Bolingbrook Clout can overlook Sunshine Laws?

Does being a Bolingbrook "clout" candidate help you in breaking village "sunshine laws" directed at transparency?

Sunshine laws are laws that are put in place that allow residents the ability to request a FOIA (Freedom of info act) and trust that the local elected officials will honor the FOIA request as law states they need to.  However, in Bolingbrook where fair elections are not honored, local officials worried about losing their seats, break the Sunshine Laws to avoid publicity.  They also break the trust of the residents who believe in the law and the system.

The sunshine laws for FOIAs are as follows: 

"Pursuant to the fundamental philosophy of the American constitutional form

of government, it is declared to be the public policy of the State of Illinois that

all persons are entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of

government and the official acts and policies of those who represent them as

public officials and public employees consistent with the terms of this Act.

Such access is necessary to enable the people to fulfill their duties of discussing

public issues fully and freely, making informed political judgments and monitoring

government to ensure that it is being conducted in the public interest."

When someone FOIAs the village and asks for the list of candidates that have picked up packets to run for office, they would think this simple request would give them documents to show details of this request.  Week after week that list was supplied, but left off the current elected officials.

Now why would they do that?  What are they trying to hide? 

Isn't it hard for the village to hide this break in sunshine laws when Mr. Morales, who did not appear on the FOIA request list, has possession of the signature sheets and is collecting signatures?  Does the Village not care about breaking the trust of the residents who submit the FOIA requests?

The questions we should be asking are: 
Who is Mr. Morales paying off to get the Village to break the public's trust in the FOIA laws? 
How can the residents believe that their government is honest?
How can they trust that Mr. Morales is honest?
Are Village employees interfering in an election, when this is a felony to do so? 
Who will be the one to "get in trouble" from the State's Attorney's office if this is submitted to them?
Is all this risk worth hiding the fact that Trustee Morales is using clout to cover his candidacy?

We will be following the story as it progresses.

School Board Chair forced to change anger issues

Steve Quigly, the school board chairman is being forced to curb his anger issues at residents if he wants to stand a chance of re-election in four months. 

Recent attacks at residents who have stood up to ask simple questions of this actions have caused Mr. Quigley to lose his grip on Bolingbrook and Romeoville voters.  A few weeks back he caused audience members to cry in empathy after he brutally attacked a mother of two for asking questions during the question and answer session at the board meeting. 

"Since when can we not ask elected officials about their actions without being verbally abused?" stated one mom who witnessed the video on a local web site.  "I think we should be abusing them for their careless cuts to our kids futures!" she declared. 

Since the local school board members have been "outed" for their corruption, bad role modeling, and waste of tax payer money, over a dozen people have picked up packets to run against them in the upcoming election.  It is a time for change, and the school board needs it the most.

As they are about to pass yet another increase in taxes, that puts chair Mr. Quigley into a bad position.  He has voted to raise taxes each year he has sat on the board.  He calls himself a Republican but spends like a liberal, and cannot find a balance to the budget problems. 

"What this board needs are leaders that have children in the system and vote for the best interest of the children, not themselves.  Mr. Quigley sends his kids to private school and raises taxes.  He cannot balance a budget and votes to stay top heavy on administrations pays, while cutting teachers and salary. I am not voting for him this election" a Bolingbrook residents names Tom stated. 

We will begin reporting the candidates running for school board as soon as the ballot situation has passed.  Stay tuned in four weeks for our school board stories!  Thanks to all those running who wish to help in giving Bolingbrook a fair shot at a new and fair system that works!

How many hits do we get a month?

Readers have been asking us how many hits we get a month.  Our statistics are as follows.
We have been on the new blog site less than three months.  In the last six weeks we have gotten

6,265 hits.  Our averages change daily depending on the news we present.  Our weekly averages currently for November are approx. 1,000 hits per week, or over 4,000 hits per month. 

 

When we poll our readers, some visit daily while others visit weekly.  Most of them tell us that they tell at least three people about the stories on our site.  If this is the case, our following could equate to 12,000 people in Bolingbrook hearing our news weekly.  If those people tell 3 people... you get the drift.  The Village is only 68,000 people, and some of them are kids! 

 

We will be expanding our advertising in the new year and growing, so the numbers will be changing. 

 

Thank you readers for participating in your local community and government.  For those people that state, "nobody in this village cares, that is why they do not vote", we can counter that with at least 1,000 people are spreading the word weekly.  If each person told 3 other people a story, then those numbers continue to grow.  It is not just about coming out to vote, it is about contributing when you can.  So please continue to pass the stories to your neighbors and we will continue to post our news and findings. 

 

Have a great holiday!  

Local Elections Items to Watch for

The local elections are as dirty as they come.  Some say that they are equal to Chicago style politics, while others say it is much worse.  Final objections will be arriving soon.  Bonnie has contributed some tips for the residents to watch for...

Hello fellow residents!  These are tips for the upcoming election.  Follow the local papers and the Brook Report for daily updates for issues that can present themselves this year.

1.  Once the petitions are filed, pay close attention to the political affiliations of the objectors. 
2.  Watch to see if the objector is present in the hearing, or if the objector is sponsored by an attorney.
3.  If they are sponsored by an attorney, will it be a rep from Tressler Law Firm (Village attorney office), or Richard Kavinaugh's offices (Du Page Township attorney office).  These attorneys are actually working in junction with Roger Claar, and not a random objecting resident.  They could potentially be billing the tax payers as well. 
4.  During the hearing, see who the board members are.  Are they really impartial, or do they sit on, or sponsor the slate running against the candidate.  For example, last year two of the three electoral board members that booted me off the ballot were on the slate of the Mayor's.  I was running against him.  The third board member had the Mayor as his main campaign contributor, and as the chair of this campaign committee.
5.  Are all the objectors using the same attorney?  This is a red flag for conspiracy.
6.  Do the objectors try to say that your signature, as a tax payer and voter, do not count?  Last year over 200 voter/ residents names were counted as "not allowed" and their votes/ signatures did not matter.
7.  Does the objectors attorney stay after the hearing to explain how the board can effectively remove the candidate?  (This is not only a closed door meeting, illegal by law, but the opposing attorney cannot speak to the board without the candidates attorney present.) This happened last year.
8.  When removed from the ballot, is the candidate given enough time to still appeal the decision in Will County? 

Once the ballot process is complete, I will update the residents of what to look for around town during election time. 

Enjoy the holidays!

Bonnie Alicea

Mike Evans denies drinking at conference

Let the residents decide for themselves!

We have receipts for him attending this conference.  So someone at this very conference, hanging out with Bolingbrook and Romeoville officials, was caught "lushing".

2008 Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting

2010 Boston trip

The question remains, what is the school board doing to discipline the wrong doings of the members?  Are they cut off from tax payers dollars for conferences and personal expenses?

Re-Addressing the Turkey Give-away

We think it was a wonderful thing for a company to donate to the "not so fortunate" residents for Thanksgiving.  They donated turkey and full meals with desert.  We congratulate them for this large donation.

We condone politicians using it to their advantage and scaring off people needing food.  This led to an abundance of food not picked up.  So guess what happened!  (thank gosh for video camera's on phones now!)

Breaking news alert!

 Bolingbrook officials and employees caught on video taking food from the "needy" lines!  Bolingbrook fiscal reports that show their income, show that they are well above qualifying factors for the free and donated food for the needy.  Basically, they ran off the needy residents and put the free food on their own tables!  Shocking and disgusting, all at once! Isn't it bad enough they pad their pockets with pay to play, but now they get caught blatantly stealing from the poor!

We have decided not to air this video, as some local residents are on this video picking up food.  We do not wish to subject them to the same issues that Bill Mayer and the local news did already.  If any of our readers can put black marks over some faces, let us know so we can share this video with the rest of the village!

Bolingbrook Operation Christmas

When Christmas time comes and the needy need help, they turn to local Bolingbrook organizations.  Bolingbrook Operation Christmas has been helping residents for 37 years.  Over 500 families are served annually.

This year we have been contacted by some residents who are slightly discouraged.  Donations which are solicited from businesses and individuals, in a rough economy, will be taking a hard toll on the donations this year.

Residents are being told that donations, which in the past have been new items, food, or gift cards, are not what is being offered this year.  They are being told that donations will come in the form of "slightly used" items, damaged items, or expired food products. 

We are unable to verify this story, but we can make a difference.  We are asking residents to donate items in the next few days, before the Dec. 1 pick up dates.  You can donate to the village by contacting: .

Gwen Bettig (630) 739-7895 or Lee Bush at (630) 739-6188

School Questions Answered VVSD 365-U

What is the teacher vs. student ratio compared to demographics:

Teachers                                   Students

White 85.2%                            31.8%

Black 8.1%                                22.7%

Hispanic 5.2%                          34.3%

Asian 1.4%                                6.5%

Native American 0.2%         0.1%

What is our pay structure like compared to other areas?

Our teacher salaries are competitive with surrounding districts.  Beginning salaries for BS and MS are among the highest in the area.  Mid level salaries are competitive while our lifetime salaries tend to be lower than some surrounding districts.  More specific information can be found in the annual salary study conducted by the Large Unit School District Association.

Greedy School Boards....

This year the school board could not even put together a proper budget.  They were late in finally pushing a budget.  Now these inexperienced board members want to push more taxes?

While many residents struggle to buy a Turkey to put on their table and many more hunt for jobs over the holiday season so they can buy a Xmas gift for their kids, the school board has decided to raise the taxes, yet again.  Let me repeat, YET AGAIN.

With a 4-1 vote this week, they have increased the levy by 6.31 percent.  This does not count the increase they implemented over the last few years.  The final vote is on December 13th.


So why do they keep raising the rates in a tough economy?  Why don't they look to cut the top heavy costs that keep them increasing taxes each year to cover cost of living increases?  The answer lies within the members of the school board that are making the decisions.

 

Last year Steve Quigley and Mike Evans pushed for higher taxes, while cutting services to the most needy of students.  They did not freeze teachers high wages.  They did not cut top heavy salaries, or overcrowding at top executive levels.  They cut from the students.  They did this, despite the fact that there are more deans, principles, assistant principles, security, and other high payrolls than ever before.  It is all about clout and position for these board members.

 

For example, in 2005 they created a position called head of security for schools.  They started the position at $50K and hired Trustee and Deputy Mayor Leroy Brown to the position.  In three years time his salary went from $50K to over $80K.  Are we in more danger now then we were four years after the 9-11 attacks, that would warrant increasing security pay by $10G a year and cutting books to the students?  What about the service contract on phones that cost us $120K per quarter, awarded to Bill Mayer (Du Page Township Supervisor) company Call One?  Do our phones need a quarter of a million dollar expensive service contract instead of offering students special education services?

 

Mis-spending is what is all about.  In April, you will have an opportunity to vote these cronies out of office and cut school taxes.  Don't forget to watch our site when we list who is a cronie and who is a tax cutter, series starting in January...

 

Happy Turkey Day!

The Bolingbrook Report would like to wish the residents of Bolingbrook a Happy Thanksgiving!