Today you're in for a treat that is bigger and juicier than a porterhouse steak bone. Bongo will begin a five-part series that should prove to be a real eye-opener for his loyal readers.
We all know Larry Snow has done some nasty stuff over the last four years. But humans have short memories, and so do dogs. So Bongo has spent some of his free time over the last month digging up Snow's District 158 skeletons, and when you humans see them all laid out in chronological order, Bongo thinks you'll be astounded. I know I was.
So grab my leash, and lets go for a walk.... down memory lane.
PART I
May, 2004
Enter Larry Snow
Shortly after the defeat of the spring 2004 referendum, community members gathered to discuss the defeat. Larry Snow attended that meeting and said he was sad the referendum failed and wanted to help. A few board members happened to be at that meeting. They weren’t sitting together and didn’t interact with each other.
Right after that meeting, leaders of the referendum group started receiving multiple daily e-mails from Snow that have been described to Bongo as “obsessive-compulsive” in nature. The leaders said huge red flags went up in their minds when Snow would not stop harassing them via e-mail.
Sure enough, at the next school board meeting, Snow stood up and made his first public comment. He called the referendum leaders “political opportunists,” and said they cared more about a political notch in their belts than for what was best for their own kids. He pulled partial snippets from the e-mail exchanges, took them out of context, and the community was introduced to what would become Snow’s favorite disruptive tactic.
A few weeks later the board members and some community members learned that Snow had filed a complaint with the States Attorney’s office, accusing the board of a violation of the Open Meetings Act. Taxpayer money was spent on an investigation and a decision was handed down that there was no violation since it was not a school board meeting and the board members did not discuss board business among themselves.
October 2004
The Infamous 18-Page Manifesto
The first sign of just how far Snow would go to sway public opinion appeared in October of 2004, when an 18-page, single spaced, small font manifesto showed up at people’s homes all over the district. The first batch was put on and in people’s mailboxes with no postage; a federal offense. But when Snow was called out for the illegal letter, he started mailing them.
The letter was filled with half truths, verbal attacks and fear tactics. With the second try for the 2004 referendum up for a vote in just a few weeks, Snow wrote that the referendum was not needed and that the district had “plenty of money.” But nowhere in the letter did Snow say that the 55 cent referendum had the possibility of costing taxpayers much more than that. He would later say that he knew it, but in 18 pages of ranting and raving, not once did he mention that little tidbit.
Now that our hindsight is 20:20, pretty much everyone has admitted that the referendum WAS needed and the fund balances it created have allowed the district to maintain class sizes, be less dependent on expensive short term borrowing, and receive significant revenue through earned interest. Even Snow pointed to those benefits during teacher contract negotiations in 2008.
January, 2005
Almost $9,000 of Taxpayer Money Spent Responding to 58-Page Snow FOIA
On January 3, 2005, Larry sent an eight page Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) document outlining 58 requests to the District. The requests were filled. The number of hours spent by District employees on the FOIAs (those man hours were paid by taxpayer funds) was staggering. The attorney fees billed in connection with Snow's requests for documents totaled $8,365.00. That bill was also paid by the taxpayers. Mr. Snow had the audacity to request that all fees associated with printing the documents be waived. It wasn’t.
February 2005
Larry the Candidate for School Board
Larry decided to run for the school board in 2005. He ran with a slate of other candidates for the available seats. Right after the candidates filed their paperwork, Snow filed objections to the candidacy of nearly every other candidate that was not from his slate. Subsequently, an electoral board was formed and county attorneys had to hear Snow’s objections. A total of more than $24,000 of taxpayer dollars was spent on this objection process, and the end result was that all of Snow’s objections were thrown out and ruled to be “without merit.”
At the same time, a Lake In The Hills resident objected to the candidacy papers of one of the individuals on the Snow slate. Through the hearing, it was learned that Snow spearheaded an improper signature-gathering scheme. The petitioner in the case was told at her door she was signing a petition for one candidate (the name she was given never appeared on the ballot), yet the petitioner’s name ended up on the candidacy papers of two Snow candidates who never came to her house soliciting signatures. One of those individuals dropped out of the race, and the other was tossed off the ballot by the electoral board. A subsequent editorial written by the Northwest Herald Editorial Board had the headline “Snow should be red-faced after petition fiasco.”
NW Herald, 2/16/05
July, 2005
Snow Slams Two of his Constituents
Most elected officials realize that once they take office they are no longer a private citizen. Not so for Larry Snow.
During the time leading up to his election to the school board in 2005, Snow wrote several letters to the editor, in which he attacked the reputations and integrity of many different individuals. Those letters did not stop once he was elected. Shortly after taking his seat on the board, Board Member Larry Snow wrote a letter to the editor of the Northwest Herald, which attacked the reputations of two mothers in the school district by name. Members of the community were outraged that a sitting board member would use the editorial page of the local newspaper to try to damage the reputations of two of his constituents.
NW Herald 7/13/05
February, 2006
Snow the Board Member Interferes with District 300 Referendum
Ill-will toward Larry Snow extended beyond the boundaries of District 158 in early 2006 when Snow went to a meeting in neighboring District 300 and told residents that administrators there were not telling the truth with regard to their need for a referendum.
The appearance angered and embarrassed Snow’s colleagues in District 158 enough that they collectively wrote a letter to the editor apologizing for Snow’s behavior and distancing themselves from Snow’s inappropriate meddling in a community where he didn’t live or pay taxes.
March, 2006
Snow Tries to Censor the Huntley High School Student Newspaper
Transparency and free speech have been long-time battle cries for Larry Snow, but he had an abrupt change of heart when the editors of Huntley High School’s student newspaper “The Voice” wrote an editorial that was critical of Snow’s interference with the District 300 referendum and his overall abrasive demeanor in District 158.
Snow tried to stop publication of the paper, which, by the way, has won multiple national awards. In this case, he picked on the wrong group. “Voice” Editor Jake Sanchez, a top student headed to a top-notch college to study journalism, stood up to the “school board bully” and had the backing of First Amendment advocates from across the country. Huntley High School teacher Dennis Brown, who oversees the publication, is himself an expert on free speech and rights for the media.
In the end, the paper was distributed and Snow looked like a bigger fool for his childish display of attempted censorship than he did in the editorial the students wrote about him.
NW Herald 3/24/06
NW Herald 3/26/06
May, 2006
Welcome to District 158, Ms. Ferrier
There’s nothing like receiving a warm welcome when you start a new job. Unfortunately, before Tereasa Ferrier even started in the Finance Department at District 158, Larry Snow had already taken a very public swipe at her professional reputation.
Snow spoke up at a board meeting and said the new hire would not do a good job and that the other board members and administrators “would rather look the other way than scrutinize [potential employees].”
Now, a few years later, Ferrier has proven herself to be a valuable asset. In retrospect, D 158 is lucky that Ferrier didn’t send a “thanks, but no thanks” letter to Dr. Burkey when she learned what kind of working environment she was walking into.
NW Herald 5/23/06
June, 2006
Snow Sends Automated Phone Message to Residents Seeking Support for His Political Agenda
District 158 residents were minding their own business on this June day, when an automated phone call arrived at households across District 158. The call praised Larry Snow and attacked the reputations of his colleagues on the board and in the administration.
According to the story in the Northwest Herald, parents were angered by the call and felt harassed by it.
Snow, of course, denied any involvement with the message. Yeah, right.
NW Herald 6/27/06
July, 2006
Board Votes to Re-Affirm Board Member Code of Conduct; Snow Votes NO
By the summer of 2006, Snow’s name calling and ridiculing of staff and board members had reached a fever pitch. Something had to be done.
At a meeting in July, the board took action to reaffirm the School Board Member Code of Conduct, which each of them swore to uphold when they took office.
Everyone voted yes, except for Snow, who called it a publicity stunt and an attempt to curb free speech. Free speech? Are you kidding? This from the guy who tried to censor the high school newspaper so they wouldn’t say anything bad about him?
NW Herald 7/21/06
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