In an election full of trolls, fake news sites and a ghost candidate, who knows what to believe. I have carefully documented the statements I made in my blog. I running a series of Facebook posts with the ten biggest lies with links to the documentation posted here.
Stay tune for updates.
Lie 5: City Treasurer Repeats Cunningham Lies.
John Schwab, City Treasurer, mailed a campaign flyer supporting Sam Cunningham, his running mate, that claims:
Sam Cunningham did not raise your property tax bill by 13% (See Lie 1).
My latest budget has a $7 million short fall. (See Lie 2). If budgets are unbalanced, how come reserves are up?
In saying this, he is calling the Director of Finance a liar, as all four budgets state the budgets are balanced by accepted accounting standards. Schwab is a foot doctor and not a CPA. In cities where the Treasurer is hired rather than elected, they are required to be a CPA.
He is also contradicting the Chicago Tribune.
Schwab's campaign flyer does not have a paid-by statement as required by Illinois State law and looks like other Cunningham flyers, distinctly different than Schwab's flyers for Treasurer.
We trust the City Treasurer with millions of our dollars. How can you trust someone who blatantly lies and violates state law? Schwab has some explaining to do.
Lie 4: Murders are up 43% under my administration.
One of Cunningham’s flyers claims murders are up 43% under my administration. He compares 2020, 7 murders, with 2023, 10 murders. Why these two years? I am sure you can guess. If he compared his last year (2020) to my most recent year (2024) with 5 murders, murders are down 29%. This is a classic example of how to lie with statistics – picking and choosing the data. Figures don’t lie, but liars figure.
While crime is and continues to be a key concern in our community, things are moving in the right direction. Total crimes (murder, rape, robbery, agg. assault and battery, burglary, theft, stolen motor vehicle and arson) were down 28% during my term as mayor.
For further information, go to AnnTaylorForWaukegan.com/Safety.
Lie 3: My balanced budget is $7 million dollars in the red.
Cunningham states, “Ann Taylor calls her budget balanced but in reality, it is $7 million dollars in the red.” Cunningham’s fake news site, the Lake County News Dispatch, is cited as the source. The Lake County News Dispatch is run by Quentin Galvin who claimed he was Cunningham's campaign manager last election and received regular payments from Cunningham. In 2021, he ran another fake news site, the Illinois Citizen Force, that ran attack ads against me. He was sued for setting up a fake website pretending to be the website of candidate Fritz Kaegi.
A far better source of information is the Chicago Tribune.
Each of my four budgets clearly state that the budgets are balanced and certified by the Director of Finance.
In contrast Cunningham's 2017-2018 and 2019-2020 budget's were deficit budgets.
Lie 2: I am guilty of Pay-to-Play
During my term as mayor, I have not taken any money from a city contractor or vendor nor from any Waukegan business. I do not take private meetings with businesses, including developers. When a meeting is requested, the purpose must be stated, and I include the appropriate City staff to address the issues at hand. There are no backroom deals.
The Lake County Dispatch, described by a reviewer as “a paid political hit site,” ran an article accusing me of Pay-to-Play. It cites two donations from a donor totaling $1,500 and that I appointed him to the Waukegan Library Board. All true, but it failed to mention that being a member of the Waukegan Library Board is an unpaid volunteer position that involves donating many hours of hard work. Further, the individual has made numerous donations to the Library. Waukeganites are fortunate to have a CEO of one of our local credit unions volunteer his time to help the library. Kudos to him, and shame on those disparaging our outstanding citizens for political gain.
Sam Cunningham collected $376,659 during his four years as mayor. Many of Cunningham’s donations were from companies doing business with the City or seeking approval for projects. Some are during the bidding and approval process. Textbook pay-to-play. For more on Pay-to-Play go to:
Lie 1: Sam Cunningham claims he did not raise your property taxes.
Cunningham stated this on a 2025 campaign flyer, but it wasn't the only time he had told this lie. When he ran for mayor in 2017, he promised not to raise taxes. In 2021, after raising the housing/property tax by 13.5%, he lied about raising taxes. In 2025, he is repeating the lie again. Numerous newspaper articles and city documents prove that he raised property taxes by 13.5%. I kept my promise and did not increase your taxes.
Being willing to tell such a bold lie to the voters, what else is Sam lying about? Believe me, plenty. For further proof go to: