Nepotism Decried by All But One Candidate for Nunda Township Office

Before a standing only crowd, a question about whether candidates would hire relatives was asked.

The question was answered in the negative by all the candidates on the ballot but one.

Both candidates for Township Clerk–Susan Jennings and Angela Koscavage–said they would not.

Nunda Township Clerk candidates Angela Kuscavage and Susan Jennings.

Nunda Township Clerk candidates Angela Kuscavage and Susan Jennings.

“I would not have anyone working for me,” Jennings said.

“No, I will not,” Koscavage concurred. “Not a single one.”

Next up were the two remaining candidates for Township Supervisor–Bridgett Provenzano and Lee Jennings.

Nunda Township Supervisor candidates Lee Jennings and Bridgett Provenzano.

Nunda Township Supervisor candidates Lee Jennings and Bridgett Provenzano.

Provenzano: “I guess the answer is absolutely not.”

Jennings: “Absolutely not.”

A third person who filed for Supervisor–Oakwood Hills Trustee Kerry Leigh–has dropped out, but too late for her name to be removed from the ballot.

There are three candidates for Road Commissioner:

  • “Iron Mike” Lesperance
  • Rob Parrish
  • Don Kopsell
Nunda Township Road Commissioner candidates "Iron Mike" Lesperance, Rob Parrish and Don Kopsell.

Nunda Township Road Commissioner candidates “Iron Mike” Lesperance, Rob Parrish and Don Kopsell.

“No nepotism. Just me,” said Rob Parrish.

“Yes, my wife is the best secretary the Township has ever had or ever seen,” incumbent Road Commissioner Don Kopsell replied. He explained that he had had three secretaries that didn’t work out. “I have all the faith in the world in my wife.”

“No, my family is all gainfully employed,” Lesperance said. He said that he would depend on family members to keep his business going.


Comments

Nepotism Decried by All But One Candidate for Nunda Township Office — 30 Comments

  1. The forum went well last night.

    The candidates did a good job at letting you see what they are about and the direction they want to see Nunda going.

    And a crowd great turn out.

  2. Enjoyed Don Kopsell’s anwer: “I have all the faith in the world in my wife.”

    If asked, I’ll bet Bob Miller would say the same (about his wife)…or else!

    I noticed in Algonquin Clerk candidate Linda Lance’s campaign letter, the caption under one of the pictures in her letter stated that Anna May Miller was the “Adminstrator of the Algonquin Township Highway Department” or some such nonsense.

    Can someone tell me how you adminstrate a 2-person office, consisting of Bob and Anna M??

  3. Kopsell’s answer was ridiculous.

    His wife makes, what, $60k as his secretary?

    The township is paying for a lot of vacations for that family.

    Why do we even allow nepotism?

    The first part with the two candidates for clerk was interesting.

    Jennings answers were scary.

    I would be ticked if an elected official and co worker treated me like a 12 year old.

    I got the impression she was clueless about what the job entailed.

    For Supervisor I thought Provenzano did well.

    She seemed to have a heart for people and to want to serve her township.

    Maybe it’s about time to elect regular people instead of lifelong politicians who are good at playing the game.

  4. What were you smoking?

    She did horribly and if the Provenzano family is not career politicians I don’t know what is.

    She seemed like she was trying to do stand up comedy.

    Mr. Jennings blew her out of the water.

    Instead of worrying about time in office how about having the qualifications needed to do the job

    As far as Don goes, he needs clerical assistants, as do the Supervisor and Assessor.

    He likes having his wife as his secretary and he has to deal with the repercussions of that.

    After 15 years on the job how much vacation would you get?

    Oh and salaried employees get paid vacations.

    Nobody’s been buried alive while he was gone

  5. Does anybody out there want to take credit for the robo poll?

    Polling voters for Supervisor and Highway Commissioner?

    I smell a rat.

    Cal, do you know who is behind this?

    The call pretends to be a general issued poll then starts asking which candidate would you vote for in only these two races.

  6. I also have concerns about “Iron” Mike’s reply that this job would be a pay cut for him, and he’s relying on his relatives to look over his private company for him.

    How much time can we trust him to spend on his “pay cut” job as opposed to his own company?

    And both opposing candidates stated that their relatives were gainfully employed.

    Who’s to say they will be for the next four years?

  7. The first time one comments, the program I use requires my approval.

  8. Seriously, who really thought MRS. Provenzano did well, and who thought she was taking some liquid courage?

    The first comments out of her pie hole were criticizing the moderators which she did four times and then spent the remainder of the night trash talking the staff, the trustees while claiming her ‘mentor’ was the guy that she blackmailed into quitting. I guessed shes the one we’ve been waiting for!

    She’s not going to hire family because the wouldn’t accept such a low paying job? Sounds like taxes going up so we can affords her high affluent families service.

    I’ll say she did a amazing job of hitting the high points for the lowest common denominator, trash talking Quin and Obummer… you are running for Stupervisor not president!

    Funny thing the NWHerald comments criticizing Nicky’s girl were gone by the afternoon.

    Yall are stuck with her. Good Luck!

  9. In response to Winnie’s “Who’s to say”:

    We know that Mr. Kopsell is not running again, per his own words at the forum.

    Who’s to say Mr. Kopsell is elected and decides he doesn’t want to remain for the full term? He then decides to move to appoint a successor, who happens to be a current Nunda employee. (Who may or may not have as many credentials as Mr. Parrish or Mr. Lesperance)

    This “successor” was not who the taxpayers decided to vote into office. And if the trustees, not the taxpayers, all agree on the candidate, it could be approved.

    The winners will be the “golden employee” who gets the “keys” handed to him and the three remaining Kopsell family members who will continue to receive benefits from our Nunda tax dollar.

    “Who’s to say” the LOSER will be us, the taxpayers who voted for the candidate we felt to be the best fit for the future of Nunda Township.

    “Who’s to Say”?

  10. A great string of positive energy from anonymous posters again! Thanks again to the candidates for coming out and speaking to the forum attendees.

    It was said best in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, “You know, it takes a lot of courage to get up here…and do something that you know people will make fun of.”

  11. Come on Mike I had a ton of respect for you till you used a quote from Fast Times at Ridgemont High…..REALLY!!!… most of your constituents have never even heard of that Movie…

  12. To Mr. Bucket:

    The Trustees are just that; people elected BY THE PEOPLE to represent them.

  13. And as to the credentials of the two remaining candidates, a driveway paver and a man willing to risk people’s lives by cutting costs in the safety department.

    I’ll take my chances on anyone but them.

  14. Winnie,

    Let’s not minimize the accomplishments of the other two candidates.

    After checking out Mr. Parrish’s employers website, he is, in fact, a ROAD builder. I was very interested in the strategic road survey Mr. Parrish brought to the forum. I think he did a great job of informing the Nunda residents that attended. According to all the information that I have received from his campaign, he has built driveways as well.

    As far as the Mr. Lesperance comment about the accident is concerned, it was a very unfortunate event that occurred over 20 years ago. I don’t discredit the scale of the event, but I look at what Mr. Lesperance has done since. Twenty years later, he remains in business. The only issue I see with Mr. Lesperance’s campaign is that he plans on keeping this business operational, even if elected. (According to his own words @ the Forum)

    Both of these two candidates bring a whole new thought process to the Commissioner’s office, spending their OWN MONEY, like a business, with competitve buying and calculated spending on capital investments. Directly from the forum, I heard Mr. Kopsell tell the Nunda attendees that he spent over $170,000 on ONE vehicle. In this economy, where else can that happen other than in another goverment entity?

    I think you may be stuck in the past, Winnie. Change is needed & welcomed by the majority of Nunda. Last time I checked, we live in America, and it’s up to us to educate ourselves on the people we place in public office and then VOTE. I’m doing my part by educating myself on the candidates and then voting.

    It appears to me, you may be only doing half your part by voting and may need to go back to school on what’s best for Nunda.

  15. Hi Mrs. Bucket,

    Just wanted to encourage you not to worry about Iron Mike’s Excavating staying in business after Mike is elected. Mike is very zealous about avoiding any conflict of interests or time.

    Mike Lesperance will be working full time for the township. There are plenty of other competent people at Iron Mike’s Excavating to take over the day-to-day operations. It would make no sense for Mike to stop a lucrative business and fire the employees when he’s already groomed person’s to take over the operation.

    And I do agree that Mr Parrish’s credentials as a road builder and driveway paver actually make him well qualified for the position as well. I’m not sure why Winnie disagrees.

  16. Did anyone ask Parrish and Lesperance if they pay property taxes in Nunda Township, i.e., do they live in homes in the township? If not, are their candidacies legal? Kopsell’s house is on Barreville Road in Prairie Grove.

    To those who criticize but may have questionable motives, the administrative help Don had for the first few years weren’t qualified for the job. Donna is.

    The mess in the township supervisor’s office spilled over and affected the road district for most of Don’s tenure. Those who have something to say should have been at the meetings putting in their two cents or getting their names on the ballot for road district supervisor rather than sniping at election time. The two candidate hopefuls for the road district both have economic reasons — sinking or failed businesses, and may have special-interests backing them, which ought to give taxpayers pause.

    I’ll vote to continue with those I trust rather than those whom I have reason not to trust.

  17. LagTime,

    Mr. Parrish’s contact page on his website lists a Center St., Crystal Lake address. All the search engines point to this being a residential address, owned and lived in by Rob Parrish and family. This address is within the Nunda boundary, adjacent to downtown Crystal Lake.

    Mr. Lesperance, per his contact page on his website, is the Herbert Road, Lakemoor location. All indicators point to this as a commercial address within Nunda jurisdiction (NE corner of Nunda). He may have a home within Nunda but wishes to use the Herbert Road address as his mailing address.

    It’s absurd to think that these candidates wouldn’t be Nunda tax paying residents 5 days before the election.

    The only Economic Reason, taken away from the other two candidates answers from the forum, was to slow down spending within Nunda’s road district.

    As I heard at the forum, Mr. Kopsell said he will not run again.

    Even Mr. Jennings stated that CHANGE was needed in both the Supervisor’s office and the Road Commissioner’s office.

    Nunda needs a change now, not six months from now, not four years from now.

    Why procrastinate?

  18. In any event, the time for challenging candidates petitions is long past.

  19. The missing $30,000 from the Township fund went to John Heisler’s secretary. That sounds all kind of dirty to me!

  20. There have been two comments that I consider defamatory and I have taken them down. Please don’t accuse people of doing something illegal unless you want to send me the proof.

  21. Cal I see a lot more comments that are defamation of character that are still there. Some are in other articles as well.

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