Carberry: 'Don't Call Me Poster Boy'

If there were any M80s left over after the Fourth of July, they were blown off during Tuesday’s Oak Lawn Village Board meeting.

The first-flare up occurred during Trustee Mike Carberry’s (Dist. 6) new business report, in which he responded to Trustee Bob Streit’s (Dist. 3) criticisms of the village board’s vote last month to eliminate pensions for part-time elected officials.

Ending part-time politicians’ pensions was one of the hot-button issues in the Worth Township Community First slate’s campaign, helmed by Worth Democratic Committeeman John O’Sullivan.

The same hot button issue popped up toward the end of Sandra Bury’s mayoral campaign. Part of Bury’s lineup of Oak Lawn First candidates, Carberry is a close friend of O’Sullivan.

Both Oak Lawn men served together on the Democrat side of the aisle in the Illinois House for approximately eight months during 2010; shortly before they left office in January 2011, Carberry and O'Sullivan voted for the  largest income tax increase in state history.

After leaving the state house, Carberry got a job as the deputy director of facilities management for Cook County.

Despite being gaveled by the mayor mulitiple times during his report, Streit foraged on, stating that it was “my new business.”

The effect of eliminating elected officials’ pensions on the village’s overall general fund would be minimal, amounting to less than $2,000 per year, or .0004 percent, he said.

“I want to be very clear that I absolutely support pension reform,” Streit continued, “but what I do not support are political gimmicks that may sound good but absolutely do nothing.”

Streit went on, warning about the funding issues present in the village pension funds for police (61 percent) and firefighters (62 percent), as well as the possibly of teachers’ retirement funds being thrust back on to Illinois taxpayers.

Citing Carberry’s voting record in Springfield, Streit questioned why the sixth district trustee didn’t propose meaningful pension reform legislation while a state representative, instead of voting for the largest income tax increase in Illinois history.

“It did earn him the recognition of being the poster boy of patronage because [Carberry] was rewarded for his efforts by being appointed to a political job in Cook County making over $100,000 a year,” Streit alleged. “The last thing Oak Lawn needs [are] Springfield politicians governing by press releases.”

For the record, 2011 data shows Carberry earning $99,834 working for the county on Chicago Current’s government salary database.

Also for the record, Trustee Terry Vorderer (Dist. 4) said he voted for the measure to do away with village board pensions “for the symbolism.”

 “It’s a lot easier to say you have to give up something when I’ve given up something,” Vorderer said. “It’s not a lot of money but it’s still an important symbol to other people that are going to pay the price for the incompetence of many legislators in Springfield that have messed up the pension system.”

Streit's volleys elicited at first a subdued explanation by Carberry during his new business report, which Patch captured on video. We apologize to Trustee Streit for not getting his remarks on camera, but we never know when to start running it. Eventually, our cell phones ran out of memory.

The rest of the meeting resembled the Jerry Springer Show, that should now be playing on public access channel 4, unless there are still technical difficulties.

Video by Mary Kate Brogan.