On the vast hypocrisy of Elgin Democrats!

The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons. ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

It’s when the days start getting significantly shorter that I start the process of reconsidering the year’s journalistic efforts. Despite my prognosticative capacities consistently failing me in this regard, I always manage to convince myself that I’ve covered local politics long enough that this is the year when nothing could possibly surprise me.

But just like clockwork, the second I come to that same annual conclusion the Universe conspires to come up with a story that proves that nothing-new-under-the-sun contention to be completely wrong. And it just happened again!

Because the day after the City of Elgin declared December City Council meetings would be held remotely out of an abundance of omicron variant caution, a source sent me a series of photographs depicting a number of maskless Elgin and Illinois Democratic elected officials at a packed fundraising event.

And that shameless flouting of the Illinois indoor mask mandate starts with the event’s guest of honor, Elgin State Rep Anna Moeller. Yes! That’s the same Anna Moeller who’s walked in lockstep with the Governor Pritzker’s COVID mitigations, not the least of which is her supporting the theory that masks are an essential step in putting an end to the plague.

I suppose the only logical conclusion here is that political fundraisers are a line the COVID pathogen simply won’t cross. I certainly avoid ‘em like the plague.

Not to be outdone, the next photo shows the beaming mask-free progressive Elgin City Councilman, Corey Dixon, standing quite close to an equally unmasked woman. This is a particularly

surprising turn of events when you consider how frequently Dixon talks out of both sides of his mouth. You’d think a mask would provide him with the perfect camouflage.

Let’s move on to the next shot covering an uncovered and smiling Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza. Should you choose to avail yourself of the Comptroller’s Facebook page you’ll quickly note a post in which Ms. Mendoza proclaims the following:

I have always been a fan of Mr. T. So, I asked him to make a video about the importance of wearing a mask during this COVID-19 crisis for all of Illinois and especially his hometown Chicago – the hardest-hit part of the state with the most casualties. C’mon tough guys: Put on a mask. Only a fool would ignore the advice of Mr. T. Let’s stay safe.

That would certainly seem to make Ms. Mendoza one of the “fools” Mr. T so frequently pities, now wouldn’t it!

But the worst of the bunch, and the winner of The First Ward’s first annual Hypocrite of the Year award, is Elgin City Councilman John Steffen who’s clearly working the door with his mask wrapped around his chin. I suppose we could bestow the benefit of the doubt on the unremarkable Councilman who may not have received the appropriate mask installation instruction. Or perhaps he believes the virus enters your body through your lower jaw.

What’s so uniquely egregious about Steffen’s bare-assed face, you ask?

John Steffen has steadfastly and sanctimoniously refused to attend City Council meetings because Toby Shaw won’t get vaccinated. But his fear of the plague is clearly limited to those council chambers because he has no absolutely problem going maskless with at least 80 of his non-social distancing and mostly maskless best friends.

Oh! And this is the same John Steffen who self-righteously told the Courier-News, “It’s a virus. It’s a virus that can’t be negotiated with. It can’t be told to stop, we’re tired and we’re going to end this.” I guess when he used to word “we’re” what he really meant was “us.”

The rules clearly don’t apply to him, do they?

My sources also told me that Elgin City Councilwoman Carol Rauschenberger, who’s also professed her fear of in-person council meeting attendance, went maskless at the event as well. But she was smart enough to sit in the back and avoid having her picture taken.

All that said, here’s the real kick in the immense hypocritical ass. These weren’t some sort of top-secret shots my source and I had to scour the Web for hours to track down. No! They were prominently posted on social media for all the world to see. There was absolutely no attempt to hide this blatant assault on the mask mandate these very Democrats have thrust upon us every step of the way.

Can you say “chutzpah?” I knew you could.

Once we got past the first few May 2020 weeks of the disease, the progressive pursuit of protecting us from ourselves became purely political. Illinois Democrats don’t care about your health, they care about power, control, and coming up with capricious commandments that only apply to the unelected rabble and not them.

If you’ve somehow doubted my theory up to now, those blatant photographs constitute proof of my position beyond any and all reasonable doubt.

Of course, once I caught on to those photos and started calling our maskless quintet, the post disappeared faster than Taylor Swift can write a ten-minute screed about a disappointing ex. (She’s the only person on the planet more full of herself than John Steffen!)

And while this story did manage to surprise me, the lack of any response from Moeller, Mendoza, Rauschenberger, and Steffen did not. C’mon! They don’t have to answer to the likes of the scurrilous voters who were stupid enough to put them in office, do they?

If the folks who so eagerly promote the plague mitigations have no intention of holding themselves to their own standard, then we don’t have to hold ourselves to it, either. Clearly, Illinois Democrats should neither be seen nor heard.