State's attorney cheap shots should stop

I'm trying to hold the line on property taxes in Kane County by controlling expenses and generating appropriate non-property-tax revenue.

Frankly, I don't have a problem with making and admitting minor, nitpicking mistakes along the way … as long as I'm focused on doing, as well as I can, what my constituents expect.

On the other hand, it is an extraordinary abuse of prosecutorial authority for two county assistant state's attorneys supported by State's Attorney Joe McMahon to spend so much of their time and your taxpayer money to misrepresent my work to protect our 5-year county tax levy freeze.

Why would these lawyers be so destructive? Perhaps they're settling the score because the board and I said "No" to McMahon's 25 percent increase over last year's budget in net expense to run the state's attorney's office for just next year.

Or, perhaps they're angry because the county board and I exposed the state's attorney's million dollar bonuses. It is public record, at KaneCountyOpenGov.org, that over the past four years, one of these "investigating" attorneys was paid $29,000 in bonuses on top of $142,863 in annual salary and lucrative benefits and the other was paid $28,750 in bonuses on top of $133,124 in total annual compensation.

Discretionary bonuses of any size should not be paid to public employees.

For the record, you're paying me $117,746 (for which I am deeply grateful) and State's Attorney McMahon $200,472 in total compensation. Shouldn't all of these taxpayer resources be focused on constructive work?

Why in the world has State's Attorney McMahon written $1,297,000 in what this newspaper called "hidden bonuses" paid over four years to 271 public employees in his office?

This is all public business and we report to you. The retaliatory "cheap shots" at our work for county taxpayers should stop now!

Christopher J. Lauzen

Kane County Board Chairman