Daily Herald Columnist Amy Mack Misses Some Points by Not Reading Aileen Seedorf’s Police Report

Yesterday, McHenry County Blog printed the text of the police report that Huntley School District 158 Board member Aileen Seedorf filed on November 15th with the Algonquin Police Department.

After reading Daily Herald columnist Amy Mack’s column, it’s pretty obvious that she did not read the police report before writing her column.

Those reading the police report would figure out that Seedorf has not lost her mind. She offers a reasoned explanation of what happened. To the best of her memory, fellow board member Tony (Anthony in the report) Quagliano said,

“I want to come over there
and smash your heads.”

He was referring to both Seedorf and Larry Snow, the other minority board member, both of whom keep asking really relevant, yet pesky, questions about school district affairs, past and present, even about the inadequate forensic audit that Certified Public Accountant Quagliano oversaw.

Questions you might ask if you were a really diligent board member.

Mack is correct that what is happening in the Huntley School District does deserve the headline,

“Wow, they really did that?”

Who could imagine that a board vice president (CPA Quagliano) would say something like that to two fellow board members?

Who could dream up a charge by a school board president (policeman Shawn Green) that two fellow board members were terrorists?

“Wow, they really did that?”

Mack got that part right.

But what comes to mind when I read this Mack paragraph:

“How often do you hear a school board president call board members ‘terrorists?’ Or have one of those ‘terrorists’ claim she felt so threatened at a board meeting that she asked police to investigate her fellow board members? Without calling it what it was — pure politics — police wisely declined.”

is

“Did Amy Mack really write that?

You have to know that Mack is a liberal, feminist Democrat.

You would never see something coming from Mack’s keyboard suggesting that a young woman had deserved a sexual assault because she was dressed too provocatively.

If any other woman told the police that she felt threatened, say in a domestic violence situation, Mack would take her side.

Mack could have written this comment from “our sympathy” under the Northwest Herald’s “What’s the big deal?” editorial replying to a comment which said, “I doubt Mrs. Seedorf felt threatened:”

“When women are abused by men this is the typical reaction they receive from others, even women.

“Our society tolerates and even supports abusive behavior resulting in continued abuse.

“I am offended that a trusted 158 board member is being reported as having acted in a manner that seems typical of an abuser.

“‘She provoked me, she needs a spanking, I want to smash her head in.’

“WOW! WE need to stop abuse now, not support leaders who demonstrate it.”

But that’s not the case when an ally of someone on Mack’s political hit list (Aileen Seedorf, in this case) feels worried enough to file a police report.

Then, it’s “pure politics.”

Well, we all have our blind spots.

Oh. And, if Mack would read, actually read the police report, she would see that Seedorf asked that no further action be taken.

Despite what is in Mack’s column, Seedorf never “asked police to investigate her fellow board members.” In fact, Mack makes two reportorial mistakes in that sentence. Not only did

  • Seedorf not ask for an investigation (From the police report: “Aileen advised that she did not want any investigation into this matter she only wanted it documented. It should be noted that all parties involved are adults, no further information on witnesses or Anthony Quagliano. No further action taken.”),
  • But Seedorf said she was leery of only one board member, Anthony Quagliano. (Where on earth did the plural in Mack’s sentence come from? What does it mean?)

Mack then takes some cheap shots at Snow, even justifying “anyone to want to throw a punch.”

And, I thought this was the season of Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men (and Women).

One final thought.

If Mack were ever threatened physically, would she just shrug her shoulders and say, “Oh, well?”


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