McHenry County Blog

Grafton Township Trustees Barbara Murply, Betty Zirk and Gerry McHMahon, who voted to banish any reporter with a camera, video recorder or tape recorder to the back of the meeting room. In the foreground can been seen David Moore with his unobstrusive videoing machine sitting on a low tripod. To his left is the First Electric Newspaper's Pete Gonigam. Trustee Rob LaPorta left the meeting early.

After three Grafton Township Trustees passed a motion (Supervisor Linda Moore voting, “No”) to restrict me to the back of the room with my camera, not to mention Moore’s husband David, who unobtrusively videos the meeting from the front row, not to mention the First Electric Newspaper’s Pete Gonigam, who snaps a picture now and then, I filed a complaint with the Public Access section of the Illinois Attorney General’s Office.

If a reporter wanted to sit in the front row and just take notes, that would be OK.

But to the back of the room for anyone wanting to take a photo or use a tape recorder.

I smell a lack of equal protection under the law.

My complaint follows:

The Grafton Township (Board voted)  all “photography, recording media and video” to the “rear of the room.”

There are multiple recordings of the action taken at the meeting held in the Huntley Park District building.   The URL’s of my McHenry County Blog article and Pete Gonigam’s First Electric Newspaper article are below:

• http://mchenrycountyblog.com/2010/04/09/fenders-severance-pay-cut-to-three-months/
• http://www.firstelectricnewspaper.com/2010/04/grafton-board-gives-new-administrator.html

My article points out that camera flashes may not be the main objection.  For one trustee, Gerry McMahon, the objective is to prevent a good, close video being made by Township Supervisor Linda Moore’s husband.  Note the link in my article to where such videos have been posted.

My complaint is obviously being prevented from taking photographs from anywhere in the room except the back row or behind the back row.  I understand that flash photography may be prohibited, but I do not believe the Open Meetings Act allows a governmental body to mandate where those who record public meetings may sit based on the mode of recording.  The Grafton Township Board’s mandates allows those who just take notes to sit in the front row, but those who video, audio record or take pictures to the back of the bus, so to speak.  Such discrimination must be illegal.

Sounds like a pretty clear violation of the First Amendment right of Freedom of the Press to me.

May I have your advice in this matter?

Cal Skinner
McHenry County Blog

The Attorney General’s Office has sent the following message to Moore in her role as Grafton Township Supervisor:

Township Supervisor Linda Moore
Grafton Township

Dear Supervisor Moore,

This letter is to advise you that we have received and reviewed a written Request for Review from Mr. Cal Skinner regarding the decision by Grafton Township (Township) to restrict to a certain portion of the Township meeting room the recording of Township board meetings.  I have attached a copy of Mr. Skinner’s Request for Review.

We have determined that further inquiry is warranted with regard to this matter.  5 ILCS 120/3.5(b).

To begin, please forward me a copy of the meeting minutes reflecting the Township board’s April 8, 2010, vote involving the above-referenced matter.  The Township must provide this information to me within seven (7) working days after you receive this correspondence.  5 ILCS 120/3.5(b).

Additionally, please note that the Township may submit to us an answer to the allegations raised in Mr. Skinner’s Request for Review within seven (7) working days after you receive this correspondence.  This answer may take the form of a letter, brief or memorandum.  5 ILCS 120/3.5(c).  Please note that if the Township submits an answer, we may ask the Township to provide a redacted copy of this answer if necessary.  5 ILCS 120/3.5(d).

For your reference, there are three possible outcomes for a Request for Review.

• First, the Public Access Counselor (PAC) may decide that no violations have occurred and will so inform the public body and requester.
• Second, the matter may be resolve through informal mediation by staff from the PAC’s office.
• Third, the PAC may decide to issue a binding opinion.

Should you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.

Very truly yours,

Sara Gadola Gallagher
Deputy Public Access Counselor
Office of the Attorney General

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Since no minutes have been approved since sometime last fall, it will be a neat trick for the township board to comply with the request of the April 8th minutes. I would imagine the Trustees will opt to be paid another $100 each by holding another special township meeting.

House Speaker Mike Madigan

So many ideas to share, so little time.

When I heard that House Speaker Mike Madigan was proposing doing away with the office of lieutenant governor, my first thought was the he was setting up his daughter Lisa, now Attorney General to be first in line to become governor, if anything happened to a governor.

I wanted to check the Illinois Constitution before writing a story and didn’t get around to doing that until just now.

In the meantime, others have made the point.

Here’s what the State Constitution says about succession:

SECTION 6. GUBERNATORIAL SUCCESSION

(a) In the event of a vacancy, the order of succession to the office of Governor or to the position of Acting Governor shall be the Lieutenant Governor, the elected
Attorney General, the elected Secretary of State, and then as provided by law.

State Rep. Jack Franks

And, you will note how quickly State Rep. Jack Franks (D-Marengo) took the same position.

Franks, justifiably, is tired of being just a state representative and he wants House Speaker Madigan to draw him a congressional district he can win.

And, in his heart of hearts, he’d love to by attorney general.

There is that little matter, however, of Lisa Madigan’s finding being attorney general not a bad gig to have while raising small kids.

McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren

Zane Seipler, challenging Keith Nygren for Sheriff

With the recusal of Judge Michael Caldwell from the case resulting from GOP primary candidate Zane Seipler’s requesting a special prosecutor to look into the alleged use of taxpayer money and resources to advance the campaign of McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren, the next court date has been set for May 14th.

So much for my belief that there would be a dismissal before the election.

Seipler is seeking essentially what Dan Regna requested and got when he charged that McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi had used his office for political purposes—the naming of a special prosecutor to determine whether or not McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren used his office for political purposes.

Strangely, a copy of the court order was also sent to Diane L. Saltoun, Office of Executive Inspector General.

Could that mean there is a state government angle?

Maybe with Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s refusal to take any action?

Just in case you are a public official who wants to obey the laws about Freedom of Information and Open Meetings and, maybe, especially, if you are one who doesn’t, a free seminar will be conducted by McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi and the Illinois Attorney General’s Office Thursday night at 7.

Citizens can come, too, of course. You can learn how few rights you have and how hard it is to pry information out of a tax district that says,

“Tough break.

“We won’t tell you.

“Sue us.”

Some even pay an attorney to write such a letter.

The free meeting will be held at McHenry County College’s auditorium and this year does not conflict with a meeting of the MCC Board, whose members most assuredly need to be reminded they don’t have to keep things like why they decided to build a minor league baseball stadium and why they think they got the best price on land they sold for a mega-broadcast aerial top secret, hush, hush.

Those of us who think the public is smart enough to deal with just about anything a local taxing district does can only hope the current Illinois General Assembly places some personal penalties on those who violate the two transparency laws.

But, won’t hold my breath waiting.

Bianchi’s press release is below:

STATE’S ATTORNEY’S OFFICE SPONSORS OPEN MEETINGS ACT AND FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT SEMINAR

Louis A. Bianchi, McHenry County State’s Attorney, wishes to remind Elected or Appointed Public Officials that a free seminar will be conducted May 14, 2009 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the McHenry County College Auditorium. This seminar is sponsored by the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office and McHenry County College and will include speakers from the Illinois Attorney General’s Office and the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office to provide information regarding the Illinois Open Meetings Act as well as the Freedom of Information Act.

This seminar will provide particularly useful information for both newly elected officials, incumbents and appointed public servants as it will encompass the requirements of these Acts on public bodies as well as recent updates in this important Legislation that works to provide transparency in Government.

The last time such a briefing was held by the McHenry County State’s Attorney Office, the board most in need of hearing the advice, not to mention following the law, the McHenry County College Board board was meeting at the same time.

When State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi sued the MCC board for violating the Open Meetings Act, the board, after spending an amount it refuses to reveal, settled out of court.

Well, at least former President Walt Packard is not going to be around to send me threatening letters. But, he’s been given over a $250,000 going away present by being kept on the payroll from his resignation to June 30, 2010.

STATE’S ATTORNEY’S OFFICE SPONSORS OPEN MEETINGS ACT AND FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT SEMINAR

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Louis A. Bianchi, McHenry County State’s Attorney is pleased to announce a seminar for Elected and Appointed Officials to be conducted May 14, 2009 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the McHenry County College Auditorium.

This seminar is sponsored by the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office and McHenry County College and the seminar will include speakers from the Illinois Attorney General’s Office and the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office to provide information regarding the Illinois Open Meetings Act as well as the Freedom of Information Act.

This seminar will provide particularly useful information for both newly elected officials and incumbents as it will encompass the requirements of these Acts as well as recent updates in this important Legislation that works to provide transparency in Government.

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The woman taking notes in the photo on top is Iris Bryan. Jane Collins can be seen in the background in the first picture. MCC security officer William Schultz reparing the evict those legally standing outside the late February 2008 meeting where John Maguire of BMB Communications Management made his first pitch to buy college property to build a mega-tower.

The editorial is from the late, lamented Algonquin Countryside and Cary-Grove Countryside, weekly newspapers that stopped publication last December.

Click to enlarge any image.

Ever since I wrote the article entitled,

I’ve been thinking about the Grafton Township Food Pantry.

As I pointed out in that article, Crystal Lake’s Food Pantry is privately supported. Private contributions bought and remodeled the old Helping Paws facility. The cost, including three years of utilities was $500,000.

The Grafton Township election ended up revolving around whether a new $3.5 million township hall, including an expanded food pantry, should be built with taxpayers’ money.

There’s a Grafton Town meeting 7 PM tomorrow night at the township garage. It is located on a street just west of Route 47 north of Algonquin Road (10,109 Vine Street). Residents will get to vote on whether to proceed or cancel the new building.

The Food Pantry holds itself out to be

according to its page on the Grafton Township web site.

Now, we’ll hold in abeyance the fact that the section of the Internal Revenue Code is “501(c)3.”

No one expects people running a food pantry to be lawyers.

On February 26th, I wrote a letter to the Food Pantry asking for the forms that I thought had to be filed with IRS each year. They are called 990′s.

I was looking for names of the officers, cash flow, etc.

So far, I have received no reply.

In February, I called an IRS number in Covington, Kentucky, and talked told them I had received no reply to my request. The woman looked at the records and told me that no Form 990 had been filed.

She said if it were a small organization, which apparently IRS defines as averaging less than $25,000 a year over a three-year period, that a not-for-profit could file a Form 990N by email.

But the IRS representative told me no electronic form had been filed either.

I called the same number today (877-829-5500, option 4), talked to a different woman, and was told that the Grafton Township Food Pantry achieved tax exempt status with the IRS in January, 2007, and that the tax exemption was allowed as of September, 2007.

“We don’t have the 990 available on file,” the lady told me. “Their tax year ends in June.”

There have been two Junes since the food pantry’s exemption has been granted. The 2007 report would not have been required if less than $25,000 was donated. If I understood the explanation correctly, filing once every three years would have been enough.

But IRS instituted an electronic filing in 2008 for smaller charities. It’s called 990N.

The Huntley Food Pantry has not filed that form.

Those who have made donations should have no concern about the tax deductibility of their contributions to the food pantry.

“Any contributions are deductible,” the IRS woman said.

“I’m showing they are still tax exempt under 501 (c)(3).”

I decided to call the Illinois Attorney General’s Charitable Trusts Division because in Illinois a group cannot hold itself out to be a charitable organization without registering with that office.

On the web site

came up for the Grafton Township Food Pantry.

That seems to mean that although the Food Pantry has good paper with IRS, the same does not go for state law enforcement officials.

Current Township Supervisor John Rossi is the IRS contact person.

Who will make the first reportable campaign contribution to eventually-to-be United States Senator Roland Burris?

In his press conference today, Burris said,

“Let me get in and raise some money to pay for all we’ve been doing.”

Burris, who is bringing “Blagojeviching” to the Nation’s Capitol for the first time, is in obvious need of money to pay the retainers he has around him.

And he doesn’t have the contracts to dispense that he did as Illinois Attorney General. By the way, did you read the last audit of that tenure? Not a pretty picture.

Who will make the first reportable campaign contribution to eventually-to-be United States Senator Roland Burris?

In his press conference today, Burris said,

“Let me get in and raise some money to pay for all we’ve been doing.”

Burris, who is bringing “Blagojeviching” to the Nation’s Capitol for the first time, is in obvious need of money to pay the retainers he has around him.

And he doesn’t have the contracts to dispense that he did as Illinois Attorney General. By the way, did you read the last audit of that tenure? Not a pretty picture.

The weekly Pioneer Press is reporting on its web site today that the Illinois Attorney General’s office, to put it in the words of the headline,

McHenry County Republican Central Committee Chairman and County Treasurer Bill LeFew made a big deal about not being able to separate his office duties from his political duties.

In mid-October, he announced that he was going to resign in order to avoid the potential conflict.

More recently, LeFew admitted mailing anonymous hit pieces about the basis of the complaint, spending office funds on meals for overtime employees, a couple of hundred dollars for parade candy during non-election years, etc. He has come under heavy fire, even having the Northwest Herald call for his immediate resignation.

Enterprising reporter Pete Gonigam elicited the information from the Attorney General’s office.

He writes that a spokeswoman,

” announced Thursday evening that the office found no basis for opening a criminal investigation against McHenry County State’s Attorney Louis Bianchi.”

But, when asked who filed the complaint, Robyn Ziegler would not reveal who sent the letter or its specifics.

Gonigam has been able to scoop the daily newspapers several times on McHenry County’s baseball stadium.

Perhaps with this on-the-spot news approach, he is pointing the way for papers like his Algonquin Countryside to compete better.

The weekly Pioneer Press is reporting on its web site today that the Illinois Attorney General’s office, to put it in the words of the headline,

McHenry County Republican Central Committee Chairman and County Treasurer Bill LeFew made a big deal about not being able to separate his office duties from his political duties.

In mid-October, he announced that he was going to resign in order to avoid the potential conflict.

More recently, LeFew admitted mailing anonymous hit pieces about the basis of the complaint, spending office funds on meals for overtime employees, a couple of hundred dollars for parade candy during non-election years, etc. He has come under heavy fire, even having the Northwest Herald call for his immediate resignation.

Enterprising reporter Pete Gonigam elicited the information from the Attorney General’s office.

He writes that a spokeswoman,

” announced Thursday evening that the office found no basis for opening a criminal investigation against McHenry County State’s Attorney Louis Bianchi.”

But, when asked who filed the complaint, Robyn Ziegler would not reveal who sent the letter or its specifics.

Gonigam has been able to scoop the daily newspapers several times on McHenry County’s baseball stadium.

Perhaps with this on-the-spot news approach, he is pointing the way for papers like his Algonquin Countryside to compete better.