Contact: Matt Harrington (Cell) 312-671-1410 (office) 630-318-0279

E-Mail: webackmatt@gmail.com

AFSCME Local 3298

Candidate Questionnaire
Questions 1) With the continuing recession how do you plan on protecting and
improving the city's financial future without balancing the budget on the backs of
the union members?

This recession and the fiscal problems facing city and state governments all over the United
States were not caused by Unions and Collective Bargaining. Trying to improve Aurora’s
financial future by hurting hard working, tax paying employees makes no sense. Maintaining a
balanced budget requires not just smaller government, but smaller more efficient government. I
will work, to fix the mismanagement of our resources and cut out the fat and inter-department
waste from our city’s budget. I’ll propose new ideas to save money, add jobs, and increase
revenues. Some of the things I would bring to the City Council are:

1) Utilizing existing state and federal grants, to develop and improve Aurora’s
infrastructure.

2) Work with the business owners along the Riverfront, so that docks can be placed at
their businesses to allow and promote small motorized and non-motorized water-crafts to
dock along the river and increase patronages to these businesses. This will also generate
more interest to the area, which will re-energize our downtown economy and create more
jobs.

3) I also recommend an additional source to bring in needed revenues to our city by

implementing a regular City sticker and an E-City sticker that has the ability to sell
advertisement on its reverse side.

By offering two choices in City stickers, using the I-Pass model, we can offer an E-City

1
 sticker that contains a double-sided LCD screen: the front will have the current sticker
logo which can be downloaded annually at half the cost of a regular window sticker. The
reverse side of the E-City sticker will show advertisement. The traditional sticker will
have only a permanent ad for the duration of the sticker’s effective year, while the E-City
sticker can have a multiple advertising function, along with an emergency alert facet.

Our E-City sticker can also offer anti-theft and car location services, for the customers at
a small monthly cost. In turn this would help the drivers to lower their yearly car
insurance cost as well as peace of mind to the auto and E-City sticker owner.

These city stickers alone can help boost 3 to 5 million dollars of new revenues annually
for the city, while the Riverfront docks can also bring in another 2 to 3 million dollars per
year to our city.

4) I would work on saving hundreds of thousands of dollars by switching some of our

energy consumption from Comed to Bloom Energy. Fed Ex, Caltech, Keiser
Permanente, Walmart and the Coca Cola Company are just a few of the companies that
saved money and reduced their carbon foot print by utilizing solid oxide fuel
cells Why aren’t we?

5) To date, Aurora has left over a million dollars on the table by failing to apply for and
following through with monies owed to us under the 1505 Asset Forfeiture Act. This
money which comes from drug busts within our city could be used to bridge the budget
shortfall in our police department and prevent the layoff of our police officers.

Question 2) The city of Aurora has continued to use interns and seasonal workers
while union positions have been down-graded and eliminated, resulting in an
erosion of the AFSCME bargaining unit. What is your position on this issue?

Internships for academic credit are a good way for young people learn and gain valuable work
experience in their chosen profession while still in school. Internships also provide an important
foot in the door. Campus Progress, Demos, and the Economic Policy Institute conducted a
survey and found that 76.3% of employers report internships as a primary factor when deciding
whether to hire recent graduates." Unfortunately, during this recession, some internships appear
to have gone from meaning “an apprenticeship to learn professional skills” to “Slave labor” We
need to recognize the difference and make sure that Aurora never abuses the young people
thinking about a future in civil service. There will always be a place for seasonal labor. How
many of us still remember our first Summer Job? Internships and seasonal labor have been used
for decades without downgrading or eliminating existing jobs. We should not use the current
recession as an excuse for doing that now.

Question 3) The Trend to subcontract public work to private contractors has

become more common; despite studies showing this is often more costly and
diminishes accountability. Examples of subcontracting in Aurora include various

2
bill collecting issues custodial services, inspections and lawn mowing Etc. Do you
believe the city should expand this practice? Why or Why not?

We need a careful examination of existing City contracts... Simple logic should tell us it's
impossible for the private sector to deliver the same service for less and make a profit as well.
How can a private company pay a profit and still provide the same level of service at less cost
than the public sector? A White Paper on Privatization written by Ellen J. Dannin Professor
of Law: states that in many cases it isn't happening. Privatization will either provide a different
service or it will provide the service in a way that makes us uncomfortable. Sometimes, private
companies are given subsidies of public money or services that are not counted in the total cost.
The only fair way to compare public work / private contractors would be to factor in these items
to the total cost of privatizing.

Among the hidden costs of privatization that should be considered are:

• City oversight and supervision

• Use of government equipment
• Outright subsidies

In San Diego, the school bus service provided by public employees has been so much more
efficient and less expensive than private bus services that all subcontracted transportation is being
taken in-house. This example is not unique.

Question 4) AFSCME Local 3298 members are taking 12 furlough days. Do you
advocate this inequality in different employee groups? Why or Why no.

No I don’t. Furloughs should only be considered as a last resort. We need to balance Aurora’s
budget by thinking outside the box with fresh ideas to cut the fat and increase our revenues. If
extreme measures are ever necessary, it should be a “shared sacrifice.” Fixing our City’s budget
problems should never be done at the expense of one group of people.

Question 5) AFSCME local 3298 has observed a trend with the current
administration where the city council doesn't appear to question or challenge the
Mayor's initiatives, programs or proposals. Do you agree with the observation?
Please explain why or why not?

I agree. Better more efficient governance requires our elected officials to spend more time out of
every day working for the people who elected them. Even though our aldermen are elected to
part time positions, the privilege of serving the citizens of Aurora is a 24/7 job. Aurora’s future
needs to be addressed with a thorough knowledge of the ramifications of our every action. We
should never rush through a vote that we barely took the time to understand. One example of this
was the renewal of a lobbyist contract for $79,000 a year. I opposed the renewal of this contract
because I don’t believe there was enough attention paid to the cost / benefits of this firm’s work.