Not doing their job

While we suburbanites love to point our fingers at the perceived corruption in Cook County and Chicago politics and the mismanagement in Springfield, little did we know that corruption and mismanagement is running rampant right here in Lake County. While I'm sure everyone wishes Lake County Board President Aaron Lawlor the best as he spends time in a drug rehab facility, it's the historical lack of oversight and transparency by the rest of the board members that should concern all Lake County residents. Board members have either been aware of Lawlor's reported abuse of the system for awhile and did nothing or were unaware. In either case, they were not doing their job.

We taxpayers deserve better. According to Forbes, Lake County residents pay five times the national average in property taxes and are saddled with the 16th highest property taxes out of 2,922 counties in the nation (according to taxfoundation.org). This is partially because - unlike in Cook and other counties - there appear to be no laws in Lake County prohibiting no-bid contracts or requiring the disclosure of vendor association with current board members. Each board member has a county credit card apparently with little or no oversight, and they made no effort to change things after they became aware of the Lawlor situation.

The Lake County Board has been controlled by the same political party for more than 100 years. That's not healthy regardless of which party it is, and it's obviously time for a change. I hope voters will take the time to learn about the incumbents' challengers and their plans to address the problems we are facing here in Lake County and then vote accordingly.

Patt Heise

Grayslake