Politics: Regarding Mr. Lyons and Ms. Gordon
Posted in Politics with tags Darrin LaHood, Joan Krupa, Kevin Lyons on November 5, 2008 by Billy DennisDarin LaHood was a great candidate for Peoria County State’s attorney. He’s a former federal prosecutor for God’s sake. He shares the name of one of the most popular politicians in the area.
So it wasn’t just that Kevin Lyons is a bad public servant. By any standard that exists he is. He’s arrogant. He’s dismissive of of people he NEEDS to work with in order to do his job properly. He failed constantly in his responsibility to fight to keep criminals on the street. When word got out that he issued a notice to appear to a convicted criminal arrested on drug and weapons charges, I thought to myself: “This is it. If there’s anyone on the fence about Kevin Lyons, this will send their votes to Darin LaHood.”
Yet there I was at the Darin LaHood victory party watching the final results. Lyons won, 54-46 percent.
LaHood was gracious. He congratulated Lyons — who didn’t appear in public on election night and was unavailable for comment. How very typical.
So we’re stuck with Lyons for another four years. Roger Monroe speculated in this month’s Community Word that Lyons will be appointed to a federal judgeship by President-elect Obama. That would be good news for Peoria County, although whoever would be appointed to replace him would have LaHood’s qualifications or ability to work closely with police.
And Jehan Gordon beat Joan Krupa for the 92nd Illinois House seat now held by Aaron Schock, future Congressman. The results were 53.5 to 46.5, virtually identical to the Lyons/LaHood race. Why? probably because of the massive turnout for Obama, which no doubt put votes into Lyons and Gordon’s pockets. In any other year, Krupa would, I believe, mop up the floor with Gordon, considering her record of lying about having a degree and for not paying her fines for shoplifting.
But I’m more miffed at the Lyons’ turnout that anything else. Gordon struck me as a smart person who was concerned about the people she was trying to get elected to serve. I hope she can grow in office and turn into an effective and independent legislator. She’s going to have to show some backbone and some independence, though.
I have no hope whatsoever that Lyons learned anything. But he’s proven time and again that he refuses to consider the possibility he can be wrong about anything. He’s too set in his ways and refuses to admit he can be mistaken, or that he can learn anything from others. We’re going to have another four years of criminals walking around free as a bird, even though they are felons with criminal records and were caught with illegal guns.
Voters knew all the negatives about both Lyons and Krupa. Well, I’m hoping they did. It’s entirely possible that all these Obama voters simply voted yes for any politician with a “D” by their name.
The people of Peoria County are going to spend the next four years getting the kind of justice we deserve … because we voted for it.
