19/12/2024
Congratulations to Will County's very own Steve Balich for being named "Person of the Year" by the prestigious Clown Magazine!
With 99% of precincts reporting, WCCC can confirm it's been a wild year in Will County-area politics, primarily due to the clownery of Balich and his fellow goons.
In addition to being an embarrassing, inept and loud Will County Board member, Balich is also the embarrassing, inept and loud Homer Township Supervisor. He is up for reelection of the latter position in next April's municipal elections.
Balich and his allies are working overtime to convince voters he is NOT a clown, but, despite their best efforts to mislead residents, his record in just this year alone paints a different picture.
Here are just a few highlights of Balich's 2024 clown routine:
* CIVIC CENTER DEBACLE: Balich continued his previous shortcomings in convincing Homer Twp residents he had any competency whatsoever regarding the planning of a "Civic Center" in 2024, a pet project that stemmed from his false claims voters previously approved such a project; the 2020 referendum only approved looking into available grant funding for a possible "pole structure barn" and not the outright approval for the project, despite Balich's continually misleading of the referendum. While residents simply looked for answers and an opportunity to provide feedback, months went by as his promises for public meetings were postponed or canceled. And despite construction having already begun, Balich, in just the few last weeks, announced meetings for residents to provide their ideas for usage of the empty facility, sign up for "volunteer" work to operate the center, and, more importantly, their suggestions on how to actually fund the facility.
* ‘RIGGED, STOLEN ELECTION’: After an embarrassing defeat for Homer Township Precinct Committeeperson and whining endlessly about ‘stolen’ and ‘rigged’ elections, Balich was able to weasel back in to his PC position after seeking to throw out one single vote intended for his opponent, over a technicality with an election judge's signature on the voter’s ballot.
* FLAG-GATE: On May 31, the day after Trump’s guilty verdict in his pornstar hush-money payoff trial, Balich's birthday turned sour after Will County Clown Car posted a photo, sent by an astute Twitter follower, of an inverted American flag flying at the Homer Township office, setting off a local media frenzy; after just a few hours of questions from reporters amid resident outcry, Balich ordered the flag to fly correctly. after his initial order to use the American flag, flying on public property, to demonstrate his personal disapproval of the verdict. Backlash from veterans and residents was swift and previously-scheduled public township board meetings were postponed, though, eventually, Balich was justifiably ridiculed for using the American flag to impose his personal opinions on all residents he was elected to represent.
And while Balich has cemented his status as Will County's #1 Clown, he was far from the only clown in town.
Will County-area runner-ups for "Person of the Year" by Clown Magazine include:
* JOSH MCBROOM, the Naperville City Council member, for his disingenuous political stunt involving a “sign-up” sheet for residents to house migrants and his subsequent right-wing media tour that followed, casting a negative light on the city.
* KEVIN COYNE, the Naperville real estate attorney, Josh McBroom cheerleader and founder of the defacto GOP PAC masquerading as a “public safety” organization, Safe Suburbs USA. Coyne and his PAC continued his efforts to fear monger voters into voting Republican by exploiting victims of crime, much like Republican operative Dan Proft does with his network of “pink slime” fake community newspapers meant to deceive voters. Coyne pushed his propaganda through Proft’s outlets, and both Proft’s and Coyne’s efforts were largely funded by right-wing billionaire Richard 'Dick' Uihlein. Ultimately, voters largely rejected their efforts to turn the collar counties red.
* CHRISTINA 'MC' CLAUSEN, the shameless right-wing provocateur and Balich cheerleader who, in what was easily predicted to be a disaster for the county party, was elected for chair of the Will County GOP earlier this year. Despite numerous election cycles of losses, Will County Republicans ignored the flashing red warning signs of Trump being an absolute loser in the suburbs — especially with women — and went even further down the MAGA-hole. Not only did they ignore those warning signs, the party lost the fundraising behemoth that was previously chair, Tim Ozinga. Predictably, Clausen was unable to overcome these challenges and failed to bring any meaningful gains for her party in once reliably-Republican Will County.
* JIM MARTER, the Christian Nationalist, Trump acolyte and WCCC fan favorite who the Chicago Tribune labeled a "perennial candidate" for his numerous failed US House and Senate campaigns. 2024 was a better year for Marter, though, as a smaller group of primary candidates than in years prior allowed him to become the Republican nominee for US Congress in Illinois' 14th congressional district. But his efforts to defeat Rep Lauren Underwood were doomed from the beginning: Marter's ultra conservative, racist, misogynist and anti-LGBTQ+ positions and messaging easily proved disastrous to him in November's general election in a heavily suburban district that had repeatedly shunned MAGA lunatics like him.
Who do YOU think deserved to be honored with Clown Magazine's prestigious "Person of the Year" award, and why is it also Balich?
Which area clowns did we leave out for runners-up? Let us know in the comments!