Congratulations go out to a true winner of the race for village president, Keith Giagnorio.  One, for just being the stand-up guy he is and two, for not slinging mud around like that so-called group called the “Clean Government Alliance.” The last minute flier sent in the mail didn’t help their fight after all. It only proved what a bunch of cowards and mud-slinging idiots they are for wasting time and energy on such a piece of garbage. The only one who benefited from that flier was the U.S. Postal Service.

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I am glad they sold the village vehicle on eBay and made a few bucks. The news said it was replaced by a Ford Fusion, a small 4-cylinder vehicle; that is good too. But why did the village manager replace his small vehicle with an 8-cylinder SUV?  Not a good move. Is the new village board answering SPEAK OUT yet? 

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I watched an episode of “All in the Family” from 1976, where Archie had his gall bladder removed. He was griping about his 20 percent co-pay being $640—for a $3,200 operation. My co-pay alone would be twice what his whole operation cost. My, how times have changed.

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Congratulations, Villa Park, for voting in a new era of leadership, integrity and responsibility for the Garden Village. Go, Villa Park.

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Hi, I just wanted to call from Lombard here to congratulate our new president, Keith Giagnorio on his big win and I’d also like to congratulate his campaign manager, Kurt Lentsch, who did a phenomenal job leading all of us volunteers and helping us overcome some real ugly tactics from certain individuals. So, congratulations everyone and go Lombard.

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All I have to say to the three trustees, one down, voted out, two to go.

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This is Lombard calling to say it’s a great day today that Greg Gron and Zack Wilson lost the trustee election for District 1 and District 3. Maybe we’ll get some new blood in Lombard, especially in downtown Lombard. where Dan Whittington, who is part of the Lombard Town Centre, has won. It’s going to be a great day and hopefully we can get more done. Unfortunately, the pizza man won instead of John Lotus Novak, which would have been a great defeat against all the trustees. Thank you.

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This is Lombard calling and I’d like to thank the citizens of District 1 for Mr. Dan Whittington as our trustee. He has to be absolutely so much better than the last one, Mr. Gron. Also, to our new president, Keith Giagnorio, Mr. Pizza Man, I will be watching you for the next four years and I will call SPEAK OUT and let everybody know every mistake you make because believe me, you are going to make a ton of mistakes. The only thing you do well is make a pizza. I want to thank you again District 1 for Mr. Whittington’s election.

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I’m reading that ComEd is going to lower its rates. What if they dip below the price negotiated with the village aggregation plan? I hope the new board will address that.

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Hi, this is Lombard calling and I did vote for Keith for village president. I hope he does a good job. I hope he has enough gumption to get new faces and really get us on the right track. I hope our taxes go down because our taxes for retired people are atrocious. Thank you.

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It’s Wednesday morning and the election is over. Congratulations to all the winners and condolences to all the losers. The big thing right now, though, is, the election’s over. Let’s see how fast we can get all these signs down. They’re getting rained on, they’re getting blown around. There ought to be a fine system if they’re not down within a week. Thank you, bye.

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The Department of Defense has come out with a new terrorist list. No. 1 on the list? Evangelical Christians. Mormons. Catholics. What, no Baptists or Bible-church goers? Fellow believers in Christ, do you think your government has declared war on you?

According to an article in the Washington Times, these groups were defined as “extremist religious groups,” not terrorists, and Mormons were near the bottom of the list.—JAC

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Good morning, this is Lombard calling. It’s Wednesday, April 10, and I’m so excited about the election results. I’m so glad to see that Giagnorio won. I live in District 4 and I would just like to say if there were the opportunity to cast one vote to remove Peter Breen from office, I would have cast it. Thank you, bye.

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After looking at the election results this morning, I’m amazed to have seen the overwhelming results for certain people in the village. To the other people in the village, I’d like to say your thinly veiled brochure with the obscene gesture being sent out obviously didn’t work.

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Well, it’s been a couple of weeks since sequester happened and the sun rose again this morning and the sun will set again tonight. The world is still moving forward and flights are taking off and flights are landing. The world has not come to an end yet, Mr. President, so tell me again why sequester is so bad. Thank you.

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So proud of Lombard voters for making a huge statement that ugly political fliers are not welcome here. It was a landslide victory for clean politics. Lombard first.

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Walking, jogging, running, taking the dog for a walk, bicycling, taking the kids for a walk, taking the baby out in the stroller. All these healthy things can be done on the Great Western Trail. Thank you, Village of Lombard, for voting funds to finish the bridges on the Great Western Trail; the bridges to health. Here’s to a healthier Lombard. Bye.

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Could a representative of the so- called Clean Government Alliance please give us a contact phone number or e-mail address? I would like to reach out to you and let you know how sick and depraved your actions are. By the way, I decided to vote for Keith Giagnorio after I received your really sick piece of mail.

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For every $2,000 to $3,000 per year spent on treatment of the mentally ill, $50,000 is saved on the cost of incarceration. Between 2009 and 2012, Illinois has cut its spending on mental health by 31.7 percent,  Talk about insanity.

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People were up in arms over the behavior of John Heidelmeier, which to me was inexcusable, but when it comes to the immature photo that surfaced with the “birds” uncaged, that behavior is OK, even when prominent citizens are involved. Do these people think it was a Photoshop job? Whether it was a political ploy or not, it was still inappropriate behavior but I have yet to hear any apologies or explanations; just sweeping it under the rug of so-called dirty politics. It was real, it happened, acknowledge the behavior.

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Congratulations to the citizens of Villa Park for taking a stand and issuing a resounding no to John Heidelmeier. Although I agree that none of us is perfect and we are all capable of making mistakes, Mr. Heidelmeier’s recent indiscretions speak volumes as to the direction of his moral compass. Furthermore, the fact that he refused to withdraw is evidence he feels he is above reproach.

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Hi, this is for Lombard SPEAK OUT. I would just like to say that I took a train from the Lombard station this morning, Saturday, and it was very cold. We took a ride to Geneva and went into the train station to get warm and I noticed there were a bunch of homeless people in there. I do feel sorry for these people and have much empathy for them but I think Lombard could possibly clean that up because there were so many people in there that I was unable to sit there. There were people laying in the corner with blankets and I was very surprised. If we could please clean that up, I’d appreciate it. Thank you.

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Breen and Fitzpatrick, in 24 months you two are out. Think about a second job. Thank you.

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Whose job is it to pick up everyone’s garbage that blows all over? If everyone secures their garbage when they put it out, there wouldn’t be an issue. I find it ridiculous that every Monday morning I’m picking up everyone’s garbage, from bank statements to junk mail to newspapers to beer bottles, water bottles; everything blowing all over the place. If we all care about our yards, how they look, we would pick up and put out our garbage securely. I like my neighbors but I would like it and appreciate it if they put their garbage out neatly. Thank you.

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I just received my Lombardian and I know by the time if this gets in the Lombardian the new village president will be elected. But the sample ballot that Mr. Giagnorio has put in the paper for himself with only his name circled is exactly the reason I did not vote for him. I think this is totally biased, especially since he did it in English and in Spanish. Shame on him.

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Congratulations, Villa Park citizens, for coming out against voting for Heidelmeier. We don’t need to be the laughingstock of other towns by having this type of person as village president. He made his pornographic bed; let him lie in it. Thank you.

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To all you people who favor term limits, the election was your golden opportunity. You know these politicians will never vote themselves term limits. Lombard and Villa Park both had half their boards and presidents up for election. This was the time to make big progress in term limits. I hope you didn’t vote for the incumbents. That’s the only way you’ll get term limits. Thank you.

When Lombard voters were asked if persons elected to the office of village president, clerk or trustee should have terms limited to no more than three consecutive four-year terms, 81.04 percent, or 15,284 voters, said yes in the Nov. 6, 2012, General Election. This means that village-elected officials elected in the recent April 9 Consolidated Election and each election thereafter will have term limits.—blm

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In response to the question about Tom Cullerton’s voting record and his faith, I happen to know that this man lives his faith and has shared with me, but am also relieved that he understands the separation between church and state and will vote on his understanding of the concepts of fairness. Thank you.

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Now that Trustee Breen has testified in Springfield on government transparency, does that mean that the village is going to answer the Lombardian’s SPEAK OUT questions? I would think that would be the height of transparency. Everybody in town would know, not just one person who called. They want you to call directly, well that means everyone who has an interest has to call them. This way you can find out right in the newspaper. I don’t understand the secrecy, except for possibly the village manager’s concern of covering his back.

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Friends of skeet. Some weeks ago a caller suggested Lombard purchase the Ken Loch Golf Course to develop it into a recreation park. It’ll never happen. Lombard can’t manage the hotel debt they already have. I’m suggesting all skeet enthusiasts combine assets, by Ken Loch and build the "international skeet center." Due to the acreage there would be ample space next to a welcome center for a skeet petting zoo for kids, a museum and theater to show the history of skeet, a veterinary clinic for those sick and injured little skeet, a large range for the art of skeet shooting and finally family space for skeet to hold reunions, picnics, weddings, etc., and a small cemetery to bury their departed.

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Year-round budget oversight by political subcommittees is a terrible idea. Let the professionals do their job and let the politicians stay out of micro-managing.

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Lombard calling. Bonnie, I read your March 20 editorial with quite an interest in the questions you posed to the three candidates for Lombard president. I was quite surprised. It seemed to me that John Novak was the guy who knows what’s going on and that probably cost him votes. I was particularly pleased when he talked about the Ken Loch Golf Course, he said private property is private. OK, and that’s true. These people who don’t want that developed should get a consortium together, like Friends of the DuPage Theatre, raise some money and buy it. The people who owned it and operated it for many years and provided jobs to Lombardians. Private property. Buy it if you want it.

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I read in the Lombardian the SPEAK OUT section and it seems like there’s a lot of people trying to make everything OK for Mr. Giagnorio to walk out of a board meeting. What you don’t understand is that if he walks out on a board meeting, what makes you think he’s not going to walk out on you or the village? I think it’s a very bad thing he did. Thank you.

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Hi. In March I had left my purse at Ultra in the shopping cart outside. Some kind person brought it inside to the customer service desk. Thanks a million to you. It’s wonderful to know there are honest people around.

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Hi, Lombard calling. Two things. I just noticed the cheery lilac-colored street signs on St. Charles. It’s going to be nice to be able to locate all the closed businesses now. The other thing is the election. I want to congratulate the uninformed voters of Lombard for electing Keith Giagnorio. I think we can look forward to more temper tantrums in the village board meetings. Thank you.

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How would you like a part-time job that pays $53,000 plus medical, dental and pension benefits? The total of that salary is $80,000. It requires one to attend a meeting a month and serve on a committee. It also has the power to build on an increase in salary and take paid holidays. It’s your DuPage County Board. If you are a taxpayer, you pay the salaries. Nice job, right? You weren’t able to reach anyone the week of March 31 because they were on spring break. Nice job, right?

The salaries/benefits you refer to belong to the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County (FPDDC) Board of Commissioners, not the the DuPage County Board. The county board salary of just over $50,000 was frozen for four years in 2012. Additionally, Rep. Deb Conroy (D-Elmhurst) had proposed a bill whereby voters would have the option to remove the forest preserve board salaries, but it was recently rejected by the Illinois House.—JAC