Yesterday, we published part one of our series, “Don’t be deceived.” In that article, we began to chronicle the many campaign distortions the SOS Party has used in an effort to sway votes their way from less informed voters in Barrington Hills. Hidden agendas, overstated responsibilities and activities while in office, and misrepresentations of the facts in the 2015 SOS campaign were uncovered.
Today’s edition continues with more of the deceits candidates Meroni, Selman, Naumann and their campaign team have spun as follows:
SOS Spin: The Barrington Hills roads under the supervision of Patty Meroni are well maintained and are at or under budget since she was elected 4 years ago.
Reality: Under SOS candidate Patty Meroni’s “supervision” the condition of Village roads have never been worse. Under her watch of four years, the backlog of road resurfacing planned projects has increased to nearly five miles of roadways. Read “So why do our roads ‘suck’?” for expanded information on the state of our roads.
SOS Spin: “…60% of the 102.5 miles of roads in Barrington Hills are controlled and maintained by Cook County or the state or are private roads.”
Reality: As Trustee assigned to Village roads and bridges maintenance, SOS candidate Patty Meroni has made it clear that she is only responsible for Village roads and no others. We believe a responsive Roads and Bridges chair should, and will, concern themselves with the conditions of all roadways except private roads within the borders of Barrington Hills.
Regardless of where they live, residents of Barrington Hills pay taxes to the state, respective counties and to the Village, and every resident uses roads that are maintained by all of these government bodies. If Meroni had adopted a resident-centric, responsible approach to addressing concerns regarding road conditions throughout the Village early on, residents would not be told they need to call a government bureaucracy when they’ve damaged their car due to a pothole on “Brinker, Bateman, Otis and Lake-Cook” roads. Instead, they should be able to call Village Hall staff, and they should take it from there.
SOS Spin: (Karen Selman) “(is) Responsible for performance assessments and improved functioning of village staff and operations.
Reality: Prior to President McLaughlin taking office two years ago, there were no written performance assessments or evaluations of Village staff. None. Clearly since McLaughlin added this to Selman’s plate as it relates to the Village Treasurer, she obviously seeks credit for this. Additionally, we’ve witnessed no significant reports from Selman during Village Board meetings on her “responsibilities” in this area.
SOS Spin: (Mary Naumann and supporters) “…created a website” for their mission to keep bicycle lanes off Haegers Bend and possibly other roads.
Reality: SOS candidate Mary Naumann had some very experienced help in creating a politically spun website (see “Of Bikes and Blame – Part One: The Phantom Menace”) that is littered with deceit. What her website fails to disclose is the off-campus goings on where her running mate, Patty Meroni, met with various agencies related to road reclassifications and offers related to Village roadways as can be viewed here.
SOS Spin: “As ruled by the Illinois State Board of Elections, Meroni and Selman committed a minor paperwork error that was deemed “inadvertent and unintentional.”
Reality: SOS candidates Patty Meroni and Karen Selman (and their running mate at the time, Joe Messer), blamed someone in an administrative capacity for their committee’s misrepresentation of the true source of their reported individual $5,000 financial contributions to their 2011 campaign which actually came from the owner of a large horse boarding operation (see “Errors were made; others were blamed…”).
State Board of Elections hearing officer, Andy Nauman, who wrote the final SBOE report apparently sympathized with their ignorance of campaign finance disclosure, but nonetheless, recommended a fine and suspension of their committee for a period of two years.
Part three in our “Don’t be deceived” series will appear in this weekend’s Barrington Hills Observer.
Observer, how can you expect Patti to expect to have any influence on matters outside her direct control? Directed by Abboud, we did not include anyone on the Longmeadow Parkway commission either. Patti knew that BH can only concentrate on what she can control. She states in her campaign mailing that she can’t be responsible for trying to fix the horrible condition of Otis, Brinker and other county roads. By her comments at recent meetings, she’s also not responsible for diverting the Village budget away from Roads and Bridges to Sears and other increased legal expenses so that we missed our controllable roads budget 9 of the last 10 years.
Tsk, Tsk – aren’t we being a little too harsh on poor Patti? We can’t expect her to focus on these issues when she’s busy with her “proven leader” election campaign slogan. Remaining in office means she will have more control with her SOS majority colleagues to manage the cover up of the alleged improprieties of the Commercial Text Amendment process.
. . . . . . . . . . . Time to Consider the VBH Taxpayer and the Abysmal Management of VBH Financial Resources by Save 5 Acres Majority BOT
BHO did you know prior to the election of Pres. McLaughlin, VBH BOT routinely approved monthly VBH government expenditures without having first reviewed “itemized statements of charges”. All that would be furnished to BOT prior to Pres. McLaughlin would be a ledger with a “bottom line figure” due for each catagory ie “legal fees”, “R&B”, “Engineering”, “Accounting”, etc. Annual total VBH expenditures of more than 8 Million Dollars without VBH BOT ever examining itemized statements prior to making payment. This is why prior to McLaughlin, BOT never objected to any requests for payment at BOT meetings because BOT had no idea what they (oops, taxpayer) were paying for. They just approved and we paid.
VBH BOT and SOS candidates Selman (finance) and Meroni (R&B) authorized payment of Millions of Dollars of VBH taxpayer money for government expenditures without having reviewed actual bills at BOT meetings. Amazingly, not a single member on VBH BOT, including SOS candidates Meroni and Selman and former BOT/SOS administrator Knoop ever publicly objected to this negligent practice. Nor did any of them vote ‘no” on payment due to lack of adequate billing information; this is including BOT Selman who is in charge of “finance” and R&B Meroni.
SOS calls this responsible government. I call it mismanagement of taxpayer resources. Can you imagine in your business or personal life paying your attorney, accountant or even for lawn care or snow plowing service without having first reviewed an itemized invoice? I know SOS wants VBH voter to only “Consider the Horse” but for one moment can SOS allow the VBH voter time to consider the abysmal record of government service by Meroni and Selman along with their “Save 5 Acres” counterparts these past 10 years.
Citizens for Stieper called for all “itemized variable expenses” and “contracts” be displayed on the VBH website. This would not only educate the public on cost (waste) in VBH government but would allow greater efficiency opening the doors wide open to competitors who after reviewing information on line might be able to provide the same or more work at less expense. This type of transparency in government was rejected by Meroni and Salman who prefer running into executive session and backroom deals outside of public view. (ie. discussion and village attorney recommendation to recant Schuman Letter).
Beside the suspicious facts surrounding the Schuman Letter, ask Meroni and Selman the followng questions: (1) What have each of you achieved in making VBH government more transparent?; (2) What have each of you achieved in making cost of VBH government less expensive? Ask them for specific facts in support of their blanket proclamations and sound bites on SOS website. Watch them “spin” and reckless speed, its fun!
Remember, VBH is ranked #1 in taxation per capita for good reason. VBH voters continue to elect incompetent and ethically bankrupt people to positions of public trust in VBH government. I am confident this trend has changed with the successful election of Martin McLaughlin as Village President, who is highly competent and ethical. To right this ship we call VBH government, McLaughlin needs VBH voter’s help on April 7th by electing 3 new residents to VBH BOT who are not beholden to a single individual, special interest group and property owner.
Make no mistake, this election is a referendum on “Abboud” vs. “McLaughlin”. Need I say more. . . . . Let’s put the dark past of Abboud et. al. behind us and begin to look forward to a brighter future by installing 3 youthful and energetic individuals to VBH BOT who are independent capable of dealing with the financial challenges confronting VBH. In otherwords, let’s take back our village government from those onced prided themselves on being called “Save 5 Acres” but now hide the name in shame; and for good reason.
We can still do this and still consider the horse at the same time.
I just received a letter of support for Mary Naumann in a SOS mailing. Mary and her partner, Bonnie Duress, were passionate in their campaign to stop bike paths. Sadly, no amount of reason or written proof will EVER convince them that the whole fiasco WAS NOT caused by current President McLaughlin and Trustee Hannigan.
Mary may be famous because…because she is one of The Barrington Hills No-Bike-Lane-Ladies but her running mate, Patty Meroni, instigated all of her problems. We must feel sad for this lady who has been deceived like all of the other residents who were told BH was applying to become an area for bicyclists to train for The Tour de France.
Was that the one slandering Michelle Maison and her law career? I loved that. Making the “bike lanes” a thing. Then, when I have yet to see those ladies college and career resumes, they slander Maison. I guess when you’ve got nothing, you’ve got nothing to lose. Michelle hold a law license. She is a non practicing attorney. She can reinstate her license at any time by paying the back years of not renewing with the bar. So retired attorney means you still are a member of the bar. I believe she worked for Andersen before they imploded and before she had kids. Also, again, they don’t get what a mediator does. I’d like to see Patty’s JD and Karen’s MBA.
I cannot believe that those people (you’re generous to call them “ladies”) could attack the One Barrington Hills candidates like that. Have they no morals at all? Do they think that the voters have no brains at all?
These SOS people have the thinnest resumes that I can imagine. I went to one of their coffees and the “other one” was so out of her depth, you almost felt bad for her. Almost. She made her bed and now she’s lying in it.
I think it’s time that we remember who we are and where we want to go. We are Barrington Hills, home to magnificent and majestic animals in a lovely rural community with a five acre lot size that will never change and is not, and never was, in question. We are neighbors, friends, and family. We live peacefully together and we help each other. We are genuinely overjoyed at weddings, births and achievements of each other’s children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews. We are with each other celebrating in good times and banding together in the bad. Our neighbors get sick, and we are there. We hurt. If one friend experiences a death, we all do. We all suffer. We pitch in, we help out and we are honest. We are happy when our little ones grow up and especially proud when they choose Barrington Hills as their home for their own families. We have a tradition that we are proud to call Barrington Hills home. Please remember that April 7. We are a proud, honest and wonderful community. Let’s remain so and get better by electing these ones who come back home, who know their home, and who don’t want anyone to harm our home. Let’s stop the fighting, the slander and the obstruction. We can do this and we will do this on April 7. We are One Barrington Hills.
Obviously we do not live in the same community. I have endured fecal contamination and intentional flooding of my property with the full knowledge of both administrations. Recently I learned the village refuses to fix the mess they created for fear of a lawsuit. Additional I was the recipient of that unforgettable smear campaign sanctioned by the riding club who campaigned against lowering the American flag when my husband was kia in Afghanistan in service to this country. Heck they can’t even donate to the seasonal toy collection in his honor at Christmas. I have only known vicious vile people. If they truly were all you say they are – we wouldn’t be in this position….