Oak Park and River Forest have a chance on April 17 to begin altering a history of patronage and political corruption at Triton College that goes back to its founding 43 years ago. In that hope, we endorse independents Irene Moskal Del Giudice, Alfonza “Al” McKinnor and Thomas Gary for seats on the Triton Board of Trustees.
We believe each would bring increased transparency and integrity to a board that has shown little tolerance for open and accountable governance since the early 1990s under the political domination of Rosemont’s Mark Stephens and political types connected to Melrose Park.
Irene Del Giudice, a three-term incumbent who once worked at the school, has been the only independent voice on the board the past six years, frequently raising questions that never get clear answers, and voting against a multitude of questionable motions. For such democratic instincts, Del Giudice lost the political support of Stephens.
Al McKinnor, a 1972 Triton graduate, taught in the school’s now-shuttered Dental Technology program for 30 years. A former two-term Maywood village trustee, he’s currently executive director of the Maywood Park District. In the mid-1990s, he showed integrity and gumption when he brought the Cook County state’s attorney into the park district to remove nearly 90 politically connected part-time park district cops and disbanded the force.
Both Del Giudice and McKinnor have vowed to address issues such as transparency, shared governance, and interference by the Triton board in the administrative affairs of the college.
Thomas Gary, clearly the most impressive of the three individuals endorsed here, boasts solid qualifications, including a stint in Iraq and eight years experience serving on the DeKalb County Board. He’s smart, has experience in economic development with the State of Illinois, and has a broad and well articulated vision for the college. He is also black, as is McKinnor, something the Triton board has never experienced, and he’s from Oak Park, which hasn’t been represented in many years.
On the down side, questions have been raised about Gary’s independence. Gary’s endorsement by Stephens and his name on yard signs in Melrose Park, between Stephens’ endorsed candidates Diane Viverito of Elmwood Park and Stephen Kubickzy of Riverside (neither of whom bothered to reply to our endorsement invitations), underscores those concerns. Gary insists he’ll be a strong advocate for change on the Triton board, and that current trustees have indicated they want change. But many of the concepts he advocates are 180 degrees opposed to the direction the Triton board has taken for 15 years. He claims to be an experienced “consensus builder,” but he’ll be swimming upstream, and we hope he’s prepared for that challenge. If elected, we’ll be watching for signs of that independence.
Gary says he wants the college to be an economic engine for the region, one that works with businesses to provide trained workers prepared for the demands of the 21st century. But Triton has been actively moving away from just those sort of training programs – claiming prohibitive costs – despite protests from its faculty.
He also says he wants to establish a tradition of academic excellence at Triton. But under Stephens the number of full-time faculty, who not only teach but develop curriculum and provide student guidance, has been cut in half. As a result, this once respected educational institution has been hobbled under the weight of political patronage.
Finally, he wants to establish “trust and dialogue” between the board and the faculty, which will be a tall order, given this board’s open contempt for shared governance and disrespect for the views of faculty and staff.
All the more reason for Oak Parkers to help elect people who will at least try to reverse the entrenched board culture at Triton. With Gary, Del Giudice and McKinnor, we believe that change can begin.