I think my problem with Candace is that she has taken zero responsibility for the secretive hiring process for Horton. She claims the district had all this money and she had to step down for personal reasons, but where has been for the past 4 years? She has said 0 about Horton's mismanagement, the illegal expenditures, and just hides behind the dollars that were there before she left and then questions Tom's ethics when she is the one that has an actual ethics violation against her. She has also bounced from political position to political position and that's a concern to me. I just think her tactics have been wrong from the start, and if she cared so much about the district and the city council, she should have been more vocal about what was going on over the past 4 years.
Wow, hadn't seen that from the Roundtable. I recently received what I assumed was a robotext from her campaign and, assuming it was an unmonitored number, tossed off a flippant "no, thanks" reply in the moment and referenced her vote to hire Devon Horton in a closed process that was presented under false pretenses (need for candidate confidentiality when Horton was publicly interviewing all over the place). She responded (or someone on her campaign signing her name at the end did), which was certainly a surprise. She said "the board president and VP decided on this process without consultation from the full board. I agree there should have been a more public vetting of the final candidates and the full board thought that would be the case. The process was changed by the board president and vp late in the game." I guess a charitable interpretation would be that her opinion on the subject changed between the drafting of this letter to the editor back in 2020 and now. But, if you privately had concerns at the time about late developing changes to the process being jammed through by the President and Vice President without input from the rest of the board, why then go out of your way to write this public letter that praises the D65 hiring process as a model for the City Manager, saying it had "great merit"?
The thing that is impossible for her to even lamely explain away is that she voted to hire him.
My immediate reaction after learning his name and googling him was, “what the hell are they thinking?” The Chicago tax delinquency story should have been enough to disqualify him. Add the YouTube video of his public interview in Rochester earlier in the year and it was pretty clear the guy was not up to snuff.
Yet Candance was fine voting for him and defending the process until years later when she is running for office again.
One thing that I think doesn't get brought up enough (and I don't know if I want to post on this) is that D65 used a consulting firm to find the candidate. It's called BWP - you can view their survey results from 2019 here:
So BWP goes out in September 2019 with these survey results to find a new principal. By December 16, 2019 they approve his contract.
It's interesting that the candidate the consultant selected was also one that the Board VP Tanyavutti had worked with in AUSL and now, according to Candance, elected not to have any public hearings.
I realize the Board should've done some Googling, but surely BWP did and strangely chose not to tell anyone. Reminds me of all the other consultants in this mess the last four years that chose to keep their mouths shut to the benefit of the administrators: Raymond James (on the lease certificate), Cordogan-Clark (on the Foster School delays)
Remember that Tanyavutti quit the board because she wanted to be the 2nd Ward alderman when Braithwaite resigned.
One of the reasons I’m voting for Biss for re-election is because he wisely appointed someone other than Tanyavutti to the seat! She would have been a disaster on the council following Bartaithwate’s measured and thoughtful service.
She didn’t drop out of the alderman race. Braithwaite quit mid-term and when that happens the Mayor picks the replacement until the next election.
Biss asked people to self-nominate and asked residents for comments on the candidate. I think they had a public meeting with everyone who threw their hat in the ring.
Biss took public comment and then appointed Harris.
Harris then had to run for the seat in 2023 since the Biss appointment only lasts until the next municipal election whereupon Harris was elected to fill the term.
The Braithwaite term would be ending now which is why Harris is running again this cycle.
It is strange to feel constant cognitive dissonance when I read your election coverage where criminal charges against Horton and “wishing he never stepped in the district” are key issues for voters… and his new district celebrates him constantly.
Tom, your coverage of the issues and candidates in this election is a real community service. It represents a considerable amount of work. Thank you.
I think my problem with Candace is that she has taken zero responsibility for the secretive hiring process for Horton. She claims the district had all this money and she had to step down for personal reasons, but where has been for the past 4 years? She has said 0 about Horton's mismanagement, the illegal expenditures, and just hides behind the dollars that were there before she left and then questions Tom's ethics when she is the one that has an actual ethics violation against her. She has also bounced from political position to political position and that's a concern to me. I just think her tactics have been wrong from the start, and if she cared so much about the district and the city council, she should have been more vocal about what was going on over the past 4 years.
Where has she been? She actually defended the secretive hire and argued that the city should use a secretive process when hiring its City Manager!
https://evanstonroundtable.com/2020/11/06/reader-calls-for-consideration-of-the-negative-impacts-of-making-personnel-preferences-in-public-meeting/
Wow, hadn't seen that from the Roundtable. I recently received what I assumed was a robotext from her campaign and, assuming it was an unmonitored number, tossed off a flippant "no, thanks" reply in the moment and referenced her vote to hire Devon Horton in a closed process that was presented under false pretenses (need for candidate confidentiality when Horton was publicly interviewing all over the place). She responded (or someone on her campaign signing her name at the end did), which was certainly a surprise. She said "the board president and VP decided on this process without consultation from the full board. I agree there should have been a more public vetting of the final candidates and the full board thought that would be the case. The process was changed by the board president and vp late in the game." I guess a charitable interpretation would be that her opinion on the subject changed between the drafting of this letter to the editor back in 2020 and now. But, if you privately had concerns at the time about late developing changes to the process being jammed through by the President and Vice President without input from the rest of the board, why then go out of your way to write this public letter that praises the D65 hiring process as a model for the City Manager, saying it had "great merit"?
The thing that is impossible for her to even lamely explain away is that she voted to hire him.
My immediate reaction after learning his name and googling him was, “what the hell are they thinking?” The Chicago tax delinquency story should have been enough to disqualify him. Add the YouTube video of his public interview in Rochester earlier in the year and it was pretty clear the guy was not up to snuff.
Yet Candance was fine voting for him and defending the process until years later when she is running for office again.
Lame
One thing that I think doesn't get brought up enough (and I don't know if I want to post on this) is that D65 used a consulting firm to find the candidate. It's called BWP - you can view their survey results from 2019 here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AW-J9f3H5-YTFayo5_aw7g5R45KZHDeT/view?usp=drive_link
So BWP goes out in September 2019 with these survey results to find a new principal. By December 16, 2019 they approve his contract.
It's interesting that the candidate the consultant selected was also one that the Board VP Tanyavutti had worked with in AUSL and now, according to Candance, elected not to have any public hearings.
I realize the Board should've done some Googling, but surely BWP did and strangely chose not to tell anyone. Reminds me of all the other consultants in this mess the last four years that chose to keep their mouths shut to the benefit of the administrators: Raymond James (on the lease certificate), Cordogan-Clark (on the Foster School delays)
Thanks for bringing up the Tanyavutti connection.
Remember that Tanyavutti quit the board because she wanted to be the 2nd Ward alderman when Braithwaite resigned.
One of the reasons I’m voting for Biss for re-election is because he wisely appointed someone other than Tanyavutti to the seat! She would have been a disaster on the council following Bartaithwate’s measured and thoughtful service.
Why’d she end up dropping out?
She didn’t drop out of the alderman race. Braithwaite quit mid-term and when that happens the Mayor picks the replacement until the next election.
Biss asked people to self-nominate and asked residents for comments on the candidate. I think they had a public meeting with everyone who threw their hat in the ring.
Biss took public comment and then appointed Harris.
Harris then had to run for the seat in 2023 since the Biss appointment only lasts until the next municipal election whereupon Harris was elected to fill the term.
The Braithwaite term would be ending now which is why Harris is running again this cycle.
Wait so she quit before she knew she had the job? High risk move there
I got the timing wrong.
6/28/22 Braithwaite says he’s quitting effective 7/11
Early August Tanyavutti announces her interest in the seat with a Facebook post.
August, candidates had to express interest.
Late August Biss makes the pick of Harris and Tanyavutti quits D65 in Sept.
So she didn’t quit D65 until Biss passed her over.
Take a look at the RoundTable article from August. I think Tanyavutti kind of thought “who else could compete with me.”
https://evanstonroundtable.com/2022/08/16/crowded-field-vying-for-vacant-2nd-ward-seat/
Wow the comments on that RT story did NOT age well
It is strange to feel constant cognitive dissonance when I read your election coverage where criminal charges against Horton and “wishing he never stepped in the district” are key issues for voters… and his new district celebrates him constantly.
They can't say we didn't warn them!