Jennifer Groce announced plans to launch her campaign for Mayor of the City of DeKalb to a group of community members, friends and family gathered at a restaurant in downtown DeKalb last Tuesday evening. “At the encouragement of community members and after careful consideration, I am excited to announce my candidacy for DeKalb Mayor, said Groce.”
Jennifer Groce
Groce is currently a Research Associate at the Center for Governmental Studies (CGS) at NIU where she is involved in community and economic development research projects related to housing, access to capital for small businesses and fiscal transparency for state and local governments via CGS’s work in digital financial reporting. She previously served as the Executive Director of Re:New DeKalb, Inc., a not for profit organization dedicated to revitalizing downtown DeKalb.
Groce stated, “DeKalb is a wonderful community that my family and I are proud to call home, but there are growing issues that we as a community must address especially regarding crime, economic development and our collaboration with NIU and other local government partners. As part of this election I intend to engage in an important dialogue about how to champion our assets, address issues facing our changing community and identify specific resources and partnerships that will reduce crime through proactive policing and enhance our economic development strategies by creating move living wage job opportunities to move our community forward.”
Jennifer, her husband Eric and their two children have lived in DeKalb since 1998, with the exception of a three year departure where they lived in Rockford, IL. Jennifer has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and a Certificate in Public Management in Regional Economic Development Leadership from NIU. Jennifer has been involved in a variety of community organizations and has received recognition for her work in community revitalization and service to the community.
“I am humbled by the encouragement and support of my candidacy for Mayor. There are currently two worthwhile candidates that have also announced their intentions to run for Mayor of DeKalb and I am proud to be in their company. Successful community change comes about with broad input, consensus building, collaboration, identification of resources and thoughtful determination from effective leadership. I am grateful for the opportunity to be part of such an important conversation,”said Groce.
Groce is currently working to secure the required signatures on her petition to put her name on the ballot for the consolidated election to be held on April 9, 2013.
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5 Comments
Often, a particular party has all or many unopposed candidates in a primary but a different party may have contested candidates. Some of us will choose a primary ballot based on choices available vs. unopposed candidates and no choices.
I personally think it is an invasion of my privacy to have to ask for one party or another during the primary, especially twenty+ years ago when I lived in one of the ‘student’ precincts and the poll workers made snide comments based on the party ballot for which I had to ask. (I know better now–if any poll worker dared to make a snide comment like that again, I would report it). I think we should all get to choose one candidate for each office from everybody in the primary and the top candidate from each party should then get to run in November.
the fact that she did not vote in an election and expects the public to vote for her? If you are running for an elected position it is expected that you participate in the elction process. The fact that ms Groce is a relative newcomer to DeKalb does not sit well with me or others who have spend much of their life living in DeKalb. I don’t see Ms Groce appealing to older citizen’s of DeKalb.
Regarding the (R) and (D) ballots, I have not formed an opinion on that. I will leave it to your readers to make their own assessment. This information is Public, and i felt it should be published
Geeez Mark. I VERY PROUDLY sit firmly on the fence when it comes to political persuasion. I’ve pulled Republican and Democratic ballots in different elections depending on the races I’ve felt were most important in that particular election. I hate that we have to declare one way or another to vote in a primary. I see no problem with Jennifer having pulled both R and D ballots myself. THAT’s not something that will swing my vote one way or another.
Ms Groce would be the worst of all three who are running. In case you missed it… Ms Groce was an embarrassment to our community at the DeKalb Township meeting last spring when she stood up and whined like a little baby. (video to follow soon). Ms Groce sought to suppress the public’s right to vote on three potential referenda that were before the township electors. She is an absolute embarrassment to our community. Ms Groce is a relative Newcomer to the city of DeKalb. Publicly available voter registration records show Ms Groce first registered to vote in DeKalb county in 1998 (a relative newcomer to our community). How can she possible understand all the nuances of politics and the history of our community? She also failed to vote in the November 2010 election (based on voter records). How can someone who fails to vote in an election expect us to vote for her? Ms Groce also pulled a (R) Ballot in the 2012 primary election. A (D) ballot in the 2008 Primary.
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many democrats in Missouri were encouraged during the lasr R primany to pull a R ballot and vote for Todd Akin since he would be much easier for McCaskill to defeat in the general election. There are many many many reasons for pulling ballots from differant parties in primaries. This is common knowledge, and I felt it should be published