Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Primary Results in Lake County


I thought I would just I would post some links to the results of the February 24th primaries held around Lake County.
But first a comment about the picture. Just a thought from today's blogger...a true democracy should always have a paper ballot.

Sweet sweep for Hyde -- 'a win is a win'

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/newssun/news/1448157,5_1_WA25_WAUKEGAN_S1.article

Jones defeats Kilkelly

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/newssun/news/1448272,5_1_WA25_TWSPELEC_S1.article

Rockingham wins mayoral primary

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/newssun/news/1448155,5_1_WA25_NCHICAGO_S1.article

Now for the other political news items for the day:

Slate thinned in Round Lake Park


http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=274654&src=3

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Stimulus


The President has stated time and time again that The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (TARP) will be carried out with full transparency and accountability. With that the White House has established www.recovery.org as a tool that we can use to follow how our tax dollars will help put America back to work and begin our climb out of the economic challenges we face today.

In recent days, our local papers have articles relating to "shovel-ready" projects for the Lake County and articles that talk about projects we need completed in Lake County.

The EYE has found a very useful resource to monitor and have a voice in what our elected officials are requesting be funded by the TARP.

www.stimuluswatch.org

You can drill down to Lake County Illinois to see who already has "shovel-ready" projects requested. As of now, only North Chicago and Highland Park are noted.

Stay tuned and get involved!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Avon Township Race goes Point counter-Point







Taken verbatim from the websites of each Avon Township Slate....

YOU DECIDE

Avon Forward Promises Change, But Can They Deliver?

Our opponents (Avon Forward) have been quoted saying some rather interesting things in the media since the start of the campaign. As we all know, words are meaningless unless they are backed up by actions. We looked at their claims and promises, and we have found a couple that no matter what they might say, they just cannot deliver on.

How can we make such a claim? By standing on the facts and demonstrating our experience with township government. For example, the Avon Forward party has claimed that their policy is the "Reversing the over $40,000 pay raises for elected officials as well as reducing overall salaries for elected official" (source - Avon Forward Website). As much as they might want to do this, they simply cannot. Why?

According to Illinois statutes, the salary increases are set in advance of the election and cannot be changed once the resolution is passed. This is done to prevent elected officials from voting themselves a pay increase after they take office. We verified this information with the Townships Officials of Illinois organization.

Avon Forward's Response on their website

”Avon Forward Promises Change, But Can They Deliver?”
Our Stance: Our answer is plain and simple ... Absolutely! Avon One appears to be concerned with ending business as usual at the township hall, but Avon Forward embraces the opportunity to better serve the residents and end the archaic policies of the past. Based on their statements, Avon One is the party committed to the "cannot" approach while Avon Forward is the party committed to the "can do" approach. Avon Forward is the party of ideas and "can do" attitude.

Avon One states, Avon Forward Party's commitment to reversing the over $40,000 in pay raises for elected township officials, which was unanimously approved by the Avon One Party, “simply cannot” be done.
Our Stance: Avon One's claims that pay raises for elected township officials cannot be reversed in no way justifies them passing these pay raises, especially in these economic times. Avon Forward is committed to reversing these pay raises and cutting salaries to elected township officials even if that means having to wait until the question is voted on again. Even if the pay raises cannot immediately be reversed, that does not prevent the Avon Forward candidates from donating those pay raises back to the township to offset operating expenses and reduce the increased tax burden on residents, which these pay raises have created.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Town Hall Forums on the Economy



State Sen. Susan Garrett of Lake Forest and state Rep. Karen May of Highland Park) will host town hall meetings Saturday, Feb. 28 in Lake Forest, Deerfield and Northbrook to discuss the economy, budget proposals and the General Assembly's spring agenda and initiatives. The Democrats will meet the public 10-11 a.m. at the Lake Forest Health and Fitness Center, 1200 N. Westmoreland Drive, Lake Forest; 12:30-1:30 p.m. at the Patty Turner Senior Center, 375 Elm St., Deerfield and 2:30-3:30 p.m. at the Glencoe Public Library, 320 Park Ave. (847) 433-2002 or (847) 433-9100.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Breaking the Silence

Illinois's Moment of Silence Law was struck down last week. The law mandated Illinois public schools to require a moment of silence from their students.

If you've ever actually taken a moment of silence with other people, you know how creepy one can be. Naturally no one wants a moment of silence -- and certainly not on a daily basis. Not the students. Not the teachers. Not the administrators. The only people who want a moment of silence seem to be our grandstanding Springfield legislators -- perhaps to score some easy points with their religious-values constituents.

So it should be little surprise that when professional athiest and perennial Green Party candidate Rob Sherman complained that the law is unconstitutional, a federal judge agreed.

But the judge ruled on a technicality, suggesting the law can be rewritten. Now the LakeCountyEye has nothing but admiration for its grandstanding Springfield legislators -- and knows, given the opportunity, they will always jump at a chance to rewrite a bill, no matter how poorly conceived it may be.

So some free advice: when you resubmit your Moment of Silence Bill, why not make it a Moment of Noise Law instead? Instead of requiring our kids endure a minute of awkward silence, why not require them to whoop it up and holler for that minute instead? This will surely release a lot of pent-up energy that would otherwise have been directed toward some illicit pursuit or other. And Rob Sherman will never be able to argue with a straight face that a Moment of Noise Law is a thinly disguised trojan horse to get prayer back in the public schools.

At least give it a moment of thought, grandstanding Springfield legislators. It's a win-win for everyone.

Republican Mark Kirk Votes Against Fair Pay for Women TWICE!!!


The 111th Congress has just gotten started, but the House and the Senate already have revisited two critically important pieces of legislation aimed at ending gender discrimination in the workplace: The Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (LFPA) and the Paycheck Fairness Act (PCFA).


Both bills passed the House last year. But the LFPA was killed in a Senate filibuster led by Republicans seeking to protect corporations from a surge in discrimination lawsuits. The Paycheck Fairness Act didn’t even make it to the Senate floor in 2008, as the clock ran out on the 110th Congress.


Kirk once again proved himself a typical party-line Republican committed to protecting corporate interests above the basic needs and rights of the American people. As he did last year, Kirk sided with other House Republicans seeking to protect corporations from a surge in wage discrimination lawsuits and voted against both bills.


Surely Congressman Kirk is NOT listening to his constituency.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Waukegan Mayors Race heats up

From the land of petition snafu's comes the latest one. The race for Waukegan Mayor is going to be very lively. We will sit back and enjoy it.

From the NEWS SUN -- Signatures on state Rep. Eddie Washington's mayoral candidacy petitions are under fire.

Roughly 400 of Washington's signatures were challenged late Monday, said city Clerk Wayne Motley. The challenge filed by residents Roxanne Zwier-Swanson, Craig Heneghan, Margaret Shorts and Janalle Roth alleges that the signatures are invalid for number of reasons.

Among the objections: signers are not registered to addresses shown; signers' addresses are out of the district; signers' voter registration records were not found; and signers' registration signatures are "suspect."

Washington, the Democrat representing the 60th District, is running as an independent mayoral candidate.

With nearly 400 of his signatures being questioned, Washington would fall "well below" the number needed to remain on the ballot, Motley said.

When contacted Monday evening, Washington said he was unaware of the challenge. He told the News-Sun that his petitions bear about 730 signatures, well over the 427 required. If the contested signatures are eliminated, Washington would be about 100 short.

A hearing on Washington's candidacy is expected early next week, Motley said. Officers for the hearing will include Motley and aldermen Larry TenPas and Tony Figueroa.

If Washington's candidacy is upheld, he will remain on an April 7 mayoral ballot that would include Republican Greg Flesher, independent Robert Sabonjian and the winner of this month's Democratic primary. On the primary ballot are incumbent Richard Hyde, Ald. Sam Cunningham and Jose L. Guzman.

A ruling by the local board is not necessarily the final word on candidacy. In December, the board rejected the petitions of 2nd ward aldermanic candidate Jose A. Guzman, one of four candidates seeking to complete the term of the late John Balen, but Guzman was restored to the ballot in January after appealing in Lake County Circuit Court.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Antioch Township is always entertaining politically!

Lake county politics are strange sometimes, but this one is odd. It should be easy to deduce where a candidate lives, both address are inside the township so why should anyone say differently?
From the Daily Herald--
The race for Antioch Township assessor is already heating up, with incumbent Heather Kufalk-Marotta protesting her opponent's petitions, and challenger Gene Kryczka challenging Kufalk-Marotta's residency. Kufalk-Marotta says more than 185 names on Kryczka's nominating petitions are illegitimate, including two names of people who are dead and six names of people who have sworn affidavits saying they never signed the petition. She's lodged a complaint with the Lake County State's Attorney's office. Kryczka says that Kufalk-Marotta doesn't live at the Grass Lake Road address she claims, but really lives on West A Street in Antioch. He's filed a challenge with the electoral board.