Peoria Pundit

I received a copy of the following email, which is apparently being sent to Bradley University students. I’ll reproduce it, then add my comments to the bottom:

To All Bradley Fraternity Presidents:

My name is Jeff Hall & I am one of the attorneys representing Sigma Nu in the case against Barbara Van Auken. As you may know, the election is coming up on April 7, 2009. There are some important dates I need you to inform your members about. It is imperative you do all you can to drive your members to register and vote. I send this email today with no time to spare. /

There is no secret that I am a strong supporter of Curphy Smith. I feel he would do a great job for ALL residents in his district, especially for Bradley students. That is why we need him elected. If Barb Van Auken wins, she will exact revenge on the Greek system at Bradley. You think it is tough now, just wait if she remains your council woman. Rumor has it that she is a very vengeful person and it would behoove every member of every fraternity to take 30 minutes out of their day tomorrow and go down to register and vote for “grace period voting”.

Tuesday 3/24/09 (tomorrow)

This is “grace period voting” meaning if you are not registered to vote you can register and vote at the same time. If you are registered already, you can still vote.

We will have transportation from the Student Center from 10am4pm (ish) to the election commission downtown. (it closes at 5pm). Students need to bring a driver’s license AND something with their Bradley address on it, such as: a bill–credit card or utility, or their Webster page from Bradley.

Saturday 3/28/09

This is “early voting” only. You must already be registered to vote at your Bradley address.

We are encouraging student car pooling, but will be providing transportation from the Student Center from 9am-2:30pm to the election commission. (it closes at 3pm). Students need to bring a driver’s license AND something with their Bradley address on it, such as: a bill–credit card or utility, or their Webster page from Bradley, or their voter registration card with their BU address on it.

I implore you to act. Now is the time to stand up and allow the city to hear your voice. If you vote with the drive and impetus we know students can possess, BVA will be voted out and no longer will Bradley students and Greek Members be underrepresented. You will make it easier for your successors. You will actually have real political power. That is a big thing to possess, especially around Peoria and Bradley.

We need at least 500 BU voters out of this election to win. Currently voter turn out is very low, but BVA’s supporters will vote for certain. You and your members are the secret weapon. Please take the time to go down to the election precinct tomorrow. It will only take 30 minutes. Further, grab 5 of your friends that aren’t in a fraternity/sorority and get them to go with you. We need all the help we can get.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to seeing you at the polls.

Respectfully,

Jeffrey R. Hall

My two cents: Of course, Bradley students have the right to vote. That should go without saying, but to avoid any silly comments suggesting I am implying the opposite, I’ll say it here. BU students have the right to vote and I support that right.

The question is: Where do they vote? Do they vote here, in Peoria, where they are attending college, or do they vote where they live? When I attended Eastern Illinois University, I slept in Charleston, but I was still a resident of Peoria. I voted absentee. I never cast one single vote for any local race in Charleston (although I do recall registering). Not that I didn’t care or didn’t have an opinion. Simply stated, I considered myself a Peoria resident and cast my votes in Peoria. My stay in Charleston was going to be temporary and I knew it.

I knew that Charleston residents would — and had every right to — resent transient student votes deciding who held local offices. And I strongly suspected that some EIU students who did cast votes in Charleston did nothing to cancel their hometown registrations, meaning they remained registered in two counties, which is suspect is not exactly legal. And I would not surprise me if one or more of my classmates did the absentee ballot thing AND voted in person in Charleston. I know that IS illegal.

So, while Bradley students have the right to register locally and vote locally, I would encourage them as a matter of personal honor and integrity to vote in the communities in which they actually consider themselves permanent residents.

Second: Curphy Smith has every right to ask any eligible, registered voter to vote for him. He campaign has the right to register any eligible voter. His campaign has the right to drive voters to the polls. This is the stuff of grassroots politics.

Third: Permanent residents of Peoria are no different than the residents of Charleston and just might resent temporary occupants of dorms and student rentals helping to decide who sites on the Peoria City Council and other elected bodies long after these students have moved back to their real homes. People have the right to base their vote on anything they want to base it on. So while the Smith campaign has the right go after the student vote, permanent 2nd District residents have the right to decide to vote against Smith because he is going after the student vote, and would thus be beholden to them if he wins.

Fourth: If you were wondering whether the Sigma Nu fraternity’s lawsuit against Barbara Van Auken and others was politically motivated, I guess learning that that their attorney is electioneering for her opponent pretty much answers that question.

UPDATE: C.J. Summers beat me again and had a post up about this before I did (I decided to get 8 hours of sleep, instead). He also links to a PDF file that shows an anonymous anti-Curphy Smith flyer that’s going around, accusing the Smith campaign of violating election rules. A conversation with a Peoria Election commission official left me convinced it is not.

From a press release:

MEDIA ADVISORY

For Planning Purposes

March 4, 2009

Contact: Jeffrey R. Hall, Hall, Owens & Wickenhauser L.L.C.

(309-231-9980)
News Conference Tomorrow

Attorneys file civil lawsuit against Peoria Councilwoman

Barbara Van Auken for drunken abuse of power last fall

Peoria…Attorneys for the Sigma Nu fraternity are filing a civil lawsuit against Peoria City Councilwoman Barbara Van Auken for her drunken escapade last fall abusing her power, insulting Bradley University police and willful trespassing on the property of the Sigma Nu fraternity.

At the news conference the attorneys and leaders of the fraternity will discuss the particulars of the lawsuit and hand out supporting evidence to members of the media. The incident occurred on September 29, 2008 and now that the process of discovery—which was made difficult by the City of Peoria—is complete, the lawsuit is being filed.

News Conference:

Location: Sigma Nu Fraternity

(1300 W. Fredonia), Peoria

10:30 am

Thursday, March 5, 2009

And after I received the above “media advisory,” I received the following email:

This is also a request to not report this story tonight as we have yet to file the lawsuit today. Please embargo the story until our news conference tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. at the Sigma Nu Fraternity house as reported in my previous email.

Jeffrey R. Hall

Sorry. Both emails arrived in my inbox unsolicited. I didn’t agree ahead of time to not report on it. This is news, and I’m reporting on it.

And yes, I know that I’ll be criticized for it. And I know some folks will say that I’m just protecting a friend. So be it. And I’m sure that folks will assume that this lawsuit was filed a month before the election just to hurt Van Auken’s el-election chances, So be it.

My earlier posts about the issue:

Local: Van Auken fights for neighborhood, hands foes an issue
Local: Sigma Nu incident was simmering for months
Local: A few new details about Sigma Nu incident

UPDATE: From the lawfirm:

On the media advisory, the date given for the incident occurring was September 29, 2008.  That is incorrect.  The incident began around11:33 on September 19, and continued into September 20, 2008.

Regarding embargoes, from PRWeek:

“(Embargoes) are not a particularly ethical arrangement from a media standpoint, argues Gary Hill, head of the ethics committee for the Society of Professional Journalists, and an broadcast investigative reporter in the Twin Cities. “People will just kind of feed you the information and slap something on the top of it that says this is embargoed until such and such a time. We didn’t ask for the information; they just ship the information, and then they ask us to act in a certain fashion, when our ethics say we should act in a different fashion. Its not necessarily ethical on our part to honor the embargo.”

The best journalists will tell you their first loyalty lies with the public. If information is viewed as important for safety or welfare, embargoing can come across as self-serving. And honoring the embargo becomes a greater ethical breach than publishing the information.

“The embargo may be illegitimate if it is merely serving the interests of the organization releasing the information, points out Bob Steele, head of the ethics program at The Poynter Institute. “The ethical issue of embargoes has to do with the importance of the information to the public.

If what’s being withheld is of value to the public, then journalists could very well be unethical by failing to serve the citizens to whom they owe primary allegiance.”

This is one of my concerns with the mainstream press. It tends to define what is ethical by what makesw their job easier to do.

Am I worried that somehow I’m gonna stop getting press releases. Not really. But if I would have to lower my standards to g3et press releases, I’d just as soon stop anyway.

In today’s column, Phil Luciano lets readers know that he is a member of the faculty at Bradley University, a fact he did not mention in two recent columns that sided with BU students regarding the last week’s incident in which an allegedly intoxicated city council member confronted members of Sigma Nu over multiple noise complaints stemming from a late-night outdoor drinking party.

And I have to hand it to Phi. He graciously conceded that this fact should have been included in the columns and then he apologized for not doing so.

Just kidding. His apology consisted of one word, “oopsie.” He then devoted the rest of the column ridiculing anyone who suggested he was Bradley’s “stooge.” He cited several obnoxious phone calls and emails to prove his point about his critics.

I’m betting as least some of those emails and phone calls were more lucid and sincere (at least more sincere than Phil’s apology), but he won’t share those because they don’t prove his point that anyone who would criticize him is a moron.

My message to Phil: You’ve dipped your toe into the cleansing waters of journalistic transparency by revealing the potential conflict of interest regarding Bradley University. Why not dive in and share ALL your emails on the subject?

Phil Luciano once again discusses the conflict between Bradley University students and neighbors. And once again, he essentially sides with students by claiming that the problem isn’t the noise, litter, public drinking, fireworks, public urination and the occasionally fatality. The problem is that the permanent residents and property taxpayers aren’t making the students feel welcome.

This is Luciano’s second column in as many days about the issue. And for the second time, he failed to mention that he gets a paycheck from Bradley University. That’s a potential conflict of interest at least as large as the fact that I’m friends with Barbara Van Auken.

Some observations on this matter:

• Many of the folks who are criticizing Van Auken for confronting Sigma Nu over its outdoor drinking party would be criticizing her if she had done nothing about the problems these residents are trying to fight. City Council elections are coming up, and battle lines are being drawn. I fully expect the editorial and news pages of the Journal Star to pimp for whoever runs against Van Auken.
• I’ve lived next door to a crack house. I’ve lived a few blocks from a frat house. If I had to chose between the two, with no other options, I’d be hard pressed to come to a decision.
• Luciano quotes an anonymous father of some anonymous frat kid, upset that the neighbors are picking on his precious little snowflake. This speaks volumes to me. Would Luciano quote a permanent resident anonymously? Doubt it.