Highway Funds at Risk? County Board Defending Suit

EDGAR CO. (ECWd) –

Nine citizens in Edgar County have filed a lawsuit against the County Board for their attempt at shielding Chris Patrick from his Conflict of Interest.  That lawsuit may well be a trigger that makes IDOT think twice about allowing past actions to stand.  I now wonder if they will freeze those funds after realizing the ramifications this suit may have?

For months I raised the issue of constitutionality as it relates to the actions taken by the Board, which included two resolutions stripping Mr. Patrick of certain mandated duties, and Mr. Patrick’s recusal letter, which basically put his self interests ahead of the voters.  You can see time and time again the issues were raised and to date they have been ignored.  That history can be found at these links:

• February 15th Article
• March 12th Article
• March 28th Article
• March 31st Article
• April 8th Article

The April 21 Article pretty well spelled out all the facts, and is it not any surprise that a lot of what I wrote then, is found in the legal brief filed in Edgar County today?  As if that was not enough heads up to warn them, I tried one last attempt at the Highway Meeting April 15th.  Item #30 in these minutes points out yet again, the constitution does not permit them to do what they are doing and I urged them to ask key questions on the matter.  NO ONE has stepped up to ask those questions to our knowledge.

So there is no confusion on my position on this matter and full disclosure that I tried my best to warn all of them, I sent this e-mail to Chapin Rose encouraging intervention.  A duplicate was also sent to IDOT Deputy Chief counsel.   Sadly they all fell on deaf ears just as it has in the rest of this county.

In May I sent Mark Isaf this e-mail regarding action taken during the county board meeting as it relates to a motion from a previous meeting.  Note that in the text of that email I referenced the very same case law found in the lawsuit and pointed out such case law would apply to Mr. Patrick and his refusing to vote on matters.  No response!

Well, here we are, not quite 4 weeks from my last e-mails to officials that should care, and no word from them.  All I can say now is that I tried to warn you!

The Redwood Law Firm has now taken up the cause for the people of this county.  A full text of the lawsuit they filed can be seen here as well as downloaded with the link below.  I am pleased to see their research brought them to pretty much the same conclusion that we have been exposing for months.  The actions of the county board, directed by IDOT and our State’s Attorney, by all legal indications, are in direct violation of Illinois Supreme Court case precedent.

 From Jude Redwood:

“The pattern of playing fast and loose with the civil rights of the citizens in Edgar county, be it the Police, the State’s Attorney’s office, or the County Board must be stopped.  “They do what they think is right, not what the law says”.

Download pdf (18.86 mb)

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