Legislators - big part of the problem!

The sniping at Illinois Governor Pat Quinn continues on the front page of the Northwest Herald this morning, as the paper proclaimed "Quinn: Cut costs, hike taxes."

Illinois Senator Pam Althoff: "I hate it."
Illinois Rep. Jack Franks: "It looked like he gave the speech by consulting a Magic 8 Ball."
Illinois Rep. Mike Tryon: "You don't balance a budget with a credit card."

When they snipe away at someone else, they deflect blame and shame from themselves.

Pam and Mike are right. Jack could have come up with something of substance, worthy of college and law school degrees.

The legislators, past and present, are part of the problem, when they should be part of the solution!

A third-grader could tell you that this state must cut costs and raise taxes. Sure, we're in a recession and this is a bad time to raise taxes. Funny how nobody talked about raising taxes when business was booming.

It's not a political death sentence to raise taxes. It is the responsible action to take.

Will some politicians lose their elected seats in November? You bet. And some of them deserve to lose them!

Promotions at the Sheriff's Department

A comment just posted has attracted my attention, especially since I inquired about the Sergeants' and Lieutenants' Eligibility Lists this morning at the McHenry County Sheriff's Department Merit Commission monthly meeting.

Three promotions were publicized in the morning paper yesterday, just about three weeks before the eligibility lists expired. At this morning's Merit Commission meeting, there was a comment that the lists were in alphabetical order. I didn't hear what question prompted that comment.

But a comment tonight to a article mentioned that "the deputies that pass the test are not taken by top score first, they are placed on a list and hand picked by the sheriff."

Why wouldn't deputies be ranked by test scores and performance reviews and then prioritized with highest score in the #1 position, so that the Department (and the public) would believe they might see the best qualified candidate get the promotion? The ratings should be all figured out in advance of openings and open for public inspection.

If the sheriff is going to get to pick the deputy to be promoted, why not just save a lot of money and skip the testing?

If you drop in at the Woodstock Police Station, you can examine the eligibility list for WPD that is posted on the public bulletin board right in the lobby. You don't even have to go into the inner sanctum to see it.

Double-dipping

Here's a question for you...

Should a salaried employee of a municipality be able to leave work during normal business hours and attend meetings in another governmental jurisdiction, receive payment and mileage for attending those meetings, and be able to keep that compensation?

Or should the employee be required to turn over that compensation to the town or city which is paying for full-time employment?

Thoughts, anyone?

Harding window still in the news

This week's The Woodstock Independent (TWI) devoted a fair amount of space to the Woodstock City Council and the Hardings' renovation at 223 West Tryon Street. You know, that nasty old building that was the eye-sore of South Street and now is a very nice-looking building.

For all the time that was consumed with the window issue, the City probably could have just forked over $3,000 to Tom Harding and saved a lot of angst for everyone. But what we ended up with was the angst and the disappointment and the lost money blown on Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) and City Council and staff duties (and don't forget the cost to have the City Attorney sit there through all the discussions).

The part that still nags away at me is that we still don't know the truth about what happened to the original window. As I commented to the City Council on March 2, Mr. Harding, Sr., had told them two weeks before that the west, first-floor window, which was supposed to be retained, ended up in the dumpster. Mr. Harding, Sr. did not say "The broken window ended up in the dumpster."

On March 2 Mr. Harding, Jr. told the City Council that the window had gotten broken and was removed.

Maybe I'm a nitpicker (OK, so I am), or maybe it's just that I listen carefully and compare what I hear. Those statements by the Hardings are two different statements.

Before the City Council blinked, it should have dug down for the truth. It should have demanded to know just who made the "honest" mistake, as Mr. Harding, Sr. called it. Was it the contractor? The architect? Was it one of the Hardings?

One way to get at the bottom of things would have been to examine the order for the double-hung windows. Was the first-floor, west window ordered at the same time as the other windows, well before it got broken (either by a worker ,while it was still in place? Or was it after after it either got broken or was removed and tossed into the dumpster)?

Some will say it doesn't matter. The HPC members who gave up an extra evening to show up at last week's City Council meeting were correct in the statements. The mayor required all except HPC Chairman Stebbins to address the Council as individuals, as it that made a difference. The audience recognized them as HPC members, and the City Council should have, also.

Read the Letters to the Editor in this week's TWI.

The HPC had made the right decision, for the right reasons. The Hardings should have been required to restore the architecturally-correct window on the west side of the first floor. As Nancy Fike wrote in her Letter to the Editor, "Protection of front facade windows in a historic district building is always a "big deal."

Except in Woodstock.

WANTED - Special Parents

In an effort to support parents and educators in their work of improving results for all students, the Parent & Educator Partnership is hosting the Parent Leadership Institute on April 12-13 in Normal, Illinois. The Institute goal is to equip parent leaders to work collaboratively with their school districts to engage families in meaningful participation. Meaningful participation happens when parents and educators have an understanding of school improvement.

For more information, see the article on http://www.specialkids-specialparents.info/ and/or go to http://www.pepartnership.org/

MCSD Merit Commission met today

The McHenry County Sheriff's Department Merit Commission met for 15 minutes this morning and flew through its agenda.

Thick packets of documents were passed out to all five members, along with Minutes of the last meeting and a list of bills to be authorized for payment. Minutes were approved and the bill payments were authorized without discussion.

In response to a question about whether the Merit Commission oversees or approves the selection of the next Undersheriff and whether there was an eligibility list for Undersheriff or any consideration of outside candidates, Commission Chair Janelle Crowley said the appointment is at the Sheriff's discretion. "Next question."

In response to a question about the Sergeants' and Lieutenants' eligibility lists which were on the February Agenda for act (the February meeting was canceled) and whether they had expired, the answer was that each list was good until April 8, 2010. At today's meeting the current eligibility lists were extended for one year.

Departing Undersheriff Gene Lowery attended today's meeting and was thanked for his 20 years of service. He was presented with two books and a congratulatory letter.

Certain campaign donations to be refused

The Dirty Keith/Dirty Harry blog (www.dirtykeithvsdirtyharry.blogspot.com) today lists some political campaign contributions from a major McHenry County bank and also from a sheriff's department employee being promoted to Sergeant.

As a matter of principle, I intend to refuse all contributions to my campaign for McHenry County Sheriff that I know to be coming from deputies, corrections officers or employees of the Sheriff's Department. Personally, I believe that employees should not contribute to a political campaign of their boss, and I believe the boss (here, the Sheriff) should refuse all such contributions from employees. And from vendors, too!

If they want to send them anonymously, fine. No problem. Send them in. "Small, dirty, unmarked, non-consecutively-numbered bills, please." (Just kidding.) Every dollar (that's every dollar) of campaign contributions will be accounted for in all required reports.

As a Green Party candidate I shall not accept any corporate contributions. None. If an owner of a company wants to contribute, don't send a corporate check.

Where will my campaign contributions come from? From the People of McHenry County. The little guys. The moms and the pops. The voters. The people who are fed up with the way things have been.

The people who believe that cops ought to be the first to obey the laws, not the last.
The people who still believe that the police motto is "Protect and Serve", not "Deflect and Swerve."
The people who believe the Constitution of the United States gives us rights that a mayor or a sheriff can't take away.
The people who believe that we don't need more laws; we need the current laws enforced.
The people who believe we have the right (the right, not a privilege) to defend ourselves outside our homes.
The people who believe that laws should be enforced fair, firmly, impartially.