The way dishonest politicians – yes, that probably is redundant – continue to get elected is by telling lies to voters who are too ignorant of the facts to know they’re being lied to. 

So we’re going to devote two or three posts over the remaining weeks of the current campaign season to identifying statements that just aren’t truthful but which might not be readily identifiable as untruths to the average reader.  And when looking for campaign statements that just aren’t truthful, the most target-rich environment we can find is the campaign website of Mayor Howard “Let’s Make A Deal” Frimark. 

Let’s start with his “Q & A with Mayor Frimark.”

What should we do about the current budget deficit?
The deficit will be discussed during the upcoming budget meetings. I have every confidence that the 7 aldermen will come to a consensus to resolve the deficit that is acceptable to the citizens. I believe we should be able reduce the deficit and obtain a balanced budget without raising taxes in the upcoming budget hearings, but we also must consider the need for added revenue to do this and simultaneously do more flood relief work. It is important to remember that the state controls the spending of the stimulus money, and at this point has made no commitment to using those funds for local flood relief. If we are to spend more on flood relief and we accept that the state will not fund these projects, it may not be possible to do without a tax hike or cutting some city programs and services. I am confident that the council will come to a decision that will balance all of these factors.

Read that answer carefully and see if you can find anything that suggests Frimark himself has any idea of how to (a) “reduce the deficit”, (b) “obtain a balanced budget without raising taxes”, (c) “consider the need for added revenue,” or (d) “do more flood relief work.”  Frankly, folks, even the federal government can’t do all that…and they get to print their own money.

By this statement, however, Frimark shows himself to be a master of buck-passing: first he passes the budget buck to the City Council, and then he passes it to the State of Illinois because “the state controls the spending of the stimulus money.” (Hey, at least he didn’t call it “stimulation” money, like he did at the first debate)  And although he mentions flood relief twice but says nary a word about a new cop shop, his City administration’s stimulus fund request (according to the H-A story “Schmidt: Request more flood relief funds,” 3/12/09) earmarked a whopping $20 million for a new cop shop, and only a measly $2.5 million for about 10 blocks worth of relief sewers. 

Assuming that we get any of that stimulus funding for flood relief, maybe Howard can have his Taste of Park Ridge, Inc. buddies stage a community-wide reality show (“Survivor: Park Ridge”?) and let the residents of individual city blocks form teams to compete against each other for one of those 10 relief sewers? 

On this one we give Frimark a “0” for leadership and a “0” for accountability, but a solid “8” for concealing his lack of real commitment to flood control.  

What is your position on the police station?
The answers to the referendum questions will give us a good gauge of the citizen’s feelings regarding the police station. We all agree that a safer, updated facility is long past due. The only questions we have to resolve are what to do and when, and how much we should spend.

I support the plan that our public safety committee is working on. It calls for no new taxes, no new property purchases and addresses the minimum needs as recommended by the committee. The process for this facility has not even gotten through the conceptual planning stage and we are a long way from allocating tax money to pay for it.  I ask all citizens to remember that no money has been included in the 2009 budget for this because we are nowhere near complete with the concept and plan.  Since we are not ready to do any spending for the police facility yet, and may not be for two more years, it is obvious that choosing between the police station and immediate flood relief is a non-issue.

By his saying “[w]e all agree that a safer, updated facility is long past due,” it sure sounds like he isn’t sitting on the edge of his seat waiting to see how the voters will vote on those cop shop referendum questions. We believe, however, that dry basements are long past due.

But the more creative deceptions are to be found in his second paragraph, where he says that “we are nowhere near complete with the concept and plan” for the cop shop, yet he put in for $20 million of stimulus funds which are supposed to be awarded to “shovel ready” projects!  So, Mr. Mayor, are you lying to us when you say that a decision on the cop shop is nowhere close to ready, or are you trying to pull a fast one on the State of Illinois by looking to grab $20 million for a cop shop project that isn’t “shovel ready”?

And we fail to see how choosing between a new cop shop and flood relief is a “non-issue” – especially since Frimark himself made just such a choice when he requested $20 million for a cop shop and only $2.5 million for relief sewers – a choice we’re pretty darn sure the vast majority of Park Ridge residents would not have made. 

But so long as blind voters can’t tell a nod from a wink, and so long as they keep believing Frimark’s bunkum, he just might get another four years to tell them what they want to hear while he and his cronies continue to do what they want to do.