School Board Candidates Are The Worst

It seems to be happening everywhere.  We, the taxpayers, are putting up with a bunch of terrible, conflicted, special-interest-backing candidates for school boards around the State and suburbs.

And then we wonder why our property taxes are out of control?  It's because we have terrible candidates and they get elected.  Are there good school board members?  Of course there are.  But there are a lot of them that shouldn't even be running.

Would it be heresy to state that we believe that anyone who is a teacher or administrator or (gasp!) even worse.... an officer of a teacher's union in another district just flat out are terrible candidates.  And they deserve to be voted against on that fact alone.

It is happening all over.  In Kaneland schools, a principal from a neighboring district is running.  He, apparently, doesn't think being an 'empire builder' in one district is enough.  Now he wants to have his hand in driving property taxes up in 2 districts.

In Mount Prospect District 57, there's 2 teachers running.  Yep.  2 teachers.  They want to be on the school board.  Wonder which side they're going to pick when it comes to negotiations?  Their own teachers union or you...the taxpayers?

In Dundee, there's a former Superintendent running.  Empire building at it's best.  Hey!  He's done it once.  I'm sure the district he looked after raised their levy every year.  And as close to that 5% that they can do without having to ask voters.  Now he wants to be on the board to do it again.

In Park Ridge, there are three candidates who are all married to teachers in the District.  Yes.  Seriously.  So they're in line to vote between voting to give their own wife a raise or siding with the taxpayers.  Which will they pick?

In Downers, there's not one, not two, but three teachers running for the school board.  One retired.  Oh, and this is rich:  one of the candidates is the President of the Teachers Union in a neighboring district.  Wonder where his loyalties lie?  Those negotiations with the teachers are going to be tough, right?

This just *has* to be a deliberate move by the teacher's unions to install sympathetic candidates on boards, right?

Every candidate on the ballot for school board should have to note 2 things:

1.  If they're a teacher.
2.  If they have kids in the schools.

We know that here at the Truth Team we believe this to be true:  The best school board members are most likely going to come from a group of citizens that have no skin in the game other than their property values.  A mom - who wasn't a teacher - who's kids have graduated from the schools?  A dad who works in the private sector who's kids are all in college or grown up?  Look for those folks.  That's who you'll want to vote for.

Common Sense Prevails in ILGA on Translation Issues?

This story about the Illinois General Assembly and a State Representative's proposal to spend $1.5M in state funds to translate the Illinois General Assembly's website into Spanish is so indicative of government leaders today and the problems their proposals create and cascade down upon all of us: the taxpayers.

Democrat State Rep. Robert Martwick (of Chicago) sponsored the bill because he felt the language barrier made it difficult for certain people to fully appreciate the wealth of information available from government resources, specifically online. 

The $1.5 million cost estimation comes from one of the co-sponsors of the bill, who says that software issues could arise, according to Illinois News Network. 

“For these people who are citizens of our country who have the ability, if they don’t have the information to know what’s going on here, how can they properly engage in having their voice being heard?” Martwick asked, according to Illinois News Network. “I think we owe it to be inclusive to all of the language speakers of our country … When we start talking about things we need to spend money on, this is the right thing to spend money on.”

Fortunately for all of us, there's a guy named Keith Wheeler who serves as a State Representative down in Springfield, too.  And, while we're not sure the bill would have passed, because of the political correctness and the need to pander to special interest groups and make everyone feel special, our hunch is that it would have.

But thanks to Keith Wheeler.  We not only killed the bill.  We also got a lot of LULZ out of the situation.  And we have to think Representative Martwick has his tail between his legs a bit.

How?  Well...Representative Wheeler simply turned to Google Translate. And solved the $1.5M problem with a few clicks of his mouse.

Republican Rep. Keith Wheeler, who reportedly runs an IT company as well, translated Martwick’s bill into Polish, after his colleague said that his family of Polish descent wouldn’t have been able to engage with the government.

“While my friend Rep. Robert Martwick was talking, I switched [his bill] over to Polish,” Wheeler said. “It just took a click. That’s all it took … it already exists.”

And he even went further.  According to The Caucus Blog from the Illinois House Republicans, they've set up the Illinois General Assembly site to be viewed in more than a dozen languages.

Anyone with access to the internet can now access a translated version of www.ilga.gov in any of the most common languages spoken in Illinois simply by clicking on the links below: 

Spanish Español
Arabic عربي
Hindi हिन्दी
Chinese (Simplified) 中文简体
Chinese (Traditional) 中文繁體
Japanese 日本語
Korean 한국어
Russian Русский
French Français
German Deutsch
Italian Italiano
Polish Polski
Greek Ελληνικά

Are these *perfect* translations?  If we know Google Translate at all, we know the answer is going to be no.  But they're going to be 'good enough'.

Fortunately for all of us taxpayers: The bill got pulled.  Because sanity prevailed.  Good on you, Representative Wheeler.

North Cook News: Aurora Austriaco Is Trojan Horse for Boss Madigan and Others

A bombshell of a report is up at the North Cook News and covered by AnybodyButAurora.com in the race for Maine Township District 207's race for school board.  In the story, they connect all the pieces of the puzzle from the backing and support - to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars - that political boss Mike Madigan, trial lawyers and public unions have given Aurora Austriaco.  Yes, that's right...she's been handed hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions.  Can you say "Special Interests"?

But she also had Joe Berrios' attorney represent her at her ballot challenge hearing.  Don't know about Joe Berrios.  Start your reading here.  These are the guys who are backing Aurora Austriaco.

Then the story goes on to talk about the 'quietness' of Aurora Austriaco's current campaign.  Why is she so quiet?  Welp...that's on purpose of course.  The political bosses want this to be a sleepy campaign.  Why?  So they can sneak her in to the board.  You're asking...why would they care about a school board?  Well, it is happening all over, but it is simple:  this is about money and influence.

Think about your property tax bill.  Where does the bulk of the money go to?  That's right, the schools.  There's $130M and growing at stake here.

Chicago political machine folks give Aurora Austriaco over half a million dollars.  And we voters are supposed to think that she'd be an impartial board member?  Please.  Look at that last line:

"If Aurora Austriaco wins a spot on the Maine Township District 207 School Board, Boss Mike Madigan might get a return on his investment, just yet."