In a tightly packed letter covering pretty much every area of open space, State Rep. Jack Franks wrote McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler on September 6, 2012, warned against using tax dollars to “…urge any elector to vote for or against any candidate or proposition…”
Franks quotes the hard-to-enforce Election Interference Act authored by North Chicago Democrat John Matjevich.
There has been a recent Appellate Court decision on enforcement, but it went no farther than requiring reporting expenditures to the Illinois State Board of Elections.
Perhaps Franks could use his time in Springfield to strengthen the act, making it clear that mailings must be neutral or, even better, prohibiting them altogether.
Perhaps he would sponsor legislation that would impose significant monetary penalties on those (usually) school board members whose administrations’ step so, so close to, if not over the line when using tax dollars to pass school referendums.
Not that I think that likely.
Franks refused to save $240 million a year by voting for State Senator James Meek’s school voucher bill.
To no one’s surprise, he got contributions from teachers’ unions–$78,000 as of 2009.
But, back to the letter.
Jack Franks’ letter to the McHenry County Board regarding wanting to write the proponent’s pitch for his County Executive referendum. Click to enlage.
Franks rightly chides the County Board for hiring lobbyists to work against Franks’ bill which would have prohibited local governments from raising property taxes when real estate assessments are going down.
He suggests that individual members of the County Board want to campaign against his referendum using their own resources, “that would be permissible.”
I think that’s a good idea for not only a County Executive referendum, but also for all future referendums.
Pass a law, Jack, that would prohibit any local government from spending any money to inform people about a referendum question.
Force them to come up with money from the private sector.
Then, Franks says the County Board had no right to ask its attorney, McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi, for an opinion, calling it “an inherent conflict of interest.”
What nonsense.
Then he cites some Class B misdemeanor law, which I guess mere mortals are expected to look up.
It seems to me if there is a conflict of interest in a criminal matter, the State’s Attorney could allow the Appellate Prosecutor to take the case, just as was done with Bianchi defense attorney Terry Ekl was defending the Woodstock North High School teacher who was acquitted on a directed verdict.
And, the Democrat wants any opinion made public.
He thinks no attorney-client privilege exists, based on something that happened in the Administration of President Bill Clinton.
“Please govern yourself accordingly, and follow the letter and the spirit of the law. Should you wish to discuss this matter, please give me a call. I remain…very truly yours…”
What Franks really wants is the County to allow him to make a pitch for his referendum, which will greatly concentrate power in the hands of one person, at taxpayer expense.
Why should he spend any of his approximately half million dollar campaign fund paying for his own direct mail piece?
Permission denied, dude.
The County Board has no business spending MY MONEY opposing a referendum that could put them out of business.
Simple as that.
How sad that they need a law to understand that, sadder yet that they need an attorney to interpret an unusually clear statute.
As for Mr. Franks’ referendum, that’s just stupid.
Either he doesn’t know how assessments and property taxes and tax levies and county budgets work, or he chooses to ignore it.
How about a law that prevents the County Board from passing a budget increase in excess of the increase in per capita earned income in the county in the preceding 12 months?
Then they would actually have to cut back their largesse at our expense when that number goes down.
That would have meaning.
What Mr. Franks proposes has none.