2nd Verse, Same As the First…well…not exactly

With a website still broadcasting at least one false statement (wrong person listed as Mayor), the second day of the Stephens Administration had at least a few surprises behind the scenes awaiting discovery.

The recent submission of a FOIA request to release the missing ordinances was not an exercise of futility as was demonstrated in a letter crafted by Village Lawyer J. Daniel McGrath and dated May 12, 2009.

Despite “improper filing” technique (according to McGrath), he went on to combine two distinctly separate FOIA requests into one and then states “Such requests are categorical requests covered by Section 3(f) of the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.  The request for such a large volume of data would be unduly burdensome on the Village of Midlothian.  Therefore, the Village must deny you requests pursuant to Section 3(f) of the Act.”

This documented denial of such a request only provides further clarity into the warped inner workings of the minds controlling the Village since there is no need for a citizen to file a FOIA request to see the laws of Midlothian.  No citizen in Illinois is expected to FOIA request a copy of a law, especially when the laundry list of laws governing such seclusion of our ordinances makes it quite clear that such sequestering of information sets forth entrapment scenarios that are not that far off the horizon.

In addition, his attempt to sink the other FOIA request under such a summary explanation as “unduly burdensome” is yet another demonstration of what continues to be intentional negligence on the part of McGrath.   Anyone who has ever operated accounts payable/receivable software (including custom-designed) knows how mandatory it is for a user to be able to pull up and print out reports on any vendor…at any time, with the added bonus developed years ago that allows for combo reports citing groups of vendors.

The issue with Sterling Codifiers should be a point and click report since the code book apparently has not received any codifying services in quite some time and if any services have been rendered even over the past 2 years, there shouldn’t have been a “denial” attached to the request.  It should have said either “There have been no invoices paid for any codifying services for the period you requested,” or it goes back to what should at least in theory take less than 14 minutes to accomplish.

So, with Police Chief Schavone hanging around a cubicle in the front office at the same time inquiries were being made with Gladys Schuler, PR representative for the Village regarding these issues, yet another surprise surfaced from behind the service window.  It turns out that Midlothian at least now has one formal FOIA request form on hand for citizens.  As a first draft(?), it certainly signals an effort towards correcting FOIA-related issues, but the layout and especially the text only serves to lead the requestor through a set of ambiguous set of instructions complete with a typo turning the word “Act” into the word “Ace” when they spell out the full FOIA acronym.

And whether or not “Judicial review under Section II” references a section two or a section eleven, using an arial font on such a form versus the typical Times Roman font as demonstrated with this entry is but one of many tidbits that will need to be ironed out before the Village can even begin to lay claim to compliance with the most basic of laws that govern the government of Midlothian.  With Schuler stating today that issues such as keeping at least the bulletin board are small when compared to some of the other tasks on her plate, it is no wonder the general public continues to be sucked into these various black holes against their will.   No one in the front office, including Schuler, ever made mention of their existence and it is only by curiousity that led to this discovery.

Same thing with the recent receipt of a formal FOIA request form.  McGrath repeated in his letter the statement “In your improperly filed requests,” which means either Schuler didn’t know such a form was to be used or perhaps this is still remnants of the former administration’s mental accounting and one was whipped up on a word processor so that such a claim of impropriety could have subsequent documentation supporting the claim that no ordinances would be released because of improper filing techniques.

Since there are no legal reasons to FOIA an ordinance when none are in existence and available for review, today’s activites only continue to serve up evidence of a cover-up of something much, much greater than a failed grant request to explain away the condition of the municipal code book.

Mayor Stephens needs to get at least one answer as to whether or not the Village Lawyer, J. Dan McGrath has a complete set of laws in his office, a partial copy similar to the Village and the Public Library copies or if he doesn’t have a copy at all.  If McGrath has a complete set, the Village owns a photocopier and someone will need to babysit the machine for a few hours.  If McGrath has only a partial set, it still sets forth easy challenge to his law license as to why he did not repeatedly advise the Village that they better find a way to update the book and keep it updated so as to avoid circumstances such as what Mayor Stephens was left holding the bag…without the book inside.  And if McGrath doesn’t have a copy of our laws, then how does he expect to provide quality legal services to the Village?

With tongue in cheek, its a curious contemplation if Stephens will have to file a FOIA request for any response from McGrath…and yet on this eve of Mayor Stephens second day in office, if he is having internal difficulties conducting the immediate removal of Midlothian’s former mayor’s name from the website, then it goes back to the the question of where the real stoppage is occuring?

Two individuals that immediately come to mind are McGrath and Schuler, but they are certainly not the only ones who continue to play pretend with the public through their continued efforts to turn seekers of truth into villians and subsequently instructing said villians be treated accordingly.

There can be no such thing as an “improper filing” since no FOIA request is needed and was simply another fair and legal way to attempt to shake loose laws…no matter how the Village wants to creatively interpret and attempt to apply Section 3(f) of the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.

Now if I could only figure out what format I need to submit my request for change on the website…

A time-stamped snapshot of the Village of Midlothian website stating false information as of May 15, 2009