Barrington Hills Village President Robert Abboud and Trustee Fritz Gohl will seek re-election in April, while Trustee Harold “Skip” Gianopulos said he’s strongly leaning toward running for another term as well.
Trustee Elaine Ramesh, the only other village board member whose term is expiring in the spring, could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Village Clerk Dolores Trandel said nominating petition packets have been picked up by Abboud, Gohl, Gianopulos and a fourth, unidentified person. The filing period for candidates begins Dec. 17 and ends Dec. 24.
Abboud said he and Gohl, the board’s president pro tem, plan to run independently but in support of each other’s campaigns. He and Gohl have common viewpoints on some issues and believe they both still have something to offer the village he said. They do not intend to be part of a slate with anyone else.
The village historically has been successful in attracting candidates with different areas of expertise and from different walks of life, Abboud said, and he hopes that will remain true this election.
“I’d like to get a little more pension experience on the board,” he said, adding he’s less concerned with the village’s pension situation than he is with broader pension legislation.
Though no challengers have formally declared their candidacies, Abboud recalls the ferocity of the 2011 campaign that sprang from the village’s debate over the regulation of commercial horse boarding.
“It’s Barrington Hills, so there are no small issues,” he said dryly. “If you bring a knife to an intercontinental nuclear exchange, you’re fooling yourself. We’ll be prepared.”
Read the complete story here.
Also, copy of the nominating petition packet can be downloaded here, however those considering running for office should pick up an original packet at village hall.
I feel so much better now……….
God help us. Abboud has sullied the reputation of Barrington Hills for years to come and he’s only planning to polarize residents more through another dirty campaign based on his comments in the article.
Clearly he has some deep seeded issues since he has no grasp whatsoever of how much residents just want to be a simple village like we were before he took office. Would someone please make this nightmare end? Please!
This has to be a bad dream. Who will contribute 15 grand to him under the table this time? A sorry day for the village! In the real world Bob shouldn’t even be elected “dog catcher.”
New picture? did we pay for it? Will Santa bring us that special Christmas present, a candidate for Village President?
As a candidate for Village Trustee in the last election I never viewed my decision to enter into the race as volunteering for a war; nor did I ever consider what weapon I needed to bring to the fight. In retrospect all I had were some lofty ideas about restoring balance to the Village Board, a pen and notebook paper with some prepared words to challenge the ideas of the other candidates comprised of the homogeneous slate who call themselves “Save 5 Acres” and the Common Sense Party; all of whom hid behind large sums of donor money and team politics. In the end, they couldn’t muster up the courage to participate in a public debate.
I always thought of my decision to run as an opportunity to serve the residents of B.H. offering my time and skills for the betterment of our Village government. But I guess I got it all wrong, as I just learned from Abboud in this Observer posting that a pen and paper with some ideas about improving Village government affords a candidate in B.H. no opportunity of winning.
Abboud informs us that a successful campaign in B.H. is dependent upon the size and power of the weapon he or she brings to the fight. Abboud prefers the nuclear option; in otherwords, incinerating the flesh and bones of his opponents. A grotesque metaphor given all of those people who have perished from such hellish weapons in the passt or were unfortunate enough to have survived only to live a short time and die in unbearable agony. What about those who live under the threat of nuclear holocaust today or suffer health affects from altered chromosomes due to parental or personal over exposure to radiation?
As we all should know by now one of the so-called nuclear options employed by Abboud and his team in the last election was eliciting illegal (secret) campaign contributions in return for comprising our zoning laws. In the final analysis having Abboud continue as the face of Barrington Hills says more about us as a community than this grotesque figure who bears the title “Barrington Hills Village President.”
David….you are so right! We have become little Chicago.
For the first time I am ashamed to live in this village…
What the Hec## ??? Knives and Nuclear Missiles?? Is this his campaign theme?
How can anyone emit such a shameful bunch of words in relation to an election for our village?