As we slouch toward the April consolidated elections, we’ll start our political analysis with the now-never-ending saga of long-time Genevan Jay Moffat. He’s the fascinating candidate who decided to run for Geneva park, library and school boards all at the same time. Of course, the attorney general sank his District 304 ambitions, and even though we noted that you can’t serve two political masters, Moffat settled on the park and library boards. But even that duality has come under scrutiny. Unlike the folks at Geneva Township who consider the voters to be a mere annoyance, the Library Board …

One of my very favorites things in life is when, soon after writing a series of columns on a sensitive subject, a reader or reality comes around to prove my point. This time, my point is proven by Geneva’s brand new 25th District state Sen. Jim Oberweis. The topic we’ve been occupied with is how the wackiest elements of the Republican Party insist upon dooming its prospects by wielding social issues as the kind of cudgel that makes most of us cringe. Of course, Mr. Oberweis made me look good when he called on preposterous Illinois Republican Chairman Pat Brady to resign. Considering Mr. Brady…

If you listen to half of the Patch commenters, you’d think I’m a flaming liberal, radical progressive or whatever pejorative term Fox News is using this for people who think for themselves. But those commenters' comments could not be further from the truth. I challenge you to find one column where I’ve defended the left, or God forbid, Democrats. In fact, I’ll be willing to stipulate that the only thing worse than an Illinois Republican is an Illinois Democrat. There’s a really good reason they’re the party of the jackass! If that doesn’t convince you, if I’m the leftist poster child you …

No one reminds me of that unctuous Leave it to Beaver ne’er do well Eddie Haskell more than Geneva developer Kent Shodeen. Just like Eddie easily bamboozled clueless 1960s parents with his hyper-smarmy ministrations, Kent uses political clout to get away with same kind of murder. Though he’s not generally known for it, Kent’s largesse to local politicians is legendary. All it takes is few quick keystrokes on the Illinois State Board of Elections website to reveal he’s doled out almost $100,000 since 1997. And when it comes to contributing to political coffers, Kent is utterly non-…

C’mon! Admit it. We expect our schools to perform miracles! Aside from the monumental task of educating a variety of children with what often amounts to a minimum of parental support, teachers are somehow supposed to instill a sense of discipline, spirituality and patriotism in their young charges at the very same time. Despite the entirely impractical nature of that dynamic, we tend to get really cranky when it reaches its inevitable disappointing conclusion. So I was rather surprised to read aspiring teacher Andrea Cladis’ letter to the Patch editor lamenting our area schools’ frequent …

When I read about last week’s Mill Creek Elementary School incident, I desperately wanted to chalk it up to an extreme example of conservatism run amok, but I couldn’t. You see, the sad truth is, when a plurality of Americans insist upon shrieking socialism, birth certificate, secession, and taking back our country, a parent verbally assaulting a kindergarten class blends right in. And please don’t try and tell me that the left is just as bad, because they aren’t. Yes! There are real conservatives who refuse to regularly succumb to that uncontrollable urge to control other peoples’ lives, but…

In eight years of facing down that glowering keyboard, I’ve never heard anything quite like this. And remember, I’ve caught ‘em in outright lies, I’ve caught ‘em with their hand in the cookie jar, and I’ve caught ‘em making remarks that’d make Mel Gibson blush. Art Linkletter was wrong: It’s politicians who say the darndest things, not kids! When attempting to explain why he was trying to throw the only township clerk candidate off the ballot by a petition challenge, Geneva Township Trustee Robert Kovacs provided the Chronicle with this fascinating logic: “I found 19 problems (signatures), …

Last time we discussed how Jay Moffatt’s odd choice to simultaneously run for school, library and park board can and will be used against him at the polling place. Though he has since dropped out of the District 304 contest, giving voters the impression that you can’t make up your mind is never a good thing. As I pointed out in that previous column, if you’re going to expend the energy necessary to make the leap from couch to cause, then you may as well act like you’ve been there. Because if you don’t, you’ll discover you’re dead in the water before you make it out of the harbor. Ah! But …

A few years ago, current mayoral hopeful Bob McQuillan chastised me for encouraging people to get involved and then scolding them when they did. But that’s exactly what a reasonable opinion columnist should do. Ya gotta keep ‘em honest, coming and going. Call me crazy, but once you make that superlative leap from the couch to a cause, a higher standard automatically applies. Sadly, as a mutual friend of Bob’s and mine likes to say, “When people run for office, they immediately lose 30 to 50 percent of their working brain cells.” And I’ve seen it happen over and over again. Don’t believe me? …

  Now that we’ve taken a good look back, like the two-faced Roman god for whom our very first month is named, it’s time to focus on the future. As a result of that endeavor, listed in order of importance, here are the news stories I believe will grab Genevans’ attention in the onrushing 2013. 1. The mayoral race. Like the folks who watch NASCAR just to see the crashes, with two mercurial Genavans running, we’re all facing a similar temptation. But my fondest new year’s wish is that incumbent Kevin Burns and challenger Bob McQuillan will stick to the issues and avoid the mudslinging. As Karl …

In the famous but somewhat paraphrased words of the fictional Margo Channing, “Fasten your seatbelts folks, it’s going to be a bumpy Geneva 2012 retrospective ride.” Since we’ve got so much to cover, let’s get right to it! In January, responding to a make-a-prognostication-before-the-fact challenge from eminent readers Colin Campbell and Ken Loebel, this columnist predicted the president would prevail one more time. My theory was that a combination of pandering to far-right lunacy and the contenders’ willingness to tear each other to shreds during the primary would ultimately lead to the GOP …

My younger son and his friends love to play with Airsoft guns. We’d prefer he indulge in his less-violent interests, but my wife and I have come to realize that capricious household bans often backfire and those toys aren’t nearly as dangerous as the BB guns of our youth. For the uninitiated, Airsoft guns, which may or may not be smaller-sized replicas of the real thing, are generally plastic contraptions that fire various caliber plastic BBs at very low velocities. If the boys wear sweatshirts and the masks the company sells, they can engage in a far cleaner version of paintball without fear…

Editor's note: We're trying Jeff's column on Mondays and Fridays for awhile.   My initial reaction to the tragedy was to apply all my energy into coming up with the single solution that would forever relegate school shootings to history’s dustbin. But as I spent that afternoon speaking with local law enforcement officers, school administrators and parents, I quickly realized I was engaging in what could only be called a fool’s errand. The truth is, even if we stationed a police officer at every school, it wouldn’t be enough. But that doesn’t mean we stop trying. Whenever I hear people chalk …

If there actually is a woman out there who’s had to put up with me almost as much as my longsuffering wife, it’s gotta be Chronicle Managing Editor Kathy Gresey. The sad thing is, unlike my beloved spouse, she didn’t sign on for the job. For the record, Ms. Gresey, the only person on the planet with more energy than me, is a supremely talented journalist and editor. Given a bit more latitude, she could turn that newspaper into something really serious. And the fact that my too-frequent attempts to goad her into seeing things my way are patently unfair hasn’t prevented me from pressing my …

Wow! I should’ve dared our young 1st Ward aldermanic candidate Zac Ploppert to give us a glimpse of his campaign platform ages ago. (And don’t worry Zac — despite the insistent internal goading — I generally don’t respond to me, either.) His most recent Dec. 10 Patch blog entry titled, The Issues as I See Them has to be one of the best political responses to a column challenge I’ve ever had the pleasure to peruse. For what can be said in a thousand-word piece, our aspiring city councilman was clear, concise and generally to the point. That doesn’t mean I agree with everything he said, but …

When we’re done with it here, we will forever retire that “one of a kind” moniker because once it’s used to describe former Geneva 5th Ward Alderman Paul DesCouteaux, it loses all meaning when applied to lesser mortals. You see, while I’m convinced that each one of us has a doppelganger somewhere on this vast planet, there was only one Paul DesCouteaux. And we’re far worse off for the good Lord’s apparent oversight as well as the legendary city councilman’s recent passing. Is it just me or, with that marvelously gruff voice finally silenced, does Geneva suddenly seem a little bit too quiet? …

Since you can’t swing a dead Randall Road cat without hittin’ one of ‘em, despite 1st Ward aldermanic candidate and occasional Patch contributor Mike Bruno’s previous blogs, it’s time for me to wade in, too. Of course, we’re talking about those suddenly ubiquitous “Religious Liberty — Live it! Protect it!” bumper stickers depicting a solemn Statue of Liberty ironically hoisting a cross in place of her iconic torch. And I say “ironic” because that torch is supposed to symbolize enlightenment. As Mike so accurately pointed out, given its meaning and the basis upon which this country was founded…

Now I understand why they call her “Mother Nature.” Only a woman could be this cruel and enjoy it this much. You see, I used to be able to ignore all the obvious data and obliviously make my way through the day harboring those vast alpha male ego-driven youthful delusions. But not anymore! Now I’ve been confronted with irrefutable proof that my family pack status is starting to slip. And this new stark reality came in the heinous form of my 6-foot plus sophomore son standing taller than I do! I suppose this shouldn’t be too much a surprise. Considering what he eats, he probably oughtta be …

As evidenced by the recent TV commercial where electronic gizmo after electronic gizmo fails including the fridge dispensing ice onto the floor, it’s clear to me that we don’t put too much faith in our modern technology. Perhaps it’s our Luddite and Puritan roots. Oh! We enjoy the convenience alright, but our overarching perspective is that it will all eventually come crashing down to its inevitable culmination in which the robots rise up and, in a Terminator-esque pique, render humanity obsolete. But the truth is, our warp-speed-ahead technology works far more often than it doesn’t. Perhaps …

All right, class! Quiet down! It’s time for another civics lesson. This time we’re gonna discuss how local elected boards interact, make decisions and evolve. It’s a truly fascinating subject. The problem is, given the nature of our often frenetic lives, we tend to ignore city councils and their ilk until those bodies are faced with a dilemma that directly affects us on an a base emotional level. Perfect examples would be the Pure Oil building fracas and any time the School Board talks about the tax levy. But because these contentious topics don’t come up very often, when we do start paying …