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December 9, 2024

Erin Birt facing another Attorney General inquiry for alleged OMA violations –

By Kirk Allen & John Kraft

On November 5, 2014

College of DuPage –  (ECWd)

Once again Erin Birt has placed the College of DuPage in a quandary with her dictatorial arrogance.

During the August, 2014 regular meeting Erin Birt forbid my presentation during public comment.  The presentation was a PowerPoint that exposed her DUI mug shot, Dr. Breuders elephant kill from Africa, and copies of invoices for satellite phones purchased by Breuder.

There were numerous other OMA violations in my opinion and we can only assume the Attorney General Public Access office appears to agree considering they see fit to require COD provide clarification on the claimed violations.

I cant wait to get that response!  You see I was given specific instructions by the audio-visual person to pre-load my PowerPoint onto the COD laptop computer and told the Power Point will display on the big screens.  This person told me that when I am ready to speak he would start the power point and then I could control it from the laptop.

That didn’t happen! 

I suspect what happened was Erin Birt reviewed the powerpoint during their executive session prior to public comment and decided she was not going to allow my presentation.  A violation of my first amendment rights according to numerous attorneys we are speaking with.  A violation because past practice has been set by allowing others to use the audio-visual equipment to present during public comment.  In fact, the very equipment they forbid me to use was used several times by others during the meeting and by other members of the public during their public comment at the previous meeting.

Erin Birt made an arbitrary decision to censor my public comment and did so without board approval and we believe in direct violation of the Illinois Open Meetings Act.

It’s sad that it takes so long for the AG Public Access office to make their determinations however we are confident we will once again prevail as that has been the history with our complaints.

May I suggest both Erin Birt and Dr. Breuder agree to resign when the numerous OMA requests for review confirm they violated OMA, which by the way is a Class C. Misdemeanor.

[gview file=”https://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/AG-request-for-review-August-meeting.pdf” save=”1″]

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4 Comments
  • screech0000
    Posted at 19:08h, 07 November

    I noticed there was a Special Meeting of the Board of Trustees on November 6. It was in the usual room, but I didn’t see a notice of the meeting until the next day. Unless it was one of their “private” meetings, I expect they will post the audio/video.

    Interesting that the Special Meeting was called the day after the posting of the OMA violations.

    • screech0000
      Posted at 17:02h, 09 November

      BTW

      There are entirely TOO MANY private meetings by this Board. The Board is responsible to the voters and taxpayers. Given the chicanery of Breuder and Birt, there ought to be a representative from the the public in attendance to hold them accountable. I understand there are issue too mundane to concern the public. But the financial hijinks suggests there may be more going on that should withstand public scrutiny.

      The November 6 meeting was apparently private, in that no audio/video footage has yet been posted. One can only hope that they have concluded their private business and that they will not go into closed session at the regular meeting on November 20.

      Making the public to whom they are responsible wait for hours while they conduct private business is an affront.

      • screech0000
        Posted at 18:08h, 17 November

        The November 20 Board meeting is just a few days away and still no audio/video posted online from the November 6 Special Meeting.

        This November 6 meeting may have been a dodgy maneuver by Chair Birt. I check the the notices posted in front of the Board room. There is a notice of the Novermber 6 meeting posted now. It may not have been there prior to the meeting. Similarly, there is now a notice of the November 6 meeting posted online at the COD BoT Web site. It may not have been there prior to the meeting.

        The meeting notices reads a typical BoT meeting in that allots time for public comment. If there was no advance notice of the meeting, then there surely could have been no public comment.

        Somebody, please, prove me wrong and attest to their attendance at the Special meeting.
        Right now, it looks like notice was posted in two places AFTER the meeting had already occurred. I can’t verify this because the Special meeting came as a surprise to me.

        In any case, if it was not a totally closed meeting, as the notice suggests, where is the audio/video record?

  • Dave
    Posted at 08:34h, 06 November

    Erin Birt should be behind bars and summarily fired. In the real word of the private sector such violations of law and moral turpitude would certainly get you fired!

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