The Your Village Your Voice Party candidates dominated the Franklin Park trustee and village clerk races, according to unofficial results from the April 4 election provided by the Cook County clerk’s office.
With all 11 precincts reporting, Trustees Andy Ybarra, Karen D. Special and John C. Johnson had the most votes for three open seats on the village board. Ybarra had 26.34 percent of the vote, followed by Special ( 25.33 percent) and Johnson ( 23.87 percent). There were 2,296 votes cast in the election.
“It was very pleasing to see those results come in. It tells me more than a few people agree that we’re going in the right direction,” said Ybarra. “I don’t think these results came in just because of our campaigning over the last few months, but from the work we’ve done for the village over the last four years.”
Ybarra said examples include the comprehensive approach he and the other incumbent trustees take to address issues in the village.
“I just like the team effort where we can rely on one another. Whether it’s economic development or infrastructure, we’re not making political decisions,” he said. “We take advice from people who are experts in those specific areas before making decisions, and I think that’s why we won comfortably.”
They were opposed by candidates from the Citizens for Change Party. Results indicated that Christopher Litwin had 8.8 percent of the vote, followed by Diego A. DiMarco (8.22 percent) and Frank J. Housewerth (7.44 percent).
In the village clerk race, Your Village Voice candidate Irene Avitia received 77.18 percent of the vote, according to unofficial results. Citizens for Change Party candidate Michael A. LaCassa got 22.82 percent.
Kari Rupcich, spokeswoman for the Citizens for Change Party, declined to comment.
Avitia decided to run after outgoing Village Clerk Tommy Thomson decided not to run for re-election. She’s lived in the village for the past 22 years, is a graduate of East Leyden High School and DePaul University and is raising her children in the village.
“One of the reasons I think I won by so much is because I’m fully bilingual. Almost 60 percent of our residents are Spanish speaking,” said Avitia.
As of 2010, Franklin Park has 7,902 residents who identify as Hispanic or Latino, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
“So for me to be able to be that bridge between the community and our local government is very important. I want to be able to connect with voters who felt there was a void in that area of our local government and services,” said Avitia.
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The Citizens for Change Party slate faced repeated ballot challenges ahead of the election. On Jan. 18 the Franklin Park Election Board removed the party’s candidates from the ballot over objections to their candidate paperwork by Robert Godlewski, a village resident, and his attorney, James Nally. Godlewski’s attorney successfully argued that the candidates did not clearly indicate which village they were planning to run for elected office in and did not correctly complete statements of economic interest.
A Cook County judge reversed the Franklin Park Election Board’s decision in February, and members of the Citizens for Change Party slate were allowed back on the ballot. Godlewski tried to appeal that decision but a Cook County judge sided with the Citizens for Change Party and on March 30 ordered that the candidates were to remain on the ballot.
Alex V. Hernandez is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.