North Cook News

A Northfield Township GOP Committeeman is criticizing a member of the township's board of trustees for participating in a board meeting remotely on her cellphone while driving.

T.J. Brown called Shiva Mohsenzadeh’s behavior “alarming,” unsafe and a violation of the law. 

“At 7 minutes after 6 p.m., Ms. Mohsenzadeh appeared on the teleconference, and she was clearly driving,” Brown told North Cook News. “Her eyes darted from the road down to the phone and back. You could see the background out the rear windows changing. At one point, the phone fell over and Ms. Mohsenzadeh had to adjust it.”

Watching a video while driving and operating a cellphone while driving are against the law, Brown said.

“Beyond the safety issue, it's hard for me to believe that you can be actively listening and participating in a meeting like this, casting votes, asking questions, and debating while also doing another mentally-intensive task,” Brown said. “Since last year, I have been on countless Zoom calls and never have I seen a participant driving and Zooming.”

People frequently have teleconferences in the car using the phone hands-free, Brown said.

“But even then, driving and participating in a conference call does not reflect a lot of care or interest in the task at hand,” he said.

Mohsenzadeh is chief of staff for State Sen. Laura Fine.

“Fine, a state representative from 2013-2019 before replacing Dan Biss as state senator, has sponsored bills stiffening penalties for distracted driving," Brown said.

He doesn't expect Fine to publicly address Mohsenzadeh's call.

"Ms. Mohsenzadeh did not attend this meeting as a representative of Sen. Fine's office," Brown said. "She attended it as a Trustee who is supposed to put the interests of the residents and taxpayers of Northfield Township first.”

Brown fell short of calling for Mohsenzadeh’s resignation as Fine’s chief of staff.

 “I have many differences with both Sen. Fine and Ms. Mohsenzadeh, but my level of outrage is reserved for the way Ms. Mohsenzadeh treated her role as trustee,” he said. “I do not wish to ‘cancel’ Ms. Mohsenzadeh -- policies aside. She is a member of my community, someone's wife, someone's mother, and as capable of mistakes as the rest of us. If Sen. Fine feels Ms. Mohsenzadeh's performance is acceptable as Chief of Staff, then she should keep her in that position.”

Mohsenzadeh did not immediately respond to a request for comment. NBC Chicago reported that during the meeting in question, Mohsenzadeh drove for a few minutes and looked for a place to pull over.