IÕve always said that politicians are not always
honest because people donÕt want to hear the truth. With regard to my complaint
to the Finance Committee of the Knox County Board about abuse of the per diem
system, that same theory seems to hold true. The long article in the Register-Mail contains my complaints, the cold, hard facts and the
many excuses and distortions given in defense of dishonesty, not following
county board rules and misuse of tax payer funds.
In defense of board
chairman Allen Pickrel, he has had more than his share of responsibility and
stress since December, with the board having to deal with the appointment of a
new stateÕs attorney, the hair-raising allegations and personnel changes in
that office, special audits of two county departments and appointment of a new
sheriff. He has assumed others are doing the right thing and of course, they
have not. I contend that board members Jan Occhi and Dale Parsons have both
taken advantage of the lack of attention given to the payment of per diems for
representation on outside boards.
Since their election in 2006, Occhi and Parsons have
not been appointed to any of the outside board positions they have assumed in
the community. Parsons was appointed to the Tourism Council three years ago
after I told Jan Occhi, chairman at the time, that I could not serve on the
council because of time constraints. At that time, Parsons was told by the
whole board that he would not be paid a per diem for that assignment. He has
turned them in anyway and been paid. I served on that council for four years
during my term in the early 1990s and never requested a per diem.
Occhi has appointed herself to the boards of the
Chamber of Commerce, GREDA, civic canter authority, Carver Center, juvenile
justice commission and recently made an unauthorized trip to a conference of
the United County Councils of Illinois (UCCI), apparently replacing Steve
Johnson, who had been our representative to that group for three years. He told
me he was not asked or informed of the change.
ItÕs interesting that Democrats Occhi and Parsons
accuse me of being vindictive
about their voting for a Republican chairman of the board. IÕll never forget
it, thatÕs for sure. As part of the county board Democratic Caucus that chose
me as our candidate for county board chairman, they betrayed the Knox County
Democrats and me with their votes. It was petty and destructive. What is
becoming increasingly clear, however, is that the three Democrats on the board
who voted for Pickrel are being paid twice as much in per diems every month as
the rest of the board members. I complained in December when Greg ÒChopsÓ Bacon
was appointed to four committees and an outside board when the rest of us are
on two committees, some on three. I felt this was clearly payback for his
support of Pickrel, and now Occhi and Parsons are getting theirs.
Other board members have not been asked to serve on
these boards. Few of these boards require membership of a county board member
to get grants, except perhaps Carver Center, and both Occhi and Parsons have
been paid for attending those board meetings. Surely we only need one
representative.
Almost all board members have flexible schedules or
are retired, so the argument about Òeveryone workingÓ during the day is bogus.
The finance committee is going to find that hundreds
of dollars a month of taxpayer money has been paid to board members Occhi and
Parsons without any authorization by the county board. I object to that and I believe the
citizens of this county will too.
Caroline Porter is a freelance writer, member of the Knox County Board and can
be reached at caroline.porter@insightbb.com.
9/13/07