Sunday, September 14, 2008

All Island Lake Mayor Tom Hyde and Illinois Sarah Palin Have in Common Are Pigs

Knowing what I do about the regime of Island Lake Mayor Tom Hyde, I was astounded that the Daily Herald's Burt Constable decided to compare him with former Wasilla, Alaska, Mayor Sarah Palin.

If she had had retired Vietnam Veteran Greg Kachka arrested for pointing his figure at her and wearing a threatening tee shirt at a contentious Wasilla council meeting, surely the Left Stream media would have reported it.

If an adjoining property owner were so enraged with the relocation of a proposed Wasilla city water tower from highly prized high ground in a development to low ground across the street from such a property owner and that property owner had decided to construct a pig farm to try to disqualify the site of the relocated water tower and well, I am sure that that same Left Stream media would have put it on world news tonight.

So, I wasn't completely surprised that the blog “What's Happening in Island Lake?” decided to do a story.

With permission, it is reprinted below:

Tom Hyde Is
No Example of a
Small Town Mayor


The Daily Herald, in my opinion, failed miserably in its attempt to compare the small towns governed by VP candidate Sarah Palin to that of Mayor Tom Hyde.

Was there a shortage of Mayors who aren’t under grand jury investigation (as reported in the Pioneer Press)?

Perhaps the Daily Herald could have chosen a Mayor

  • who hasn’t been at the center of so much controversy;
  • one who has not been accused by the Attorney General of Open Meetings Act violations, suggesting OMA training not once, but twice, to his administration; or
  • one that during his tenure as trustee, was not ticketed for an oversized boat motor and instead of paying the fine and moving on, asked police officers to “lose” evidence against him.
Was there not a Mayor available who hasn’t run the village into a half-million dollar deficit without a plan to recover? One who isn’t arguably the root cause of record lawsuits against the village?

Was Tom Hyde really the best example Burt Constable and the Daily Herald could find?

This administration will no doubt go down in Island Lake’s history as the worst ever.

With so much controversy surrounding one Mayor—under Hyde’s administration,
  • multiple trustees have resigned,
  • accusations of corruption from the bottom up (backed by documentation),
  • bad business deals,
  • poor judgments,
  • multiple grand jury investigations,
  • nepotism (which he promised to put a stop to),
  • questionable ethics,
  • issuance of liquor licenses to businesses next to schools,
  • unfavorable national headlines, and in
  • what seems to be a never ending legal battle with neighboring pig farmer, Bob Wargaski
—all of these failures and disappointments are costing the village in deep legal fees and an unflattering national reputation. This administration has failed the good people of Island Lake.

The article also eluded that Hyde simply retired from GMAC after decades of service; lacking any hint that the circumstances surrounding his retirement were also controversial.

Failures of this administration and resistance to promote open, honest and transparent government and the letdown of the media prompted me to get involved—start a blog and videotape village meetings.

In the article, bloggers are compared to pit bull hockey moms, only less tame. Are there hungry sharks in the comment pool of the blogs? You betcha—but no more than any blog fueled by the wrong doings of any administration or campaign.

When I wrote this story Wednesday, there were 29 comments below it. Read them and you'll learn more about Island Lake than you probably want to know.

The Daily Herald had 20 comments.

= = = = =
On top you see Vietnam Veteran Greg Kachka pointing as he talks to Fox News reporter Greg Totter. The photo of Mayor Tom Hyde is from the village web site. Below is prospective pig farmer Bob Wargaski on the day he broke ground.

Posted first on McHenry County Blog this rainy weekend, where there are all sorts of other political articles.

Printed first this rainy weekend on McHenry County Blog, where you can read my take on "Lipstick on a Pig," not to mention a story about a Murphysboro firm that has found a way to use a Dick Tracy-like wrist radio to help police find wandering Alzheimer, Down Syndrome and Autistic residents.

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