Call me cynical, but the timing of the English-only campaign in Carpentersville—leading up to the municipal elections—has had me thinking it was primarily a way to re-elect the two village trustees leading the fight.

I can identify a “wedge” issue when I see one.

Proponents Judith Sigwalt and Paul Humpfer won election.

So, if it was a campaign tactic, it was a good one.

The village president, Bill Sarto, a political opponent, called the new board majority’s bluff a couple of weeks ago by asking for a vote on the English-only ordinance his two opponents had introduced.

They demurred.

Now, they seem to have settled for a non-binding resolution, which passed 5-2.

In Springfield, resolutions are rarely worth the paper on which they are written.

In any event, Elgin’s Courier-News had the best headline of four I saw yesterday:

Nonbinding
English-only
goes before
C’Ville board

I assume the paper went to press before the resolution passed.

The Chicago Tribune’s story seemed least accurate:

Carpentersville Oks English-only law
Language ordinance
criticized by mayor

Here’s what the Northwest Herald thought the story was all about:

C’Ville goes English only
Village Board opts for declaratory resolution over ordinance

Finally, the Daily Herald’s headings:

Carpentersville makes English official

But measure in non-binding, so village business still will be multilingual

There was something in the Elgin reporter Ben Lefebvre’s article that I have never seen before. He actually used the word “left-wing” to describe leftwingers.

How about that?

Here’s how he described the Chicago demonstrators:

about 50 members of the left-wing, Chicago-based Emergency Response Network.

I guess you can see some of them in the Tribune’s photograph.

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