On February 23rd, Trustees and candidates Patty Meroni and Karen Selman voted to override a veto of the LeCompte/Anderson Horse Boarding Text Amendment. Four days later, a lawsuit was filed against the Village of Barrington Hills.
The suit cites, among other things, the actions of Meroni and Selman, beginning four years ago when they were first running for office. They (along with outgoing Trustee Joe Messer) accepted campaign donations from Benjamin LeCompte and then falsely named themselves as the contributors of those donations in official State Board of Elections (SBOE) filings. In other words, they provided false information in official government filings. Unfortunately, this became fully aired only after they were elected.
In their current campaign for reelection, they refer to their actions at that time as “a minor paperwork error,” yet they fail to mention the recommended $850 civil penalty levied against each of them by the SBOE Hearing Officer for reporting violations (waived since they’d already closed out their political committees according to the SBOE reports), and a two-year dissolution period imposed on their campaign committees. Not even a master spin-doctor can change these facts.
The suit also alleges the LeCompte/Anderson Amendment was drafted and enacted to benefit one large-scale boarding operation that was deemed in violation of our Village Codes years ago–Oakwood Farms. Last June, the Riding Club of Barrington Hills issued a written statement that an Appellate Court decision against Oakwood in April was just that, and “… no other horse boarding facilities are at risk other than the one involved in the current legal dispute.” (see Riding Club now acknowledges Village official’s support of horse boarding)
This has always been a “single-issue”—indeed, a single property—matter.
Based on this history, Meroni and Selman (and Trustee Messer) were asked to recuse themselves from voting on anything that might affect LeCompte’s Oakwood Farms boarding operation. They refused. And now we’re being sued.
What’s disturbing to many is that Meroni and Selman’s supporters continue to advocate loudly that, if the LeCompte/Anderson Amendment is repealed or modified by a new board, all large boarding operations in Village are at risk of closure. Nonsense.
Odd that the supporters of Selman and Meroni have now conveniently forgotten their prior position that the horse boarding dispute in Barrington Hills was and is a “single-issue” that is a single property matter.
Nonetheless, we expect their noise to increase as they attempt to spread baseless fear among voters between now and Election Day in social media and mailings. Before that crescendo begins, we ought to look at something SOS Party committee member Dan Lundmark once wrote that applies to the SOS Party and their supporters’ fear-mongering tactics:
“Single-issue groups create the appearance of force and momentum at public meetings. They present an organized, loud voice, that creates a disproportionate and misleading sense that they are speaking for the majority.”
We don’t believe SOS Party supporters are speaking for the majority of residents’ interests. Nor do we believe Meroni and Selman protected the broad interests of village residents when they voted to take away the majority of residents’ rights to peace and privacy in favor of protecting the commercial interests of their prior benefactor.
It is clear that the loud noise of a “single-issue” group has drowned out reason and good governance in our Village for too many years. As a result, we’ve overspent on legal fees while neglecting our roads. No doubt the majority of residents have had enough of both.
– The Observer
