Exactly one year ago today Maine Township Trustee Kim Jones called Trustee Dave Carrabotta into a private one-on-one meeting in a room off the Maine Twp. board room and accused him of grabbing, groping, pinching, rubbing, stroking, swiping, brushing, ogling, or just thinking about Jones’ derriere.
What was the evidence of that grabbing, groping, pinching, rubbing, stroking, swiping, brushing, ogling, or just thinking about? Nothing other than Jones’ self-serving accusations.
But that didn’t stop Carrabotta from returning to the Board room in high dudgeon, announcing an unspecified accusation by Jones, and demanding a closed session discussion of that accusation even though nothing about it qualified as a ground for a closed-session meeting under any of the statutory exceptions to the Illinois Open Meetings Act (“IOMA”). And fellow “Reformer” trustees Susan Sweeney and Claire McKenzie indulged Carrabotta’s tantrum by supporting his improper closed session demand.
In the closed session Carrabotta reportedly demanded an investigation by the Township’s attorneys. And principal Township attorney Keri-Lyn Krafthefer was happy to oblige so long as her firm could conduct the investigation, notwithstanding that there may have been an appearance of impropriety, there may have conflicts of interest, there even may have been legal malpractice. And her firm did conduct the investigation, charged Maine Township taxpayers $38,000+ to find…nothing.
Jones, however, was not going to abandon her charade so long as she, Morask, their fellow RINO Township officials, Madigan sock-puppet Rep. Marty Moylan, and their unofficial public relations officer – Todd Wessel at The Journal newspapers – could keep thumping the #MeToo tub in an attempt to pressure Carrabotta into resigning. So Jones took her accusation to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commissions. That also got her nowhere.
So she conducted a tearful “press conference” outside Maine Town Hall and said she was contemplating suing Carrabotta in state court for something or other: Battery? Sexual battery? Aggravated mopery with intent to gawk?
A year later Jones has done nothing. Because Jones’ beef has been more of a show about nothing than “Seinfeld.”
We published a number of posts about what we labeled “Assgate,” including those on 07.17.2018, 08.06.2018, 08.07.2018, 09.24.2018, 09.29.2018, 10.09.2018, 10.15.2018 and 01.21.2019. You can read them if you want, but we don’t encourage it. The battle that we portrayed between what we called “The Reformers” (Carrabotta, McKenzie and Sweeney) and the RINO clown posse (Supervisor Laura Morask, Jones, non-Assessor Susan Moylan-Krey, Treasurer Peter Gialamas and Road Supt. Wally Kazmierczak) turned out to be little more than two tomato cans mauling each other for three rounds over a $20 purse.
Maine Township was, is, and always will be (unless the state legislature were ever to do something worthwhile and eliminate township government statewide) the fetid backwater, or the unwashed hairy armpit, of local government. EVERYTHING that goes on at Park Ridge City Hall, or with the Park Ridge Park District, or with Park Ridge-Niles School District 64, or with Maine Township H.S. District 207, or even with the Park Ridge Library, is more important than ANYTHING that goes on at Maine Township.
So don’t waste another moment of your time, your attention, or your energy on what goes on over there. It’s not worth it.
And while you’re at it, let the Illinois Republican Party/Stupid Party rest in peace, even though it may not realize that it’s been dead for years.
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7 comments so far
So why’d you bother to bring it up?
EDITOR’S NOTE: Because it may have been the single worst performance by any unit of local government we’ve seen in the past 30 years, with EVERYBODY involved in it screwing up, if not making asses of themselves.
Start with what appears to have been a totally made up (i.e., a lie) harassment charge by Jones. Add the “private” advice she was given by Township attorney Keri-Lyn Krafthefer on how to confront alleged harasser Carrabotta (likely a conflict of interest). Then add Carrabotta’s hissy-fit and demand for a closed-session meeting that he, McKenzie and Sweeney voted for in violation of IOMA.
The Township then hires Krafthefer’s firm to conduct an investigation of one trustee’s claim v. another (likely another conflict of interest) that includes the investigators taking unsworn statements from Jones, Carrabotta, and all the other witnesses. Meanwhile, Jones, her RINO clown posse supporters (Morask, Moylan-Krey, Gialamas, Kazmierczak) and various other Maine Twp. RINO women, along with Madigan stooge Marty Moylan, start a months-long public relations campaign seeking Carrabotta’s resignation.
When it’s all said and done, the Township wasted $38K+ on what appears to have been a lie, exacerbated by a hissy-fit, ending in Jones’ pathetic made-for-campaigning video blaming virtually everybody but herself for this goat rodeo of her making.
That’s why.
I thought your whole Assgate series was better reported and better written than either local paper’s coverage. It also showed the dangers of knee-jerk (or manipulated) #metoo reactions that presume harassment just because someone says they have been harassed.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Thanks.
The pink shirts and the news journalists never even read the investigation papers on the internet site because its shows this thing was a HOAX. Jones changes her story too many times. Her complaint said she was brushed WHILE POSING for a photo. But her testimony said she was brushed AFTER the photo. The lawyers email ask her about it but she has no answer. They knew she was lying which is why she lost. She also wrote lots of officials and said she was GROPED which is interesting because she testified she didn’t know if it was the front or back of a hand or what that touched her. She now says she has been ABUSED. So why do we have townships again?
EDITOR’S NOTE: We have townships so that we can have more politicians and more government payrollers providing either unnecessary services (e.g., the Maine Twp. non-Assessor) or services that could be provided by other existing units of gov’t.
As I recall you were the head cheerleader for “The Reformers.” Not much loyalty, ‘Dog.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Yes we were. But they kept on revealing themselves as not being ready for prime time, so we had to cut them loose because we’ve never been loyal to stupid, spineless or greedy.
This was the worst incident but the second worst was these same goofs supporting (D) Abortin’ Moylin’ over his (R) challenger. Never would I think that (R)’s would be endorsing (D)’s in general elections, but it happened. These mishaps will likely cause Maine township it’s Republican stronghold for a generation. That being said, Moylan had only 55.5 percent of the vote over Smolenski’s 44.6 percent, which is a pretty good showing given that her own party threw her under the bus.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Maine Twp. RINOs (The Provenzanos, Warner, Mulligan, Morask, Jones, Moylan-Krey, Gialamas, Kazmierczak, et al.) have been throwing Republicans under the bus since 2012, when Moylan beat Sweeney, 52.88% v. 47.12%; and again in 2014 when Moylan beat Thillens,52.77% v. 47.53%; and again in 2016 when Moylan beat Gott, 58.94% v. 41.06%; and last year when Moylan beat Smolenski 55.43% v. 44.57%.
Smolenski’s campaign was pathetic, but that’s pretty much guaranteed when you run as a candidate of the Illinois Stupid Party.
We can’t wait to see what poor sap they’ll find to run against Moylan in 2020.
“Smolenski’s campaign was pathetic, but that’s pretty much guaranteed when you run as a candidate of the Illinois Stupid Party.
We can’t wait to see what poor sap they’ll find to run against Moylan in 2020.”
I’ve got no horse in this race other than being a voter, and yes, Smoleski’s campaign was lacking – but it’s difficult to compete with an entrenched politician with a bottomless war chest funded by corrupt unions. Twice a week for two months I got mailers delivered to my house saying that Smoleski was a Trumpian bimbo who would ban abortion. All she had was one commercial paid for by Dan Proft’s superPAC and a couple of small donations.
But Smoleski worked her butt off going door to door. She came to my door twice, including in the days before the election and even remembered my family and kids. She even had a volunteer come by and put up a sign so I made a small donation to her campaign.
I don’t think you’re giving enough credit to the gerry mandering which in any given year allows D’s to have a supermajority in the legislature even though statewide, in most instances (Obama/Prtizer elections aside) they don’t capture a super majority of all votes. As Rauner learned it’s possible to win a statewide office (in a non-trump presidency year) but it’s incredibly hard to flip a legislative seat. It’s really depressing, actually.
But that’s the way Dem’s want it. The state wants the middle class and upper middle class R to leave the state. I’ve come to the conclusion that is their only intent and every law they pass is forcing people like us to consider moving to WI or IN or some other more sane state.
The new abortion bill that just passed made it abundantly clear how extreme and out of touch with the rest of america the D’s in IL are. Sad.
EDITOR’S NOTE: “All she had was one commercial paid for by Dan Proft’s superPAC and a couple of small donations.” Why? Because the so-called “leaders” of the Illinois Stupid Party knew she had no winning issues with which to attack Moylan – just the old Stupid Party crap about “we’re overtaxed,” “our pensions are underfunded,” yada, yada, yada that Proft et. al. were feeding her – and, therefore, no chance to win. You would have been hard-pressed to create a campaign more likely to lose than hers, starting with her “Concealed Carry Barbie” persona.
“As Rauner learned it’s possible to win a statewide office (in a non-trump presidency year) but it’s incredibly hard to flip a legislative seat.” Rauner inherited 10 “Republican” legislators who bailed on him and voted to over-ride his budget veto, most of whom weren’t even running for re-election (like that needle-wick from Arlington Hts., David Harris, who was rewarded for his whoring with an appointment by Gov. J.B. as the Director of the Illinois Department of Revenue).
“The new abortion bill that just passed made it abundantly clear how extreme and out of touch with the rest of america the D’s in IL are.” If you are still gratifying yourself by fighting abortion in this state, you’re an idiot. And you deserve hairy palms and blindness, should they occur.
You don’t seem to be fighting for any issue worth fighting for despite pontificating opinions on all of them. And you know what they say about opinions. Maybe if you helped elect, rather than denigrate, the ‘concealed carry barbie’ you could actually do something to improve the state, rather than publishing a few electrons that no more than a couple of dozen locals even read. Concealed Carry Barbie (which is actually a clever description) only lost by a few thousand votes, which really isn’t all that much in the scheme of things. Your attitude seems to be to just throw up your hands and let the unions’ hand picked legislature represent park ridge in state politics.
EDITOR’S NOTE: You have to be either brain-damaged or a masochist to be a Republican in Illinois, which explains what passes for the State Party’s “leadership.” You’ve got the Maine Twp. RINOS supporting Moylan, who beat Sweeney and Thillens and Gott by about the same ” few thousand votes” by which he beat CCB. And you’ve got power-grabbers running Ives against the most authentic “Republican” governor since Dwight Green. You can’t be dumber than that.
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