LAWRENCE CO., Ill.---By way of introduction to our article in this current issue (Consolidated Election 2015 Preview, March/April) about the various elections in Lawrence County...we're just going to bounce right into it. Because it has the best intro ever.
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As is usually the case, it’s a weird one in some quarters of Lawrence County when it comes to the Consolidated Election this year.
And nowhere is it weirder than in Bridgeport.
Just when everyone thought it was safe to take a deep breath and relish the fact that while federal convict Max Schauf was released March 13 from his stint in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, he can no longer hold an elected office, along comes this year’s race for city alderman and at least one totally unqualified candidate.
Tim Akers, who has more Small Claims cases against him for what amounts to fraud than any embezzlement/theft Schauf could ever have envisioned, is going to be the alderman for Bridgeport Ward 3 because no one is running against him.
This does not bode well for the city as a whole, since Akers has gained a reputation over the years as a con man along with his buddy, Louie “Scam-pbell” Campbell.
Only a year ago, the two were featured in an extensive article about the stunt Akers pulled on media owner Chris Richardson over in Knox County, Indiana, when Richardson hired Akers to sell ads for his Hometown News (HTN) print, web and television station venture in Monroe City.
Akers made a complete disaster of the hire, and left Richardson holding the bag for an untold dollar amount in unpaid ads and undone work. Worse, it appeared that Akers took off with funds that legitimate advertisers believed they were paying to HTN when in reality, they didn’t receive their ads, and Akers never turned in either money nor ad material to the paper/website.
Did he kill IGA?
When his contract with HTN was terminated, Akers once again hooked up with Campbell and schemed to work with Borowiak’s IGA in Lawrenceville selling “digital ads” which appeared on small screens at each checkout counter in the business.
Disclosure, long being familiar with Trevor Borowiak from other IGA stores in Albion and Grayville, called the grocer and warned him about the Akers/Campbell team, but he hired them on anyway.
Not long thereafter, the store went out of business.
Both Akers and Campbell whined mightily and leveled threats both verbally to sources as well as online as keyboard commandoes after the article about the depths to which they’ve sunk...
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To read the rest of the article, including the other municipal elections throughout the county as well as those of school districts, simply click the headline link above if you have an online membership to the e-Edition, or, if you don't, click this link here to get started. But if you prefer to read a print version, visit any one of our wonderful vendors throughout southern Illinois, where you can pick up the current issue, the Consolidated Election 2015 preview (March/April) on stands until one week post-election. Don't miss this one...you need to be informed...more posts to come!