Dupage Policy Journal

Naperville Councilman Kevin Coyne says he has had about enough of his hometown's state representative, Anne Stava-Murray, who is a Democrat.

Comments Stava-Murray posted on Facebook in early January about Naperville having “white supremacist policies” infuriated Coyne so much that at the Feb. 5 Council meeting he called for her to resign.

“I received overwhelming support for what I did,” Coyne told the DuPage Policy Journal (DPJ). “Can’t imagine she is getting much support for what she said.”

Kevin Coyne

Stava-Murray, who represents the 81st District, kept it up in a Jan. 29 posting: “Racism is as American as America itself; it’s time to end that inhumane aspect to our identity by shining a light on it.”

Additionally, she posted, “White Anglo Saxons have never attempted to really apologize for the endless sufferings and terrorism that black people have faced in this country.”

Coyne also criticized Stava-Murray for voting in the House on Thursday to increase the statewide minimum wage to $15 an hour, a move he says is not supported by many in Naperville.

“The school districts, the businesses are against it,” he said. “It’s sold as helping workers, but it ends up hurting them by killing jobs.”

Stava-Murray boasted about her vote on Facebook, posting, "While we celebrate today, I continue to work to make sure that $15/hr doesn’t get eaten up by doctors bills, outlandish prescription drug prices, unaffordable childcare, or criminal injustice.” 

Before she was even sworn in as a House member, Stava-Murray announced a challenge to U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin; his seat is up in 2020.  She calls herself a “bold progressive” on her Senate campaign Facebook page, and her positions fit right in line with that characterization: Medicare-for-all, support for Black Lives Matter and the LGBTQIA community “as they have among the highest rates of being murdered by a member of the public.”

Along those lines, DPJ called her Springfield office to ask if she would support new taxes for Naperville similar to the ones recently proposed by the Action Center on Race and the Economy, a Chicago Teachers Union front group: a 3.5 percent tax for families making over $100,000 and a new business tax.

She did not return the call.

Coyne said even without knowing Stava-Murray's views about the new tax proposals, he has reached the end of the line.

“There isn’t much more I can do,” he said, referring to his request that she resign. “Naperville is ready to move on from her and her comments.”

In November, Stava-Murray defeated incumbent David Olsen (R-Downers Grove) in a close race.

The 81st District includes parts of Bolingbrook, Darien, Downers Grove, Naperville and Woodridge.