Jeff Ward

How Local Government Really Works 101

And why you should pat our School Board members on the back for exceeding all those expectations!

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 attention, we only get small snippets of how it’s supposed to work. Then, pre-conditioned by our salvation-in-30-minutes sitcom world, we’re severely …

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Jeff Ward

10:43 am on Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Mike, Wow! Thanks! The problem is, when you do write something like this without any rancor whatsoever, it tends to fall flat! People either ignore it or they quickly forget about it. Apparently, that's the lot of a columnist! Jeff   more ›

Government Corruption in the Suburbs—Is it Happening in Geneva, Too?

A new study says corruption is not just a Chicago problem and calls for the policing of suburban politics.

Is there corruption in local government? And does it happen here in quiet, suburban Geneva, IL? That's the local focus that logically follows a new University of Illinois (UIC) study released Monday. The University of Illinois-Chicago Political Science Department's sixth Anti-Corruption Report released Monday says that political misbehavior in the suburban ring around Chicago is as prevalent as it is in the big city, but faces far less scrutiny. The report maps arrests stemming from corruption charges including instances of nepotism, police officers aiding or extorting criminals, kickbacks and bribes to administrators and public officials with ties to organized crime; a total of six categories of impropriety that are well-represented in …

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Jeff Ward: A Great Debate Right Here in Downtown Geneva

The Kane County Young Republicans know how to run a debate!

As you can so obviously glean from the adjoining picture, I’m old. Thus, a rollicking good night for someone of my advanced years generally includes a warm glass of milk and turning in at 7 p.m. On weekends, all bets are off. I have a near beer and stay up till 7:15. There’s just no stopping this party animal! So I’m not sure what possessed me last Wednesday night, but throwing caution directly into the northeast wind, I attended the Kane County Young Republican candidate debate place in the basement of the Urban Grille in downtown Geneva. Despite that fact that I’ve become more than a bit jaded in regard to anything involving political process, I’m really glad I did. First, it was great to see the place packed with more than just the …

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Geneva Township Board of Trustees Cutting Costs to Combat Rising Taxes

Take a look inside the Geneva Township's May 19 meeting. There, you'll see a more folksy form of government that's doing the same thing as the city or the School Board—looking for new ways to trim the budget .

On a beautiful spring evening, Wheeler Park is a great place to play.  The sounds of a baseball game echo across the landscape—bats crack, coaches shout and parents cheer.  But in an understated building just a few paces away, it’s a work night for the Geneva Township Board of Trustees.  Trustees Sharon Brazill, John Connolly, Richard Sharp and Supervisor J. Patrick Jaeger gather around a horseshoe-shaped table. Jaeger notices the absence of their fifth member, Robert Kovacs, and Connolly reminds them Kovacs is in California for a wedding.  "It’s like 75 and sunny 300 days a year,” Connolly says, and everybody laughs.  How does anybody there get work done? Somebody compliments Jaeger on his new gavel, and he grins proudly.  “Paid two …

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Rick Nagel

1:09 pm on Friday, May 20, 2011

Hi, "Bad Idea"! Really appreciate your comment, but please log in using your name.   more ›