Maybe it is time that local Republicans got involved in McHenry County College board politics again.

Not only is the college board acting very strangely in pushing for a non-referendum increase in debt of $35 million, maybe to rise to $38 million, but its board president is running for congress on the Green Party ticket.

Does anyone but me find it ironic that a man who is leading the fight to cover up to 50% of MCC’s property with impermeable surfaces is running on the Green Party ticket?

The Black (for asphalt) Party maybe.

Or, maybe, the Artificial Green Party.

That would reflect the surface of the proposed minor league baseball stadium.

Summers, whose sparse three paragraph campaign biography says he “holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management,” refused to reveal

“any documents upon which the following MCC Trustees’ comments at the April 26, 2007, meeting were based (quoted parts from page 4 of minutes MCC previously provided):

1. Trustee Summers conclusion that ‘…we are defraying the public expenditures with private money…’ and

2. ‘Ms. Miller(‘s) refer(ring) to her CPA standing and stat(ing) that all the figures are in order for us to go ahead with this.’”

Because Summers is running on what is defined by state election law as “an established party” (the Green Party having gotten over 5% of the vote for governor in 2004), he will only have to gather 600 signatures. If he doesn’t want to work that hard, he can be placed on the ballot by party resolution if no one runs in the primary. That would have to be done by April 7th.

The incumbent congressman is United States Representative Don Manzullo, who is based in the Rockford area where Summers will announce his candidacy this Saturday.

There is so much irony in this candidacy.

Besides his role in what McHenry County College is doing or perceived (remember, this is politics, not policy) to be doing to Crystal Lake’s watershed, any hope he might have to capture the environmental vote is pretty slim.

The McHenry County Defenders, before whom Green Party candidate for governor Rich Whitney gave the speech at the annual dinner, are leading the fight against the baseball stadium project.

In addition, Summers lives in Harvard, one of the least populated parts of the 16th congressional district—now represented by Congressman Don Manzullo.

By voting for a minor league baseball stadium in Crystal Lake, one proposed in Harvard may not get off the ground. That could translate in to negative feelings for a congressional candidate.

All of Algonquin Township is in the 16th district. 95,637 in 2000. Algonquin and Grafton Townships are the dog that wags the rest of the 16th congressional district in McHenry County.

Not too close to Harvard, where Summers lives.

This is the township where Democratic Party challenger Robert Abboud lives.

Summers’ candidacy cannot be helpful to the Barrington Hills village president.

Still an unknown is whether retired General John Borling will run as an independent and get on the ballot this time, rather than running as a write-in.

Besides his MBA from Northwester, he reports a liberal arts degree with (unidentified major) from the University of Illinois and a law degree from Northern Illinois University, Summers’ campaign bio says the following:

Summers also is the author of two “how-to” volumes. Guardianship and Conservatorship: A Handbook for Lawyers appeared in 1996. Advance Health Care Directives: A Handbook for Professionals was released in 2002. Both titles are published by the American Bar Association.

Throughout his twenty-nine years of residency in rural Harvard, Summers has been active in civic affairs. In April, 2005, voters elected him as a trustee of McHenry County College. He presently chairs the MCC Board of Trustees. Scott served as a member of the Board of Visitors of NIU’s College of Law between 1997 and 2004. During the 1980s, he was treasurer for three nonprofits: Harvard Community Memorial Hospital, Hospice for McHenry County, and a church in Woodstock, IL. Before becoming a lawyer, Summers worked as an executive in the public sector.

Because any votes he pulls would otherwise probably go to Democrat Abboud, I conclude that Summers’ candidacy will help Manzullo get re-elected.