Facts First, Spin Later

Mark Twain reportedly said “Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you like.” Recent reports in the papers seem to have skipped the first step. With so much debate in the community about business in City Hall, maybe we should have the facts first before drawing conclusions.

As Aldermen on the Mount Carroll city council, Doris Bork and I take our responsibilities seriously. We are concerned about the way the city manages and spends our tax money. We believe that an efficiently run city benefits everyone, but it is an open secret and an issue for city council members going back many years, that the city has not been run in a business-like way. In our years on the city council, we have seen more than a few instances of actions that raise questions. More often than not, the answers given have not been completely satisfactory. Problems raised are poo-poo’d or ignored.

That is why the incident regarding an employee’s attendance earlier in the year raised some big questions prompting us to investigate the facts. What we learned raised even more questions, but has also prompted a serious effort from the ‘administrative managers’ deflect the issues and turn us into the villains. Here is what actually happened.

Having questions about the attendance of an employee, we visited city hall on February 16, 2011 and requested that Clerk Cuckler show us employee time cards. She provided those records, and while we reviewed them, she sat nearby. She also called the mayor and let me speak with him. He indicated that he was happy that we were concerned with watching our expenses at this budgetary time, and that he would call me again two days later when he returned to the city. He made no criticism at the time. In the following days, no subsequent follow-up call ever came.

Our review of the time cards revealed that two sets of payroll records are being kept. We could see that there were problems in this situation. We felt, and do so today, that this situation creates both managerial and financial issues that need to be addressed so solutions can be found. Possessing this information and concern, we debated what to do but took no action of any sort.

Then at the next city council meeting, the mayor chose to take what can only be described as confrontational action. Before adjourning the meeting and after no reference to the matter, he proceeded to rail at us and leveled unfounded and bluntly incorrect accusations at us. Contradicting the Illinois Municipal Code, he insisted that he is the gatekeeper of all records and that access must first be approved by him. (This is flat out wrong under state statutes. I would be happy to provide the legal citations as needed.) Our jobs as aldermen include the responsibility to monitor all city financial dealings. Those codes are on the city books too.

The city attorney took the opportunity to chime in too, suggesting that we might have altered the records. What attorney Ron Coplan did not know was that we had spoken with the Attorney General’s office about the matter. We learned that tampering with documents is a criminal offence. We were gathering information only; altering documents never entered our minds.

What Mayor Bates apparently forgot that evening was that by ranting in a public meeting, his comments were noted by the media in attendance. Follow-up phone calls to us and to the mayor are what prompted the articles in the newspaper (Prairie Advocate, March 2 and 16, 2011 - www.pacc-news.com).

While we did not ‘go to the media’ as we are being accused, Doris and I both believe that these issues need to be aired in public because they have been swept under the carpet for many years and no lasting solution has come from the discreet approach.

In the heated discussion that has followed, many including the mayor, have attempted to shift the focus from the true issue at hand: is the city managing efficiently and are we as residents and taxpayers getting full value from our money? The question is not about the helpfulness of employees, the hours they put in plowing snow or their on-the-job work. The question is about how we manage – or don’t manage – the city.

Oh, and by the way, there is no procedure regarding the review of documents. Another silly accusation.

Sincerely,

Nina Cooper, Alderman Ward 1

City of Mount Carroll

Guardian Angels

In this day of politics and violence, it is refreshing to know that guardian angels are alive and well.

We discovered three of them, Chelsea, Jill and Justin, who made sure we got safely out of the barn (our home) that was on fire.

Then there were all the firefighters, police and paramedics from Mount Carroll, Savanna, Thomson, Lanark and Chadwick who became our “guardian angels in gear.”

Other guardian angels from Century Pines appeared to offer warmth. Later, the owner of Century Pines, Mary Sarro of Elgin, authorized us to use one of the empty apartments.

By the time the fire was out, there were mattresses, quilts and bedding, food and extra clothing by guardian angels Jill, Tina, Holly, plus others. It was awesome!

Since then, we have been recipients of many guardian angels. There have been many offers of additional help.

It is really cool that so many people know that “many hands make light work.” We have been blessed. Thank you!

Jim and Kay Davis

Mount Carroll, IL

Appalled

My daughter-in-law, Janet, is a lovely young woman who is going to give birth to our granddaughter, Sophia Grace, any day now. Janet is an alumnus of the University of Illinois, has travelled the world, is fluent in 3 languages and is a corporate level human resources representative for a Fortune Top 50 company. She is also a loving wife and mother and a friend to all who know her.

Janet has something in common with a U.S. Treasurer, Surgeon General, Secretary of Housing, Attorney General, Secretary of the Navy, Senators and Congress men and women, military leaders, scientists, Nobel Prize winners, a Medal of Honor winner, astronauts, Pulitzer Prize winners, Oscar and Tony award winning actors and actresses, Grammy award winners, top educators and outstanding male and female athletes in every sport in this country.

The bond that Janet and her children share with all these people is that they are all of “Latino” heritage.

When I read in your paper that Mr. Jim Rose, a candidate running for a Mt. Carroll city council seat had questioned the possibility of an ICE detention center being built near Rochelle for “the wetbacks” I was so apalled that I am writing my first letter to the editor.

Mr. Rose, the heart and soul of this great nation of ours is that we are the most open and accepting society in the world. Our ability to preserve and embrace the varied cultures of the immigrants who came to this land seeking freedom and equality is what has allowed us to meld together into our own uniquely “American” culture.

As someone running for public office, it may behoove you to brush up on everything that serving as a public official will entail I believe Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, (a woman and a proud Latina American), might suggest that you start by reading the Constitution of the United States. It’s the document that begins: We the People . . .

Respectfully,

Jo Schmidt

Milledgeville, IL

Educate Yourself

This rebuttal is in reference to the uninformative slander completely derived from laziness to get informed on the issues presented and the immense amount of education available at different tea party meetings. Initial print from the other writer can be found at Lanark Prairie Advocate, March 30 Letters to the Editor.

I can only speak from one person’s point of view and I’ve found out from attending different tea party functions that not all people present are in agreement on every issue. My interest stems from the original tea party mission statement core values of a fiscally responsible, Constitutionally limited government with free markets.

My hope in this short article is to educate or at least introduce some topics that will be of much interest to anyone willing to take the time to do further research. Fractional reserve banking and the central bank, known as the Federal Reserve, has been the demise of our country. Our Founding Fathers warned us against a central bank and we failed to listen. Established in 1913 and never being audited should raise some eyebrows. Along with the lie of only one great depression in our history books when there were two, the first depression being in the early twenties and the second known today as the great depression. Interestingly enough, intentionally orchestrated to implement more government power and remove power and influence from We the People.

Most people are set in their ideals for or against unions, so debating the pro’s and con’s could be a book in itself. My experience from talking with a few labor union employee’s is they are not sympathetic to the teachers who get free health care, paid vacations, and only work 9 months a year. The main difference in understanding the different unions is public unions are not the same as labor unions. Labor union employee’s, albeit some not in favor of losing collective bargaining for their public counterparts, get stuck paying the bill twice. Meaning they have their own taxes to pay, union dues, and in many cases their own insurance only to have their taxes pay for public employees. Private sector labor unions can be good and many labor unions have kept their wages up for their workers.

The downside is the “mega-rich” that is referred to by the original writer. This not only applies to the corporate run politicians that out-influence the voters today but also public unions. A vicious cycle births itself as soon as campaign contributions are given to a politician which in turn passes legislation and hands out sweetheart deals to their contributors. Campaign contributions were correctly labeled as bribes until the early 1900’s era and legislation was passed changing bribes into something legal. The financial elites fund both sides of the false left-right paradigm in our republic where as the public unions favor the suppressive Marxists agenda of the left. If public unions were so great, why does a teacher have to be forced to join the union or lose their job?

Just as I find it amusing that all which claimed in different debates and blogs to have read the health care bill, missing during their read, the $105 billion in wasteful pork, infringement on homeschooling, and the Marxist insurgency agenda of taking over another sector of our economy, even after the initial nationalizing of major sectors of the economy with the $700 billion bail-outs, I also find it amusing that a retired teacher from Lanark claims to have a clue about the beliefs of 20+ million people from a few biased newspaper articles. What a joke.

I’m grateful for the time of so many volunteering to speak at the tea parties such as watchdog groups Illinois Policy Institute, National Taxpayers United of Illinois along with our local tax assessor. Continuing education is the key and freedom is at stake.

Jason Bland

Freeport, IL

Naysayers Indeed

Imagine that! Yet another liberal feeding from the public trough bashes the Tea Party. We must be doing a great job at reining in our federal government if the left is this angry and upset with us. Chuck Schumer is openly rooting for a government shut down all so he and his fellow progressives can place the blame on the Tea Party. Schumer said:

“OK. The main thrust is, basically, that we want to negotiate and we want to come up with a compromise, but the Tea Party is pulling Boehner too far over to the right, and so far over that they’re not -- there’s no more fruitful negotiations. And the subtext of this is the only way we can avoid a shutdown is for Boehner to come up with a reasonable compromise and not just listen to what the Tea Party wants because the Tea Party wants to stick to HR-1, with its draconian extreme -- I always use the word “extreme” -- that’s what the caucus instructed me to do the other week -- extreme cuts and all these riders. And Boehner’s in a box. But if he supports the Tea Party, there’s going to inevitably be a shutdown.”

Wow! After hearing this from Chuck Schumer, I have to wonder who is truly narcissistic as Mr. Krysiak accuses the Tea Party of in his “Tea Party Propaganda” piece last week. Mr. Krysiak claims that the Tea Party folks are narcissistic. I wasn’t aware that people caring about the direction this country is taking and worrying about the massive debt that has been incurred since Obama took office was narcissistic. I wasn’t aware that caring about the debt left to future generations was selfish and narcissistic. I just must be ignorant after spending 13 of my years in the world of public education. Sorry, my bad!

As far as I know Thomas Jefferson said it best:

“We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty or profusion and servitude. If we run into such debt, as that we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and our amusements, for our calling and our creeds... [we will] have no time to think, no means of calling our miss-managers to account but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow-sufferers... And this is the tendency of all human governments. A departure from principle in one instance becomes a precedent for [another ]...till the bulk of society is reduced to be mere automatons of misery... And the fore-horse of this frightful team is public debt. Taxation follows that, and in its train wretchedness and oppression.”

He also said this concerning the people:

“It is only when the people become ignorant and corrupt, when they degenerate into a populace, that they are incapable of exercising their sovereignty. Usurpation is then an easy attainment, and an usurper soon found. The people themselves become the willing instruments of their own debasement and ruin.”

This Tea Partier will stick with Jefferson, at least he knew what he was talking about when it came to freedom and prosperity and safeguarding our posterity. Folks like Mr. Krysiak obviously don’t care about the future indebtedness of their own posterity or he wouldn’t be bellyaching at the calls of the Tea Party people for reduced spending. Nor does he seem to care about truth, as his letter was full of untrue accusations and dramatic mischaracterizations!

Kathy Hood

Stephenson Co. Tea Party

Tsunami

Just how devastating was the Japanese tsunami? We’ve all probably seen the video of the giant wave totally erasing the cities of Kuji and Ofunato. At one time, about 500,000 people were homeless and living in shelters. According to the Red Cross, there are still about 240,000 in shelters. That’s more than the populations of Stephenson, Jo Daviess, Carroll, Whiteside, and Ogle counties combined. The economic damage is estimated at $309 billion dollars.

The cost of re-building Japan is obviously massive, in fact, it’s almost as much as Congress steals from our children in three months. In less than three months, we burden our children with enough debt to rebuild a devastated country! In addition to feeding and clothing themselves and their children, and maintaining a country, we somehow expect they can spare enough to rebuild Japan 45 times.

The U.S. Senate is currently stalling over how much more debt to pile on your heirs. Call or write your Congressman and Senators, and let them know what you think:

Senator Richard Durbin

711 Hart Senate Bldg.

Washington, DC 20510

Phone - (202) 224-2152

Senator Mark Kirk

387 Russell Senate Office Building

Washington DC, 20510

Phone – (202) 224-2854

Congressman Donald Manzullo

2228 Rayburn HOB

Washington, DC 20515

Phone - (202) 225-5676

“. . . it’s time to try something new. Let’s invest in our people without leaving them a mountain of debt. Let’s meet our responsibility to the citizens who sent us here. Let’s try common sense.”

–Barack Hussein Obama II

Terry Smith

Lanark, IL

Morrison City Council Notes

Morrison held their City Council Work Session March 28, 2011 at City Hall. Mayor Drey, Bob Snodgrass, Barb Bees, Sarah Thorndike, Scott Connelly and Jim Blakemore were present.

Bills payable were–only–$6,429.59–the Mayor stated that Gary Tresenriter was on vacation so NOT all of the bills were transferred that needed to be paid.

As far as comments-I did state that I was amazed at the drop on bills payable and wondered what the next meeting’s bills would be. Speaking of “public safety”, I have asked before how long ago the Kelly Park water tower was cleaned and inspected. From what I could find on line it should be done (at least) every 5 years . . . back when I asked it had already been long overdue. I wondered if it would be a health and public safety issue-does the water test safe for human consumption coming out of the tower?-could there be bacteria inside or damage in the water tower? About the East End Water Loop-before Tim Long left, he stated all the I’s were dotted and all the T’s were crossed concerning easements for that project-why are we renegotiating with some of the property owners?

Nancy Anderson commended the efforts of the 4 council members that are leaving the council. She thanked them. She said it is essential to took to the Mayor for information. With the new administrator she felt it essential for the candidate to have a financial background and the council should do a “better background check”.

Barb Bees wanted to clarify, I guess to me, that May 1st the budget must be passed this year due to using a line item type budget (last year they used an appropriation type budget-that I guess doesn’t need to be done by the beginning of the fiscal year). So the budget “will be done” BEFORE the new board members come on board. Also, we do have new attorneys to guide us during the transition. AND more than likely a new City Administrator will be selected and hired before May 1, 2011. Jim Blakemore made it clear that the old and incoming board members were invited to get involved with the process of selecting a new City Administrator (now that it is down to the final candidates). I did ask for the “deal breakers” as to why candidates were eliminated-Jim told me to check the ad they put in the paper and the administrator’s job description and that would tell the requirements. I just wanted to know what process they had used-what points they used to decide to keep the candidates they selected. We could submit questions, and attend a meeting on Thursday March 17th (I was not able to attend-nor will I be able to attend the interviews on April 2, 2011 (personal issues).

Getting the Revolving Loan Fund into a separate checking account will be held up until Mayor Drey receives a letter from the state stating that the City of Morrison is cleared of any misuse of the Revolving Loan Fund. Until he receives that letter, Mayor Drey will not do anything with that fund.

Gary Tresenriter and Barb Bees will meet with Dr. Jennings about the lease of his parking lot.

The next Morrison City Council Meeting will be April 11, 2011 at 7:00 pm at City Hall. By then elections will be done with all the hoopla. The new council members will take their seats the first meeting in May.

Quote of the week: Team means Together Everyone Achieves More! ~Author Unknown

A Morrison Taxpayer

Marti Wood

“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” – Plato

Capitol Report

By Jim Sacia, State Representative, 89th District

As we approach April 15th, that dreaded day when you must file your taxes, this year we can look forward to a three day reprieve until April 18th. But that doesn’t change the inevitable-the taxes must be filed and paid. Many of you have contacted my office confused about line 22 on the state income tax return that instructs “do not leave blank”.

You can’t turn on the television and watch for more than an hour without being overwhelmed with opportunities to purchase the amazing fitness machine, a fantastic closet organizer, a new first-of-its-kind cooking utensil…we could go on, but wait; if you order in the next ten minutes we’ll double your order and you’ll only pay an additional shipping and handling charge. You are immediately on the cell phone, with credit card in hand, ordering your item of a lifetime, shipped from downtown Phoenix. Ah, but you didn’t pay Illinois sales tax, and let’s face it, our state is broke and here is an opportunity to help fix it.

In the spring of 2010 the General Assembly, in its infinite wisdom, decided to bring back the voluntary sales tax line on the state income tax form. I sit “guilty as charged” along with all 177 members of the House and Senate who supported Senate Bill 459 that put the sales tax line back on the forms. Believe it or not, it’s actually called a “tax amnesty” bill. Simply put, if you voluntarily send the state money, you will be forgiven for failing to pay tax on whatever it was you may have purchased over the internet or ordered from a television infomercial. When the actual tax forms were unveiled in December, 2010, however, instead of stating “please voluntarily make this payment” the language drafted by Department of Revenue lawyers and tax experts pretty much said “do this calculation and fill in a number on line 22 or else.” Are you kidding me?

You have no idea how many constituents have told me “I sent them $50 because I didn’t want to get audited.” In other words, the Department of Revenue figured out a way to intimidate the taxpayer to pay up...or better yet, pay more. Most professional tax preparers will tell you to put $0 on line 22, and that’s the advice I also offer.

Yes, I and every one of my colleagues voted to reinstate a voluntary tax line. None of us voted for the language on line 22 that was drafted by aggressive tax collectors in the Department of Revenue. We all must pay our taxes, but don’t be intimidated by the verbiage. Our legislative intent was to allow you to pay a tax that you may feel you owe. If you owe nothing, fill in $0 on line 22.