LETTER TO THE EDITOR
   As a taxpayer, registered voter, and candidate for office, I take the issue
of election integrity very seriously. That's why I'd set up a search engine
alert on "election integrity" which brought to my attention the March 2
Naperville Sun story entitled "Ballot group may have partisan ties Election
Commission critic has an agenda, GOP claims."
 Story, accusation, or op-ed piece are the categories this piece falls under -
not the "exclusive" front page article it is, to use the writer's words,
"touted" as. What events could have taken place  to prompt the writer to make
her unwarranted claims are up left up to the
imagination. Mentioning the GOP in the headline as the Election Commission's
defender sets up the first red flag. If the election commission is
non-partisan as we expect it to be, why would it need the defense of the "GOP?"
What's more, if the GOP takes exception with ANY organization that advocates
honest elections, doesn't this in itself sound an alarm? Even if IBIP were a
"partisan" organization as the writer is claiming but did not prove, they would
not deserve the same scrutiny as our government agencies. Unlike our Election
Commission, IBIP is not on the public payroll, a critical difference the writer
doesn't grasp.
  Rather than covering the details of Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's
investigation into the Commission's "prematurely destroying poll tapes and
failing to obtain a disposal certificate according to the Local Records Act,"
Paige Winfield turned what could have been an in-depth news story of
significance into an attack on the Illinois Ballot Integrity Project. To
compound the irony, the subjects of her attack were
recently  nominated for the Naperville League of Women Voters' Democracy in
Action award, a news item she buries at the bottom of the story!
    The fact that Lisa Madigan has officially stated that the commission should
have received a certificate before destroying any records is a clear-cut
cause for concern to DuPage voters, even if her office did not yet cite any
criminal charges. It's an outrage for that offense to be
dismissed by this writer while in the same breath baseless attacks are made on
the IBIP volunteers who donate their time to work for honest
elections to benefit voters of every party.  Apparently no good deed goes
unpunished when it comes to DuPage County politics.
  That Ms. Winfield finds it sinister and "partisan" to link to sites "calling
the war in Iraq unjust"  and "supporting action against  global warming" shows
how out of touch she is with current mainstream American thought.  She should
also have been aware that IBIP's "doubt" about the reliability and accuracy of
Touch-Screen voting equipment is echoed by voters of all party affiliations
across the country; which has in fact lead to
the  Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2007,  a house bill in
committee that considers eliminating Touch-Screen voting due to  widespread lack
of trust in its verifiability.  It is glaringly apparent to the reader, though
overlooked by Ms. Winfield, that the Republican Party's unwavering support of
the DuPage County Election Commission, as well as their ongoing attacks on
organizations supporting honest elections is in itself cause for suspicion. As
for her accusations of IBIP's alleged connection to "Soros, Streisand," I ask
this: why not question the connection of DuPage County Board Chairman
Schillerstrom, who according to the Chicago Sun-Times on September 23, 2007, was
one of the
recipients of campaign contributions from the notorious Tony Rezko? Now that is
verifiable, newsworthy, and relevant information, unlike Ms.
Paige's accusations against IBIP.
  I'd like to propose a news article, headlined to mimic Ms. Winfield's style:
"Billing itself as a 'Newspaper,' Suburban Tabloid Attacks Local Volunteers to
Squelch Warranted Criticism of Election Commission -Operating as
'News Agency,' It's Proven Its Partisan Position"
   Yes, someone has an agenda here - but it isn't IBIP.

Barbara Dahl
Democratic Candidate
DuPage County Board District 2

(630)785-2560