If you’re a reader of The Community Word, you no doubt follow city politics. So, you are aware of the debacle than ensued when Peoria Mayor essentially ordered Peoria Police chief Steve Settingsgaard to investigate and arrest the author of a Twitter account called @peoriamayor.
The mayor (the real one) thought the tweets were horribly vulgar, rude, insulting and treated his family poorly. The legal reasoning for all this was Ardis’ opinion that he was being impersonated. At a later press conference, Settingsgaard and Peoria County State’s Attorney Jerry Brady said they understood all along that the law against impersonating a public official didn’t apply.
In the end, the offender was released without being changed, because … there was no crime. Except for some pot they found. As this is being written, those charged remain on the books.
As serious city hall observer for the last 12 years, I couldn’t help but wonder about how gadfly City Councilman Gary Sandberg would react to all this. Sandberg died last summer as he worked to fix up his Southwest Adams Street home. The apartment didn’t have any air conditioning, and the heat killed him.
But we don’t have to wonder. Gary Sandberg is back in spirit form. And his wraith has started a Twitter account at @SandbergsGhost. Glad to be able to communicate with my old friend, I sent Gary Sandberg’s Ghost a few tweets and asked him for his take on this whole mess.
Me: Gary, I didn’t know they had the Internet in heaven.
Gary Sandberg’s Ghost: You are making an assumption I’m in heaven. I won’t say where I ended up, but I’ve pretty much taken over. One of the first things I did was allow for the use of smartphones. I needed a way to follow the Yankees. There are a lot of Yankees fans where I ended up. And, I made sure the bars here all stock plenty of Beemish.
Me: I have to tell you, the Peoria City Council tributes to you passed away were quite touching.
Gary Sandberg’s Ghost: What a bunch of sh*t-mouthed hypocrites. They all talked about how smart I was and how I knew everything about city government. Well, if I was so f***ing smart, you think one or two of them would have voted no along with me more than they did. All those ‘no” votes weren’t supposed to be meaningless protest votes. When I voted against something it was because IT WAS A BAD IDEA. I would have liked to have won more of those votes.
Me: And what is your take on Twittergate?
Gary Sandberg’s Ghost: The worst of the damage is done. I’d say Jim’s little tirade cost the city at least a couple million dollars in lost development. They’ve done stories in the New York Times and the Washington Post and CNN about what a backwoods rube of a town Peoria is. Do you think for one moment that any Internet start-up is going to risk moving to a town where the mayor can get a bug up his butt and sic the cops on you?
Me: Didn’t you back Jim Ardis in his first run for mayor?
Gary Sandberg’s Ghost: Don’t remind me. I gave up on all those bastards several years before I died.
Me: And what do you think of the police’s actions?
Gary Sandberg’s Ghost: It’s the same old story. The powers in charge use the police to reward and punish their enemies. They constantly were trying to get me in trouble. I woke up one day to see a cop wandering around my home. Look at what happened to Dan Irving.
Me: And now that it’s all collapsed, no one seems to be taking any responsibility.
Gary Sandberg’s Ghost: The worst one is City Manager Pat Urich. Did you hear him being questioned by Chuck Weaver? He denied he had ANY any role AT ALL in supervising Settingsgaard. What the HELL is that? The council has ONE employee it can hire and fire, Pat Urich. If “Saint Patrick” refuses to supervise Settingsgaard, then Settingsgaard HAS no supervision. Peoria has a police department that is immune to public supervision. I died at the right time, it seems. Who wants to live in a police state?