Part 1: A modern day ‘David and Goliath’

Part 1 of Republican corruption in Lake County IL

Nancy J. Thorner

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Part 1: A modern day ‘David and Goliath’ clash over corrupt practices in the Office of Lake County Coroner: “David Cooper’s candidacy is challenged despite stellar qualifications to seek position of Lake County Coroner” October 6, 2011

Four-part series: A modern day ‘David and Goliath’ clash over corrupt practices in the Office of Lake County Coroner

Part one: “David Cooper’s candidacy is challenged despite stellar qualifications to seek position of Lake County Coroner”

In what is a reversal of the battle between David and Goliath, as given in 1 Samuel, Chapter 17, is a present day battle being carried out between one who has not yet officially declared his candidacy for the position of Lake County Coroner, David Cooper, and Republican Lake County establishment insiders.Politics can be nasty and definitely is not for the weak at heart, but what I find reprehensible is when fellow Republican politicians attack one of their own, with the sole purpose of causing a prospective candidate both monetary and personal degradation irrespective of the targeted candidate’s qualifications and experience that far surpass the candidate Republican establishment insiders have already predetermined to win the office

As a Liberty Leader at the Illinois Policy Institute — Brian Costin heads the Liberty Leaders program as Director of Outreach, with John Tillman serving as CEO of the Illinois Policy Institute – I am committed to advancing a stated Illinois Policy Institute objective, that of transparency (allowing the sunshine in) at all levels of government under the assumption that it is the public right to know what is being done be those we have elected to work for us.

Many of my fellow Republicans might look unkindly at me for revealing what my research has uncovered. Definite definite tactics and acts were seemingly committed with the sole purpose of dissuading David Cooper from pursuing the Office of Lake County Coroner.

Corruption in politics and in government should not and cannot be tolerated, whether practiced by Republicans or Democrats, for corruption is like a cancer that eventually destroys by devouring all that is good about about an institution meant to benefit the citizens under its jurisdiction.

As a resident of Lake County and in my role as Precinct Committeeman in District #240 in Shield Township, I have witnessed time and time again irresponsible behavior. Such is current action at the Federal level where Republican establishment insiders and pundits are trying to sway the public to favor the Republican candidate they themselves favor to challenge President Obama in 2012.

It is also the way things are done here in Illinois. Practiced is the selective choosing of candidates even before Republican voters in all 102 Illinois counties have registered their choice in Primary Elections.

The reprehensible tactics in my home county of Lake by Republican insiders against David Cooper, when announcing his intentions to run for the Office of Lake County coroner to fellow Republicans and legislators, will surely rank as one of the most deliberate acts of candidate sabotage ever in the state of Illinois. To be fair, I must admit that I am friends of Ken and Beverly Cooper, parents of David Cooper. Beverly Cooper, as producer for the past 30 years of her own weekly Comcast cable TV program, “Cooper’s Corner,” has given political recognition to some of the same Republicans who are now ganging up on her son, having willingly come to her studio in Highland Park as guests to receive county-wide political recognition and political exposure. “Cooper’s Corner” is videotaped and shown throughout Lake County and five other counties on community Comcast TV stations in the week following Bev Coopers weekly Wednesday TV program. My first encounter with David Cooper was at a Libertyville Lake County Tea Party held on July 5th of 2008. At the time I was actively involved in a ”crusade” to keep the Dual Zion Nuclear Station from being destroyed forever, and with it the Nuclear facility’s 2,100 MW’s of clean, safe and green energy. Having made two sign alerting hose in attendance to the foolishness of wasting this massive source of energy, David Cooper agreed to carry one of the signs.

Although David had no qualms in displaying the sign, I did lose sight of David from time to time as I walked with my sign, stopping from time-to-time to engage in discussions about Zion’s destiny should Exelon Corporation get its way.

David, as it turned out in his walk-around, was making frequent stops to consult with elected officials he met along the way about the feasibility of declaring his intentions to run for Lake County coroner. To be noted that In the summer of 2008 no one else had yet declared their candidacy for coroner.What made David Cooper believe that he had the qualifications to be elected as coroner of Lake County.

Following is what Cooper related to me.

First of all, David Cooper is an American combat veteran who enlisted in the Army in January of 1996 and was honorably discharged in April of 2005. David was home-based in Rosemont and was placed on active reserve status because of illness in the family. Even so, upon enlisting Cooper qualified through testing and was immediately accepted into the Military Police Program in Anniston, Alabama for sixteen weeks of intensive training. His DD214 certification is on file at the Lake County Recorder of Deeds Office in Waukegan.David Cooper, in his active reserve status, was deployed overseas twice, first serving in 1997 as a United States Army MP as part of “Operation New Horizons” — also assigned were medical corp personnel and army engineers — and second, in October of 2001, a month after the 9/11 attacks on American soil took place, to Alexandria, Egypt to participate in “Operation Bright Star” for maneuvers with the Egyptian army as MMC (Mubarak Military City).By the time David Cooper was deployed to Alexandria, Egypt, he had obtained the rank of sergeant after attending the Primary Leadership Development Course (PLDC) in 1999.

While on inactive duty status from 2003 – 2005, David Cooper made good use of his time by completing the necessary work to receive a B.S. degree from Western University with a major in Sociology and a minor of Law Enforcement. A Mortuary Science degree followed from Carl Sandburg College before David Cooper’s honorable discharge in April of 2005. I was surprised to learn that David Cooper had applied for and was interviewed for a deputy coroner position, while still serving as an active Army reservist, in the Coroner Office of Lake County in April of 1999 during the tenure of coroner Barbara Richardson.

What David Cooper experienced during his April 1999 interview and what followed upon receiving his rejection letter, offered David insight into what seemed to point to endemic corruption in the Lake County Coroner Office of many years standing stemming back to the 1970′s.

Part two will offer insight into events, through documentation, which should give credence to corruption of long- standing in the Lake County Coroner Office
 
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