Jim Dey: Urbana voters paying price for 1998 decision

Apr. 8—Voters sold bill of goods

Urbana voters foolishly decided in 1998 to elect school board members from municipal subdistricts rather than at-large.

There's nothing inherently wrong with that idea — at least in theory. But in practice, it's been another story.

The problem? There has been a disappointing lack of candidates in most of Urbana's seven subdistricts to provide voters a real choice between competing candidates.

Here's another concrete example of the fallout from Urbana voters' decision:

There are currently two open at-large seats on the Champaign school board that were caused by surprise resignations.

Unit 4 reports that 26 people applied to fill those two open seats.

At the same time, Urbana schools sought applications to fill one vacant board seat in subdistrict 2.

Just one person applied: former Urbana school teacher Jennifer Hixson.

As The New-Gazette reported last week, "As the only applicant for the position, Jennifer Hixson was a shoo-in for the Urbana school board."

The district clearly could have done worse than Hixson, who has solid credentials. But multiple applicants are always better than just one when it comes to filling an elective office either by public vote or board appointment.

He's out

It's usually the voters who oust ne'er-do-well elected officials from their public offices.

But in a move that can only be described as bizarre, DeKalb County Circuit Judge Bradley Waller recently stripped DeKalb City Clerk Sasha Cohen from his elective office.

The legal reason for the judge's decision is that Cohen failed to file required statements of economic interest for two consecutive years. But the real problem was that, to the consternation of his colleagues in municipal government, Cohen rarely showed up for work.

He didn't show up for his court hearing either and made no comment other than to "thank the people of DeKalb for allowing me the chance to serve."

Or not serve — but why quibble now?

When asked by a local Shaw News reporter if he had served the public well, Cohen declined to comment.

DeKalb City Manager Bill Nicklas called the Cohen controversy a "sad chapter" in municipal history that was embarrassing to the "professionals who show up every day and do their best" to serve the public.

Cohen, who ran unopposed, was elected to a four-year term as city clerk in 2021. But he immediately established a reputation as a no-show both in his office and at municipal meetings.

The DeKalb City Council voted in January 2023 to censure him for the "abandonment" of his elected duties. According to news reports, Cohen "missed more than two dozen city meetings between his May 2021 swearing-in and December 2022."

Just what was the elected city clerk doing when he should have been fulfilling his public duties? Shaw reported that "social media posts show Cohen spent" much of his disputed time "working on (political) campaigns outside of Illinois, including Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Georgia."

Lost in the haze

Remember that infamous Northwestern University hazing scandal that had everyone in a twitter — or pretending to be — last fall?

It led to the dismissal of Pat Fitzgerald, the Wildcats' prominent head football coach.

Few bother to remember, and ever fewer care.

Nonetheless, Fitzgerald's lawsuit against his alma mater and longtime employer lives on.

A Cook County judge last week rejected NU's motion to dismiss Fitzgerald's wrongful dismissal case. He said Fitzgerald's allegations in his lawsuit are sufficiently credible to be decided by a jury.

There is a tentative trial set for April 2025. But don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen.

Now that NU has lost its motion to dismiss, it's time for settlement talks to begin. The closer it gets to a trial date, the more serious those talks will become.

Fitzgerald is seeking $130 million in damages from Northwestern, where he coached for 17 years.

NU tried to sneak news of the hazing scandal past the news media prior to the start of last season. But a public backlash driven by a media firestorm broke out, and NU threw Fitzgerald to the wolves to pacify its critics.

Firing Fitzgerald is the last thing NU wanted to do. It initially imposed a two-week suspension as punishment for what occurred under his leadership.

Fitzgerald has adamantly denied that he had any knowledge of football upperclassmen hazing younger players. A university-sponsored investigation found no evidence that he did.

But Fitzgerald was, ultimately, blamed for his failure of leadership.

Fitzgerald has filed a laundry list of charges against NU. They include breach of oral and written contracts, intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation and tortious interference with a business expectancy.

Despite firing Fitzgerald, NU had a successful season and went to a bowl game. It subsequently named interim head coach David Braun as its permanent head coach.

Meanwhile, Fitzgerald served as a volunteer coach for his son's high school team. He's expected to someday return to the college or professional coaching ranks.

Take public's temperature?

Indefatigable former Gov. Pat Quinn is back on the political warpath. This time, his targets are the multimillionaire owners of Chicago sports teams who want taxpayers to build stadiums for them.

Quinn's call for a pubic referendum on proposed new football and baseball stadiums in Chicago comes in the aftermath of efforts by owners of the Chicago White Sox and Bears to secure public support for new stadiums.

Quinn's ire was fueled by Missouri voters who last week rejected a sales-tax increases to help finance new facilities for the Kansas City Chiefs (football) and Royals (baseball).

By a 58 percent to 42 percent margin, voters opposed extending an existing 3/8-cent sales tax for 40 years.

"I think the people of Chicago should have the same opportunity as the people of Kansas City," Quinn told a Chicago news outlet. "In Kansas City, the voters were clear for not raising a sales tax."

White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf recently visited legislators in Springfield to take their pulse about building a new ballpark. He has implicitly threatened to move the team to Nashville if he does not get his way.

Bears owners also have been petitioning city hall for assistance in finding a location for and funding of a new stadium.

Both the Bears and White Sox are playing in 20-plus-year-old stadiums that enjoyed taxpayer funding.

Quinn, a populist, has sponsored various referendums over the years, including the famous "cutback" amendment that reduced the size of the Illinois House by one-third.

It appears unlikely, however, that state or local officials will have much interest in Quinn's plan. They have traditionally shown little interest in letting the public in on the public's business.

What's the point?

In case readers missed the grim news regarding the March primary election, it was much ado about almost nothing.

There were few competitive races, a reality that prompted few voters to cast ballots.

Wirepoints analysts Ted Dabrowski and Nick Binotti report statewide voter turnout was "just 20 percent." That's one in five registered voters.

"Perhaps it was a lack of competitive elections. Or gerrymandering. Or people think their votes don't matter. Maybe it was a little bit of each," they wrote. "Whatever it was, few seem to care. And that's bad news for Illinois' future. Rising crime, higher property taxes, increased corruption and more won't go away if Illinoisans who want change stay away from the ballot box."

In Winnebago County, where Rockford is located, just 14 percent of registered voters (13,000) cast a ballot, and it was 13.9 percent in Sangamon County (19,000).

Champaign County had a 16 percent turnout (17,000).

Cook County had a few high-profile contests. But turnout there was just 25.9 percent.

The authors noted that the lack of choice for voters is a byproduct of legislative gerrymandering, the practice of the majority party drawing legislative district boundary lines that favor their party.

They contend gerrymandering "serves to suppress competition. If a district leans too heavily either Republican or Democrat, the primary becomes the de facto election."

They cited a few exceptions, one involving a tax referendum. The Central School District 301's request for $195 million in bonds was rejected 64 percent to 36 percent.

"Voter turnout for that referendum (35.5 percent) was more than double Kane County's overall election turnout (15.3 percent)," they noted, stating it's "amazing that an anemic 35 percent turnout can be considered a high point for this primary."

"What's more amazing is this: Turnout is terrible even though Illinois politicians have made voting easier than ever. Early voting, curbside voting, vote-by-mail. Ease of access means nothing when people think their votes don't matter," they stated.