You have to give Nunda Township Tax Fighter Gerry Walsh an award for tenacity.
He is so upset about the possibility of tax increases that would allow Nunda Township to purchase land by raising taxes that he has fought each referendum. His side won the tax votes, but not the one that put in place a plan. Efforts to obtain an advisory referendum on that subject were beaten back by open space advocates at the last Annual Town Meeting.
But, that’s not all that the watchdog does.
He watches the State Board of Elections web site to see if the tax hike proponents’ political action committee files on time.
Walsh has now caught them filing late not once, but twice.
The latest letter from the State Board of Elections follows:
Above you see the March 4, 2010, letter from the Illinois State Board of Elections to Lori McConville, Treasurer of Nunda Neighbors. Click to enlarge either part.
If you enlarge the lower part of the letter, you will see that fines totaling $1,750 are “now due.”
Appeal materials were enclosed with the March 4th letter.
Walsh recently put his efforts in perspective and has told me I may share his thoughts with you. They are below:
It’s official.
As of April 15th, Nunda Neighbors for Open Space has been found in violation of state campaign finance law for the second time in six months per the Illinois State Board of Elections.
You would think they had learned from the first violation last fall, but apparently, they didn’t.
“Question one, who are Nunda Neighbors for Open Space?
“Answer, they are the political action committee that promoted the potential $61,000,000 Open Space tax increase in Nunda Township. They also campaigned for the $15,000,000 to $20,000,000 bond issue in 2004, 2007, and 2009. If fully implemented, the Open Space tax increase would approximately quadruple the Nunda Township portion of our tax bill.
District 3 McHenry County Board candidate Lori McConville listens to Democratic Party Sheriff's candidate Mike Mahon speech.
“Question two, why should Nunda Township residents care about the state board ruling?”Answer, because Lori McConville, the treasurer/chair for Nunda Neighbors, is running for the McHenry County Board in District 3.
“The semi-annual campaign filing is not that difficult to fill out. Two violations in six months indicate that Ms. McConville is financially challenged, dismissive of state law, and didn’t learn from her first mistake.
“These are hardly the talents one is looking for in a candidate for county board.”
June 15th the appeal will be considered by the State Board of Elections.
Lets give this a little perspective boys, the account had about $200 in it. Walsh has an axe to grind. He gives all his Republican cronies a pass while jumping on a late reporting filing with an account balance of less than $200. I will give him credit for his great use of hyperbole however.
Actually, Walsh has taken the Nunda Township Republican Central Committee to the State Board of Elections on filing issues, as has been reported here.
Yes, I am a bipartisan pain in the neck (as Republican Supervisor John Heisler and Treasurer Jim Schalader will attest). And if you can’t pay the fine the first time, don’t do the crime – AGAIN within six months! That’s dumb, dumb, dumb. McConville is running for the county board on a record of incompetence.
Gerry, you’re not a bipartisan (stating as much indicates your lack of credibility) and your issue with Hisler and Schalader stems mostly from the Nunda Open Space Ref. As for the filing issues with SBE, I suggest you look to a number of current Republican County Board Members and current Republican Candidates if you are really are concerned with D2’s et al. Which, of course, you are not. Again, let’s put this into perspective: the Nunda Open Space Committee is largely inactive, has very limited funds (under $200) and in all likelihood should and will be closed. The “crime” as you put it is like jaywalking across a residential street. If this is the standard you place on local politicians, looks like the Republican’s have alot of house cleaning to do.