Because of all the media hype, Bongo tuned in and watched “Wife Swap” last night. Both families were, well, very interesting. One of the featured families was the Myers family of Huntley.
The Myers family if fathered by stay at home dad Shane and working executive wife Samantha. The entire family engages in ghost-hunting and all claim to have psychic or paranormal powers. Shane says he can communicate with dead people. (Note to Bongo: Call Shane Myers and ask him to talk to Uncle Ricky to find out just where those old bones are burried in the yard)
Bongo only posts about this family’s appearance on that show because Shane Myers has a tie to Larry Snow. Many might not remember, but Shane ran for the school board in 2005 on the Snow ticket. Well, he tried to run anyway.
Shane was kicked off the ballot after it was learned that he gathered his signatures illegally and misrepresented how he obtained them in legal election documents. Shane and another candidate, both running on the Larry Snow ticket, were called out for their illegal signature effort by Lake In The Hills residents Rick and Patty Creager, who were surprised when their signatures turned up on petitions for the candidates when no one ever asked them to sign for those specific people. During a hearing on the issue, Shane admitted to only collecting 11 of the 100 signatures he submitted. At the hearing, Snow admitted he was behind the signature gathering effort.
Northwest Herald Reporter Jeff Kolkey and Editor Brian Slupski were in the room during the electoral board hearing when the Creager’s attorney pleaded their case before the electoral board. Both Kolkey and Slupski had plenty to say about the incident. Their published stories speak for themselves:
D-158 finishes petition-objection process
By JEFF KOLKEY
(printed on February 16, 2005)
WOODSTOCK--Shane Myers' name will not appear on ballots for the School District 158 election after an electoral board ruled Tuesday that his candidacy papers were invalid.
The board also ruled that Huntley resident Debra Sitter could remain on the ballot and that minor omissions in her nominating petitions did not cause confusion about what office she was seeking or where she lived.
Myers testified that he personally collected only 11 of the 100 signatures on his nominating petitions.
Candidate Larry Snow and district resident Joan Voorhees collected the rest, Myers told electoral board members. But Myers signed all eight pages, swearing that the signatures were signed in his presence and attesting to their legitimacy.
"I came here to clear my name," Myers said. "I apologize. There was no intent to deceive anyone. I was not aware of what I had to do."
The objection was brought by Lake in the Hills resident Patricia Creager, who has campaigned for recent school district referendums. Creager said she was misled into signing Myers' petition.
Myers said running for the board was a last-minute decision. Facing a family emergency, Myers asked Snow to help him collect signatures. Voorhees and Snow collected 89 signatures on Myers' behalf, but neither signed any of the pages in the space reserved for the circulator, who is supposed to witness the signatures.
Snow delivered all the pages to Myers' house after Myers returned from his grandmother's funeral in Indiana. Snow, who wrote thousands of letters to district residents opposing the November referendum, lost his objection to Sitter's candidacy.
It was Snow's only remaining objection after he withdrew seven others on Monday. All of Snow's objections focused on grammatical errors and minor omissions.
Snow said he did not withdraw his objection to Sitter's candidacy because there were several errors in her papers.
"We need people in this district to pay more attention to details," Snow said.
Snow's attorney, Robert Sandner, argued that the omission of the words "board of education" in the blank provided for office being sought on one of her pages, could have caused confusion among the electorate.
Electoral board members disagreed, pointing out that the petition papers included what office Sitter is seeking on several other pages.
"I'm not confused," electoral board member Frank Gosser said. "I am straining to understand what part of this is confusing."
Snow should be red-faced after petition fiasco
(printed on February 16, 2005)
Recently I told several readers I would stop writing about Larry Snow.
But that after the total debacle before the District 158 electoral board Tuesday, I found it impossible.
Snow, you might recall, filed eight objections against candidates who he said made mistakes collecting signatures on election petitions. Well, Snow, a candidate for school board, withdrew seven of those objections. The last one was filed against Huntley resident Debra Sitter.
How bad was Snow's case? So bad that when his attorney, Robert Sandner, finished, electoral board member James Hecht asked, "That's it?"
On Sitter's petition, she stated that she was running for the "board of education." Snow objected. He said she needed to include the word "member." Also, she left one line blank where she should have stated "board of education." The fact that the document stated in two other places the office she was running for apparently wasn't enough for Snow.
Lastly, Snow said, Sitter's address wasn't clear because she listed only her street address, ZIP code, town and county. Snow objected because Sitter wrote "Huntley" and did not circle "village of."
The punchline is that, apparently, this was Snow's strongest case. In stark contrast was an objection filed by Patty Creager. Unlike Snow, Creager is not seeking public office. She simply became concerned about how two candidates obtained signatures.
Essentially, Creager alleged that candidate Shane Myers did not gather the bulk of the signatures for his petitions, even though the documents state that Myers did indeed collect all the signatures. Creager also said some signatures were gathered under false pretenses. The electoral board ruled Tuesday that Myers' name would not appear on the ballot. Creager's other complaint, against candidate Jeanne Joseph, resulted in Joseph dropping out of the race. Although Creager's complaint against Myers was valid, it does not appear that he intended to do anything wrong. Myers had extenuating circumstances and was not as involved in the petition circulating process as he should have been.
Who circulated Myers' petitions? Snow, among others.
That's right. The guy who filed eight frivolous complaints was one of the people circulating the only petitions the electoral board found to contain egregious errors.
"I didn't know he was going to use those," Snow said after the hearings. "It was Shane's responsibility to have me come over and sign them in front of a notary public if he needed them."
Snow nitpicked eight other candidates; meanwhile, a candidate he supported probably is going to be thrown off the ballot.
Snow should be embarrassed by this fiasco.
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