March 26, 2008 - The Beacon News - Author: Beacon News Staff

Kifowit set to launch mayoral bid next week

AURORA - Alderman Stephanie Kifowit has set a date to formally announce her run for mayor. Kifowit will launch her campaign at 6 p.m. April 4 at Long Island Sound Banquets on New York Street.

The event will be catered, with entertainment provided by A Little Night Music DJ service. Kifowit 's announcement party is free and open to the public. Kifowit initially announced plans to run last month, but said then she would arrange a more formal campaign kickoff in the near future.

Her platform includes changing Aurora's form of government to a city manager system, which she said will take the politics out of the day-to-day operations of the city.

Some neighboring communities, including Naperville, operate under this system, and Kifowit said she has received positive responses to the idea since announcing it as part of her platform. Kifowit , first elected 3rd Ward Alderman in 2002 and re-elected in 2007, has been one of Mayor Tom Weisner's sharpest critics on the City Council. But her time in office has also seen forward movement on some important projects, she said, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant money funneled to the ward.

A veteran of the United States Marine Corps, Kifowit is a mother of two who has lived in Aurora for 12 years.

She will become the second alderman to formally announce a run for mayor. Earlier this month, Alderman Rick Lawrence, 4th Ward, kicked off his campaign at Walter Payton's Roundhouse. Weisner has not announced whether he will run for a second term, but his campaign has raised nearly $150,000 in recent months, according to State Board of Elections records.

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