A Columnist's Take on Carriero, Moffat, Burns-McQuillan and More!

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 and Library Director Matt Teske sought both a state’s attorney and county clerk ruling input as to the legality of serving on both boards.

Their point being that someone winning an election only to be immediately dismissed actually subverts the electoral process. As Teske told Patch, “We’re not trying to kick anyone off the ballot, we’re just trying to get information from the Kane County Clerk’s Office.”

The problem is, if the offices are found to be incompatible, a timing technicality could mean Moffat will be completely removed from any ballot.

So, in an effort to make a self-inflicted bad situation that much worse, Moffat called the inquiry a “vendetta” against his candidacy which is a great way of introducing yourself to the very board members you may eventually have to work with.

Moffat went on to say, “My desire to serve is being stifled. I hate to sound like sour grapes, but I think I did everything any reasonable person would do … ” No Jay! A “reasonable person” wouldn’t run for three offices, because the appearance of impropriety is always worse than any actual impropriety.

Moffat also argued that the “incompatibility exists only if I take the oath of office for both (boards),” which gives a whole new meaning to the having-your-cake argument. Does anyone else see the inherent problem with running for multiple offices and choosing your favorite?

Folks, Barnum was wrong! There is such a thing as bad publicity. And this is exactly how you make yourself unelectable long before the first ballot is cast. I wouldn’t vote for Mr. Moffat to park cars at GHS football games.

Moving on and speaking of Geneva Township, their best efforts to subvert democracy are failing. Yes! They managed to throw clerk candidate Geoffrey M. Carreiro off the ballot just so they could appoint a favored son to that $22,200-a-year office (salary and benefits), but Carreiro foiled their nefarious scheme when he registered as a write-in candidate.

Take note, future office seekers! You have to fill out the appropriate paperwork at the County Clerk’s Office to run as a write-in. Thankfully, my fear that Mr. Carreiro wouldn’t follow through was for naught.

What this means is, unless the township cabal slates their own write-in plant —they have until Feb. 7 to do it — Carreiro only needs one vote to prevail. If they do slate someone, I’ll be sure to let you know.

The truth is, this will be my first write-in vote in 36 years! And if Mr. Carreiro has the sense God gave a billygoat, considering his tricky last name, he’ll be busy passing out business cards that voters can bring to the polls.

Let’s move on to the 1st Ward aldermanic race, which has been far more sedate than I expected. It’s not that I was anticipating any kind of partisan rancor, but considering the lack of an incumbent, I thought we’d be seeing a little more of Mike Bruno and a lot more from Zac Ploppert.

Now I know how much you like to kill the messenger, but I only report the political rules, I don’t make them. In light of his earlier submissions and the young Ploppert’s steep uphill battle, I thought we’d be seeing a lot more of his thoughts on Patch.

But it’s been eerily silent.

You can have your mailings, yard signs and buses, but as long as you don’t end up wrestling with the pigs in the slop, nothing quite connects with the local populus like reaching out with some sentient thoughts on Patch. And it doesn’t cost you a bloody thing!

Right now, in the vein of statistician extraordinaire Nate Silver, I’d give Mr. Ploppert a 15 percent chance of pulling it off. Before you hit the send button, I’ve called one contested election wrong in the last 15 years.

Then we have the mayoral race which, with the exception of a minor Daily Herald exchange, has been interestingly subdued, as well. That said, we are coming down to crunch time. Let’s hope the candidates stick to the issues, because there are plenty of ‘em to go around this city.

And lastly we come to you: the Geneva voter! Though local taxing bodies take a far-bigger chunk of your paycheck than the federal government does, the recent consolidated election turnout has been downright embarrassing. In 2011, just 15.1 percent of you managed to make it to the polls.

Perhaps if you paid more attention to those local folks I wouldn’t have to chastise you every time you go after a black president.