Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Forecast a Ballot

And don't forget to tip your waitress.It was predicted by the Mayan Calendar: Among the signs and portents to be observed in 2012 will be the confluence of the Quadrennial Leap Year with the Illinois Presidential Primary. In layman's terms, today is February 29 which means Illinois voters all get an extra day this year to cast a ballot in early voting.

Your LakeCountyEye gives little weight to the story that pre-Daley Chicago Ward bosses would reward their early voters with a pint of Early Times. Nonetheless, operatives have between now and March 15 to GOTV their early voters into the polls.

It should be noted that the phrase Early Voting is a misnomer. Contrary to what many are led to believe, voters do not have to arrive before 6:00 AM to participate in early voting. The legislative intent of early voting was to provide for Illinois's Type-A voters an avenue to get a leg up on their sluggardly election-day-voting counterparts.

In fact, Springfield legislators were originally divided over what exactly to call Early Voting. Your LakeCountyEye recalls -- like it was just back in the day -- that a number of alternative designations were hotly debated, both on and off the legislative floor. Ten of them, to be exact:

Ten Names for Early Voting Rejected by Springfield Legislators
  1. ORLY Voting
  2. Voting: The Prequel
  3. Preemptive Voting
  4. Late Voting ... ha ha Psych!
  5. Damn It's Early Voting
  6. "Another Unfunded Mandate" Voting
  7. Early Voting: Now with Video Poker!
  8. US Cellular Early Voting
  9. Early Onset Voting
  10. Vote Early. Vote Often. Repeat.

Look for your LakeCountyEye voting early ... so you don't have to.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Endorsing Around

Make that cancelled check into a kite!Lake County's voters wouldn't be voters if they didn't vote every once in a while. The majority never vote at all. Of those that do, they only vote when they know there is an election. And most of them only know there is an election scheduled when they have to wade through all the annoying candidate endorsements in their newspaper -- to get to the Walgreens coupons.

To make matters worse, last month the Sun-Times announced that its newspapers will no longer make political endorsements, forever. All of which forebodes a record low (if not negative) Primary election turnout in Lake County. So as a service to Sun-Times readers, and to Lake County voters in general, your LakeCountyEye is herewith tipping off readers of this blog that there is a Primary election coming up on March 20.

With the Sun-Times officially out of the endorsement game, Lake County's other newspapers of record have jumped into the lurch with both figurative guns ablazing. Like, for instance, the Chicago Tribune ...
We can think of our own reasons to stop making endorsements. They antagonize some readers. They demand hundreds of hours of work to dig through the records and positions of candidates for office. They often require us to hold our nose and choose the less awful of the choices. They allow the fiercest partisans to dismiss us as Republican shills or Democratic lapdogs. We respect the decision by the Sun-Times, but we intend to keep doing endorsements.
Why we endorse
You have to make decisions. The Tribune tries to help.
... and the Daily Herald ...
Sometimes we wish we could endorse more than one candidate in a race because more than one impresses. Sometimes we wish we could avoid endorsing any candidate because no one impresses. But only rarely have we given in to either wish. The electorate must make a choice so it's our responsibility to make one too. Some conservatives label our Opinion page view as liberal. Some liberals label it as conservative. We believe both labels are wrong.
The sentiment behind our endorsements in Election 2012
Now, your LakeCountyEye has been around the roundabout more than few times, but can only recall a single instance where a newspaper endorsement actually made a difference: A perplexed voter, who took pride in voting every election, confessed he rarely recognized any of the names on his ballot and he would often vote by random chance. So this voter was advised to take a newspaper along when he went to the polls. Well, after about 45 minutes the exasperated voter emerged from the voting booth saying he saw none of the newspaper's candidates on the ballot. And he was forced to cast write-in votes for Pauly Honda, Raymond Chevrolet and Gregory Hyundai.

Adding insult to injury he was unable to print Anthony Pontiac-GMC-Buick in the available space and had to ask for a new ballot. Ha ha, true story.

Anyhow, operatives don't need to be informed that the only endorsement that matters -- at least in Lake County -- is your LakeCountyEye's endorsement. And the only way to win your LakeCountyEye's endorsement is to forward your checks, money orders, unmarked small bills to:
lakecountyeye@gmail.com
Third-party checks will not be accepted, unless they have been -- well -- endorsed by you.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Taste of Cicero

move along nothing to see hereThere is no truth to the rumor that Lake Zurich had been seeking to become a sister city with Acapulco. But a staticky voicemail resulted in Lake Zurich becoming an accomplice city with Cicero. As in Cicero, Illinois.

Ha ha, as readers of this blog are increasingly aware ...
Déjà Vucci?
Some revealing similarities between a secret mall development project in Lake County and one in suburban Cicero has everyone intrigued. Will a recent Lake Zurich mall development project, advanced by members of the Dimucci family and the Lake County board, take the same trajectory as a mall development project advanced by the Dimucci Cos. and members of the Cicero Town Board, seven years ago?

Whether or not deserved, it has a reputation and Lake County operatives want to know what it takes to pull off a big development deal in a town like Cicero. According to The Town of Cicero itself, it may just be some of the same old same old:
Cicero is waging a costly court battle to get out of a development contract for a new retail center at 29th Street and Cicero Avenue, claiming that conflicts and poor contract wording make the deal void. In a court filing in the case Aug. 30, officials accuse former Cicero town attorney Ed Vrdolyak of having a conflict of interest with the developer, though the only evidence is an unsigned contract for a different property. Cicero spokesman Dan Proft admitted that though there's no signed documentation proving any conflict, he said there's good reason to suspect Vrdolyak of wrongdoing. "It's 'Conflicts 101,'" Proft told the Life. "He was on both sides of the deal."
Cicero wants out of 29th St. project
The Town of Cicero website identified the developer:
Anthony Dimucci, the developer, has sued Cicero to hold up its end of the deal that was approved by the Town Board in March 2005. The board agreed to the development plan right before President Larry Dominick came into office.
Cicero wants out of 29th St. project
... and the name of the development company, Dimucci Cos.:
The developer had proposed to complete his part of the deal through a company called Dimucci Cos., which also developed the 457,000-square-foot Cicero Marketplace shopping center on Cicero Avenue. However, once Dominick came into power, he killed the Dimucci deal. According to the lawsuit, former Town President Ramiro Gonzalez incorrectly filed the required paperwork for the agreement, and the deal also was too vague about Dimucci's requirements. And, Cicero claims the Dimucci Cos. doesn't exist, that there's no company licensed under that name in state records. Dimucci did not return a phone call for comment.
Cicero wants out of 29th St. project
Out of curiosity, your LakeCountyEye checked to see if there were any political contributions attributed to Dimucci. Yes there were:
Illinois State Board of Elections: Contributions List
This web widget may help to summarize the contributions:

DiMucci : Individual Contributions
Note to ops: The secret to success in business is as old as business itself and remains the same if you do business in Cicero or in Lake Zurich -- offer a product or service people want, and have no competition.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Déjà Vucci?

fast eddieIn Lake County they always say: It's one damn thing after another. Except, where you see the word -- damn -- replace it with -- secret backroom deal -- instead. As readers of this blog are clandestinely aware ...
A Mall of Silence
A deal has been cooked involving the Lake County Board and owners of a property on Route 12, the goal being a major 800,000 square foot shopping mall north of Lake Zurich. Although it has generated fierce opposition among local residents, your LakeCountyEye suspects the project is on the fasttrack to being a donedeal. In a democracy the majority rules. In Lake County that majority is sometimes a few members of the Lake County Board.

County Board member Stevenson Mountsier told the Daily Herald ...
he will support the proposal when it comes before the county board, probably in May. "These people, the Dimuccis, want it to be a first-class shopping center," Mountsier said. "I know they're willing to do whatever the ordinances call for. I can tell you it will be a first-class job."
New mall plan could reignite old Taubman land war
And according to the Daily Herald, members of ...
the Dimucci family own the land and have proposed changing the zoning rules for the site to allow the eventual construction of a shopping area on about 53 acres. The land, which is in unincorporated Lake County, now is zoned for residential use.
Talk about proposed land plan near Hawthorn Woods cut short due to legal concerns
Operatives who Google Dimucci and lawsuit may see this 2006 Chicago Tribune story ...
Political infighting and corruption charges loom large in a Cicero case now making its way through Cook County Circuit Court. At stake are lucrative parcels of land ripe for redevelopment, including the former Sportsman's Park where thoroughbreds once raced. Palatine-based DiMucci Development Corp. is suing Cicero, alleging officials reneged on a deal to redevelop 9,000 square feet of commercial and retail space at 29th Street and Cicero Avenue, near the track site. The deal was made under former Town President Ramiro Gonzalez, who lost a re-election bid last year to Larry Dominick. After Dominick took office, he ordered an independent audit of town records that found documents alleging that former Chicago Ald. Edward Vrdolyak--at the time an attorney for Cicero--had worked out a side deal with DiMucci to secure the Sportsman's Park bid. The court filing includes a copy of an unsigned document describing a partnership between DiMucci companies and Vrdolyak from 2003. The paperwork indicates that Vrdolyak stood to make millions if the deal went through, the town alleges. In return, Vrdolyak was supposed to "do all work necessary in the village of Cicero for acquisition and development ... legal work ... at no charge," according to the document. Dominick's administration said DiMucci's deal was void because of that alleged secret agreement and last week filed a motion to dismiss the company's suit.
Cicero accuses lawyer Vrdolyak of conflict
Lucrative side deal with developer alleged
An FYI to operatives, Cicero is located in Cook County -- as in Cook County Politics.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Q the Eye/02.19.12

Dear LakeCountyEye,

It's bad enough when they need to steal your name to get elected President. Now the Justice Department has ordered me to print all my ballots in Spanish. Our voters will take one look at a bi-lingual ballot and think their County Clerk has all of a sudden turned into a Massachusetts Moderate. My brand is at stake -- what are my PR options?

Not Willing to Enable

Dear Damage Control,

Ὥρος HōrosDon't you just hate it when some anonymous Washington bureaucrat imposes some onerous restriction on the front-line freedom-loving administrators of local government? One local County Clerk was recently dealt a Federal mandate suspiciously similar to yours -- and responded in the tried and true manner: immediately dispatch a bunch of letters-to-the-editor to alert a snoozing media:
Election information in Lake County is now printed in English with a Spanish translation. In late 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice sent a certification letter requiring Lake County to provide complete bilingual election administration in the Spanish language for 2012. This requirement is a result of the application 2010 U.S. Census data to the requirements test under the Voting Rights Act.
Voting language
This particular press release also reminded everyone who's to blame when they realize their ballot is written in a foreign language:
The Lake County Clerk's Office is working diligently to comply with the bilingual requirements and to ensure Lake County taxpayers and voters are not at risk for any facet of non-compliance. All election administration materials will be provided in English with Spanish translations as required by the federal law under the Voting Rights Act.

Willard Helander
Lake County clerk
Waukegan

Voting language
Of course, some believe the best defense is a good offense. Rather than capitulate, bold action may be the order of the day. Instead of sending letters to the newspapers, send one back to that pesky Justice Department:
Estimado Fiscal General Holder,
Lo siento, no hablo Inglés.
Sinceramente,
[your name here]
This will at least buy you some time.

If you are an elected official, or a previously elected official, or just a private citizen under indictment, send your political questions to Q the Eye c/o ... LakeCountyEye@gMail.com

Friday, February 17, 2012

Dam the Dam

There was a time when those who graduated from medical school were among the brightest America had to offer.  Yet throughout time there has always been an exception to the rule even for doctors who were educated in the 1960s. 
Your Lake County Eye found that exception when by chance operatives were enjoying a cup of coffee reading the Lake County News-Sun and came across this “Letter to the Editor” (2/16/21)
Cautionary tale
Recently, a new African-American patient asked me who the portrait of the black man was in my waiting room. I told him it was Julius Nyerere, the first president of Tanzania upon independence from Britain.
Asked why, I told him he was the politician I respected most in the world. After the election he rapidly turned the county into a socialist/communist country, complete with the red flag and sickle. I was known as Comrade Doctor. The schools, hospitals, farms and factories were nationalized.

Steadily, most everything fell into ruin.  Production and the economy steadily declined.

One day on a “flying doctor” mission the pilot pointed down to miles of barren, desolate land. He informed me that this was once a huge green rice plantation. All the people had jobs, money and food. It was owned by a rich man of Asian decent.
The government decided that one person should not be so rich on the labors of others and so the farm was nationalized. The government appointees steadily led it to ruin.
The people no longer had jobs or food, but at least there wasn't a rich person.  After 25 years, President Nyerere stood before his Parliment.
He thanked them for their confidence during all those years, but told them socialism doesn’t work. He asked them to respectfully accept his resignation and turn the presidency over to a businessman from Zanzibar.
Should our current president admit that his run at socialism and attacking the rich is leading our beloved country downhill and resigns, I will find space on my wall for his portrait.
William C. Dam, M.D.
Ingleside

As you can imagine after cleaning up the spilled coffee from the desk and newspaper, one sat puzzled and amazed that a physician mind you could possibly come up with such a piece of ignorant, racist, insulting drivel and to top it off pretty much factually WRONG in every sense.

Then again you had to think of the source,  Dr. William Dam a party hack, and former State Committeeman.  And why shouldn’t he do what so many have done in recent years….make up stories.  It is the way of doing business today for surely Americans have lost the ability to critically think and tend to believe anything they read.   That had to be going through the good doctor’s mind as he penned his Letter to the Editor.
Research has failed to support any of Dr. Dam's statement.  The most one could find was a reference to Nyerere "finally admitting that some of his policies hadn't been successful" when he stepped down in 1990.  But that appears to refer mostly to the collectivization of agriculture alone, or the methods employed in the implementation of his goals, and not to his broader commitment to socialism as a broad doctrine.  Most of the histories available suggest that his country was not sufficiently developed to absorb the transition to complex economic theory, and that the managers of the collective system of agriculture were unqualified.


term in October 1990; became chair of the ruling CCM, 1990."  Source:  Answers.com.  As an aside, Tanzania is the result of a merger, in the early 60s, of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, and Mwiny is a devout Muslim.  Finally, it should also be noted that although Mwinyi's pragmatic and liberalizing policies were credited with reviving the Tanzanian economy, he would deny that he reversed the socialist policies of his predecessor. Mwinyi describes the role of the president and the party in Tanzania by saying, "In our country, the party is supreme and the government is only an instrument which implements the party's policies." Mwinyi continued to assert that socialism is a goal for the Tanzanian economy, but he also acknowledged an active private sector in Tanzania's "mixed economy.”

We challenge the good doctor to a spirited debate or better yet, another Letter to the Editor apologizing for his character assasination at trying to link the President of the United States to socialism.  Real socialist cringe when anyone tries to link this POTUS to their scared socialist values.



Thursday, February 16, 2012

Major League Rules

There is nothing that stirs up controversy in an election year like a League of Women Voters® candidate forum. As readers of this blog are repeatedly aware ...
Candidate Forums
Four LWV fora were scheduled in Lake County for the upcoming primary election. The first of these debates was held this week:
Candidate Forum for contested races for countywide department elected officials - Clerk of the Circuit Court, Coroner, Recorder of Deeds, and State's Attorney. Sponsored by League of Women Voters, Daily Herald, and University Center.

Sunday, Feb. 12
1:30 pm

University Center of Lake County
1200 University Center Rd
Grayslake
Operatives who missed this event can watch the full video at LWV's YouTube channel ...
candidateforums's channel
The first video in the sequence is embedded for your convenience:


YouTube
If you're anything like your LakeCountyEye you will find yourself rewinding to about 1:50 where forum moderator and local celebrity Kathy Tate-Bradish goes over the League rules. Spoiler Alert! Operatives who expect or demand the recitation of loyalty oaths may be disappointed.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

The Santorium Emporium

Ha ha, it was only a few weeks ago that Rick Santorum's campaign for the GOP Presidential nomination was faring so poorly that it qualified for Federal food stamps. And as readers of this blog are thinly aware ...
The Santorum Post-Mortum
Your LakeCountyEye had some free advice for the Carmel High School alum & Lake County favorite son -- sweatervests may look good on garden gnomes, but not on candidates for national office:
... Mr Santorum, schedule some quality time at the Men's Wearhouse for a couple presidential looking suits!

But as it goes in most cycles, no candidate ever lost an election by ignoring your LakeCountyEye's advice. Santorum being no different, made a virtue of necessity and is now so far ahead in the polls that his sweatervest-o-centric campaign is picking out the matching drapes for the Oval Office.

As they say in politics, if you got it flaunt it. Official President-in-Waiting-Santorum sweatervests can be had for only a hundred bucks, and are available at Santorum's campaign website:
For a limited time, donate $100 or more using the form below, and we will send you an official Rick Santorum For President sweater vest. Perfect for demonstrating solidarity with true conservatives, this vest is a great way to show your support for Rick. It's 100% cotton, made in the USA, comes in grey, and is yours for your contribution of $100 or more. Don't let sleeves slow you down — donate today!
Get One Of Rick's Sweater Vests Now
Well, your LakeCountyEye is a convert:

Your LakeCountyEye
Note to ops: it seldom hurts to order XXL.

Monday, February 13, 2012

A Write-In to be Heard?

yardsignWhile a fundamental maxim of show business ...
I don't care what the newspapers say about me as long as they spell my name right.
... the saying is never true in politics. Unless the politics happens to be in Illinois's Tenth Congressional District and the newspaper happens to be the Daily Herald:
Aloys Rutagwibira, a first-time candidate from Hainesville, filed to become a legally recognized write-in candidate. He was removed from the ballot by the state board of elections because his candidate petition did not contain enough signatures. The Daily Herald also has reported that, if elected, Rutagwibira cannot serve in Congress because he has not been a U.S. citizen long enough. The Constitution requires congressmen to be citizens at least seven years. Rutagwibira, a Rwandan native, became a citizen in 2006, public records show.
Rutagwibira to run as write-in
Besides demonstrating that they employ a headline writer with a deadpan sense of humor ...
Rutagwibira to run as write-in
The Daily Herald's story points to one of the pitfalls of being a write-in candidate. Lake County voters can expect to be treated like below-average middleschoolers: Spelling Counts! While the rules may be more relaxed in other Illinois counties, the Lake County Clerk's office is notorious for nullifying write-in votes cast with misspelled candidate names.

A head's up to ops: Any GOTV on behalf of Aloys Rutagwibira should first include a quick trip to his website for an orthographic refresher ...
Aloys Rutagwibira for Congress
... before that trip to the polling station.

Regarding all the hurly-burly over Rutagwibira's constitutional eligibility to serve, your LakeCountyEye sees a thinly disguised political straw man. Ever since the founding of the Republic, constitutional ineligibility seems to have been the norm rather than the exception. George W Bush served eight years in the White House after stealing the election in 2000 and another one in 2004. The current President, Barack Obama, is both a Muslim who was born in Kenya and has no birth certificate to prove it. And the Republic seems none the worse for it!

Your LakeCountyEye foresees victory for Rutagwibira in March and another easy win in November -- where he will be sworn into 113th Congress as Illinois's newest Representative from the Tenth District.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

The Willard of the People

With Willard "Mitt" Romney and Willard "Rick" Santorum duking it out for the Republican Presidential nomination, Lake County's own Willard -- Willard Helander -- seems to have gotten lost in the scuffle. Voters who crave videos of Helander and stuff would need to go to her website -- owned and operated by the office of the County Clerk, Willard Helander ...
County Clerk - Lake County, IL
Luckily with a Primary election only five weeks away, Helander can drive eyeball traffic to the website, with promises not of on-line voting, but with something that sounds a lot like on-line voting. According to the press release sent from Helander's office to your LakeCountyEye ...
County Clerk Willard Helander announced today that registered voters in Lake County may now preview their official ballot at LakeVoterPower.info using the "What's on My Ballot?" link. The user is prompted to supply registration name, house number, zip code and date of birth to view the correct ballot for one's address.
Your LakeCountyEye, being an early-adopter so you don't have to, clicked the link:
Submitting to the County Clerk's button got your LakeCountyEye down deeper into the website ...
Where all kinds of buttons and links may be pressed to to view more webpages of the Office of the County Clerk ... Willard

If early voting does not begin on Valentine's Day, maybe it ought to?

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Another Brick in the Mall

shop catLake County is saving its pennies, a penny at a time, in anticipation of its newest super-sized shopping mall. As readers of this blog are superbly aware ...
The Handwriting on the Mall
A backroom deal in the works for over a year will see a parcel of unincorporated land on Route 12 near Lake Zurich re-zoned commercial by a vote of the Lake County Board. After the formalities are taken care of, that unincorporated land will quickly turn into a shopping mall so awesome as to make the nearby Deer Park Mall look like the Lake County Fielders Stadium.

The mall is expected to generate a bagfull of windfall sales-tax revenue for the County; equivalent revenues are expected to go to the lawyers for a windfall of anticipated of lawsuits. According to the Daily Herald already ...
Family members behind a potential commercial development near Hawthorn Woods want a public apology from a woman for what they contend were disparaging remarks she made about them at a village board meeting.
Development family wants apology from Hawthorn Woods speaker
The mall has no name as of yet, however informed sources in the Lake County Regional Planning Commission inform your LakeCountyEye that a faux native american name (which was the style at the time) is under consideration:
Thistooksum Malls
The same source in the top-secret rubber-stamp Commission also divulged the names of some of the shops already booked for the new mall. Your LakeCountyEye is pumped! ... Here are ten of them:

Ten Places to Shop at the New Lake Zurich Mall
  1. Saks Rand Road
  2. Victoria's Secret Deal
  3. AutoZoned Commercial
  4. Lake-Zuro-Disney
  5. LegoMyLand
  6. Baker's 800,000 Square Ft
  7. Tiffany's District
  8. JC Penny's, Nickel's, Dime's & Unmarked 100's
  9. Skimboree
  10. The Park City Casino

Look for your LakeCountyEye with sleeping bag & camp stove and first in the door when the new mall opens.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

The Handwriting on the Mall

Mall Map AppIn anticipation of the economic goodtimes just around the corner, Lake County is in a big hurry to build itself some new shopping malls. As readers of this blog are maladroitly aware ...
A Mall of Silence
A top-secret mega-mall in the works for more than a year was recently just announced at a public meeting in Lake Zurich. The meeting, described by onlookers as something akin to a slow-motion riot, was conducted by the Lake County Regional Planning Commission. According to the Daily Herald ...
Attorney J. William Braithwaite requested the meeting be postponed and rescheduled when a larger venue can be found. Marvin Raymond, the chairman of the commission, resisted, telling Braithwaite "My response is 'no.'" Hawthorn Woods special counsel Dan Shapiro repeated the objection, and after a discussion the commission members voted to end the session. The decision was applauded by the audience members, many of whom were concerned about the future of the 108-acre parcel and its possible conversion into commercial property. As the audience filtered out, Raymond said he suspected the crowd would be too big for the room. "I wish we had picked a larger venue," he said.
Talk about proposed land plan near Hawthorn Woods cut short due to legal concerns
For those operatives wondering: Just who is the Lake Counnty Regional Planning Commission? -- The short answer is: nobody knows. Your LakeCountyEye can only report the Commission appears to be as top-secret as the top-secret mall development it is obliged to chaperone. It is unknown who the members of the Lake County Regional Planning Commission are, if they are paid, where or when they meet, and if they meet what they meet about. The mighty Google yields scant little. In fact your LakeCountyEye was able to identify the members only from the minutes of a recent Lake County Board meeting -- where those same members were reappointed ...
Lake County Illinois - Meeting of Lake County Board on 1/17/2012 at 9:00 AM
One Commission member is Mettawa Trustee, Lawrence Falbe. Falbe no doubt recalls a similar nimby controversy, when an unpopular Costco was built, a few years back, in Mettawa. The Daily Herald observed that ...
The project generated two lawsuits, divided the community and led to a raucous election last April - the first in decades in the rural village.
Neighborly gesture soothes Mettawa Costco foes
Falbe, of course, is better know to ops as TA and captains the political blog TeamAmerica10th.

Your LakeCountyEye observes that nary a peep is evident from Falbe's blog about the year long back-room negotiations over the Lake Zurich Mall. Does this mean the Lake County Regional Planning Commission is what it appears to be: a rubber-stamp commission? Can operatives expect to see a brand new million square-foot mall spring up on Route 12 in Lake Zurich? Will the mall be known as the Mall of TeamAmerica?

Time will only tell!

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

A Mall of Silence

Don't Mall Us, Bro!Had the LakeCountyEye been on the mall ball then readers of this blog would have been aware that plans for a monster mega-mall in Lake Zurich have been cooking for more than a year -- and, ha ha, no one knew about it. The Mayor of North Barrington, for instance, told the Daily Herald ...
he was completely taken aback when he learned recently of the proposed 800,000-square-foot retail and commercial development at the southeast corner of Rand and McHenry roads. His outrage grew after learning county officials had been working on the proposal for more than a year without informing the neighboring municipalities.
New mall plan could reignite old Taubman land war
The top-secret, top-dollar, top-heavy deal involves among the usual suspects, developers, unincorporated Lake County property, the Lake County Regional Planning Commission. The property, owned by Robert and Constance Dimucci would need to be re-zoned by a vote of the Lake County Board. Cheerleading the effort is Lake County Commissioner Stevenson Mountsier. According to the Daily Herald ...
Mountsier said he will support the proposal when it comes before the county board, probably in May. "These people, the Dimuccis, want it to be a first-class shopping center," Mountsier said. "I know they're willing to do whatever the ordinances call for. I can tell you it will be a first-class job."
New mall plan could reignite old Taubman land war
Towering projects of this nature, by law, are required to be vetted before the public. To fulfill the obligation, the Lake County Regional Planning Commission scheduled a meeting -- on short notice, and at a time and place guaranteed to minimize attendance:
Monday, February 6, 3:00 PM
Ela Area Library
Lake Zurich
Well that was yesterday. As they say today in the highlands, the best-laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agley. According to the Daily Herald ...
A planned discussion about a possible commercial development near Hawthorn Woods met with public hostility Monday and then was abruptly adjourned because dozens of would-be audience members were unable to enter the meeting room in Lake Zurich.
Talk about proposed land plan near Hawthorn Woods cut short due to legal concerns
Ha ha, 300 people showed up to protest at library room booked at a capacity of 150. When they couldn't all fit in the meeting had to be cancelled for violating the Open Meetings Act. Your LakeCountyEye has been told that among the players in attendance were no less than four Lake County Commissioners: Stevenson Mountsier, Aaron Lawlor, Craig Taylor, Diana O'Kelly.

A new meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, February 22, exact time and place TBD.

Note to ops: this is a multi-million dollar deal. No one is going to roll over because some angry pensioners show up at a public meeting to vent. If you attend the do-over meeting and if you see Mountsier or Lawlor or Taylor or O'Kelly or another County Commissioner, tell them that you have a lot of free time and extra money on your hands. And if the Mall does go forward as planned then you will look forward to supporting their opponent in the upcoming Primary or General election. Elected officials pay attention when things gang aft agley.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Candidate Forums

The League of Women Voters® of the Lake Forest/Lake Bluff Area have scheduled a number of candidate forums throughout Lake County. They asked us to extend their invitation to our readers:
Candidate Forums Scheduled
The following forums have been scheduled for the lead-up to the March 20th primary election. Mark your calendar now - these should be good!
  • Where:
    University Center of Lake County, 1200 University Center Rd, Grayslake
    When:
    Sunday, Feb. 12
    1:30 p.m. (doors open 1:00)
    Details:
    Candidate Forum for contested races for countywide department elected officials - Clerk of the Circuit Court, Coroner, Recorder of Deeds, and State's Attorney. Sponsored by League of Women Voters, Daily Herald, and University Center.


  • Where:
    Lake Bluff Elementary School, 350 W. Washington, Lake Bluff
    When:
    Sunday, February 19
    1:30 p.m. (doors open 1:00)
    Details:
    Candidate Forum for contested races for State Representative 58th District, State Senate 29th District, and Lake County Board District 13. Sponsored by League of Women Voters, and Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Patch.


  • Where:
    Highland Park Country Club, 1201 Park Ave. West, Highland Park
    When:
    Sunday, February 26
    1:00 p.m. (doors open 12:30)
    Details:
    Candidate Forum for contested races for State Representative 58th District, State Senate 29th District, and 10th Congressional District. Sponsored by League of Women Voters and Union League Club.


  • Where:
    Lake Forest/Lake Bluff Senior Center, 100 E. Old Mill Rd., Lake Forest
    When:
    Sunday, March 4
    1:30 p.m. (doors open 1:00)
    Details:
    Candidate Forum for contested races for Lake County Board District 12, and countywide department officials: Clerk of the Circuit Court, Coroner, Recorder of Deeds, and State's Attorney. Sponsored by League of Women Voters, Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Patch, Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Senior Center.
Candidate Forums Scheduled

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Meet the Candidates Breakfast Meeting

The Cuba Township Republicans have scheduled a breakfast meeting for the public to meet their local candidates. They asked us to extend their invitation to our readers:
Please join us for our monthly Cuba Township Republican Breakfast to meet the candidates. This is your chance to ask questions, engage in conversation and support Republicans! The breakfast is open to the public; attendees include a mix of local officials, committeemen, staff and voters.

Date: Friday February 17, 2012
Time: 8:00AM – 9:00AM

Place: Chessie's 111 Grill
200 Applebee St.
Barrington, IL 60010
(847) 382-5020

Cost: $15 – full breakfast included

RSVP: Bruce Sauer, Chairman (847) 682-4620

Meet the Candidates at Breakfast Meeting Feb 17

Friday, February 3, 2012

Contrabanned Contraception?

Who could ask for anything more?One would think an institution known for the Inquisition and for tossing Galileo in jail and for playing footsies with the likes of Hitler & Mussolini would've sooner or later learned a lesson. But no, the Roman Catholic Church is now claiming as their God-given right the privilege to withhold contraceptives from its employees. According to the Northwest Herald ...
A health care reform battle raging over individual's rights to insurance coverage for contraception and whether the federal government can compel religious institutions to fund that coverage has spilled into church pews locally and across the country. Catholic congregations this weekend heard a call to rally and a demand that Congress reverse a Jan. 20 decision by the Obama administration that requires Catholic and other religiously affiliated hospitals, colleges and social services agencies to cover services contrary to their doctrines.
Contraceptive coverage irks local Catholics
As to any organization that risks being a caricature of the Church Lady on matters regarding birth control, your LakeCountyEye advises operatives to give them a wide berth.

Luckily Joe Walsh is not being advised by your LakeCountyEye. Walsh, banty rooster & 8th Congressional District Congressman, has thrown his iron into the fire and has made it known that when it comes to a choice between public health & medical science or religious dogma, he sides with religious dogma:
Forcing religious organizations to provide birth control to their employees is un-American and unacceptable.
Rep. Walsh Takes Stand Against Contraceptive Mandate
Ha ha, this Joe Walsh who believes it is suitable to withhold basic family planning resources from a segment of the labor force is the same Joe Walsh who is currently being sued by an ex-wife for child support. The same Representative who has made Illinois tea-party politics synonymous with deadbeat-daddery also wants to block access to birth control. Is it just your LakeCountyEye who sees the irony here?

Ops are advised to get down on their knees and hope & pray that Big Government shall never perish from the earth. Big Government is about the only thing that now stands in the way of any fundamentalist outfit that wants to drag everyone back into the 15th century. Just sayin!

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Fundraising with Numbers

Your LakeCountyEye observes that a monster solar flare is currently bombarding the planet with mega-doses of radioactively charged mega-pixels, or some junk like that. Operatives are advised to immediately put on their tinfoil hats otherwise risk seeing their brains fricasseed like so many chunks of trout stewed in a savory Béchamel.

Ops who scoff at your LakeCountyEye's dire warnings no doubt may have donned their protective tinfoil hats a bit too late, as the neuro-cognitive effects of the toxic solar blast is already exacting a heavy toll on an unsuspecting Lake County. What else explains this Daily Herald headline?
Jarratt, Neal tops in 31st state Senate fundraising
One symptom of solar-flare-disorder is a comically impaired attention span, so your LakeCountyEye won't bore you with the details of this Daily Herald story. Suffice it to say the story is about how much money raised so far by candidates for the 31st Senate District -- which can be summarized with this handy LakeCountyPie Chart™:
the cash bar
Ha ha, if you believe the Daily Herald headline, Melinda Bush's $11,480 is topped by "Lennie" Jarratt's $7,480 and Joe Neal's $6,030 -- which is mathematically true only if Jarratt's and Neal's numbers are combined.

Your LakeCountyEye suspects the misleading headline was a summary of the story's first sentence ...
Linwood "Lennie" Jarratt and Joe Neal have led in fundraising among four candidates running in the Republican primary for state Senate District 31, state election documents show.
Jarratt, Neal tops in 31st state Senate fundraising
In the Herald headline writer's defense, your LakeCountyEye knows full well how difficult it is to get beyond one of these opening paragraphs. Attention deficit or no attention deficit.