February 14, 2014

Dear Mr. Del Mar, My name is Beth Dill and I am an Elk Grove Village resident. I would like to tell you about an incident that happened to me on Tuesday evening, February 11th. I went to the Elk Grove Endorsement meeting with the intention of endorsing a candidate. I was talking to Mike Sweeney when he informed me that I could not endorse a candidate because I was not a precinct captain. Late last summer I called Mike Sweeney and asked him if my precinct (33) was open and available for a precinct captain. He informed me that it was. I then told him I would love to have the position. He told me that would be fine. I said I would be happy to walk my precinct because I had walked for a candidate the year before, and I really enjoyed it. He said o.k., but that I had to walk other precincts as well because there were not enough precinct captains available. I told him I had no problem with that. Mike also said they walked in groups because that was the only way they could get people to walk! I remember thinking at the time how much ground can you cover walking in groups? So, I have been walking my precinct and others since last fall for candidates and term limit petitions. I was totally humiliated when Mike Sweeney lied to me the other night and said I was not a captain. I truly believe he did not want me to endorse my candidate for Elk Grove Committeeman, Scott Lietzow. It took months before Mike allowed Scott to talk to our group at the meetings on Saturday morning to introduce himself to the group. Mike has made it very clear that he does not want Scott Lietzow to be our next committeeman. I believe this kind of intimidation is not good for our party or for our town. Also, I have a copy of an e-mail I sent Mike in January. I asked him if we were having an endorsement meeting. He replied saying yes he was going to have it sometime in February. Why would he have replied if I was not a precinct captain? I have sent you a copy of the e-mail. I have talked to other people that have wanted to be precinct captains that were totally turned off by Mike, and have never been replied to in e-mails. I thought we had better leadership than this. I have lived in this town for 52 years and have never felt more unwelcomed in my life. Sincerely, Beth Dill Cc: Mayor Craig Johnson, Sam Lissner, Patton Feichter, James Petri, Jeff Franke, Nancy Czarnik, Christine Prochno