Former Naperville councilman and library board nominee Kevin Coyne is questioning the motives of those opposing the appointment of Awake Illinois founder Shannon Adcock to a volunteer board.
Coyne said during his time on the Naperville City Council such appointments were rarely discussed.
"I've heard different things," Coyne told DuPage Policy Journal. "I mean, it's all, unfortunately, a result of the cancel culture movement that refuses to be open-minded or inclusive of ideas that are not consistent with their own. The council, the councilmen that appear most concerned, have never even met Shannon Adcock and have declined opportunities to do so."
In his several years serving Naperville, Coyne recalled he has never seen appointments as debatable as this.
"They're just accepting of the gospel — all of the social media hate that's out there about her. They've never talked to her directly. And you know, I was a councilman for six years in Naperville. These appointments have never been contentious. They've never even been, in virtually any case, even discussed. And now, because we have some appointees that have been active in Republican politics, we're going to make this huge thing of our appointments to these volunteer boards? It's really disturbing, in my view, that we are taking this 'woke', aggressive cancel culture so far in our community."
A petition in support of Coyne and Adcock has been started. A high-profile group of Democrats on the "NaperGals" Facebook page has been attacking the two. Mayor Steve Chirico of Naperville has been considering Adcock and Coyne for the jobs but has appeared to be undecided in recent days.
Adcock is the founder of Awake Illinois, a nonpartisan social welfare organization dedicated to exposing government corruption. She has been nominated for a position on the Special Events Cultural Amenities Commission, which governs arts, culture, and special events. Coyne is also being considered for appointment to the Naperville Public Library Board of Trustees. The appointments must be made by the May 3 meeting of the Naperville City Council.
Coyne and others have blamed the Chicagoland metro area's chronic criminality on district attorneys who are too mild on crime. Safe Suburbs USA was founded by Coyne. The advocacy group works to reduce crime.
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