Ammie Kessem says Chicago 45th Ward Alderman John Arena can't stand being out of the spotlight, even if it means pushing away some little girls to grab the attention.
Kessem, a Republican House candidate, took offense at Arena's criticism of an article by DNAinfo that praised Girl Scout Troop 21326 for taking the initiative and doing the dirty work of cleaning up pigeon droppings from the Old Irving Park viaducts.
"Being a Girl Scout leader myself, I applaud these girls for their efforts and holding a stake in their community," Kessem said in a statement.
Ammie Kessem
Owen Brugh, Arena's chief of staff, reprimanded Patty Welti, the author of the article, accusing her of seemingly failing to accurately express the work that the city had put forth.
The article outlines how the city has placed signs asking citizens not to feed the pigeons and has even tried to implement spikes and netting to discourage the congregation of the birds, to little avail.
While investigations into viable solutions were underway, the Girl Scout troop took action to clean up the mess.
Rather than thanking the troop for their volunteer efforts, Brugh did little more than acknowledge the fact that they helped before launching into a defense of the city, Kessem said.
"We are obviously happy the Girl Scouts are taking ownership in the community, but they are hardly the only ones working to solve the problem," Brugh argued in his email to Welti. "It is deeply frustrating to me that I took the time to tell you what we have been doing to solve the problems there, and yet you ignored it in favor of a snappy ending and the cynical trope that government is incompetent and government workers shirk responsibility."
Kessem was quick to jump to the defense of the Girl Scouts and their work, denouncing the response.
"It's shameful to say the least," Kessem said in her statement. "Maybe, just maybe, instead of Owen using his time to criticize a journalist, he should have been reaching out to those girls who worked so hard on a community project and helped to sing their praises! Instead, he used his time to make it all about themselves (Arena's office) and what they were doing."
Brugh questioned whether cleaning up pigeon poop was actually a priority for the Irving Park area, while Kessem said the Girl Scouts deserved praise for trying.
"Our girls are always coming up with some pretty amazing things to make the world a better place, which is the premise behind the Girl Scout's mission . . . 'to serve God and my Country, to help people at all times,'" Kessem said in her statement.
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