Prior to Tuesday’s election, Disclosure is bringing you the coverage we’ve given of the majority of our readership area so you’ll be aware of the contested races. This information is appearing in the current print version on stands right now, so if you need a hard copy of it, hurry and get out to pick one up; the new issue is due to hit the stands beginning April 16 and 17, which means we’ll have a full recap of election results in the new issue. In the interim, we’ve opted to go ahead and post the contents of the current issue’s front-page coverage of the ballots by county, to spur interest and ensure that everyone gets out and VOTES. There may not be many contested races, but that doesn’t mean these offices are not important. The school boards, township officials, aldermen/council seats, mayoral races and other items on the ballot, including ballot questions (such as whether a location should remain ‘dry,’ or whether a public safety tax should be imposed) are the bottom-line basics of public service…and they’re being abused daily in Illinois (and everywhere), so it’s important to PAY ATTENTION TO THEM. And the best “attention” you can pay to them is to show that we can do a better voter turnout locally than something in the teens or 20s.
So here is the eighth of the posts, which will conclude Monday and will be run alphabetically between now and then, continuing with Richland.
Richland County: Mayoral races include the nutcase
Brian James O’Neill douchebag, running for office AGAIN
As usual every two years, the poor Richland County ballot in some form or fashion carries the name of the ubiquitous nutball that everyone wishes would just disappear and take the smell with him: Brian James O’Neill II (deux, junior, etc).
This year, it’s the mayoral race, where O’Neill (who is not handicapped except by his own making; and he’s not some poor pathetic disabled person, but is instead a socially-awkward reject who makes himself even more so by being deliberately abrasive, obnoxious and repulsive, including not bathing) is once again going to receive his traditional 11 votes unless some of the people within the city of Olney wise up and stop giving the idiot the time of day.
Incumbent mayor Mark Lambird is once against seeking the office, challenged this year by attorney Ray Vaughn.
It has, however, been disclosed that Vaughn is nothing but a patsy for former mayor Tommie Fehrenbacher, who, over two terms, managed to alienate a huge chunk of Olney with his behind-the-scenes manipulation of properties and sweetheart deals from which he personally benefitted. Because of this, Fehrenbacher found he couldn’t be a viable candidate against Lambird, and so he put up Vaughn as his front-man. To this end, Vaughn, and Fehrenbacher’s errant kid, Morgan, have been sitting with their heads together at recent city council meetings, lobbing questions and snide comments toward Lambird at every opportunity.
Mark Lambird
Fortunately, it’s a sizable consensus of Olney citizens who are appalled enough that already, one attorney is pretty much running things in their city—Larry Taylor, who is not only the city attorney but now the city manager following the resignation of Randy Bukas some time back. So the thought of Vaughn as mayor, to this consensus, is rather unappealing. The fact that he’s so closely associated with Fehrenbacher strips away his favor the rest of the way, so it’s likely going to be Lambird for another four years.
Two council seats are up for election this go-round: Gary Foster and Bob Ferguson are looking to keep their positions on the council, but they’re being challenged by Jeremiah Brown and John McLaughlin, both of whom have run solid campaigns with a lot of exposure and may unseat both incumbents. This would be to the relief of many, as Foster has proven to be belligerent and disagreeable, not in the favor of those he represents, but for his own motives, especially when it comes to the city’s fire department.
Is Claremont mayor legal?
And if anyone can term Olney “poor” on account of the presence of O’Neill, who isn’t qualified to hold a decent conversation with a sane person let alone an office, Claremont certainly can use the qualifier as well: only one person is again seeking the office of mayor there, and his immigration status still has not been put to rest, despite questions by Disclosure to someone who should know—the village’s legal counsel, Bart Zuber. John Joyce, who at least during the last election (2009) was on the ballot illegally as he was at that time an illegal immigrant from Ireland, still hasn’t been challenged by anyone who at least can challenge it, that being only someone in the village of Claremont. This, once again, is the apathy shown by voters, who just want to go about “letting someone else do it,” and in the case of Joyce, no one can complain about any alleged illegal status (on the ballot or otherwise) unless it’s one of the couple dozen registered voters of Claremont, this according to the Illinois State Board of Elections. So there he is, and no one runs against him, until someone in Claremont wakes up or develops enough sense to challenge/complain about the situation.
There is a mayoral race in the village of Parkersburg in south Richland County: K. Darlene Clark and Tom Hanna will each be seeking the office. For village clerk in P’burg, there’s actually a race: Sandra K. Reich versus Kelly Hanna.
And, in the village of Noble, a mayoral race between Richard Clark and John Mason is on the ballot.
Contested trustee races
A handful of Richland County townships have contested races for trustee: Madison, Noble, Olney and Preston.
In Madison Twp, Republicans Austin Ridgely, Dave Bricker, Shawn Rose and Franklin Dorney and Democrat Brad Hayes compete for four open spots.
In Noble Twp, Republicans Steve Hemrich, Mike Shan, Brian VanBlaricum and Jerry Brunell, and Dems Greg Amerman, Blake Coan and Richard C. Weidner seek four open positions.
In Olney Twp, Republicans Carmen Kowa, Heather D. Cecil, Jeffrey E. Fleming and Donald E. Barnett seek four open seats against Dems Jeffery L. Small, Ashley Breanne Waggoner, Stephen Kessler and Brandt Patterson (while we’re not positive of the identity of the Republican Jeffrey E. Fleming, if it’s THE ATTORNEY Jeff Fleming, we advocate ANY choice, including Dems, over that miserable sonofabitch, who should stick to “practicing” law [as he'll obviously never get it right] and stay OUT of politics…so voters in Olney Township, please send him a message and send him packing.)
In Preston Twp, Democrats Wade Wilson and Donna M. Foster face Republicans Dennis R. Graves, John R. Snider, Kyle Henton and Deana Whitaker for four seats.
Other township races
Contests in Richland’s townships are as follows:
In Bonpas Twp, Republican James M McDowell seeks the seat of township highway commissioner versus Donald P. Gayer, Democrat.
In German Twp, Republican James L. Jones is running against Democrat James Schneider for township supervisor.
In Madison Twp, Republican Pat Morgan vies with Democrat Kenneth Wilson for the township highway commissioner spot.
In Olney Twp, Kimberly Houchin, Republican, is running against Mary Kay Stoltz, Democrat, for township assessor.
In Preston Twp, there are a couple of races: For township clerk, Dem Kim Kuhl seeks the seat against Donna Whitaker-Mitchell, Rep. For township assessor, it’s Dem Cathy Bromm versus Independedn Michelle Kuenstler. And for township highway commissioner, it’s Dem Phil Kuenstler versus Chad W. Stanley, Republican.
School board races
There are quite a few school districts that have contests in Richland, countywide.
The portion of Richland that covered Edwards County Community Unit School Dist. 1 has three to be selected from five: in Twp 2S Range 10E, Lawrence Speir, Jr, Rita James, Dale Woods and Richard (Rick) Wolfe (of the belligerent Wolfe clan of Albion), and in Twp 1S Range 10E, Jayare Buerster Jr. seek the seats.
In East Richland Community Unit School Dist. 1, Alex Cline and Micah Grimes from Twp 4N Range 10E and Pete Seals from Twp 3N Range 10E seek two unexpired two-year terms.
In Jasper County Community Unit School District 1, three of six seek the seats: Mandy S. Rieman, Donald Leventhal and Jed Earnest in Twp 6N Range 9E, Gordon Millsap in Twp 6N Range 11E, Holly Farley in Twp 7N Range 9E and H. Andrew Pullen in Twp 8N Range 8E.
Ballot question has hackles raised
A ballot question has raised the hackles of residents in Richland: the proposition for a special county retailers’ occupation tax for transportation purposes. This is yet another one of those “sales taxes” that authorities, who can’t handle the public’s money properly, places on the ballot with the threat that if it doesn’t pass, property taxes will have to be raised. However, the last sales tax increase, and worse the Public Safety Tax, went into effect and taxes were raised anyway. Further, the PST, imposed in 2001, was sold to the public as ONLY supposed to be utilized until the county’s new jail was built; then, it was promised, the PST would end and stop being collected. The jail was completed a couple of years ago…and the PST is still in effect, and the county STILL can’t manage the money it brings in. So voters are encouraged to send a message to the county stewards by voting “NO” on the sales tax question, and tell the county stewards to be a bit more responsible in their expenditures…including telling David Hyde to stop charging people who use force to defend themselves, some in their own home, so lawsuits won’t strip the county coffers dry.