By Mark David Blum, Esq.
Leave it to a Republican Town Councilor seeking re-election next year to abuse the power of his office and rile up the public against an invisible boogeyman. In doing so, this Councilor both illuminates his own fundamental misunderstanding of basic American liberties as well abuses those constituents whom he supposedly serves. Cicero Town Councilor, James Corl wants to be a hero. He has created a political distraction so as to appear as though he actually accomplished something while in office. Apparently he has no meat and potatoes to fatten his track record and so he slathers it with gravy to hide his failures and make his re-election appear appetizing.
The irony of Mr. Corl’s posture is that in true blue Republican fashion, he himself was sued by a former Town employee for sexual harassment. From that, it would seem that consistent with behaviors exhibited by Republican former Congressman Mark Foley and so many others; those with the loudest voices against something tend to be themselves the greatest sinners.
Query what motivated Mr. Corl to bring this issue to the table. Has Cicero solved all of its homeless and hunger problems? Do all taxpayers in the town have the best of schools, roads, police, and fire? How reasonable is a Cicero Town tax bill? For a representative to waste valuable taxpayer dollars on an issue like restricting residences for former convicts, either the Town of Cicero has a serious problem with pedophiles or Mr. Corl has lost sight of his real job and responsibilities.
I have known Mr. Corl since he was a baby lawyer and in fact, I think I was his first professional employer. This morning, I hang my head in great shame as it would appear that I failed in my duty to bring Mr. Corl into the light. I thought he understood the concepts of Liberty and had seen first hand the results of abusive government. If he did learn those lessons, he has chosen to forget them in lieu of a taxpayer funded retirement. From what I see and hear about his doings in Cicero, Mr. Corl seems to have sold his soul and the oath he took as an attorney just to pander to a narrow minded constituency.
Let’s talk about pedophiles: While the Cicero legislation appears to target NINE post conviction, post sentence, post release, former felons, in reality it does nothing whatsoever to either prevent any crime or halt the threats to children. Corl knows this and he knows that I know he knows this. It would seem that for him, Corl has found the most vulnerable person in society, the greatest of social outcasts, and then use that person as a whipping boy and a back upon which Corl can make his last stand as an officeholder.
A pedophile, a person who has a sexual lust for children, is without more, a threat to no one. We humans can not control the fantasies that fly through our heads. What we can control is our behavior. A predator who stalks and attacks children is the most cowardly of human beings. Despite the shrill outcry in recent years, pedophiles are not the most dangerous people in society. Of late, they are just the fashionable whipping boy du jour. (A decade ago, it was drug users and drug dealers. Five years ago, it was terrorists. Today, it is pedophiles. Tomorrow – hopefully, Republicans).
We are a nation “conceived in Liberty”. Bile rises in my gut every time I hear a politician argue that a law should be passed because of what someone “might” do. Argued as the fundamental principle behind his ordinance, Corl declares that a convicted sex offender “might” re-offend and as the Town Savior, he has to do something about it. He considers the danger of such re-offending to be so high, that he led the charge to assure that no sex offender lives within so many feet of a school or park. This restriction, according to Corl, will reduce the threat posed by sexual predators as if to say an evil minded person cannot walk the extra couple hundred feet to pick off a victim.
The argument goes that a level 2 or level 3 sex offender constitutes a high risk of re-offending. So too might a murderer re-offend. A thief might steal again, an abuser might abuse again, and an alcoholic may drive drunk again. We cannot know what is in a person’s heart and mind. Based on Corl’s logic, he seeks to protect children from predators, but cares not one whit about murderers, thieves, or drunk drivers prowling his Town. Where is the legislation restricting where those people can live?
At its core, the whole Corl argument flies in the face of our constitution and laws and more than 200 years of history. Simply put, once you pay your debt to society, you are allowed to return to society and be a productive member thereof. Whatever may have been the prison sentence; once a citizen is released from custody and from disabilities, nobody and least of all Jim Corl should have the power to decide where that person lives. The rights to assembly and to travel freely are fundamental rights. Corl’s pandering is slowly and in small steps, dismantling some of the most basic freedoms and principles upon which this nation was founded.
I adore Jim Corl. He is a good man with a big heart. Somewhere along the way in furthering his career, he got lost and knocked off path. Hopefully, this essay will remind him why he got into this business in the first place.
But I cannot and will not respect him as a Town Councilor. I see him as ineffective and reflective of the worst in American politics: Kicking at straw men, pandering to fears, ignoring real issues, and in the end, accomplishing nothing but removing another cornerstone of our freedom.
Shame on you Jim Corl.
(As always, we welcome any comments from Mr. Corl and will publish them unedited. His silence is his own shame).
