State Rep. Eddie Washington Thinks Terry Link's Out of Touch On Need for Towing Law in Lake County

Regular TA readers know that we have been following the Lake County News-Sun's extensive coverage of State Senator Terry Link's questionable involvement in the failure of the new Illinois Commercial Safety Towing Act to apply to Lake County, even though it applies to just about every other Chicagoland county, including Cook.

We originally reported on this issue here, but noted that the News-Sun had failed to connect the dots and notice that Terry Link coincidentally has been the beneficiary of large contributions over the years from the very Lake County towing companies that somehow escaped the net of the new law. The News-Sun picked up the trail, though, and followed-up with a scathing editorial questioning Link's connections with the would-be regulated businesses. GOP opponent Keith Gray also got in on the act and blasted Link for his failure to protect Lake County consumers by not adding them to the protection of the new law.

Link tried to defend his actions by saying that he had heard "no outcry" from his constituents that indicated to him that Lake County citizens needed protection (unlike everyone else in Chicago).

But State Representative Eddie Washington (who represents the 60th legislative district, which is the north half of Link's senate district) begs to differ. In a nasty letter to the News-Sun this morning, Washington takes Link to task for failing to step up for the consumers:

"Unlike my Democratic colleague, Sen. Terry Link, I have had numerous complaints from local residents who are mostly low income and among the working poor who struggle daily to make ends meet. Some of them have had their cars towed and have had to pay in the thousands of dollars for the only vehicle that is primarily used to go back and forth to jobs outside of Waukegan.

The cost to get their car back has sometimes cost more than the cost of the car itself. To add insult to injury, some owners found that while their cars were under the care of some tow companies, the car was vandalized. Often, the economic hardship was too great of a demand, and some owners just walked away and allowed the vehicle to become the property of the towing company, therefore putting yet another family at risk."

As everyone knows, Eddie Washington has been on the outs with Link for a while now, as Link backed a primary opponent, County Board member Angelo Kyle against Washington. So, I guess we can add Washington to the growing number of people who won't be unhappy to see how Terry Link's petition scandals affect his chances for re-election.

Inter-party warfare at its best, folks. Too bad it's the citizens of Lake County who lose out.