“Given the kind of body politic that we have, I don’t see that these kind of things are going to end. It was lighting before; it’ll be something else. I hope these experiences give our community some pause to look at these things with a critical eye.”
On this, Abboud is right. These experiences should give our community pause to examine the recent years, and controversies, with a critical eye. And when they do, they should see that these controversies have one thing in common—they’re always churned by Bob Abboud and his administration at the expense of residents.
There have been many views, ideas and arguments expressed by all sides in the commercial horse boarding dispute. Unfortunately, tempers and egos over this contentious issue were on display again at the last Village Board meeting on July 23. But no matter where you stand on commercial horse boarding, we should all be able to agree that our Village leaders should have done something to resolve the issue now. One way or the other, our Village administration should have put this issue to rest, rather than allow the controversy to continue through yet another election cycle.
What does this tell us about our current Village leadership? From our own “critical eye,” we see either inept leadership (quite possible) or a desire to keep a controversy alive solely for political gain. Whether it is one or both of these things, the fact that commercial horse boarding remains an issue for yet another election cycle gives us another reason to call for Bob Abboud to step down from government when his current term expires. He should not seek re-election.
As we have said before in these pages, it is time for new leadership to restore integrity to Barrington Hills (see A profile of new leadership to restore integrity to Barrington Hills). We didn’t need the Daily Herald, quoting Bob Abboud, to tell us that controversy follows our current administration. But we do appreciate the reminder.
– The Observer