Today the State Journal-Register broke a ten month old story about the Springfield Metro Sanitary District trustees giving themselves a raise. This "revelation" could have been reported on at the time if not for the failure of the paper and other local media outlets to turn a critical eye on county government and the committees they appoint.
This is one of the issues I raised during my county board campaign, including a letter to the editor about appointments to the Sanitary District. These are the kind of stories that get ignored for too long when the press has a cozy relationship with political leaders.
It was not long before that letter that county board chairman Andy Van Meter began nominating people for county commissions that were given to him directly by the Chairmen of the local Republican and Democratic parties as part of their plan to share patronage appointments. When a few county board members complained that they hadn't even been given the chance to look at the names in advance to find out anything about the appointees, Van Meter shrugged his shoulders and admitted that none of the appointments came from him. I'd like to link to the minutes of that meeting but in typical fashion, the county doesn't keep old meeting minutes online.
When I attended county board meetings I made the habit of looking up political contributions made by those who got committee appointments and contracts. I found at least one contributor who got an appointment or contract almost every time with only five minutes of research. What could an investigative reporter uncover if they made a thorough effort?
The Metro Sanitary District has long been known as one of the most sought after appointments in the county. I have a hard time getting upset at the people currently on the board because they're only doing what has been done for years. Changing those individuals won't change the fact that the Sangamon county board has made every county committee part of a pay-to-play patronage system.
If you want things to change then you need a new county board that doesn't owe their appointment to Andy Van Meter or depend on him to fund their re-election campaign. Half of the county board is running for re-election this year so now is the time to ask if they dutifully vote for Van Meter's appointments that come from the political parties or if they ever spoke up against it. Do you want a county government that is run for the people or run for the benefit of political party leaders who need patronage to hand out?
I literally laughed out loud when I read Van Meter's quote in the article suggesting that the Sanitary District could have done more to reach out to the media. This is the same person who brags that the county board takes care of things quietly in the committee process, which the press and public rarely attend, and for which no minutes or agendas are ever placed online for easy public access.
The story today is the direct result of a reclusive mindset in county government that doing the bare minimum to obey the open meetings act is enough to engage the public. The pay increase is only one item in a long list of things done in open meetings that the county hopes no one will notice or report on. It's the same issue I wrote about in regard to the way the new voting machines were selected. The SJR ignored that story as well. This is what happens when 25 out of 29 board members belong to the same party and answer to a party leader instead of the public.
The political appointments and pay-to-play politics going on in Sangamon county government make Rod Blagojevich look like an amateur. Maybe this event will encourage the local media to start covering county government with a more investigative approach but I'm not holding my breath.