Show me 'da money....

For the past year we've seen Lisa Stone wave the flag of "independent" and "reformer" But at whose cost?

Generally, when you embark on a new venture you get training, education and background information ahead before you start, unless of course you are going to college -- where you pay to learn.

I can't fault (brace yourself) for Stone wanting to have background information, learn about village and board policies and procedures, learn about Robert's Rules of Orders, the pulse of the entire community, the history of some issues in the village etc. etc. etc.

But not on my dime. Or anyone else's dime for that matter.

Much of the voyages on a long day's journey into night are brought on by Liza's incessant asking for clarifications and asking proper procedures. Much of what she asks for are standard practices, whether she sees it that way or not.

All you have to do is attend most any Village Board, School Board, Park Board, Plan Commission or any civic meeting to see how they're run. Period.

As noted here before, Stone's incessant challenges and misuse of the agenda have lead to long, drawn out meetings. Length be damned, an end result is that Ms. Stone takes up an excessive amount of time trying to make a polenta when one isn't there.

So how does this cost the residents?

Glad you asked.

When Stone grandstands, it extends the meetings -- at the very least, it means the village has to pay for additional video taping for Ch. 6. Residents want to see village business, not personal campaigning. Cha-ching.

Some of her accusations have required additional work by Village Attorney William Raysa. He's a nice guy, but I'm sure he doesn't see the village as a charity case. My guess is there have been additional fees above and beyond the usual and customary expectations -- let along what the village has budgeted. Cha-Ching.

Her excessive demands on staff take them away from the day-to-day operations of the village. Granted, the staff should support the board's initiatives, it is not, however, there to be personal secretaries for Board members. Time is, however, money and its money that does not belong to the Board or any one Board member -- it belongs to the residents who expect the village staff -- and the Board -- to handle the funds as their own.

Sure, a counter argument may be -- well, Stan, what about the fees spent to write up the reprimand, recall ordinance, an ordinance outlining procedures for "corporate authorities" or code of conduct?

These were, unfortunately, mostly a reaction to Stone's method of operation at Board meetings.

Ms. Stone should not expect village residents to fund her "education" -- it's something she should have done before running for trustee and certainly not something residents want to pay for. The village has traditionally been prudent in its use of its funds.

When it comes to use village funds, my guess is residents want their tax dollars to have a positive return on investment.

However, now it seems as though it may have reached the point of no return -- in more ways than one.

Recalling recent news...

It has been interesting reading the breaking news in the Countryside, the weekly newspaper published by Pioneer Press, which cover Buffalo Grove.

Imagine my shock and horror when the front page story was, and as Dave Barry would say, I am not making this up -- about a Stevenson junior who has carpal tunnel syndrome from sending too many text messages.

Horrors! This child suffers. I wonder if Pioneer would extend the same coverage to kids with Autism, Leukemia, cancer and other maladies. The fact that some kid is obsessed with texting does not bring a tear to my eye.

So with that riveting piece of new echoing in my mind, I opened this week's Countryside and once again I was horrified. "Campaign starts to recall Stone."

Horrified? Only because it wasn't on the cover.

As usual Lisa Stone continued to blame others for her own embarrassing performance as a village trustee. Pioneer said he stint on the Board has been a "lightning rod for controversy."

Not really -- because there was no controversy. Only an ongoing performance by a village trustee who comes across as arrogant, hateful, spiteful and uninformed.

As usual Stoney blamed village president Elliott Hartstein, the board, village manager William Brimm and probably, Sam Sianis' goat.

There is one person Stone did not blame. Herself.

Her act is old, people are getting tired of it and aside from her own agenda she has done nothing for the Board, the village, or most of the residents. Notice, if you will, that aside from her own rants she has nothing to say about important village issues.

But wait, Miz Stone does take a stand -- on the minutes. She always votes no -- and never says why. My guess (as well as anyone's) because they probably do not include her hours of arrogant rant.

So when a recall petition is filed by David Wells, she blames others. Hint Lisa, look in the mirror.

Pioneer was not the only paper to cover it, both the TribLocal and Daily Herald have covered the filing of the petition for recall. Both cite the efforts of resident Adam Moodhe who is working with Wells on the recall effort.

As noted in this blog, they are fed up with Stone citing the fact that Stone will break the rules if she feels the need, there is a loss of confidence in the methods and ability of Trustee Stone to effectively govern or represent the residents of Buffalo Grove.

But Stone blames the board, Brimm and Hartstein. She does not have any concrete evidence why, she just wants to whine and blame them.

Stone, as reported in the Countryside, says I am not willing to break criminal laws, but there's a moral compass that we all have, and I will go beyond the code of conduct if the safety of citizens is at issue."

See, she puts herself above the proper procedure. Safety? If she's talking about the compost operation, she needs to look on both sides of the street and pay heed to what the state EPA and County departments have found.

But that would be too easy. It may have been a valid concern to look into and the Board got the answers -- but Stone wants to, as the late Fidel Ghini would say, make a polenta with cold water -- or worse -- with no water.

And she wonders why people want her out.

By the way, Moodhe and Wells have scheduled two events -- one is Monday, April 26 at the Village Grill at Buffalo Grove Golf Course starting at 7:30. According to Moodhe, residents can sign petitions at 7:30 with packet pass out starting at 8 p.m. At noon on Saturday, May 1, there will be a "Rally For Recall" at Rotary Village Park. Being called the "official kick-off" for the recall effort, petitions will be available for residents to sign.

As a resident of Buffalo Grove, it's not the kind of event I want to see in the village. I echo Hartstein's comments in TribLocal -- "I'm sadden that we would get to a point where anybody would feel the need to do this."

But it is being done -- which leaves one last question.

Who will Stone blame now? As I tell my freshmen students -- they're responsible for their own actions.

It might be good advice for some freshmen trustees.

Local Candidate Gets "Endorsement"

Despite the fact that the election is months away, candidate Chicken Little has won a round -- and picked up a key endorsement.

During yet another long-days-journey-into night, best known as a Village Board meeting, trustee De Ann Glover suggested that the Board use an egg timer to monitor lengthy discussions.

“I’m flattered,” said Little. “After all these years, it’s good to see that the Board has finally gone afowl with its proceedings. Ironically enough, the discussion about the board going afowl came as a result of perennial pain in the neck Lisa Stone, once again waving her sabre, claiming the board operated afoul.

"I'm glad the Board is beginning to see the light and wisdom of what I have to offer," Little said. "I hope they won't need to use the egg timer, but with some trustees, it may be needed."

When informed that Stone offered to bring an egg timer too, Little smirked. "Do you think she even knows what time limits are?"

The discussion about egg timers came as a result of an ordinance being discussed. The ordinance (as reviewed in a previous blog) cites needed procedures for conducting village business. Part of the provisions detailed in the ordinance, which will be discussed at the next Village Board meeting on Monday, May 3, impact a 10-minute limit on comments by board members during a meeting. During the past year some board members have seen fit to not be considerate enough of other board members, or residents waiting to address the board, and ramble incessantly about their own personal agenda.

This has agitated Glover who recalls that at a recent meeting, a resident waited patiently until 12:30 a.m. to make comments to the board. "That was unconscionable and I never want to see that happen again," Glover said.
Stone did not agree. She reiterated that as an independent and reformer time needs to be allocated for board members to bring up issues of interest to the Board. She claimed that no procedures were in place, apparently not realizing that the section under "new business" is where items of community concern can be brought up. Stone, instead prefers to use the Trustee reports as her personal grandstand, probably because it's early in the meaning when most of the persons in attendance and media are still there. New business is toward the end of the meeting and by the time Stoney is done trying to derail everything, it's late -- very late.

So why not focus on quantity and not quality and make a scene with the greater number of people present.

It's not to unlike a strategy used by another Illinois politician -- Rod Blagojevich. Now
I'm not saying Lisa Stone is another Blagojevich -- because (as far as I know) she's not.

But she and Blago do share one common trait.

Nice hair.

Let the fun begin....

If you want breaking news, this ain't it.

A news release landed in my inbox announcing that Buffalo Grove resident David Wells filed a Notice of Intention today to recall Trustee Lisa Stone, the first day that residents could file an intention to circulate petitions.

Surprised? You shouldn't be. The handwriting has been on the wall during the first year of Lisa Stone's term as a Village Board member, and now the hand writing has turned into permanent ink.

Well says in his release that the recall petition will be circulated because "Due to Trustee Lisa Stone's disregard of the Village of Buffalo Grove Code of Conduct Ordinance and her own public statements that she will break the rules if she feels the need, there is a loss of confidence in the methods and ability of Trustee Stone to effectively govern or represent the residents of Buffalo Grove."

It's likely that other recall petitions will be filed -- perhaps not all for Stone. It's possible that the pro-Stone forces will file recall against another Trustee as a possible vendetta claiming that Lisa is a reformer and the rest of the Board is corrupt and unworthy of the public trust.

We've heard that before.

I was hoping, fool that I can be, that maybe, just maybe, Miz Stone would see that her self-proclaimed reformer and independent act has gotten old and that there are reasonable ways to get your messages across.

Keyword in the previous paragraph -- "was".

It ain't happening.

At Monday's Board meeting Stone donned her Holy Grail outfit and once again started her imitation of Muhammad Ali by basically proclaiming "I am the Greatest." The big difference is Muhammad Ali backed up his words with genuine action, not just more useless rhetoric.

Stone's latest grandstanding came in response to a proposed ordinance by Village Board President Elliott Hartstein that provides "for Procedures of the Corporate Authorities of the Village of Buffalo Grove." In essence, how meetings will run.

This was not a censure, nor was it a reprimand of anyone. It was an introduction of guidelines to keep meetings running orderly. OK, so they had been running orderly until Stone arrived.

Liza apparently thinks that if meetings run, it's because there's corruption.

If she had taken time -- on her own -- to review the ordinance, she would have noticed that the ordinance was requested by William Raysa -- the village attorney.

The Board liaison is Hartstein as village president.

Stone, however, took it personally. So what else is news?

You should know the rest. It's nothing new. As the say south of the border, more refried beans.

Stoney said putting time limits hinders public input -- and gloated about the 7 1/2 hour board meeting that focused on OTB -- off track betting. She made it seem as though it was a landmark meeting in the history of Buffalo Grove.

It wasn't.

Meetings have gone long in the village before Stone arrived on the scene; in fact, long before she moved out here. That's because the men and women who served the village worked together on developing the village to the state it is today.

But Lisa Stone wouldn't care about that because there's nothing in it for her -- which is why she ran for the board -- to make a scene for herself.

Has it worked? That depends on your point of view.

Obviously in the minds of at least one resident, David Wells, it hasn't, which is why he is starting the ball rolling to recall Stone from her position on the Village Board.

That could give OTB a whole new meaning. Off Track Betting?

Nah.

How about Off The Board.

The Friendly 45....

It's always interesting when someone starts ranting about their freedom speech.

It's not unusual for them for claim it's their First Amendment right.

They become experts about the complexity of the First Amendment and how people don't have the right to say this, or say that, or be critical of someone or something.

As a public service, here is the First Amendment -- in its entirety.

Here goes:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

That's it - -the entire First Amendment.

The issue of the First Amendment as it may relate to the village of Buffalo Grove recently came to light when the The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Media Freedom and Information Access Practicum (MFIA) at Yale Law School jointly filed a friend-of-the-court brief today urging the Illinois Court of Appeals to block the unmasking of an anonymous online critic of a local political candidate.

A little background. This in response to the filing of a complaint seeking the person behind the name "hipcheck16" who posted a comment in response to an article in the Daily Herald during the campaign.

According to an EFF press release, "Because of the enormous potential for abuse, the First Amendment requires litigants to demonstrate that they have a legitimate case before they can use the courts to unmask anonymous online critics," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Matt Zimmerman. "Insults are not enough, especially when the conversation takes place in the context of a political campaign."

Margot Kaminski said in the release that "Lisa Stone is now a person of political power in the community. She does not have a blank check to pry into someone's life just because he said something she didn't like. We hope the Court of Appeals will recognize the importance that anonymous speech plays in the free and robust political debate generated by newspapers online."

Kaminski is a cofounder of the MFIA.

Most people are probably expecting another blog chiding Stone for her antics. Brace yourself -- not quite.

Kaminski's point that Stone is a person of "political power" is another was of saying she is a public official who, by virtue of her participation in open meetings, has made her a public figure. That dubious honor puts a target on your back and makes anything you say and due public.

Stone doesn't like that. No one likes to be criticized are ridiculed. Where she raises a good point is that it's unfair to go after someone's family -- especially children. If Lisa says something, wait not if, when, Lisa says something it's her saying it -- not her kids. If they come to a public meeting and saying something, then what they say at the meeting is news.

The reality is, however, once elected or selected for the spotlight, you need to get used to the heat.

Stone wants the Herald to reveal the name of Hipcheck16 - -whoever he or she is -- and I do not know. Her real argument should be with the Daily Herald for not following its own "Terms and Conditions" for posting comments. You would think that a comment about a public official's family would violate the TOS. Guess not.

Herein lies the argument -- people who post to blogs or make comments at media sites have First Amendment rights. Can they abuse those rights? Probably.

An effort to unmask anonymous posters does little than satisfy someone's desire to see who it is a possibly seek retaliation -- I am not suggesting that Stone is seeking retaliation -- she's a mother who is protecting her children.

Anonymous sources have been part of the media for years. It is a bit of a dichotomy that some newspapers verify letters to the editor, but let people vent anonymously on blogs and in comments. as a high school journalism teacher, my students know they cannot use anonymous sources -- they can, however, use unnamed sources. We also do not accept unsigned letters to the editor.

The EFF and MFIA raise some good points -- not because they disagree with Lisa Stone -- but because they are supporting the a person's rights detailed in the First Amendment.

If we choose to disagree with how a person exercises his or her First Amendment rights, it's important to note to realize that it's the First Amendment that gives us that right to disagree.

For public officials and public figures, as noted before, it's part of the territory -- all 45 words of it.