In the 1976 movie “Network,” iconic news anchor Howard Beale galvanizes a frustrated citizenry with the battle cry: “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!”

“Network” screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky and actor Peter Finch, however, had nothing on Park Ridge’s own Sixth Ward Ald. Tom Bernick, who claims to have “had enough” of his fellow aldermen texting and e-mailing during Council meetings.  Bernick says he is going to file a FOIA request to find out what all that e-communication is about.

Bernick wants to get to the bottom of what he labels the “disturbing” possibility that aldermen are sending or receiving secret messages during meetings that might be affecting how they vote.  The mind reels at the possibility of George Soros or the Koch brothers surreptitiously influencing some alderman or other right before a crucial roll call vote on whether or not the Council should approve the next installment of Meals on Wheels funding, or raise water rates.

In his nine months on the Council, Bernick has shown a propensity for proclaiming himself “a businessman,” usually right before he argues or votes for spending taxpayer money in a decidedly non-businesslike fashion.  His most prominent legislative initiative to date has been an ordinance that would impose a dress code on taxi drivers – a proposal that produced a few humorous quips from his fellow aldermen about enforcement problems that so steamed Bernick, he accused them of mocking him.

Memo to Ald. Bernick: They weren’t mocking you, Tom, they were mocking your half-baked idea.  And if it makes you feel even better, those football players huddling between plays aren’t talking about you.

Bernick’s incipient paranoia doesn’t appear to be limited just to himself.  He recently suggested that certain aldermen’s objections to awarding a defective contract for the Taste of Park Ridge event might be motivated by “personal vendettas” against Taste Inc. and/or its operators.  Bernick didn’t name names, nor did he suggest the source or nature of those “vendettas” – probably because such details would reveal his already questionable suggestion to be just plain silly.

We’re not quite sure what will be involved in the City’s responding to Bernick’s FOIA request, if he actually launches it.  The only Illinois law on the matter is a November 2011 opinion by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan that governmental bodies are obligated to collect and treat as “public records” e-mails and text messages of public officials dealing with public business during meetings, even if that information is communicated through the officials’ private cell phones or computers. 

We expect that opinion to be challenged in court by some public official or governmental body, if only because of privacy issues and the expense of compliance/enforcement.  Until it is, however, we would expect any implementation by the City to involve City Attorney “Buzz” Hill’s spending a lot of time (and a lot of taxpayer money) sorting through hundreds/thousands of e-mails and text messages to determine which involve public business during public meetings. 

We also expect that the most likely result of that exercise will be nothing more than the kind of things Ald. Marty Maloney (7th) quipped about: e-mails from his wife asking him to stop for milk on his way home from the Council meeting.  Not surprisingly, Bernick didn’t see the humor in that, either.

Bernick’s recent displays of irritation with his fellow aldermen come in the wake of rumors that he was on the verge of resigning from the Council, ostensibly because of the demands of…wait for it…his business.  Those rumors had become so rampant that Sixth Ward activist and O’Hare Airport archenemy Gene Spanos was soliciting recommendations for mayoral appointees as Bernick’s replacement once he resigned.

We don’t know whether Bernick will stay or go.  But if he does stay, he should take a lesson from another iconic figure – the late, legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden – who famously instructed his All-American players:

“Don’t mistake activity for achievement.”

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