Zediker bows out of contention for City Council
By Hank Beckman For The Sun November 17, 2012 7:28PM
John Zediker
Updated: November 17, 2012 10:56PM
Sometimes you get an offer you can’t refuse, and apparently that’s what happened to John Zediker.
The former DuPage County Board member (R-District 5) picked up a petition packet last week with the intention of tossing his hat into the already crowded field for the April 2013 City Council race, but an unnamed opportunity made him rethink his plans.
“I didn’t think it was fair to the citizens of Naperville to try and do both jobs at the same time,” he said. “I wanted to be respectful to both the citizens and the other candidates.”
Zediker recently lost a close race to retain his seat on the County Board and was philosophical about the circumstances that originally led him to seek a seat on City Council.
“Sometimes when a door closes, multiple doors open,” he said. “But I was offered another opportunity that had a starting time frame of March or April 2013.”
Zediker said he wasn’t at liberty to discuss the new opportunity, only saying that “something pretty exiting came up” and that one way or another, he would be “part of the mix again” in Naperville civic affairs.
He did say that he would remain chief operating officer of Reuttiger and Tonelli, Associates.
Paul Hinterlong, running for re-election to City Council, praised Zediker as a person who “would have brought a lot to the Council.”
But Hinterlong downplayed the significance of Zediker dropping out, saying he wasn’t in the race long enough to be a factor.
Councilwoman Judith Brodhead, also running for re-election, disagreed.
“He would have been very much a player in this race,” she said.
