'Your Tax Dollars Are Not Piggy Banks for Elected Officials’ Personal Vendettas'

Dr. Sandra Bury kept her declaration speech simple and to the point: “I’m humbled and proud tonight, here with all of you so dear to my heart, to declare my candidacy for mayor of .”

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Bury is the first to publicly announce her candidacy challenging incumbent Mayor Dave Heilmann, who is running for his third term in office. The consolidated election is April 9, 2013.

Her associate, Dr. Katherine Narbone, introduced the mayoral challenger at a Wednesday reception at Bury’s optometry practice,

Watch the video of Bury's candidacy announcement.

“She’s so incredibly hardworking, when she gets involved in a project she throws herself right into it,” Narbone said. “No one is more dedicated to do right by Oak Lawn.”

Speaking to an audience of local business owners, family, friends and neighbors, Bury spoke of the

“Oak Lawn is a wonderful community. Everyone here gets together, digs in and works together except for a few people,” she said to laughter. “We’re going to change that. We’re going to take this town back.”

Bury, who filed the former Oak Lawn village attorneys, hit hard on ethics.

“Your tax dollars are not piggy banks for elected officials’ personal vendettas,” she said. “We always have to put the interests of residents first. We need transparency in village hall. Conflicts of interest need to be disclosed and accountable.”

Several local business owners turned out for Bury’s announcement, many from the where Bury has sat on the board of directors since 1997.

While not attendees at Bury’s were a younger crowd who stated that they “had enough of Dave.”

“He doesn’t patronize my business,” a business owner said.

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