Writer disagrees with opinion piece written by Hiniker

In the Saturday, January 29, 2022, issue, Jerry Hiniker, a public official who sits on the Cook County Board of Adjustment, penned a he-said-she-said style of letter to the editor claiming that he was treated unfairly during an interview by Joe Friedrichs of WTIP. The interview was about the judgment in the State Representative Mortenson case.

In the long diatribe, Hiniker complained that Friedrichs committed character assassination against Hiniker and other board members, and then Hiniker turned around and did the same to Friedrichs and Mr. Mortenson. It’s stunning that a public official of Cook County, who is supposed to be impartial and who was appointed to the Cook County Board of Adjustment to be an impartial arbitrator of the law, would pen an open letter to the editor calling a sitting State Representative a “crass intemperate boor.” Anyone with good judgment who thought they were slighted by a reporter wouldn’t address the issue in an open letter to the local newspaper; they’d speak with the manager of the radio station.

The lack of judgment from Hiniker is appalling. Cook County should be ashamed that we have someone of that character sitting on a Board of Adjustment. Hiniker should resign or be removed.

Bryan Hansel,
Grand Marais