Daily Action Report: May 5, 2008

Good morning, Carpentersville!

It’s Cinco de Mayo!

Hope everyone had a good weekend. Saturday’s weather was no fun, but Sunday shaped up to be a beautiful day.

Today is expected to be another nice day; sunny, with temps expected to reach into the low 70s.

If you haven’t been paying attention, the Chicago Cubs lead baseball in most runs, batting average and on-base percentage. The last time they led in on-base percentage was in 1945 when the Cubs last appeared in the World Series. It is only May 5, and it is the Cubs. They lost last night to the first place St. Louis Cardinals, 5 to 3. Stay tuned.

In Carpentersville news this weekend, the Daily Herald had two articles on what’s been going on involving the Trustee position of convicted-domestic-abuser, Paul Humpfer. The first is an editorial of the Herald which — once again — directs criticism toward Mayor Bill Sarto for his involvement in trying to enforce the law.

Sarto seems clearly frustrated, and with good reason. Judy Sigwalt and Paul Humpfer have been part of a series of incidents that have ranged from improper, to full-fledged violations of the law. (I’ve written about this in the past, specifically in the 6-part series “The Trouble with Carpentersville” which you can find in the “Highlights” page linked above, but I’ll provide more on this shortly.) Thus far, they have been allowed to persist in this type of behavior with seeming impunity.

If not for Sarto making all the noise about this, such unacceptable actions from our elected officials would go unknown, at the expense of the residents of the Village. More on that later too.

I may not agree with all of Sarto’s methods, but I do appreciate his tenacity for trying to ensure that those in government do not get away with improper and illegal behaviors.

The second article from the Daily Herald comes from columnist, Amy Mack. Like the first, it seems mostly intended to appeal to ones emotions. Unlike the first, though, it does a better job of capturing the essence of what people like myself are concerned about in this case.

Unfortunately, one sentence taints the article, and in a comment on the Daily Herald website, I talk about that sentence …

A main point that I would take exception to is that it is legal for Paul Humpfer to retain his seat. According to two memos from the Village Attorney, Humpfer committed an infamous crime and is no longer eligible to hold public office.

He quotes Illinois case law that points to the “facts of the case” being criteria for determining whether a crime is “infamous”. The facts of the case have found that Humpfer committed felony aggravated assault. If one is guilty of a felony he is ineligible to hold public office. “Infamous crimes may also be misdemeanors”, the Attorney wrote, if they “violate commonly held standards of honesty, decency and moral turpitude”. If one is guilty of “an infamous crime”, he is ineligible to hold public office.

The memos go on to provide information on how the vacancy would then be filled, adding to the opinion that the law considers Humpfer’s seat vacant.

Ms. Mack is correct about past disagreements on the issues between factions; but there are such political rivalries at every level of government across the land.

It shouldn’t be used as a basis or cover for not doing what is right according to the laws of State, and common sense and decency.

Ms. Mack talks about some sort of “political gain” that Sarto is supposed to be trying to get, but I have to question that motive. What is there to be gained? All I see that might possibly be gained is that people will once again have a government that is open and honest about the business they conduct for the people they serve.

Next, the Courier-News has a Speak-Out and a letter to the editor in today’s edition. The Speak-Out says that Sarto should “leave poor Paul Humpfer alone”. The comment likely comes from one of those in the little illegal immigration clique that controls the government. Perhaps the caller thinks that we all should ignore everyone who is found guilty of attacking his wife with a baseball bat….

Then, there is the letter from Jonathan Radke … another member of the “clique”. “The other” Radke is Chairman of Fox Valley Citizens for Legal Immigration. The letter, just like the Speak-Out, says that the Board should put a stop to Sarto’s actions. Why? Because Sarto is not allowing convicted-woman-basher, Paul Humpfer to get away with breaking the law, both in his personal life and in his public life?!

This is the same way they went about their campaign on illegal immigration, folks. They write letters, call-in Speak-Outs, and make comments at Village Board meetings … all to interfere with, and manipulate Village business. They manipulate — and apparently dupe — the press.

And, finally, there is one little tidbit of info I’ve got for those faithful readers who have hung on to this point. There is yet another little twist to this tale …

On his blog, and on some of the newspaper sites, former Village Trustee candidate Frank Stoneham, stated he is filing a quo warranto with the State’s Attorney against Mayor Sarto, in relation to the letter Sarto sent on April 22, 2008 declaring Paul Humpfer’s seat vacant.

For Mr. Stoneham this might not even require a stamp for postage. He might simply be able to hand it to the State’s prosecutor across the aisle from his defendant’s chair.

On April 23, Mr. Stoneham was in court for a hearing related to alleged violations of conditions of his release. The findings of that hearing were delivered to Judge Susan Clancy-Boles, presiding over a follow-up hearing on May 1, 2008.

This all stems from a sentence handed down in September 2007. Mr. Stoneham was given probation, ordered to attend anger management classes, not allowed to make public comments at Village Board meetings for 1 year, and to sit alone and not have contact with anyone at those Board meetings he chose to attend. The sentence was handed down when Judge Clancy-Boles found Stoneham guilty of assault of resident Paul Calusinski in one case, and disorderly conduct on a separate date, during a Board meeting.

At Village Board meetings, Stoneham has regularly been seen having contact with others, and on at least one occasion was seen distributing flyers promoting his website, with derogatory commentary against Paul Calusinski, President Sarto and Trustee Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski.

In court on Thursday, Stoneham was ordered to undergo 26 weeks of anger management classes (cost: $100 each class), was again cautioned to refrain from having contact with anyone at the Board meetings, and warned not to make any further derogatory comments on websites or elsewhere about Calusinski or Sarto (which may be an indication of what the Judge might think of Mr. Stoneham’s false statements about perjury — which reportedly were called baseless — on the part of the State’s witnesses, Paul Calusinski and Mayor Sarto.)

So, a rather long, but hopefully worthwhile wrap-up of weekend Carpentersville information.