Opponents Play Pile-on Linda Moore

It was called a candidates’ forum by the Civics Committee of Sun City, but three of the Grafton Township Supervisor candidates turned it into a game of pile-on Linda Moore.

Linda Moore, Marty Waitzman, Pam Fender and Jim Kearns faced off before a large Sun City crowd Wednesday night.

Linda Moore, Marty Waitzman, Pam Fender and Jim Kearns faced off before a large Sun City crowd Wednesday night.

Moore, of course, is the incumbent.

Republican primary opponents Marty Waitzman and Pam Fender, as well as Independent Jim Kearns took turns taking shots at Moore.

The result was that Moore was on the defensive most of the evening.

Indeed, her closing statement was characterized as being “defensive” by a woman sitting behind me.

She pointed out that before her election she and a list of citizens she enumerated had sued the Town Board to stop the construction of a new township hall.

Her side won the case, but the Trustees appealed the decision “and lost.”

“The Trustees wasted a half million dollars” on legal fees, she said.

Then there was a referendum in which 85% of the people voted against building a new township hall.

When they tried “to remove me from office,” the Trustees ran up legal bills of $470,000.

“There is no way to stop the legal fees [until they are out of office].”

Then she talked about having paid all the bill that were “legitimate proper bills,” she said, pointing to state statutes that governed what type of bills could be paid with township dollars.

“This election will bring us full circle,” she claimed.

She said she was the “only member of the Board to vote against taking more money out of your pockets.”

“There’s no way to stop what’s going on until these people are off the [Township] Board,” Moore had said earlier.

Moore sign you can lower your taxesGrafton Township Trustee Jerry McMahon’s wife Donna pointed out during the question period that tax dollars homeowners would have saved if her husband and the other three trustees had voted to tax as much as state law allows was minimum.

She criticized Moore’s characterization of the Trustees’ action as being a “tax to the max” approach. McMahon also criticized Moore for the campaign pitch, “You can lower taxes.” [All four trustees did vote to take as much money from taxpayers as state law allows, as McHenry County Blog has reported several times. The argument in favor of such action has been that the government would lose the money forever if the maximum was not requested.]

Marty Waitzman

Marty Waitzman

Marty Waitzman had several characterizations of Moore’s term:

  • “For all intents and purposes, Grafton Township has ground to a halt.”
  • “Oh, my God. There is no civility. No cooperation. Nothing but arguments.”
  • “You don’t have to spend as much time as is now spent. Garbage in, garbage out.”
  • “I think you should be prosecuted.”
  • “The Township Supervisor is not the supreme being on this board.”

Pam Fender was loaded for bear, too:

    Pam Fender

    Pam Fender

  • “It is obvious Mrs. Moore is in over her head.”
  • “A Supervisor is supposed to be nice.”
  • “I won’t cash checks that don’t belong to the Township.”
  • “[You] need to work on your people skills.”
  • “We don’t need more lawsuits, more lawyers.”

Jim Kearns got in his licks, too:

  • “You should treat others as you would want to be treated.  There’s not a lot of that going on in Grafton Township.”
  • “Right now, this Township doesn’t know where it’s at.”
  • “I’m going to stop the legal fees.”
  • Jim Kearns

    Jim Kearns

  • “When we dig our heels in, we’re not going to get very far.  We are fools, folks.”
  • “We’ve got to learn how to talk with each other.”

There was a question about the efficiency of the bus service.

Waitzman got first shot.  He said, “It’s not about numbers.  It’s about making certain people get the transportation they need.”

“I don’t think the bus should be efficient,” Fender said.  She talked about making it available from 7 AM to 9 PM.

“We need to treat them with respect,” Kearns added.  He added that there was no reason the Road Commissioner’s employees couldn’t change the oil in the bus, rather than paying $150 to “the Ford Dealer up the street.”

Linda Moore

Linda Moore

Moore reported that she had reduced the cost by one-third, from $75,000 to $50,000, while ridership had increased “steadily throughout the four years.”

“We can’t have inefficient programs in government,” she asserted.  She said that she asked seniors who had trips that were individual in nature to call Faith in Action and Senior Services.

“We do the best we can with what we have,” pointing to using the van, instead of the bus if wheelchair seniors needed transportation.

All four said they had no plans to build a new township hall.

With regard to campaign financing, all the candidates seem to be pretty much paying for their own campaigns.


Comments

Opponents Play Pile-on Linda Moore — 25 Comments

  1. What a cast of characters, if Kearns family turns out, he’s the winner.

    Why would anyone want the job?

    If Moore is reelected, she must be a another Democrat sending the government further in debt.

    Why do we need Grafton Township?

  2. Marty Waitzman is the clear winner of last night’s debate!

    Let’s make sure the in-over-her-head Linda Moore and the fake Republican Pam Fender both lose on election day on February 26th.

    It’s crucial to Waitzman wins.

  3. The three challengers came there to attack Linda Moore not state what they can do.This sounded like a township meeting . Trustees attack and other wise do nothing.This is what the three challengers did. No plans on what they can do , just attack Linda. I hope the voters can see thru these three and stick with Linda Moore.

  4. One thing is certain: the clear-cut loser was Cal’s gal pal, Moore. She failed to connect with her target audience. Not once did she say something that resonated with Sun City residents. Every response seemed contrived and insincere as seniors in my area responded with rolled eyes anytime she spoke. I cannot say whom these people will vote for, but the whispers under their breath was a clear sign that Moore’s strategy to court just Sun City residents was a total waste of time and money – much like her time in office.

  5. It does read like Cal Skinner is endorsing Linda Moore’s bid for re-election.

    Are you Cal?

  6. I sat in the forth row last night and Linda was as nervous as a cat in a roomful of rocking chairs. Ms. Moore’s continued indignation was astounding as she kept pointing fingers at everyone but herself.

    She accepted zero responsibility for the last four years – and kept patting herself on the back so much that her arm all but busted off.

    I am curious about her continued allegations that trustees acted illegally four years ago.

    Why then have charges never been filed?

    Certainly, if their alleged acts were so awful, then she would have exhausted all efforts to put the offenders in jail.

    But because there has never been a hint of impropriety from the States Attorney’s office, I suspect that her allegations are baseless (no surprise there) and are borderline slanderous – which is illegal.

    Speaking of what’s illegal, Mr Waitzman made an interesting comment when he spoke about the first time he met Ms. Moore.

    He told her, point blank, she should be prosecuted – and this is coming from an attorney!

    Speaks volumes and definitely stuck in people’s heads as people around me nodded in agreement.

  7. ZORRO: your comment “…stick with Linda Moore.” would have been far more accurate as “…take a stick to Linda Moore.”

  8. Zorro must not have attended the debate.

    Just because Cal did not bother to elaborate on what plans the candidates talked about, doesn’t mean that none were said.

    Pam had a long list of things she wants to do for the township and its people, Marty and Jim both mentioned some as well.

    Linda wants to ‘make’ other government entities bear more cost burden for the bus (that is not likely to happen if she is the one trying to force it down their throats).

    Everyone but Linda (and maybe Cal) understand that Linda is the one to blame for the last 4 years of hell that we all have been in, that is why it seemed that everyone was gunning for Linda, but, really, it’s just hard to talk and the truth not get out, can’t help it Linda, if people talk about the township, your sins come out.

  9. Speaking of signs, why is Bob Miller seen around town putting signs up for Lutzow during the day when he should be doing county work???

  10. Now I’d be impressed with any candidate that put forth a plan, that would abolish the Townships in McHenry County and rolled this redundant, inefficient and costly bureacracy, into County Gov.

    Can anyone explain why we need Townships in the first place?

    Was effective say a hundred years ago, when McHenry was rural, but now?

  11. Personally I believe we cannot use Grafton township as an example for elimination of townships across the state.

    Our current situation will work itself out when new trustees are elected.

    I suggest that this is a local issue and should be a referenda question to local residents.

    When a township is overtaken by municipal governments there may be a reason for elimination, or possibly an intergovernmental agreement between those governing entities to provide the services without duplication.
    I would caustion that a vast majority of townships in the state are rural in nature providing needed services and operate very efficiently.

    I would not want the dysfunction of more urban townships affect our rural neighbors.

  12. Linda, if you don’t want our township to affect more rural townships, please do the whole state of IL a favor and drop out of the race. Problem solved for all!!!!!!!

  13. Linda, given your history, there is no reason to believe that there is anyone that could be elected to the trustee positions that you could get along with. Gerry was your running mate last election, and now he is your biggest opposition. The people on Coyne Station have decided to run against you rather than support you. And you are even suing your own family.

    If you are elected, the mess in our township will just continue for another four years. You are deluding yourself and the voters if you think differently

  14. Yikes!

    Linda addresses my query, opinions the issue and the anonymous sniping continues.

    Linda, if your reelected, you have my condolences.

  15. Linda, Linda, Linda……. For the last four years, we’ve watched and listened as you have outright blamed others for every problem that has crossed your door.

    “The Trustees are to blame.”
    “The Assessor is to blame.”
    “The Trustees are to blame.”
    “The Road Commissioner is to blame.”
    “The Trustees are to blame.”
    “The Clerk is to blame.”
    “The Trustees are to blame.”
    “Ancel-Glick is to blame.”
    “The Trustees are to blame.”
    “The Food Pantry is to blame.”
    “The Trustees are to blame.”
    “My predecessor is to blame.”
    “The Trustees are to blame.”
    “The man from Sun City is to blame.”
    “The Trustees are to blame.”
    “Pam Fender is to blame.”
    “The Trustees are to blame.”
    “The auditor is to blame.”
    “The Trustees are to blame.”
    “The new Clerk is to blame.”

    Everyone else is to blame, right?

    When do you begin to point the finger at yourself and shoulder your fair share of The Blame?

    You are the Supervisor – you went to court to usurp oversight power from the Trustees.

    You wanted to shoulder and wield power, but without the responsibility? Your culpability in the Grafton shenanigans is beyond obvious, yet at the Sun City forum, you continued the finger pointing at everyone other than the common denominator: YOU.

    It’s painfully simple and no flyers or robo-calls will help.

    By not taking personal responsibility, you dug your own political grave, pounded all the nails in the coffin and lowered the casket. Your opponents are just shoveling the dirt.

  16. @Rod do not deceive yourself if you think Linda Moore is completely dead politically.

    She is not.

    Campaign finance reports reveal through the end of 2012, Moore had spent around $6,000 for her re-election bid.

    Compared with Marty Waitzman (~$2000) and Pam Fender (no political committee on file, meaning she’s spent less than $3000), Moore is paying to get her message out, while the other 2 candidates are not.

    If the next 2 1/2 weeks do not show a change in those numbers (and A-1 reports must be filed within 48 hours after significant campaigning contributions/loans), you could very well see Moore prevail.

    Follow the money, as this is now Moore’s strength/advantage in the primary.

  17. “You are the Supervisor – you went to court to usurp oversight power from the Trustees,” writes Rod Crittendon.

    The court agreed with Moore than it was the Trustees who had usurped power. See the following articles, which include the entire decision:

    Judge Michael Caldwell Grants Linda Moore Day-to-Day Operating Authority of Grafton Township, Power to Hire and Fire Employees and Township Attorney – Part 1

    Grafton Township Court Order Fires Pam Fender and Ancel Glick – Part 2

  18. Linda Moore wants to stop a dying father from seeing his daughter. From FEN: “Moore added that she helps care for her elderly father in law. However, for five years Moore and her husband have periodically battled in court with the rest of his family over that care. The latest outbreak was just before Christmas when the two sought an order of protection against her father in law’s visiting daughter.”

    Yes, Linda Moore is compassionate and has everyone’s best interests at heart (and really cares about senior citizens).

  19. Google FirstElectricNewspaper and read the story dated 2/7/13 Civility Reigns At Grafton Supervisor Candidate Forum.

    Also search the Circuit Clerk of McHenry County website. There is a big blue button that allows visitors to search court records. Enter your name and WOW! Linda Moore, you are keeping the courts very busy! Professionally and personally very busy at the courthouse. On 12/14/12 12OP000875 it’s Linda Moore vs Cindy Moore. I’m guessing Cindy Moore is your “father in law’s visiting daughter” that FEN reports you “sought an order of protection against.” I read you are involved in another personal issue in the Boone County court system. What happened? Did McHenry County Court run out of room for you and your issues? Yeah, it’s the trustees fault!

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