Where's a Cop When You Need One?

Backbench State Rep Martin McLaughlin showed up on the Lake County Gazette:

The article with McLaughlin's picture is about some police officers who were given the Law Enforcement Medal of Honor. If McLaughlin is a police officer, he is not wearing his uniform in the picture.

In fact there is no mention of McLaughlin in the article. Or anyone named Martin, for that matter.

But if you GOOGLE the Lake County Gazette for Law Enforcement Medal of Honor, you will get a picture of backbench State Rep Martin McLaughlin.

HaHa Bazinga!

All Politics is Loco

Like many other college towns, Lake Forest is the site of a college: Lake Forest College.

Along with its own college, Lake Forest has its own unique form of government, the Lake Forest Caucus:

2023 ...

Selection of Lake Forest's next mayor thrown into turmoil after caucus nomination rejected

Editorial: Lake Forest caucus runs up against messy democracy. Now a fascinating mayoral election ensues.

Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Winnetka and Glencoe defend their caucus systems

Proposed Lake Forest Caucus bylaw change seen as protection against 'manipulation,' or return to 'smoke-filled rooms of the past'

Lake Forest Caucus general membership rejects controversial bylaw change; 'I think it (would) make the process more secret'

Lake Forest Caucus elects new officers amid criticisms of the process; 'They are just ramming this down our throats'

2024 ...

Future of Lake Forest Caucus unclear after officer-slate rejection; 'We are looking for some changes … that reflect all the voices in Lake Forest'

Lake Forest Caucus leaders stick with rejected officer slate; 'These were the cards we were dealt'

Lake Forest Caucus plans another vote for officers; 'We do not want divisive litigation in the community'

Lake Forest Caucus sets second election for controversial proposed officer slate

A recent poll of leading political scientists in Illinois is unanimous: No one knows what the Lake Forest Caucus is for. Or for that matter, what it is.

Up in Arms

There is a proven theorem in combinatorics that says your odds are better for winning the lottery if you do not play the lottery than if you do. Your luck may be better yet instead, if you drop your gamblin'money at the Waukegan Casino:

American Place casino owner Full House Resorts produced record earnings in the first quarter of the year led by the performance of The Temporary at American Place in Waukegan.
Waukegan casino's owner reports record earnings: 'We look forward to continued growth at American Place'

And when you go, send regards to one Waukegan Alderman who will be working the one-armed bandits:

Waukegan's mayor is criticizing an alderman for posting online a photo of a severed arm found this month on the city's lakefront
Waukegan mayor calls alderman’s posting of severed-arm photo 'morally disgusting'

That's all your LakeCountyEye has. Get rolling.

GO Gurnee Re-Boot: Get Moving in May

GO Gurnee Re-Boot: Get Moving in May

Dox Redux

Postpone your plans for the technological singularity. The AI Revolution is on the fritz.

The web-bots employed by the Lake County Gazette to reveal Lake County voter information, have been omitting the voter's street numbers and birth months and days:

In other news, a judge gave the Lake County Gazette (Lake County's #1 fakenews source) until Monday May 13 to remove the voter information.

Judge orders 'pink slime' publications to remove voters' personal information

Note to Ops: The Internet is Forever.

If it Looks Like a Dox ...

Note to Ops: If you want to look up the address, birth year and voting record of Lake County Associate Circuit Judge Daniel Jasica, you better hurry up. The Judge ordered the Lake County Gazette to remove all Lake County voter information that has been posted on its website:

A Lake County judge has given the company that publishes far-right websites and flyers designed to look like newspapers until 5 p.m. Monday to remove some personally identifiable voter information it publicly posted earlier this year in apparent violation of state law.
Judge orders 'pink slime' publications to remove voters' personal information

It is believed that this is the first time the Lake County Gazette (Lake County's #1 fakenews source) has been ordered to remove factual content from its website. That is because this is the first time the Lake County Gazette has ever posted factual content there.

The Church Invisible

Even a simple country political blog will have to acknowledge a religious confrontation over land ownership that has been dominating the news lately. Your LakeCountyEye, of course, refers to efforts by the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church to buy land from the South Barrington Park District.

Local interests had united to stop the sale of park district land to the religious organization:

The pending sale of land by the South Barrington Park District to a small, relatively unknown church group grew into a resident upheaval that included a lawsuit, but ended Wednesday with cancellation of the purchase, uncertainty about what's next and the resignation of a park board commissioner.
South Barrington park board votes to halt land sale to Plymouth Brethren Christian Church after clash with residents and being sued. A park commissioner quit amid the vitriol, citing 'nonsense.'

The tract of land is called AREA N. And while the "N" stands for NIMBY, the religious organization was recently able to obtain the land by operating under the guise of a shell company:

South Barrington Park District officials didn't learn a religious group was behind the winning bid for 34 acres of public parkland until two weeks after the $2.3 million sale was finalized, they revealed Tuesday. A limited liability company called Area N Development was the winning bidder for the land at Bartlett Road and Route 59, a wooded spot known to many as Area N, during a Feb. 28 auction. The park district closed the deal on March 7. Area N Development was created in Delaware about a week before the auction, public records show. It wasn't until March 22 that Schaumburg-based Fourth Avenue Gospel, which is owned and operated by members of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church and was behind a failed effort to acquire the property in 2023, publicly admitted it invented Area N Development to buy the land.
Officials say they didn't know religious group was behind land buy until after it was completed

In other news, a spokesman for the Waukegan Airport said: "So, you can obtain public parkland without disclosing your true identity? Tell me more!"

Padded Envelope

Attention, shoppers: An envelope containing $20,000,000 has been found. The owner may claim it now. Please bring a photo ID:

The day after Darren Bailey won the 2022 Republican governor primary, he and his campaign manager made an urgent, unscheduled helicopter trip from downstate to meet political operative and right-wing radio show host Dan Proft for a closed-door meeting to talk about "serious" campaign funding. At a Chicago-area country club, Proft met both men at the front door and led them to a secluded room where he placed a white envelope on a table and said it contained $20 million from ultraconservative billionaire mega-donor Richard Uihlein.
At secret meeting, right-wing radio host Dan Proft dangled $20 million to Darren Bailey's governor run

All told, Lake County moneybags Richard Uhilein gave away more than $64,000,000 to alter the 2022 eletion.

In related news, ULINE has reported that orders for white envelopes have soared:

Note to Ops: Discounts are available on bulk purchases.