We had originally planned to publish only four articles in our “Don’t be deceived” series. However, the SOS campaign has seen to it that we will have to extend it as long as they continue to mislead voters with misrepresentations of the facts, or only telling part of the story, as witnessed in their most recent mailer to residents.
SOS Spin: SOS’s latest scam mailing comes in the form of a letter purportedly written by one of their supporters. Included in the letter is a photo (inset left) of oak trees with thin yellow ribbons with the caption, “Heritage Oak Trees slated for destruction to put bike lanes on Haegers Bend Road.”
Reality: The ribbons were tied on the trees for dramatic effect, but not by municipal workers. And, we’re not sure where these trees are located, but Gewalt Hamilton’s engineering plans only proposed bike lanes on part of Haegers Bend north of Spring Creek Road.
Had SOS candidate Meroni’s proposal to add bike lanes in return for outside funding for Haegers Bend Road reconstruction succeeded, other trees might have been at risk, but as we all know, Meroni cowered once she was found out and she quickly passed blame elsewhere, neglecting to recall that an audit trail of meetings and memos demonstrate the bike lanes were her proposed plan all along.
SOS Spin: “(President McLaughlin is) actively working with CMAP to develop a bike route through Barrington Hills.”
Reality: This is patently false. The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) is in the process of planning a bike route somewhere to connect Crabtree Nature Center to trails along the Fox River. CMAP is acting completely independently of Barrington Hills, and the roads being considered are for bike traffic are either county or state roads, over which the Village has no jurisdiction. Anyone from any community can, and has, provided input as to where the bike route may end up. McLaughlin has never advocated for any bike route, and he has no control over the outcome of the CMAP initiative.
SOS Spin: (One Barrington Hills candidates) Mr. Croll, Mr. Cecola and Ms. Maison have never volunteered with any civic organization in Barrington Hills.”
Reality: Another deliberate lie. Between them, these three candidates have volunteered dozens of years of their time to various organizations that benefit not only residents of Barrington Hills, but the greater Barrington area as well, including, among others, the Barrington Area Conservation Trust and Barrington Children’s Charities.
We advise readers to look at their long list of civic credentials via the One Barrington Hills campaign website by clicking here, or visit their Facebook page here.
SOS Spin: “(One Barrington Hills candidate) Mr. Cecola evades the fact he’s only lived in Barrington Hills for 3 years with a claim he’s been a lifelong resident of 60010.”
Reality: Cecola evaded nothing. He and his wife, Stephanie, moved to Barrington Hills in 2011, having been Riding Club of Barrington Hills members for more than a decade before, during which time they boarded their horses here in the Village. Now they keep their horses on their own property. Sadly, this old “nag’s tale” keeps coming up at election time, maliciously questioning the length of one’s residency, when the only thing that really matters is that someone is willing to volunteer to serve their fellow residents.
If they consider this “evasion,” then perhaps the SOS Party should explain why they don’t point out Karen Selman lives on less than 2 acres instead of 5. That would be silly, but it’s just petty politics being played here by SOS.
SOS Spin: “(One Barrington Hills candidate) Mr. Croll has virtually no professional employment history”
Reality: After receiving his MBA from Georgetown University, Croll began his career in finance with Sony. His career path changed (as did his brother’s) when their father, who owned a group of private companies, suddenly passed away, and Brian’s business expertise was needed to run the family’s businesses.
For 16 years now, Croll has served as president of this group of companies. For SOS to begin to characterize his employment history the way they have is inexplicable, since anyone remotely familiar with the business world knows private companies are extremely hands-on as opposed to public sector jobs.
SOS Spin: “(One Barrington Hills candidate) Michelle Maison misled the Daily Herald about her professional credentials. She implied that she was a practicing attorney and a professional mediator. ”
Reality: Considering the signatory author of this SOS support letter was not present at the candidate’s interview with the Daily Herald, the use of the word “misled” is extremely desperate.
Maison practiced law from 1991-2002, and is now applying her experience as a trained, professional mediator. The SOS allegations that she is “forbidden” from serving as a “court-appointed mediator in Cook, Lake, Dupage [sic], Kane or McHenry counties” is absurd, and is just more shrouded misinformation in the hope voters will not question SOS’s backgrounds or ethics.
For an accurate summary of Maison’s background and what a professional mediator can perform in the courts in the four counties that make up Barrington Hills, click here.
We find it laughable that the SOS candidates can even attempt to impugn the qualifications and experience of the One Barrington Hills candidates since they clearly have serious deficits of their own when it comes to simple matters.
Once again, they spelled SOS candidate Naumann’s name incorrectly on stickers attached to last week’s Barrington Courier newspapers and display ads that have run for days now in the web-based version of the paper as seen below:
Perhaps they should consider getting their own campaign in order first before casting aspersions on others. To be fair, though, correct spelling may not be their greatest asset, but at least they’ve “proven” they can tie a yellow ribbon around trees, and isn’t that a quality we desperately need on our Village Board?
– The Observer
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