Island Lake Trustee-elect Laurie Rabattini to continue village blog

Island Lake Trustee-elect Laurie Rabattini is pledging to continue her village-themed blog, which historically has been critical of the town's elected officials, after she takes office.

Rabattini, one of three trustee candidates elected last week, said her villageofislandlake.blogspot.com site will remain active because "it's a useful tool for the public."

Rabattini plans to expand the blog beyond the political realm to include reports on events and activities in town.

"I think it's important to have a resource for people to go to to find out about the village," she said.

A few housekeeping changes have been implemented, however.

Most notably, followers of the blog no longer are able to post comments anonymously. Although fictitious aliases are permitted, posters must register with Google.

The blog also prominently features a warning that "name calling and finger pointing and garbage" no longer are welcome. That's an about-face for the site, which was overcome with mean-spirited comments by mostly anonymous readers who attacked Rabattini, her allies and her opponents during the recent campaign.

"I couldn't keep on top of them," Rabattini said of the scurrilous comments, many of which she or assistants deleted. "If I'm going to be an elected trustee, I definitely don't want to be associated with that garbage on my blog."

Despite a similarity in names, Rabattini's blog isn't associated with the official village Web site, villageofislandlake.com.

With entry titles such as "Strong arming in Island Lake," "Meeting with no Purpose" and "Slinging Mud - Using Employees as Pawns," Rabattini's blog has been a lightning rod for controversy. She regularly posts discussions of village business and links to amateur videos of board meetings on the site.

The site has been popular, with readers regularly posting dozens of responses after entries. Participation seemed to grow during the campaign.

Rabattini's plans to continue blogging drew mixed responses from other village officials and incoming trustees.

Trustee-elect Donna O'Malley, who won election April 7 and was part of the slate that opposed Rabattini's campaign team, said she isn't a fan of the blog and its frequent negativity.

"What I've read on the blog has not been very nice," she said. "We need to have more professionalism in our village."

Additionally, the official village Web site already promotes local events, O'Malley noted.

Trustee Connie Mascillino, who ran on O'Malley's slate and retained her seat on the board last week, wasn't as concerned about Rabattini's digital journal.

"It is strictly up to Laurie herself if she wants to continue to blog," Mascillino said. "She is perfectly within her rights to do whatever she wishes with the blog."

The newly elected village officials - including Mayor-elect Deborah Herrmann and Clerk-elect Pam Miller - are scheduled to be sworn in at the village board's next meeting on May 14.