Lyons Village Officials Are Really Classy

By Samantha Abernethy in News on Apr 2, 2009 9:30PM

Two Lyons village officials accidentally recorded a racially and sexually inappropriate conversation that they had in a police car last summer. Village President David Visk and Trustee Richard Schuppe activated a recording device in the squad car while he was driving it to the Fourth of July parade. Their excuse for the inappropriate conversation? Visk said, "If we had known we are going to be recorded, we wouldn't talk like that." Hmm... where have we heard that before? Oh yeah.

On the tape, Visk said that he enjoyed the parade route because it allowed him to look up girls' skirts as they sat on the curb, and the two of them discussed running down U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinksi (D-Ill.) with the police car.

Schuppe is heard using the "n-word" to describe a man who delivered a refrigerator to his home. Commenting on the price of the refrigerator, Visk told Schuppe that the worker should have thrown in a free watermelon, though Visk said the comment was not racially motivated.

"Knowing Mr. Schuppe as many years as I have, he happens to be fond of that particular fruit," Visk said Wednesday.

Right. Nice save, Visk. In his defense, Schuppe said, "It was something that just came out in the middle of a sentence, and I apologized for it." Wow, these guys are good.

The recording was just released, conveniently timed with the village president election in a few days. Visk faces two challengers, and the other candidates have denied involvement in the tape's release, despite the offender's accusations otherwise. Schuppe is in the middle of a four-year term, so his post is not threatened by the upcoming election.

Fox News Chicago has the video.