McHenry County Blog has been posting conclusions of Judge Michael Caldwell concerning whether and from where Grafton Township bills should be paid. We have looked at bills relating to the construction of a new township hall, the forensic examination of computer memory, installing a new lock on Township Supervisor Linda Moore’s office after she was kicked out by the Township Trustees.
Both supporters and opponents of a new township hall sent out mailings to Sun City residents urgning attendance. The ones supporting Township Supervisor Linda Moore were paid for with private money. Trustees sought to have taxpayers finance their mailing.
Today we look at a mailing that the Township Trustees put out prior to the Annual Town Meeting at Huntley High School.
Here’s the interchange between Ancel Glink attorney Thomas DiCianni and Judge Caldwell about the mailing:
THE COURT: I will not approve — how did this mailing start, the mailing to Del Webb and why does Del Webb get mailings and the rest of the township doesn’t?
This mailing only went to Sun City residents.
MR. DiCIANNI: Because they weren’t coming to the meetings and didn’t know about it.
THE COURT: They can do it like anybody else does, read it in the newspaper. That’s where it is. It’s in the Herald.
MR. DiCIANNI: Well, it doesn’t make it an illegal expenditure, your Honor, it’s a –
This side invites people to the Annual Town Meeting.
THE COURT: I think it’s purely political.
MR. DiCIANNI: So I —
THE COURT: I think it is political because it appeals to a voting block.
MR. DiCIANNI: There has been no evidence that that voting block has any particular predilection politically either way.
Bill from MLSMaing for the postcard to Sun City which Judge Michael Caldwell says was "political" and Township Supervisor Linda Moore "was justified in not paying it."
THE COURT: You target a mailing to a seniors’ community and you want me to believe that it’s not political?
The mailhouse paid $1,500.72 in postage for the postcard to Sun City residents.
MR. DiCIANNI: They would be the last ones to —
THE COURT: It would be hard to —
MR. DiCIANNI: They would be the last ones who would want to approve the building, if that’s what the insinuation is from the point —
THE COURT: I can’t say that.
MR. DiCIANNI: Well, there are suppositions there, your Honor, that I think are not part of the evidence.
THE COURT: She was justified in not paying it.
While Linda Moore certainly shares some blame in the whole fiasco, the trustees certainly look like renegades with their pure disregard for protocol. Regardless, they all need to step aside for the sake of the township so we can put an end to the bitterness.