So Now the Chairman's Going to Freeze the Tax Levy? Right!

Geneva Patch just posted portions of a Kane County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay press release in which she actually threatens to freeze the county property tax levy. Why, she even went as far as taking the Finance Committee to task for having the temerity to suggest otherwise.

“I could not stand by and watch an irresponsible budget increase the burden on the taxpayers,” said McConnaughay, who also is the Republican candidate for state senate in the 33rd District. “When property owners are seeing values go down, it is unconscionable to raise their taxes, especially without any coherent reason why.”

Ain’t it funny how she was never quite as sympathetic to our plight until she aimed for Springfield with one eye on the lieutenant governor’s seat. The truth is, the Kane County Board chairman has overseen the maximum allowable property tax increase for seven out of her eight years in office.

Those tax hikes have funded budgetary line items such as those infamous 50 percent pay raises to department heads who reported directly to her. Former Director of Development Phil Bus saw his salary explode from $95,000 to $153,181, resulting in his current $110,000 pension.

Former McConnaughay opponent Jim MacRunnels said in his lawsuit against the chaiman that those those raises will eventually cost taxpayers $20 million.

Of course, while the chairman claims they were essential to remain competitive, our prosecutors are paid so poorly they’re defecting to Kendall County faster than the North Koreans.

Not only that, but the chairman also blew out a $40 million surplus left by her predecessor, Mike McCoy. Granted, a great deal of it went to the new jail, but even that brand new building is inadequate.

And don’t forget that Animal Control has been riddled with problems. One director resigned in disgrace, another wasn’t qualified, and the last quit after just three months. Rabies citations went out in spite of a one-year data entry backlog. The icing on that cake was the Health Department couldn’t even pay the mortgage on that brand new building.

As if all that wasn’t enough, McConnaughay basically asked for Court Clerk Deb Seyller to sue her over the issue of who sets staffing levels. So she did to the tune of a cool half-million taxpayer dollars.

Despite whatever she says, Karen McConnaughay has been an unmitigated financial disaster, but because McCoy left the county so solvent, we’ve been able to absorb her fiscal indiscretions.

So now, counting on our collective ADHD, the chairman hopes to undo that miserable track record with one sweeping and utterly meaningless gesture. And if you consider one Patch commentor, she may have succeeded.

The gentleman essentially said he didn’t care about her motivation for freezing the levy because, “in the end it's a win for the people.”

No it isn’t! If a politician can undo history with a mere flip of the lip, then we’re all in trouble. So all that matters is the last thing she said? Mitt Romney certainly has made an art form of it.

The only thing that’s saving my steadily slipping sanity are comments like the one that came after my Geneva’s mayoral race column. As a result of reviewing why Mayor Kevin Burns is vulnerable this cycle, Kathy Zang wrote, “I appreciate reporters who bring up all the … decisions in a candidate’s past. I don't always remember all those situations … the news media today seems to have given up on reporting.”

And she hit the nail on the head.

Folks like Chairman McConnaughay believe they can get away with an ultimate makeover because the local papers aren’t doing their jobs. I seem to be the only one who’s keeping track of the politicians, and that ain’t braggadocio, it’s an outright lament.

I love Cathy Gresey and the Chronicle, but when was the last time they held a public official’s feet to the fire? When was the last time they reminded you about someone’s political track record?

The best they’ve managed to do lately is point out McConnaughay said the coroner’s seat was a medical one until friend and DuPage Sheriff’s Deputy Rob Russell was in the running. Now it’s suddenly a law enforcement position.

And the Daily Herald is even worse. I love some of their watchdog reports, but despite having one of the better reporters in the area, they never take on the local leadership—especially if they have any ties to Denny Hastert.

Take a good look at their recent endorsement history, and it’ll curl your toenails.

And as long as suburban newspapers abrogate their responsibility to remind us of the truth, these politicians will stretch it about as far as it can go. The process of taking ‘em on shouldn’t fall to a lowly freelance opinion columnist.

It’s time for these papers to start doing their job. They need to start telling it like it is. In this case, watching Karen McConnaughay call for a county tax freeze is a lot like watching Lindsay Lohan call for more rigorous rules of the road.