Maybe it’s Jolene

Jolene c. 2009

     At last week’s board meeting (or, rather, the special meeting held immediately after), the board voted to go forward with an interim appointment to replace the recently departed Tom Fuentes, who represented Area 6. The discussion over whether to appoint someone or to leave the vacancy until November was mighty strange. The trustees seemed to lurch awkwardly from motion to motion, and I suspect that some of 'em remain unclear concerning their decision. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, the district didn’t videotape that special meeting, and so you’ll have to take my word for it.
     The district has posted a Notice of Trustee Vacancy, visible at the district website. The notice says that applications for the position will be accepted until the 11th of June (in two weeks) and candidate interviews (conducted by the board, I believe) will start on the 18th.
     At last Monday's meeting, Board Prez Nancy Padberg revealed that a “relative” of Tom’s had expressed an interest in this vacancy. At first, I assumed that the interested party was Tom’s son, TJ, whose political career Tom promoted during the last six months or so of his life (see).
     But TJ is 25 years old. And I suspect that he does not live at home—which means that he likely doesn’t live in Lake Forest or Trustee Area 6.
     That would disqualify him.
     Tom had two other children: Joey, the youngest, and Michelle, the eldest. Joey’s still a kid, so he can’t be the interested party. And Michelle, it seems, is finishing her doctorate (in Poli Sci) back in Alabama.
     But, of course, there’s one further family member: Tom’s widow, Jolene.
     I don’t know much about Jolene. She seems not to take an active role in politics or the party, although she certainly accompanied Tom to many party events.

The happy couple c. 1990

     I know people who have met her and who say she’s “very nice.”
     Such information causes cognitive dissonance. How can she be nice? I mean, Tom was among the few people on Earth who was routinely referred to as “the Prince of Darkness.” The two other Ps of D that I can think of—Mike Schroeder and the late Robert Novak—were close friends of Tom’s.
     So Jolene is nice. Near as I can tell, daughter Michelle is nice, too. Even her politics are nice!
     But, obviously, such moral prodigies are actually fairly common in our world. Hell, I’m even beginning to think that Tom himself had a strong decent side to him. He was careful always to hide it from the outside world, it seems.
     So maybe it’s Jolene. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.