Why Shawn Green Reminds Me of Roland Burris

Fast forward (I know for a story in its fifth daily installment, that must sound funny) to 1982. I had always wondered how high an office one could run for without selling one’s soul.

Jim Thompson couldn’t find anyone to run for State Comptroller against Roland Burris. He asked me to run.

I figure, why not?

Test the hypothesis that state senate is the highest office that one can run for without selling one’s soul.

My wife, who was Robin Meridith Geist before we got married, had been Thompson’s photographer when I met her during his first campaign.

I had lost a Republican primary election for Congress in 1980 to incumbent Robert McClory, but still had high name identification statewide (a survey said it was 56% in 1980) from the 1974 fight against the Regional Transportation Authority.

I had announced for state representative in a district that went from our home in Woodstock to Rockford. It had no incumbent and I had represented most of the area for 8 years.

It looked like it had been drawn for me, although Mike Madigan had tried his best of put me in with Dick Klemm; he just didn’t know we had moved from Lily Pond Road to 360 S. Madison Street in Woodstock when he did the reapportionment.

Then, Governor Thompson called. I told him I didn’t have any money. He told me he would get supporters to ante up $50,000 and a car dealer would donate a car. (The Route 41 car dealer was a member of the Tollway board.)

I agreed without asking my wife, something that turned out to be a big mistake.

The contest (I couldn’t call it a “race”) was over as soon as WCIA-TV in Bloomington came out with its first poll. I had this whole campaign laid out to identify “Waste Watchers” throughout Illinois, but, from then on the media was not interested in ideas; just the horse race part of the campaign, where I was too far behind to catch up.

Finally, to the story I’ve been leading up to for 1,600 words.

Burris and I were in Champaign or Urbana, I think, at a debate sponsored by the Illinois Press Association.

One of the three panelists was the son of the family after whom Behan Road east of Crystal Lake on Route 176 was named. I met newspaper publisher Paul Behan in 1974 at a candidates’ night in Belvidere when he ran for state representative in the district west of mine. We talked about the road that now goes to the McHenry County Conservation District’s nature center. That was a good sign, I figured.

In any event, Burris went on the attack and said that I had been “convicted of practicing law without a license.”

My reply must have been considered pretty devastating. I pointed out that then State Comptroller Burris was a lawyer (actually, a future Illinois Attorney General) and should be expected to know the difference between a civil and criminal case.

Later, newspaper publisher and future State Representative Craig Finley told me I won the debate.

The McHenry County Bar Association had sued me in civil court. I had not been indicted by the McHenry County State’s Attorney.

But, apparently Burris did not know the difference.

Naturally, I lost that 1982 election, but Burris’ not knowing the difference between a civil suit and a criminal case came back to me when Huntley School Board President Shawn Green told Daily Herald reporter Jameel Naqvi last Thursday:

“Green said the district may be able to recover some of the $100,000 — depending on the outcome of the state’s attorney’s investigation.

“’I don’t want it to ruin our chances for getting back any money we may be owed,’ Green said.”

Apparently, Green was not paying attention when O.J. Simpson won his criminal case, but lost the civil case filed by the victim’s family.

It’s not like the early 1950’s song, “Love and Marriage.”

The Huntley School District can have one without the other.

The burden of evidence is less in a civil suit than in a criminal case.

Who knows?

If Huntley School District 158 Board went after those past and current employees who received fringe benefits that they did not obtain with a public vote of the board, it might pay for the forensic audit.

It might also convince district employees that the board will not stand for similar practices in the future.

But that might require current board members to admit they did something wrong, so don’t make out the deposit slips for the reimbursements yet.


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