OLSON’S DISINGENUOUS ACTIONS RAISES SUBSTANTIAL ETHICAL QUESTIONS

JANUARY 8, 2010

ITASCA, IL – In this age of increased voter awareness and engagement, politicians and elected officials need to hold themselves to a higher ethical and moral standard. County Board Member Debra Olson is misleading voters into believing that she maintains the highest ethical and moral standards in the DuPage County Board Chairman campaign, but her record reveals the truth. Consider the following:

• Olson accepted thousands of dollars in political contributions from companies that conduct business with DuPage County government. Some of these donations were received as recently as last spring. She changed her tune once she decided to run for DuPage County Board Chairman and suddenly calls for a ban on donations from county contractors;

• One of her campaign coordinators works for a major vendor for DuPage County and is under the purview of a committee that is chaired by Olson.

County Board Member Olson sent out a multi-page overview of her proposed ethics changes for DuPage County. Since distributing her taxpayer financed ethics proposal, her actions have been inconsistent, calling her intentions into question.

“Deb should be concerned about her own ethical lapses before lecturing anyone else about how to conduct their campaigns. Voters are smart enough to know the difference between words and actions. DuPage County voters should consider the truth before listening to more empty promises from Deb Olson who pledges reform without having the record to back it up,” Said State Senator Carole Pankau, one of Olson’s opponents in the upcoming February 2nd Republican Primary for DuPage County Board Chairman.

DuPage County voters are rightfully fatigued and angered by “pay to play” politics and empty promises to fix our broken system. Voters are seeking real answers and substantial reform from elected officials and deserve only the highest ethical standards from their public servants on every level.

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PANKAU CALLS ON OLSON TO WITHDRAW FROM CAMPAIGN FOR DUPAGE COUNTY BOARD CHAIRMAN

December 16, 2009

vITASCA – State Senator Carole Pankau is calling on Debra Olson to remove her name from the ballot in the upcoming February 2nd primary. On September 16th of this year Board Member Olson issued a detailed overview of an ethics reform package. Within that overview, which was prepared at taxpayer expense, O

lson committed to publishing any and all campaign contributions received from July 1, 2009 on her website.

No such information was found on either http://www.debfordupage.com/, or http://www.debraolson.com/.

“After Deb reaffirmed her commitment to following her own guidelines today at the Daily Herald editorial board meeting, I went and reviewed both her websites, and nowhere does she list ANY campaign contributions,” said State Senator Carole Pankau (R-Itasca).

Pankau, along with Burr Ridge Mayor Gary Grasso and State Senator Dan Cornin, are running against Olson in the upcoming primary to replace Bob Schillerstrom as DuPage County Board Chairman. Pankau stated further, “the voters of this state and our county are fed up with two faced politicians who follow the rules only when it is convenient for them, and I think the only respectable thing Deb can do at this point is remove her name from the February 2nd 2010 primary ballot.”

Olson issued an extensive overview of changes being brought to the County Board in a release dated September 16th 2009. She had committed, and has subsequently reaffirmed that commitment, to following all of the provisions outlined in the release sent on her behalf from the County. Specifically, page 5 of the overview states:

“Because the reporting mechanisms are not yet in place, Olson is committing to putting all campaign contributions made to me [sic] since July 1, 2009 online on my [sic] campaign website within 5 business days of receipt.”

“In 2002 Rod Blagojevich promised to bring about reform, look where that got us. The last thing DuPage County needs is Olson making an identical promise today that the voters will end up paying for in the years to come. She needs to withdraw from this campaign,” Pankau said.

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