GOP mayor of tornado-ravaged town who endorsed Quinn angers residents with compliance letters

Washington, Illinois in 2011

A few days before the Republican mayor of Washington, Illinois appeared in a television ad announcing his endorsement of Governor Pat Quinn, a Chicago Democrat, some letters were mailed. Certified letters. And when you get that kind of mail, it's almost never good news.

And so it was for the residents of the Ronald Reagan Trail town near Peoria.

From the Peoria Journal Star:

Mayor Gary Manier called it tough love.

City Administrator Tim Gleason called it a new phase of the city's recovery from the Nov. 17 tornado and something that had to be done.

They were talking Thursday about the city's decision to send 371 certified letters last week to property owners in tornado-damaged neighborhoods whose violations of city codes or state laws are making their property unsightly or unsafe.

The letter lists fines, a lien on the property or a suit in Tazewell County Circuit Court as possible penalties for violations ranging from weeds to an open hole.

Non-compliant residents have been told they have ten days to get up to code.

Manier is acting like a thuggish big government Democrat.