You trust a politician? That's your first mistake.

Oak Lawn Guy: Please read this from Mayor Heilmann’s proposed amendments to our Municipal Code: “12. Board Members shall not request for placement on the agenda any matter which designed for any obstructive, improper or political purpose. Whenever the chair becomes convinced that one or more members are using parliamentary forms or agenda items for obstructive purposes, the chairman should either not recognize those members or rule that such motions are out of order.”

This gives Mayor Heilmann complete control of the agenda. Who gets to say what is “obstructive, improper or political?” Only Mayor Heilmann. If a single Trustee disagrees, there is no recourse. If every single Trustee disagrees, oh well. The emperor has spoken.

For example, if Mayor Heilmann doesn’t care to endure discussion or concerns that his attorney friends allegedly overbilled the taxpayers to the tune of millions of dollars, it can be stricken from the agenda as too “political.” It now becomes one of those philosophical questions: If a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound? If alleged wrong doing can be prevented from being openly discussed, does this mean it never happened? Someone seems to think so.

It’s an absolute outrage that he would ask such a thing of our Trustees. One can only hope they stand united against his suggestion that they lay down their authority in subservience to the subjective opinions of one man.

This afternoon, I received yet another denial of my Freedom of Information Act Request concerning the alleged over-billing by Tressler. This will be fought to the fullest extent of the law. The people of Oak Lawn WILL learn what is going on with their tax dollars behind closed doors. This brazenly offensive confidentiality clause which hides and obscures the truth from the taxpayers who foot the bills will not stand against the challenge of the people’s right to know the truth about their elected officials.

If alleged wrong doing can be prevented from being seen in this fashion, does this mean it never happened? Perhaps only in the wishful thinking of a very insecure elected official.

One of his kids was sick. It was mentioned in the meeting.

Ahh ok i am entirely wrong and thank you for the information..

I should have mentioned Tr. Olejniczak having to leave because one of his children was sick, as the mayor mentioned. It should also be noted that Tr. Olejniczak attended Tuesday's meeting because he wanted to be there for Kaylah's mom and to talk about the dangerous intersection at Cicero Ave. and SW Highway where the eighth-grader was struck by a truck and killed in May.

Sounds like KIng Dave to me QC!!! His Ego is even bigger than that big mouth of his with the stupid jokes and playing up to the camera. He should have become an actor..wait he already is!!!

sb
You have just described Tom Phelan to a T! As a matter of fact Tom, I'll bet you're looking adoringly in your mirror as you Post.

Poster
All of your lying and exaggerations are stupid at best. Show the proof or stop throwing out garbage!

To her credit Trustee Trautsch wanted to the forensic audit for all departments That idea struck some fear.... The idea that 20k is "to much" but 5k is ok after sepnding whats the figure 500k is a joke..
They called for the audit Now the residents want it But for all departments

Good point, I forgot about that suggestion. Good idea.

"Vulgar"? In what way? The trustees, and the public, should hold Mr Heilmann to the fire if they feel he is abusing these rules. Really, from the first day these meetings were televised the majority of comments from Mr Olejniczak have been whiny and those from Mr. Phelan are confrontational and personal. They've frequently gone off on a tangent from the issue they had intended to comment on. The Mayor's mistake was engaging them in this "debate". If they were to offer anything constructive I'd be with you, but they rarely have.
if you truly are running for office, the constant attacks on the Mayor in these comment logs aren't going to help your popularity with the discerning voter.

Hi Oak Lawn Guy! If you don't think a thinly veiled attack on the free speech of our elected officials isn't vulgar, I have some vacation land in Siberia to sell you. If all you want is an orderly meeting of scripted and party approved propaganda at these meetings, then you will have it.

I'll take "whiney" commentary from someone who thinks for themselves over the robotic, vacant and controlled words and actions that I see with at least one other trustee. I'll take "confrontational" over blind adulation of a false emperor. Most importantly, I'll take ethics and democracy in an unattractive box over sly deception in a pretty package.

Sandy,
You would fit right in! Vulgar is defined as follows:
1. characterized by ignorance of or lack of good breeding or taste: vulgar ostentation.
2. indecent; obscene; lewd: a vulgar work; a vulgar gesture.
3. crude; coarse; unrefined: a vulgar peasant.
4. of, pertaining to, or constituting the ordinary people in a society: the vulgar masses.
Sandy, I would say you are misusing the word and only adding to the divisive direction of debate in the village. Your comments about one trustee should be more specific. Who do you not like? We know you are running with Phelan and Alex. Is it Duhig, Streit, Quinlan or Trautsch? Everyone needs to know what you think.

Yeah you pretty much dodged my question. The meetings will come under the Mayor's iron gavel only if the trustees allow them to do so. "Speak freely" to me means staying on subject, not rebutting with a "well, yeah, you want this Dave but you did this to me". If a trustee comes back against an issue or agenda item he or she is opposed to with some cogent facts and even-handed commentary, and is struck down, I'll be among the first to object.

Parents know kids need discipline. Well here it is parenting 101! Either play nice or it's a time out. Nothing will work to stop kids bad behavior when they're kicking screaming and having Temper Tantrums, like this board does. If they want to wrestle, name call, whine, scream, whatever they can do it outside of village hall on their own time not mine and Not in public. The place for that kind of behavior is a crib!
I'm old school so a kick in the pants will work better. What kind of parents raised these people?

OLG. You usually have some interesting blogs on here. I always thought you were independent, but your latest entries make me seem to think you are now solidly in the Mayor's camp. If you think Alex and Tom were the main culprits of the fighting,I guess you haven't been watching the meetings for a long time.The mayor and all the trustees have engaged in fighting at one time or another.Back in 2009 and 2010 4 trustees were usually engaged in arguments with the Mayor and they got pretty heated. Now that alliances are shifted,people forget about those days!! I agree that Dave is responsible for engaging in these " debates" Passions sometimes overrules rational behavior.The trustees are human beings emotions run high sometimes, But to say that certain trustees never present constructive arguments or opinions, is a great disservice to our elected officials in Oak Lawn

Well, no one's innocent, and I've commented as such in the past. I am in no one's camp, but I do believe that the two trustees I mentioned are the catalysts for most of the bickering that's gone on during these meetings. If their rebuttals are constructive, they are often masked in vitriol. I said that the "majority of comments" from these two have been counter-productive, not all of them. Just my view, though, yknow. To assume I haven't "been watching the meetings for a long time" is presumptuous, but, you got your POV, I got mine.

Sounds like Phelan is running Sandy's campaign, just like he did Quattrocki's against Carol Quinlan!
Vicious, Vile, & Venomous are 3 more V words that describe Phelan's tactics.
Watch out Sandy, you don't know what you've signed up for.

Whipping Oak Lawn Into a Pre-Election Frenzy
Tips, twaddle and tales from the campaign trail as reported from the Oak Lawn Patch field office at Huck Finn Donuts.
By Lorraine Swanson
April 1, 2011
April 4, 2:27 a.m.
You Be the Judge
Pete Quattrocchi’s campaign run by Phelan
http://oaklawn.patch.com/articles/welcome-to-the-oak-lawn-election-log

Something for Mr Skound can tease his wife with 4 sure....

Maybe a sexist statement. But i love a woman with a Firm Resolve..

GGGGG
You mean speaks Phelan & Oly's minds!!!!
"I'll take ethics and democracy" LOL Ms Bury Your handlers can't even spell Ethics. Or Integrity. Or Honesty let alone practice them. I can't believe you're drinking their cool-aide!!! Don't you get the fact that these changes HAD to be made directly because of your friends?? The meetings were totally out of control, purposefully, because of their sandbox antics. They do their damnedest to make the others look bad, especially Heilmann as we all know, then they say "Look he's supposed to control these meetings and he can't!" So.... damned if you do and damned if you don't. Better to DO and add Decorum back into the mix!!!

PS: Don't think that IF you got IN they would be better to YOU!! Never Happen.
They're using you as their Fool.

hey anthony here i am and i got me alot of that there fern resolive call me but dont yall thik yer gittin sexist or anythin

After remembering Minnie Pearl Now i know where that leaving the shiny stickers on the basball cap comes from..Some sort of status that it was bought at a store.... Yea that lady was quite a character

give it up tom boy it just aint a workin. way to much garbage an yer just blowin inta that there wind

It makes me laugh that Streit said that. Isn't this America? Since when is meeting to talk about issues in America considered a bad thing? (Ask Streit how my meeting with him went, by the way.) It’s like something from the Nazi play book: “She is dangerous. She is having secret meetings. Follow her. Find out who her friends are!”

When the Mayor didn’t gavel Trustee Streit down for speaking out of order but gaveled my response, do you think that could be political? Then minutes later he proposes these municipal code modifications that could silence our elected representatives at will for what HE subjectively thinks is political. Not good.

So. Since he gaveled down my comments, here’s what I was going to say. “This is America and I don’t have to ask Bob Streit or anyone for permission to meet. I will meet with anyone who cares about what’s going on in Oak Lawn and stands for ethics, transparency and is willing to put Oak Lawn resident’s interests above their own.”

With Streit’s attack on Freedom of Assembly and the Heilmann’s attack on Freedom of Speech (both within about 10 seconds of each other!) it makes me wonder what they are so afraid of. Could it be something like truth, honesty, transparency and a belief that government should represent the interest of the taxpayers who foot the bills?

Sandy,
You should read the story. Didn't Streit say that you should be transparent and admit to everyone that you've been discussing running for Mayor with Alex O? I assume he meant you, and not Alex, are the candidate for Mayor. In any case, I think the point was lost on your prepared political comeback no doubt drafted by Tommy Boy. You can meet with whoever you want and discuss whatever you want. I don't think Streit wants you to call him to ask permission. But all of us deserve some transparency from you when you inject yourself into politics. Don't call yourself an activist. Call yourself what you are, a candidate for Mayor (unless you defer to Alex and run for Trustee).

And thus, Godwin's law proves itself yet again...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law