Family-run business = Good; Family-run government= ?
Bad!
In case you’ve missed it, there was a chilling article in yesterday’s Chicago Tribune on contamination in the Crestwood municipal water supply. Read it here
There are still unanswered questions, like “how in the hell could this happen?” There are several clues, and incidentally, they all can be found in the same paragraph (my bold):
For years Crestwood was best known for its longtime mayor, Chester “Chet” Stranczek, a former minor-league pitcher and trucking company owner who boasted that he ran the village like a business.
Here we have a mayor who bragged about the great taste of his towns water, who cut costs by cutting corners. Yes, he did indeed run the village like a business. And therein lies the problem. Governments are NOT businesses, and therefore, they should not be run like businesses. Businesses are self-serving entities. Governments are entities that serve the greater good. One is not like the other.
Here’s another clue that something’s not right in Crestwood:
Stranczek retired in 2007 after nearly four decades in office and was succeeded by his son, Robert.
So Stranczek builds this town almost four decades and gives it over to his son? Kind of like a family business? Was there was no hint of a clue of public accountability in this town?
This is as much of an indictment of Illinois election code as it is the Illinois EPA and environmental monitoring. People, we cannot keep re-electing people to the same office for four decades, and then when they step down, elect their kids. Why even have the election?
We badly need term limits so we know that people who run government like a business will occasionally get swept out and replaced by people who can capably run a government like a government.