Wife of CL Council Candidate Kicked Off the Ballot Chides Council Members for Doing So

Comments made at the Crystal Lake City Council meeting tonight by Dianne Miller:

My name is Dianne Miller.

I live at 1274 Thornwood in Crystal Lake Robert Miller is my husband.

I remember a few months back when City Manager Mayerhofer and Mr. Magnuson, Director of Public Works came to our home to see how the City could regain our trust after some problems had come to light between us and the City.

After almost 2 hours of discussion we agreed to move forward and said we hoped the trust could be regained.

A similar discussion was held over coffee with Mayor Shepley and Councilman Haleblian.

We agreed to disagree on some subjects but felt it was a good idea to move forward, remembering the issues that caused the problems in the first place.

We hoped to regain trust in our City.

After recent events I stand before you to say my trust in the City of Crystal Lake is ZERO – absolute ZERO.

The objections made by Council members Hopkins, Brady and Ferguson to my husband’s petitions and supporting paperwork were a blatant attempt to get rid of any competition and retain their seats for four more years without having to run a
campaign.

No need to spend any money or debate the issues. Not the first time this group has used this tactic either.

Robert is new to the election process and didn’t know he had the right to review the other candidates’ petitions.

By the time he did it was too late for him to file objections.

Good thing for the objectors since there were mistakes in their paperwork!

The objectors aren’t new to the election process so there should have been NO mistakes – right?

Unfortunately, Robert was removed from the ballot because he filed his Statement of economic Interest receipt from the County a day late because of the blizzard.

The County offices were closed.

At least he filed one.

Mr. Hopkins your packet didn’t have the receipt in it at all!

Your paperwork used the same wording as Robert used for the office being sought.

Your petitions clearly said “City Council”.

You sir are a hypocrite!

Ms. Ferguson your paperwork was deficient also.

There should have been a numbered page included before the deletions page titled “certificate of attached list of deletions”.

Your receipt from the County for your Statement of economic interests says you are a “Crystal Lake City Council – candidate”.

You’re a hypocrite too!

If Robert had filed objections to your petition filings (based on their deficiencies) your elimination from the ballot would have been certain and today there would be only one candidate on the ballot for three open City Council seats!

After the hearing, during my public commentary, I stated that Hopkins, Brady and Ferguson had done the same thing twice before.

After the hearing was closed Ms. Ferguson spoke with Robert and said in all honesty we’ve only done this once before.

My mistake – you three did it once before and now you’ve done it twice!

The Mayor did it once before too.

Yep – it’s legal but so unethical and unfair.

Mayor Shepley, in the last election, during the hearing for your objections, the attorney representing Mr. Chadwick (former Mayor Bob Wagner) pointed out that Crystal Lake had not disqualified candidates before – that previous councils had not nit-picked people off the ballot.

He also said, “I don’t remember anyone getting kicked off the ballot – Crystal Lake’s philosophy was to encourage people in the process”.

Looks like that philosophy no longer exists.

I get it – you don’t want well informed, well educated people capable of critical thinking.

That doesn’t help you – it’s against your interests.

This is nothing more than a form of voter suppression!

What an incredible WASTE OF TAXPAYER MONEY!

Just to eliminate the competition so you don’t have to run a campaign, spend money on a campaign or most importantly
DEBATE THE ISSUES!

Robert has filed for a review of the Election Board Hearing Decision in McHenry County.

Currently he doesn’t have an attorney, so he filed his paperwork on his own – pro-se.

We aren’t rich people.

Robert is an honest, hard working man who has always gone out of his way to help others.

We strongly believe in karma.

Must be nice to have thousands of dollars to spend on an attorney – or is she doing the work pro-bono?

In kind contributions don’t have to be reported unless you spend more than $5000 on a campaign.

What a great deal if you eliminate the competition!

I will make a prediction, based on past practices of this City Council…..you will nit-pick everything he spent days working on to keep him from getting back on the ballot.

I’d bet that your attorney is going over the paperwork already.

Just remember one thing – LOTS of people are watching, paying attention and talking.


Comments

Wife of CL Council Candidate Kicked Off the Ballot Chides Council Members for Doing So — 16 Comments

  1. Typical.

    He didn’t complete the paperwork correctly or on time and now wants to stomp his feet and say it wasn’t fair.

    I don’t want someone on the council who can’t pay attention to detail.

    A council person is someone who is expected to handle issues and make decisions about matters that affect hundreds of employees, thousands of businesses and residents all with a multi million dollar budget.

    He can go try his hand at something less important.

  2. Great comment!

    Robert should check the registered subdivision plan for your neighborhood as the City had knowledge that the drainage issue you are experiencing is the direct result of changes they made the blocks yours before they did them.

    Because your subdivision works opposite of these “improvements” was known before they did them .

  3. Good luck with the court case.

    All this could have been avoided by reading the State Board’s Candidate Guide and having your paperwork checked over by an attorney.

    The cost for that would have been minimal.

  4. Hey Wrong- you certainly are WRONG!

    Since you want council members who pay attention to detail – don’t vote for Hopkins or Ferguson!

    Their paperwork had serious errors and omissions. They have been on the City Council for what – almost 20 years now?

    It should have had NO errors.

    If they prepare their election paperwork so poorly, I wonder what other important City issues they have handled in the same way?

    I guess you also like City Council Members who spend thousands of OUR tax dollars so they don’t have to spend any of their own money on a campaign!

    That’s exactly what Hopkins, Brady and Ferguson did.

    They have done it TWICE now and Mayor Shepley has done it too.

  5. The bottom line is that the McHenry County Government Center was closed due to severe weather, the deadline was that day and they control the filing process not the City of Crystal Lake.

    From what I’ve heard regarding the incumbents they made the same errors in filing, then rushed a hearing in which they had the full endorsement of those ruling against Mr. Miller including the Mayor’s wife’s employer providing pro bono representation for those incumbents.

    Why are these individuals so frightened of Mr. Miller ?

    Also, why would anyone want to retain office for a decade or more on the City Council or Mayor ?

    In my humble opinion, they benefit from doing so and Robert Miller or any outsiders elected could threaten their private club exposing the truth.

    Remember when the Treasurer from the City of Dixon,Illinois took a vacation ?

    First it was “paper clips & page numbering” , now a severe weather closure of the filing government officials office, all extremely petty reasons.

    It makes me think …..

    As a reasonable person, what doesn’t the City of Crystal Lake want Mr. Miller looking into and possible consequences if he were elected ?

    Hmmmm….

    JMO

  6. Known Extremist –

    The Electoral Board turned down two of the challenges to Roberts’ paperwork.

    So there were no problems with his paperwork.

    Hopkins, Brady and Ferguson HAVE an attorney and their paperwork still had serious errors and omissions!

    Robert’s only issue was turning in the receipt for the “Statement of Economic Interest” from McHenry County a day late.

    He only decided to run for City Council on the Wednesday evening before the Monday deadline.

    He and a bunch of supporters spent the weekend gathering petition signatures.

    They gathered 220 signatures in three days – even knocked on doors in the blizzard.

    That’s four times more than Hopkins, Brady or Ferguson collected.

    The County offices were closed Thursday & Friday for Thanksgiving and they aren’t open on the weekend.

    When he went to the County on Monday the offices were closed because of the storm.

    Bob spoke with the County Clerk on the phone on Monday (he got her cell phone) and she said that she would backdate the receipt and that Bob could turn it in on Tuesday, which he did.

    Wasn’t his fault that the County Offices were closed!

    If they had been open his name would be on the ballot.

    So the only issue now is the filing of the receipt from the County a day late.

    We will see what the Judge has to say.

  7. Then you should have pulled their filings and filed an objection within the allotted time.

    All of the requirements for filing were printed several times on this blog.

  8. New Council Member(s) would bring to light the things they have been covering up & neglecting.

    Shepley has had this town in his back pocket for his personal political agenda far too long.

    He’s a manipulator and a liar.

    Time for members that care about the people.

  9. I’m highly concerned about all three of those incumbents running against Mr. Miller all of which oppose him yet not a single one issued a challenge against the others for mistakes in filing, just Mr.Miller !

    I haven’t heard differently by the media, individuals in conversation or this blog regarding legal advice being provided to the incumbents also.

    Why are they all represented by the Mayor’s wife’s employer instead of different Attorneys / Law firms of which individual candidates would be likely and expected to do.

    If you or I were to run for City Council, I would reason that I would need my own legal representation as I would want to beat the other incumbents and would challenge their paperwork as now there may be only myself running for all three spots giving me a 100% guaranteed win for myself !

    Here they all instead collude against Mr.Miller so that all three will be reelected.

    That, in my opinion shows that they’ve meet and planned their coordinated, joint effort to keep an outsider out of City Hall.

    What would happen if Mr.Miller were to finish in the top three and what could he look into that you or I couldn’t ?

    He’d certainly be able to speak at City Hall Meetings for longer than five minutes, get answers from City employees including involvement in possible dismissals of long term ones and pull City documents and speak to current and past third party contracted firms for information.

    Based on all of this why wouldn’t I as a City property owner and resident want Mr. Miller on the City Council instead of one or all of the incumbents ?

    The rest are circling the wagons for a reason and shows City Hall is a private,single-minded club !

    JMO

  10. Btw: These types of hearings are required to be held within five days of the filing of the objections.

  11. Yet none of the incumbents filed against any of the other incumbents who were critical of Mr.Miller which they knew other multiple term veterans made the same filing errors but was not a issue in their competency.

    Why did they all go through Mr. Miller’s filing with a fine tooth comb yet not bother to do the same with their other opponents paperwork ?

    The three then all received legal representation from the Mayor’s wife’s employer while the Mayor voted on this matter in favor of the incumbents, many of which he has long term personal relationships with and vote as he does in many Council matters.

    The City Clerk who also voted against Mr. Miller is an employee who is under the City Manager who incidentally needs the Council’s support to retain his position.

    The average person can see that the deck has been clearly stacked in the incumbents favor to prevent an actual election from happening which the three incumbents will need to just vote for themselves to be “elected” !

    I’ll be interested in the Court hearing on this matter and also in what public opinion is as we near Election Day !

    I’d bet Mr. Miller wins this appeal and when placed on the ballot will knock off one of them , finishing with the largest number of votes overall.

    Then the issues the City desperately wants to remain secret and hidden will have a very bright light cast on them over the next four years and the appropriate consequences given.

    JMO

  12. These old comments from 2018 really sums it up. The comment by ‘Enquiring minds’ & ‘Beachbum’ are spot on. I especially liked ‘Remember when the Treasurer from the City of Dixon took a vacation’. Something is right in Crystal Lake.

  13. Something ISN’t right in Crystal Lake. How about a edit option Cal?

  14. Cal, Why aren’t you republishing these stories as they directly correlated to whats going on today at Crystal Lake regarding City Council & Mayoral Candidates.

    Hopkins and Brady have filed many times with errors on their paperwork and always someone with no previous experience is challenged then pushed off by those they are running against.

    In the past decade, how many current council members won an election as a candidate?

    Isn’t it true that they were appointed by Aaron Shepley to continue someone else’s who resigned before completion of their term.

    Every candidate from outside Shepley’s influence has been called on errors but Hopkins and other Shepley friends are approved for the same errors which Hopkins has done repeatedly but remains on the ballot.

    There’s obviously a reason the Shepley Regime doesn’t want outsiders involved and most likely criminal.

    How about reposting all of the Dianne Miller posts from 2018 and those involving Shepley opponent Chadwick in 2014?

    They are certainly relevant to what’s going on with Mayor Haleblian, Hopkins & Brady as they should have all been denied spots on the ballot based by their own knowledge and prior actions.

    If they can’t fill out a simple ballot and follow directions what mistakes and or Civil & Criminal activities are they involved and protecting each other from?

    Inquiring minds want to know……

  15. I believe state law should require that all local government petition be filed with the County Clerk.

    That way the county Electoral Board would rule on challenges.

    That Board is composed of the County Clerk, State’s Attorney and Circuit Clerk.

    But, that is not how the law reads and it is clear that municipal officials do not want a change.

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