the Downers Grove Social Worker advocate and provide awareness to the community on the different social services available to the public. This has been a wonderful opportunity for me to get involved and understand the variable needs of Downers Grove citizens.
My professional background in data has also afforded me an analytical lens through which to view the world. I believe my diverse background and commitment to public service uniquely suits me to represent the community. I would put up my record of service against any candidate in this race.
Is there a particular issue or controversy that influenced your decision to run?
One of my main concerns is the governance and bureaucracy of the Downers Grove Library. The library is the only unit of government in Downers Grove with over 1% tax levy authority that is not accountable to either representative government or the taxpayer. There have been safety issues there over the years with 200 pages of incident reports showing assault of library staff, indecent exposure, lewd conduct, and video taping an 8 year old boy in the bathroom. In addition, FOIA requests show the Library Director has broken Illinois Law and violated the Library Records Confidentiality Act in releasing the names of all Downers Grove Library cardholders. This was affirmed in a response from the Illinois Attorney General. This is not opinion. The line in the law is not esoteric. You don’t need to be a lawyer to interpret it. It states clearly, the following: “The registration and circulation records of a library are confidential information. No person shall publish or make any information contained in such records public unless” and as the Attorney General noted, unless certain conditions are met. Those conditions have to do with law enforcement. These conditions were not met. I would also argue the library director violated citizens Fourth Amendment right. We are not secure in our “persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures...” if a government bureaucrat can just release that we have such papers to any John or Jane Doe asking. We cannot abide a lawless bureaucrat especially at the local level. We need to set an example. I will not rest until I see this bureaucrat held accountable for breaking the law and violating our rights.
What is a community need that has not been addressed and how do you believe the council should resolve it?
I think there should be more transparency on how people are appointed to boards and commissions. I don’t know that there is enough transparency around the process. As I mentioned, the library board has been a point of contention. They seem to be politically motivated in protecting the bureaucracy and that has resulted in much discontent within the community. However, this is not specific to the library board. It seems that there is not much understanding amongst the community on how the other boards are populated. Furthermore, a citizen has reached out to me recently to inquire about why the zoning and planning commission meetings are not recorded. With the Guiding DG development plan being such a main focus of local governance it does seem reasonable for a citizen to have more transparency regarding zoning and planning.
What are your top three priorities for our city, and how do you plan to address them?
My top three priorities are Accountability, Transparency, Common Sense. By achieving these priorities I think we put Citizens FIRST. I am passionate about our Constitution and our form of government. In my opinion, I see a trend in our local governance that has infected our federal government in that representative government is more concerned with special interest than its constituents. I am not your typical politician who is going to suggest that I will come into office and force my agenda. That’s not possible. There are 7 voting members on our council. What I will promise is to be a platform for the concerns of our citizens that have gone ignored. I will pound the drum of accountability for a lawless bureaucrat at the library. I will represent that property owner or business owner who feels the village is strong arming them with suggestions of unfair rezoning or planning. I will advocate for more transparency in processes for which citizens feel they are being kept in the dark. I will seek to maintain our triple AAA bond rating because I champion the fiscal responsibility that Downers Grove has consistently maintained over the years. I will advocate for common sense, not catering to some special interest group who wants to hear council members mouth phony platitudes about DEI. I will do this by speaking for the people who feel their voice has not been heard. I will do it loudly, I will do it proudly, and I will do it through media as well if that is what my position calls for and needs.
How do you intend to balance economic development with environmental sustainability in the community?
The Village has an environmental sustainability program within their budget. Things like solar panels, fuel island replacement, and stormwater improvements are referenced. I do need to understand more about what this means for our economic development. For me, environmental sustainability seems like a broad term. I think the main focus should be ensuring our community is protected from pollution and contamination at all costs. The Sterigenics issue comes to mind. The cancer causing chemical Ethylene Oxide was a major threat to citizens. As a Village we need to be vigilant about any of these types of environmental threats to our community. We need to protect our citizens from such threats.
What are your plans for enhancing public transportation and infrastructure in the city?
I advocate for expanding the conversation. I would note a conversation that came up in my Human Services Committee meeting on February 25th. In that meeting we noted the great need for transportation services for seniors. This is obviously not exclusive to Downers Grove. However, it could be something we consider in the future and would perhaps help in expanding the conversation about expanding transportation infrastructure. We have recently concentrated on bike paths. It seems to me that the conversation should be more nuanced and could explore the service economy to a greater degree.
What role should the city council play in supporting local businesses and economic growth?
The question is what does support mean? For my interpretation it would mean maintaining the public infrastructure surrounding the local businesses. It would mean TIF districts, of which we’ve created. It would mean a passive or hands off approach to governance in the sense that it lets the business run as it seems fit as long as it is not negatively impacting the community or residents of the surrounding area. Specifically, I’m concerned about the Village’s development plans as they pertain to large swaths of area within the Village. For example, I spoke to a property owner recently who owned property where businesses are located. He mentioned to me that the Village had plans to rezone around his area creating cityscape that would negatively affect his business by closing off an entry/exit to his lot. I think that’s wrong. I think that is abuse of power and government overreach. The free market needs to be free not only for commerce but from government intervention as a competitive force to restricting a business’ access to the free market.
What are your top public safety concerns for our community and how would you propose addressing them?
I think that places like the library are far too lax in allowing homeless and mentally ill to congregate in public spaces. I would seek to bring this conversation to the dais as a means to explore the idea of keeping our community safer. The Illinois SAFE-T act has unfortunately made our communities less safe through the introduction of cashless bail among other lax approaches to criminality. However, we are not defenseless in making our community safer. We are a home rule community meaning we have a certain freedom in governing ourselves. I would seek to explore the options in ordinance that we have at our disposal. I champion the public safety and emergency responders of our community. We should do everything and anything at our disposal to make their jobs easier not harder.
What can or should the city to do increase affordable housing?
This is certainly a difficult question. I know that there have been efforts by certain commissioners to address this question. I do believe that it is tough for the Village to do something because we cannot deny a developer if they meet the criteria for bidding on a property and they’ve met all the regulatory conditions. We certainly do not want to be viewed by developers as an unfriendly Village with which to work. I think this is a bigger economic question. I think it starts at the state level. The gap between the haves and the have nots is expanding which is not good for the country, our state, or our community. As I’ve eluded to previously, I think the answers to those economic questions lie in less government intervention in the economy.
How will you ensure that city policies promote inclusion for all residents?
This is a great question. My campaign is focused on speaking for those who have felt that their voice has been drown out. I offer a balanced perspective for our community. Many people feel as though there has been far too much concentration on special interest within our community. I have spoken to high school students as a member of the American Legion for the past few years and I have pointed out the uniqueness of our system of government as something that is the exception, not the rule, in recorded history. Never has a system of government protected the rights of individuals to the extent of this system of governance. For this reason I am an avid defender of Constitutional rights and I stand in firm opposition of any special interest that seeks to supersede the rights of individuals. I think it’s very dangerous to suggest that inclusion is specific to a group. It is counterintuitive to suggest that one group is both marginalized but also needs carve outs for their place in society. If a group is marginalized it should be made part of the whole. It should not be prioritized above the whole. That is an illogical application of inclusivity. Everyone should have a seat at the table. When the government tells you that special interest, or the government itself, has rights it actually means authority. In that scenario it also means your individual rights have been restricted. We cannot abide this as citizens of a free country.
Do you support requiring government officials to publicly disclose potential conflicts of interest, and how would you enforce this?
I do support this concept. I don’t pretend to have the authority to enforce this myself. As an elected public official I would vote in favor of such an ordinance or piece of legislation.
How will you make sure you are accessible to your constituents?
I have an open door policy. I would speak to anyone that wishes to have a conversation. I do have a day job but my goal would be to speak to everyone who wishes to engage me in conversation.