Democratic Board of Assessment Appeals Chair Staging Write-In Candidacy

Due to an oversight, the sole Democrat on the Board of Assessment Appeals (BAA), Louise Trojanowski-Marconi, was left off of the Democratic Town Committee’s (DTC) endorsement list and will not be appearing on November’s ballot.

Trojanowski-Marconi is still running for reelection, however, as a write-in candidate with the local Democratic Party’s support.

“We tried to do the best we could to correct it,” she said, though now the current BAA chairman will have to run for her fifth term without her name on the ballot.

Trojanowski-Marconi said she is less worried about getting enough support for reelection than she is about people spelling her name correctly.

“I’ve been out at coffees, networking, going door-to-door — getting the word out — but people know me, they know my name,” she said. “I just have to make sure they spell it right.”
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There are two seats open on the BAA this year. Voters will only pick one on the Nov. 5 ballot, with the two highest voter-getters seated.
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Voters only have to be close in a write-in campaign — election moderators will be looking for clear intention — though Trojanowski-Marconi is not taking any chances.

Her campaign has sent out a postcard flyer with her name in clear type.

Besides not appearing on the ballot, Trojanowski-Marconi’s campaign faces an additional challenge this year in the form of a new third party.

Trojanowski-Marconi will be contending with two candidates whose names will be on the ballot — Republican nominee Jim Thomas and A Brookfield Party (ABP) nominee Kevin McCaffrey.

Though McCaffrey is a registered Republican, he has not been cross endorsed by the local Republican Party and, if elected, would be seated as an ABP member.  If Thomas were also elected to join sitting Republican BAA member John Hooker, McCaffrey would be seated as the minority member.

Despite the added difficulty of a third party challenge, Trojanowski is confident that her years of service will bring out supporters in November.

“I’ve been on boards and commissions almost the whole time I’ve lived in Brookfield — 22 years,” she said. “I really like being involved. Every time I go to a meeting it just feels so good to know I helped my neighbors.”

She also has the support of the local Democratic Party.

“Louise is a superb candidate with a long history of public service to our community,” DTC Chairman Dan Smolnik said, explaining that “a clerical error in completing the ballot form inadvertently discluded her name.”

Smolnik said that the lack of an endorsement on paper does not translate to a lack of support from the party.

“The people of Brookfield deserve to have Louise continue in service on the Board of Assessment Appeals,” he said. “And we urge voters to return Louise to office by writing in her name.”