Village president's trying a power grab on health

So, Craig Johnson, the "supreme leader" of Elk Grove Village, thinks we should have a separate public health department from Cook County's. His reason: to get around any possible future mask mandates, not to actually improve the public health in our village. This is purely political.

Mr. Johnson has shown his true colors many times now. He is not interested in the health of this community. He's interested power, control and authoritarianism. Johnson wants to be a mini-Trump and have absolute control over everything in this village.

He thumbs his nose at science by ignoring mask and vaccine mandates, thereby putting our residents at more risk. He has spent our tax money on dangerous brick crosswalks that are poorly maintained, an unneeded clock tower, bicycle races, sponsoring football "bowls" and even Olympic athletes.

We are a small village, and the money could be much better spent on actually improving the quality of life for our residents, such as more money for the public library, luring a second grocery store to compete with Jewel, services directed at senior citizens and other improvements.

I've lived in EGV for over 35 years and there are many positives in this village, but Craig Johnson has developed a power complex and has lost sight of actually serving the people in this village. His ego has grown too large and unfortunately the village board members mostly act as his "yes men."

Public health should never, never be linked to politics, but again, Johnson doesn't care about public health. He only cares about his public political image as a strong man. For the future of this village, I hope everyone sees this for what actually is, another way to get his name and picture in the paper and a dangerous political power grab.

Cyndi Kehoe

Elk Grove Village