KGB in Woodstock? Nyet

I suppose some people might have done a double-take this afternoon at the shiny black sedan sitting in the driveway at Memorial Medical Center.

Fortunately, in this country we don't quake at the sight of a license plate or run from certain vehicles. How lucky we are. Well, not "lucky"... we have fought for the right to be free, and we'll defend that right.

As we approach the election petition filing period, I recall a challenge to a petition several years ago. The Election Board held hearings, and it was like a three-ring circus. One of the Board members was late, delaying the start of the hearings, and he showed up at the second hearing, looking like he had jumped out of bed late.

I recall saying to some of the GOP onlookers, when one asked why I was there (nobody really knew me at the time), and I answered that this process - the opportunity and ability to challenge a petition - is something we have in this country that does not exist in many parts of the world.

There, if you raise a challenge, you might just disappear in the dark of night, never to be heard from again.

I also recall the final request by the attorney for the man whose petition had been challenged, after the Board decided that the petition would stand. That attorney asked the Election Board to assess the costs of the investigation and hearings to the man who had challenged the petition.

The Chicago attorney for the challenger met that threatening request with a sound retort - that, if the Election Board allowed such an assessment, it would stifle every request ever to be made in the future. The Chicago attorney was 100% right!