War at the McHenry County Board

If you are going to the Tuesday night meeting of the McHenry County Board, you may want to wear your body armor.

Yesterday the Public Health & Human Services Committee met to nominate a new candidate for appointment to the McHenry County Mental Health Board. Jeff Thorsen is the nominee. See several expansive articles about this issue on McHenry County Blog.

County Board Czarina Tina Hill quickly announced that she will not allow Thorsen's nomination to be presented to the full board. She has her own candidate in her pocket and she must reveal that person's name on Thursday, according to the Northwest Herald. Hill apparently intends to push her own candidate forward without opposition on Tuesday.

Is the County Board Chairperson so powerful that she can squelch 23 other members? Cannot a group of Board members create an agenda item? Was our chairperson trained by Richard Daley or Mike Madigan? She is one person on a board of 24. Only one.

Actually, Hill could probably wait until Sunday at 6:59PM to do announce her candidate and still meet the Open Meetings Act requirement of 48 hours' notice. Will the name really surface on Thursday?

Fireworks will start Tuesday, May 21, 7:00PM at 667 Ware Road. Will the Sheriff's Department be present to maintain order? Will Hill need protection against the PHHS? Will PHHS members need protection from Hill?

The animosity and suspicion created by Hill's invoking her privilege to appoint to the 708 Board are greater than I have witnessed in recent years. I'm not a close follower of the County Board, but perhaps many others and I should be.

Why is Tina Hill adamant in her opposition to allowing the PHHS Committee to move a candidate forward?

As Andrew Gasser said on his blog, "So much for transparency."