McHenry County Blog

Speaking of D158 School Board Member Larry Snow, today's (6/22) Daily Herald, in Amy Mack's column (http://www.dailyherald.com/news/mchenrycolumnists.asp?column=mack), is exposed as being habitually delinquent on paying his property taxes.

What's more, he continually argues that he did one thing, and when his assertions are checked to be verified with the McHenry County Treasurer, is completely contradicted.

I know Larry Snow is a hero to many, and I admire him too for his convictions. That being said, Snow sets a very poor personal example of continuing to pay his property taxes late.

What do you all think?
 

If Larry Snow's ability to pay property taxes on-time was related to school board hiring issues, then they might have something there...

But since they're not related, putting the two into the same sentence (late tax paying and attempts to shine light on the board's hiring practices) just attempts to discredit Snow's efforts.

Media loves to dig-up dirt on public figures. It's up to us to determine if that dirt actually means something, or if it's just dirt.
 

Who cares if Larry Snow pays his taxes on time or not. Only a good socialist or communist would think that paying taxes is what defines a good American.
 

Hmmm - someone's personal property tax issues or personal life versus the running of a $52 million district that can't account for millions of dollars, has an auditor exclaiming how bad the procedures were/are under several LONG TERM CURRENT BOARD MEMBERS - gee - let me think!

MY column, if I had a column, would have been devoted to ripping the District's administrators and the LONG TERM CURRENT BOARD MEMBERS into shreds over their financial ? incompetence/manipulation/mismanagement/bad or absent procedures and (acknowledged) dropped educational plan.

But heck, that's just silly old me.

If a columnist has a particular bent or allegiance - Freedom of Speech comes into play. So does the question of ink devoted to a personal smack versus smacking the perpetrators or enablers of ridiculous business actions or lack of actions that have been playing out for over two years in the media.

I don't care who gets a personal parking ticket, who pays their personal taxes, or who does or doesn't dye their hair. It's not my business. I have never met a perfect person or a person who hasn't run into some snag. I wish everyone well when it comes to personal issues. I separate them so that they are not used to smoke screen away from the REAL - PUBLIC issues.

Now - the next post will be what the topic title of this particular section is about......a possibly "predetermined outcome" meeting enabling members or supporters of a former PAC to provide employment for one of their own.
 

I'd guess about 98% of elected officials set poor examples in their personal behavior. Bush and Cheney have three DUIs between them -- http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/bushdui1.html. State legislators get fined because they can't manage to get their campaign filings done on time -- http://www.ralc.net/RALCPlatform2004-0704.pdf page 8. The Lakemoor Village President writes checks that the board hadn't approved, and decided to pay back $2,100 she pilfered from the village only after being caught -- http://tinyurl.com/qww7g. The New Lenox mayor rips off his village by being a professional meeting goer, and using the village credit card to party, again only agreeing to reimburse the village after he was caught -- http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/dsindex/26-ds1.htm.

Compared with his fellow elected officials, I'd have to agree with Mr. Snow as quoted by Ms. Mack. Compared with other elected officials, his tax issue is no big deal. I'd be much more concerned about what his fellow board members and other elected officials are doing that has an impact on their constituents.

Mr. Snow's taxes are his own personal issue. Sure, it's a bad example to set. OTOH it hasn't cost the taxpayers and children in D-158 anything near what the buffoonery of the other six board members has. Kim Skaja writes a letter to the NWH claiming what great hires the board makes. Great hires like Halverson and Swanson who were forced out after a thefterendum scandal. Great hires like a board member that likely voted on the salary of the position he was awarded last night -- http://www.nwherald.com/CommunitySection/309066711564897.php. I really don't know how she can say they hire great people when, like the rest of the board other than Snow, she has no interest in seeing the resume's of the applicants. D-158 finds money, then loses it, then finds it again. Could it be the board said no to a forensic audit because it might land their buddies or maybe even them in the pokey?

What they do to Mr. Snow is atrocious -- limiting him to bringing up one new issue a month, cutting off discussions that he requests. I sure hope the voters in D-158 aren't dumb enough to support another thefterendum when the district runs out of money or has it stolen. I'd also be surprised if there's much support for any incumbent board members or their B.E.S.T. ilk should they decide to run in 2007 -- other than from the teacher union and the other businesses feeding off the district at the expense of the kids.
 

Re: D158 Board Members' hiring of a SITTING/current board member

Gee - let me count the ways I want to say this.

Open and Honest Government in D158?

"Oh, please." is my disgusted friend's astute observation.

If you read the details of all that's gone on in D158 for two years and also looked at the transaction that happened here - you'd assume it was business as usual Chicago style. As a child of Chicago who STILL can't believe how things have been run there for many, many decades - even I can smell the coffee.

(Per multiple sources and news.)

1. Stewart is apparently jobless since some time in March. A fact of life.

2. He applied for the job w/D158 somewhere along the line and continued to participate in District and Board Business. Ummm - conflict of interest or appearance of impropriety anyone?

3. During his election campaign he acknowledged being an active member of the (then) PAC "BEST".

4. The current board majority either supported or were members of the PAC. Legal probably...unless they overstepped the gray lines. Which some think they did. The PAC pushed the fiasco referendum.

5. The current and then board president was the board's direct liaison to the PAC per district minutes. Coincidences are astounding sometimes.

6. This "hiring" meeting was held at 5:30 p.m. Low turnout or No turnout is almost guaranteed for that time frame.

7. Would YOU take your family members to a public meeting that in closed session - is supposedly deciding on your hiring? Would they come because the decision is pretty much set in stone? If they can't sit in on the closed session there's no "show". Perhaps a trip for ice cream would have been more productive? All kinds of questions - Hmmmm - I'll be putting that family option in my next tactics to obtain a job in private business..........

8. Snow tries to talk, the board majority as is too often common in D158- doesn't care. He gets shut down and one "wise" board member reminds him it was only supposed to be a 15 minute meeting. Oh, really? That wasn't mentioned in the meeting announcement. And gosh - if you're deciding someone's employment/life and the District's best interests - who decided that 15 minutes is sufficient time? You Pledge Allegiance, take public comments of at least 3 minutes per person, and have to announce the meeting legal technicalities, go into closed session and "chat" or review documents, come out, do the legal technicalities, possibly have discussion (except in D158 I guess), do a vote if one is called for, etc. In my slow typing days - the above paragraph took more than 15 minutes.....

9. A district that has acknowledged it hasn't kept really good records about many millions of dollars was able to have a lengthy, glowing, instant press release about the hiring ready at the meeting. Things that make you go "Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm......." People paying attention in D158 HMMMMMMMM a lot!

10. What is more important - the District being protected by NOT having a board member who could (perhaps unintentionally) be swayed in decisions because his family's paycheck is on the line or protecting the group's member composition to maintain their agenda? My opinion and that of my friends is that the board majority
acted in an improper manner and did not proceed in a manner that was in the best interest of the District/Residents/Taxpayers.

Cutting to the chase I and my friends ask - does anyone truly believe that in all of America, in all of Illinois, in all of McHenry and Kane County, oh, heck, in just all of D158 - that there isn't a single person other than an unemployed sitting (PAC associated) board member who could and would gladly and quite capably do this job?

Would this "PACked" board majority have hired a Quagliano or aSnow (financial truth seekers/messengers) for this job?

Would the administrators or employees back the selection of a Quagliano or a Snow (financial truth seekers/messengers) when their jobs are in existence at the pleasure of the "PACked" board majority?

Anyone who thinks there is no unusual odor here should contact me immediately....

I think I may know someone who has some radioactive swampland to sell.
 

This is the note I sent to Mr. Gaunt regarding the article. It should also be noted that Mr. Stewart's wife works for the schools.

Dear Mr. Gaunt,

Great article. Nice payback to Mr. Stewart for being a yes man. Any chance they would have made the same exceptions for Mr. Snow or any other citizen if they had wanted the position? The smell of patronage and corruption from this district is wafting all the way to Harvard. This makes me sick. How about getting rid of tenure and teaching certificates. Schools could then hire the best people for teaching jobs. Perhaps hiring real chemists and physicists, etc to teach these subjects would best aid student performance.

Public schools are nothing more than government schools that are plagued with waste, fraud, corruption and patronage just like other forms of government. Why are you one of the few journalist and why is the Daily Herald one of the few newspapers that actually recognizes this is beyond me? Maybe you can talk some sense into some of your fellow colleagues like Amy Mack.

Keep up the good work. Dig more please.

Cathy
 

Dagny Taggart said...
Who cares if Larry Snow pays his taxes on time or not. Only a good socialist or communist would think that paying taxes is what defines a good American.
==================================

Uh, no DT, what defines a "good American" is obedience to the law, including tax laws. You don't pay the taxes on time, you get penalized, which is what happened to Larry Snow last year and will happen this year when he pays his tax penalty with his taxes.

People shouldn't blame Daily Herald columnist Amy Mack for this coming to light. She made it clear she did her due diligence and researched all local school board members, and even mentioned the Crystal Lake board member who had not paid his taxes on a vacant lot they owned.

No, Larry Snow only has himself to blame for being tardy in his 2nd year in a row. Snow only hurts himself when he is called on this by the media, and his own credibility on other issues. Oh, and wasn't Snow's comments to Amy Mack so cute? Comparing himself to Lake in the Hills Village President Ed Plaza was a real lame attempt to draw others into his own problems.
 

I supposed we could all stare and gawk at the bullfighter's cape - instead of looking at the bull that has been coming out of D158 ....

However, Issues like $10m D158 can't specifically account for? Now there's an item worth a column.

Or why, after however many years, the Gurrie company is JUST NOW saying (ex.my words) "Whoa dudes and dudettes, your accounting procedures really stink!" yep - there's another column. What was Gurrie not noticing before - things that were very very basic tests? Did board members or administrators know of this before and IGNORE IT? Wow, if you really really want to get political and smack someone - there's a column for you.

When it comes to personal stuff though, it's the funniest thing - a friend who routinely paid her taxes late (but eventually paid them, and the fines) made me a better person because of her gritty determination to survive. The challenges she faced were incredibly hard. Frankly, she didn't come near anyone's idea of saintly. Some of the more uptight folks - including family - left me hanging. Go figure.

She fought for people who could not fight for themselves. Sounds familiar.

"Civilzed" Listeners and "Civilized" Liars often are part of the same beings and they do a great job of declaring themselves to be "nice" people and "team players". Frankly, their "Harrumphs!" make my eyes roll.

If Paul Revere rode around whispering that the British were coming so he wouldn't wake them up - or if he went to each door and politely and gently tapped on each door to spread the word -
I wonder what our country would be like now.

We applaud imperfect heroes in movies and attack them in real life.

Well, aren't we a bunch of hypocrites?
 

Larry Snow certainly does not have a way with words. I could give a damn if he paid his taxes late. I would trust him over the six buffoons that sit with him on the board any old day. How any moron can not see that the other six buffoons do not give a damn about being good stewards of our taxpayer dollars is beyond me. This group of buffoons only cares about placating the school employees. They also do not give a damn about actually educating the children of District 158 in a fiscally responsible manor.

This board is out to get Larry Snow and are doing everything they can to squelch his freedom of speech.

So dundeeblogger am I to gather that you never speed even one mile over the limit.
 

Larry's tax positon is material to his board position and his stance on the board. It goes entirely to self-interest.

Larry's transparent self-interest is to lower his property taxes; just like a lot of other folks who've bought their McMansions in McHenry but refuse now to pay for the community that must come with it.

Nothing excuses corruption in a government body and where evidence of intent can be presented, it should be investigated and prosecuted.

What Larry and his gang want, however, is to defeat public schools so they can eliminate their property tax. Particularly by witholding funds from local taxing bodies. That's pushing on a string.

Its wrong two ways: Property taxes should be fixed by changing school funding at the state level. Difficult but essential as in Texas and New Jersey. That's the only way to fairly apportion the tax burden and bring a more literate work force to the state.

Second, who are we kidding? Eliminating public shools may be laudable where other options abound. There are no viable models for private school alternatives in the majority of small districts throughout the state. Most simply will never have the option to choose some highly regarded magnet school where all the rich people send their kids.

Genuine tax reform would be focused at the state and federal levels in order to keep the tax dollars local where accountability would be meaningful. This other is a transparent scheme to defraud local districts of a legitimate and necessary funds. Nothing more.