Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. – Martin Luther King, Jr.
Call me crazy, but wouldn’t you think the Kane County Republican Party would be pleased as punch at the prospect of one of their countywide elected officials winning a national award for excellence – that comes with a $2 million grant, no less? I know I would! I’d be so ecstatic I’d use that prize to promote the Party at every turn.
“Republicans do it better!” would be my 2024 electoral PR mantra.
And wouldn’t you know it, but this eventually just materialized in the form of the Kane County Clerk’s office being named a “Center for Election Excellence” by the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence. Of the thousands of election authorities nationwide, that non-partisan group tabbed just ten for demonstrating a “commitment to leadership in election administration” and “developing more resilient, trustworthy, and voter-centric election administration practices.”
To make matters even better, a $2 million grant to be distributed over the next two years accompanies this rare recognition. What could possibly go wrong with that, right? Well, when it comes to today’s Kane County Republican Party, plenty!
Did they throw a gala award ceremony with clerk Jack Cunningham as the guest of honor? Nope! Did they fire off a press release to all the papers extolling the clerk’s office vast virtue? Nope! Did they simply stop by to offer Jack and his staff a hearty pat on the back? Nope!
They accused him of “corruption,” instead.
Yes! In a move initiated by Campton Hills county board member and MAGA maven David Young, supported by I’ll-fall-for-any-conspiracy-theory KC GOP chairman Andro Lerario, and clearly influenced and abetted by treasurer Chris Lauzen, they sent out the email call to arms posted at the top of this column.
What was Jack Cunningham’s mortal sin? Accepting an award from an organization funded by the likes of Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, two men who “clearly” have it in for conservatives everywhere. Young and his cohorts called the grant “dark money” in their chickenshit “anonymous” missive, insinuating that it comes with strings attached so “the public must participate to stop this corruption.”
How many times have I had to say that some people have way too much time on their hands? Only today’s Republicans could turn a prestigious honor with a seven-figure prize into a twisted form of hyper-partisan politics.” So, let’s examine that possibility.
If the county clerk was truly this heinous, then how did any Republican manage win last November, particularly Chris Lauzen, who eked out an embarrassing 4 percent victory in the treasurer’s race? Considering the longstanding animosity between Cunningham and Lauzen, wouldn’t Lauzen have been the first one to fall prey to the clerk’s nefarious plan to turn Kane County over to the Democrats?
Then there’s this. I worked for Jack Cunningham for two long years and I can unequivocally attest that no one can tell that man what to do. So, even if the award came with strings attached, a patently ludicrous (and criminal) notion, Jack would do it his way regardless.
The clerk’s office attempted to indulge these nitwits by sending a 53-page letter to each board member describing the award in detail and explaining how he planned to use some of the proceeds to further improve election security. But they completely ignored that reality as evidenced by 30 of those loons on descending upon Tuesday’s County board meeting in an effort to disrupt it.
To be fair, Chairman Peirog did allow them to speak, a poor decision that’s par for the course for a poor leader.
I reached out to Young, Lerario, and Lauzen, but only Lerario responded with yet another specious conspiracy theory. He said “the group” was only concerned that the grant should go to the county and not just the clerk, and absurd notion that was proven patently preposterous at the same board meeting. What was obvious from his reply is that Lerario knew exactly who these loons were, but he did nothing to stop them from further embarrassing the already faltering KC Republican Party.
Let’s not forget that the insipid Lerario is Lauzen’s handpicked chairman. Apparently Kane County is rife with stellar leaders.
Whether Chris Lauzen was directly complicit in this farce or not, the fact that he did nothing to stop the stupidity speaks volumes about the diminished content of his character. All it takes is for good men to do nothing, right?
The former chairman continues to cling to the notion that Cunningham disrespected his wife to the point where, even after I statutorily proved his “election irregularities” contentions dead wrong a year ago, he persists in pursuing this pointless feud through false claims.
We’ll end this piece with two enormous ironies. The first is that these Kane County “stop the steal” loons persist in their fiction even after their Fox News Golden Calf has been exposed as peddling a false Trump stolen election narrative. Not even those “true believers” believed the Grand Cheeto baseless theories.
The second is, while these nitwits have the nerve to believe they’re protecting the GOP from phantom outside influences, they’re greatly weakening the Party with this BS “corruption” insanity at a time when the Democrats are poised to take over Kane County for good. And all the Dems have to do is sit back, watch, and laugh.
If the clerk is running a perfect election,there should be nothing to spend this grant money on to make improvements. Put the grant funds into the general fund and reduce the tax burden on all of us.