Burns 2012: My Opening Statement From the Chamber of Commerce Forum

Last Friday I joined the other candidates for chairman of the Kane County Board at a forum sponsored by the St. Charles Chamber of Commerce. This is the script of my opening remarks.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My thanks to the St. Charles and Geneva Chamber of Commerce for hosting this event and my warm welcome to my friends, Chris, Sue and Bill.  

I’m running for Kane County Board chairman because Kane County deserves and needs a chairman with executive experience in all areas important to good governance and sound management; experience in developing balanced budgets, reducing taxes, streamlining operations, attracting economic development, working with leaders at the local, regional, state and federal level and inspiring those who work in government service to advance a common vision. 

I have dedicated my professional career to working with not-for-profit organizations at the local and national level, including the Paramount Arts Center, Rush Copley Medical Center, the MDA/Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon, the U.S. Olympic Committee, the U.S. Figure Skating Team, the U.S. Equestrian Team, Midwestern University, Roosevelt University and currently the National Safety Council. My 25 years of professional executive experience has taught me the value of cooperation, collaboration and consensus building in order to get things done. 

Throughout my nearly 20 years of municipal experience, the last 11 as mayor of Geneva, I have built a strong reputation for achieving success through mutual respect, mutual understanding and sustained relationships for the benefit of those I have been elected to serve.  

My opponent in the Republican primary is a good father and a good husband. However, his record of service includes two decades in Springfield … 200 miles from Kane County. His lack of experience in leading a complex and diverse organization, his lack of experience in developing mutually respectful relationships, his lack of experience in attracting economic development, creating jobs, streamlining government operations and his inability to build consensus make him unqualified for an administrative position such as Kane County Board chairman. 

My opponent and I forcefully disagree about how best to move Kane County forward. He believes in an arbitrary approach to budgeting, while I believe in a thorough vetting of the each and every program to determine their effectiveness; he believes in surrounding himself with people who think as he does; I believe in surrounding myself with ideas regardless of who espouses them; he believes in freezing things in order to achieve change, I believe in lighting a fire under things in order to create lasting change; he believes and wants to rule the county; I want to work with civic, business and not-for-profit leaders and govern the county.  

I’m running for Kane County Board chairman to preserve and promote Kane County as a premier place in which to live, learn, work, play and raise a family and to prepare Kane County and to sustain its reputation, fulfill its responsibilities and secure its future.    

I ask for your vote on Tuesday, March 20, and, together, we will move Kane County forward in a responsible manner.