Letter to McConnaughay

Open letter to Kane County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay:

I can see firsthand that any citizen in the county that would dare at this critical economic juncture to question 14 raises given that could cost us collectively, adding pension considerations, up to $20 million in salary hikes you brand as “political” in nature. It simply is “about the money.”

In fact it was this kind of reckless spending and the awarding of contracts to campaign donors that caused me to challenge your candidacy in 2008. This may also be the reason why so many yes men saying yes to spending our money and no to any question about it, have been unsuccessful as they run for re-election for office.

This is not a vindictive action on my part; it is a financial one. After the hundreds of thousands of dollars that have been spent on lawsuits against various county officeholders, one would think that you would simply agree to have the board members that the voters elected be part of the process in the future.

I am not charging the taxpayers one dime to ask for this consideration. And with your generous salary collected from the taxpayers, I am wondering why you are not joining me in settling this easily with little financial burden on those you claim to have a concern for “taxpayer interest.”

If your intention is to pressure the people who we elect directly to join you in the granting of raises, you are asking members of the county board that were not even there when they were given.

Please consider taking responsibility for your own actions. Stop the “politically motivated” charges each time any taxpayer demands to know how our own government spends money and for once do the right thing for all of us.

James Macrunnels

Elburn