Small business owner Barnaby Dinges officially threw his hat into the ring for April’s mayoral race Thursday, becoming the fourth candidate to vie for the slot of retiring Mayor Lorraine Morton.
Dinges, Medill ’86, announced his candidacy in a statement released Thursday morning. The 49-year-old considered running in 2005, but eventually pulled out due to family reasons.
“I’ve been thinking about this for years,” Dinges said in a phone interview. “I believe I have the knowledge and the skill set to help Evanston through what’s going to be a difficult period. We’ve got financial issues, environmental issues, transportation, education – these are the areas I’ve spent my life working.”
Currently the owner of a public relations firm whose main client builds wind farms, Dinges has lived in Evanston for 12 years, the press release said. His wife, a Northwestern graduate school alumna, works for the Allstate Corporation. The couple have two sons, ages 16 and 18.
Fixing Evanston’s budget is the top priority, Dinges said. Evanston currently faces a $140 million deficit in its police and fire pension funds.
The release listed statistics showing that taxes have increased 31 percent in the past five years, nearly twice the rate of inflation. If elected, he pledged to “get the budget under control” without raising taxes.
“We need to tighten our belts, like a lot of Evanston families are having to do,” he said.
But Dinges also stressed the importance of improving Evanston’s relationship with NU. Pointing to the fact that both entities will have new leaders within the next year, he said improving town-gown relations was his second most important issue.
“We need to end what I call ‘the war’ between Northwestern and Evanston,” Dinges said. “I think there are many ways that Northwestern and Evanston can and should collaborate to create a better partnership … and I’ve got a lot of ideas along those lines.”
Dinges said he’s spent weeks campaigning in all nine Evanston wards, talking with more than 1,300 residents. He’s already collected about 900 signatures, significantly more than the 592 required to appear on the ballot.
He has never before sought political office.
“I’m not running as the establishment insider,” Dinges said. “I’m running as an agent of change and facilitator on behalf of all of Evanston.”
