Politics & Government
Hale Won't Seek New Term in Oak Park
Citing personal and professional reasons, Jon Hale won't run for trustee in 2011 elections.
Trustee Jon Hale has announced he won't seek re-election in the April 2011 municipal elections in Oak Park.
The one-term trustee did however leave the door open for a possible bid at the Village President seat sometime in the future.
"It's basically a no-go for me in 2011," Hale said during a short announcement in the council chambers of Village Hall, 123 Madison St. "It seems like it's time to take break."
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Hale said his responsibilities as an investment manager for Morningstar were starting to increase, as were his loyalties to his family. He has two young children.
"I certainly don't want to cut further into our family time," according to a news release circulated by Hale.
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Hale, 50, has been an Oak Park resident since 1996. He served on the village's planning commission from 1999 to 2005 before making a run at a vacant trustee seat in 2007 on the Village Manager Association slate.
Hale said he entered a village board "in chaos," in 2007, but that his VMA cohorts – who swept the 2007 and 2009 village board elections – reigned in the tumult and focused their efforts on "managing the economic downturn far more effectively than has been done in other communities. "
He urged elected and appointed officials from all local governing bodies to communicate better, singling out the legal dispute with Oak Park River Forest High School District 200 over TIF money as a "failure of intergovernmental cooperation."
In addition to better communication, Hale said he hopes his replacement will sign a pledge for better cooperation "...and to avoid lawsuits pitting Oak Park taxpayers against Oak Park taxpayers until all parties can honestly say that they have tried and failed to talk out there differences."
During his brief appearance before reporters on Monday, Hale said the break from public service was necessary for his personal life.
But the break may be short-lived.
"[I will] take a break for now," he said. "But I'd consider [running for] the village president sometime in the future."
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