A press release from Cliff Surges, who is running against Karen McConnaughay:
REPUBLICAN CLIFF SURGES ANNOUNCES SUPPORT FOR PROPERTY TAX FREEZE LEGISLATION WHILE McCONNAUGHAY’S WEAK ATTACK ON SURGES MISSES THE MARK
“Property Tax Freeze is what is important,” says Surges, “not the payment decisions of Kane County citizens.”
“What a politician does with public money is much more important than what a private citizen does with personal funds, 33rd District Republican Senate candidate Cliff Surges said today.”
“Karen McConnaughay’s poll numbers must be plummeting because she is launching a vicious personal attack against me and my family,” Surges continued.
Cliff Surges
The issue of paying property taxes in one installment instead of two has already been
asked and answered in this campaign. The Surges family does not owe any late taxes or fees and is completely up to date.
“What is really on the minds of the people I speak to in the district is, “Why do our property taxes continue to rise while our home values continue to fall?” Freezing or lowering property taxes is what is important,” says Surges.”
Surges announces today his support for two bills in the State Senate, SB 2073 and SB2862, both of which would freeze property tax bills if property values remain flat or decline.
The two bills would freeze property tax levies for local taxing districts if the total equalized assessed valuation for the unit or district was lower than the preceding year. Taxing districts would be required to hold a referendum to raise their levies.
“Instead of trying to manufacture a controversy around private decisions by taxpayers, Mrs. McConnaughay might want to consider ways to lower or freeze taxes for the people of this district and get out of control government spending stopped,” says Surges.
Talk about desperate spin.
So when you pay a fine for not following the law, you are actually doing the government a favor by filling their coffers?
Cliff should encourage speeding and blowing stop signs as a way to raise revenue.
The Surges campaign is also not telling the truth again. Mr. Surges’ taxes were still delinquent. That is a fact. They were paid late…after the proscribed date. In one instance, the taxes were paid 18 months late. In another instance they were so late his home was slated to go to county tax sale!
And while he was taking his time in paying the taxes he owed to pay for schools, public safety and the like, he was loaning his campaign $15,000 in cash that seemed readily available.
When you ask voters to entrust you with responsibility for public finances, you might want to show that you are responsible for your own finances first.
Doug:
That may be and Surges may be a poor candidate.
But how much different is that than someone who decries unions and takes 70K in union donations?
Or has family members that do business with governmental bodies?
If Surges should avoid looking bad, Karen should also avoid behavior, her own and her family’s businesses, that conflicts with the public good.
Never mind her below the belt consulting for Kevin Burns.
I never thought anyone could make Lauzen look like a sympathetic party.
Our choices in this race are terrible.
But seeing Karen flip pancakes so that Chairman Conflictofinterest Koehler could raise money is enough to push my vote to Surges.
Surges may have messed up his taxes, but at least he contributed to the public coffers.
The McConnaughey’s have taken from them.
Damning with faint praise is at least some kind of praise.
Surges had some issues. He paid the taxes and the fines. More than we can say about many. He did the right thing.
I think the hit piece is always a sign of desperation Cliff is a good man. Not perfect but has made many more solid decisions in his life than his opponent.
Talk to people in Kane Cty.
If think Ken K. is a problem, she is more of the same.
I think they had some duplicate training.
My friend went to one of her events in McHenry County and all she kept saying was what a great guy Ken K. is an how well they worked together and how fortunate we are to have him.
Need I say more??
The more I look at the hit piece Karen McConnaughay’s campaign sent to Senate District 33 voters like me this past week, the more I have to ask myself, “Why does a candidate with McConnaughay’s credentials and record, flush with campaign cash and glowing endorsements in the newspapers, most notably, the Chicago Tribune, have to sink to the level to feel she needs to launch a negative mailing like this against someone, who on paper, cannot match her?”
I cannot tell if McConnaughay and her hired guns just got an itchy finger and pulled the trigger where none needs to be pulled? Or did her hired guns look at some new polling and determined Cliff Surges’ reform message is resonating with voters and felt the need to attack him with this brutally ugly mailer, at the cost of a district-wide mailing?
If I were Cliff Surges, I would at least be flattered that the McConnaughay campaign felt it had to go this negative in a mailing and spend the money it did to produce and mail it. And for the record, none of the mailers I’ve seen from Surges’ campaign have been negative.
To the issue at hand, I do not condone what Surges did with the handling of his property tax bills over the years. Personally, I would have found a different way, or made some change after the first or second time I was challenged like this. I came to that conclusion when Surges first came forward with this information about himself early in this campaign in January.
Now, I didn’t need Karen McConnaughay’s campaign to bring me to this conclusion, nor did I need her hit piece nearly 2 months after-the-fact to dredge up this old news 2 weeks out from the election. This kind of attack only reinforced what I’ve been hearing on the streets here in the 33rd senate district — that the campaign between McConnaughay and Surges is much much closer then many would expect. McConnaughay capitulating to go negative only confirmed the fact this race is close.
Despite Surges’ handling of his taxes, I’ve come to admire him for the courage he has displayed in challenging, clearly, one of the most powerful local politicians in the suburbs. He has not withered from her hired guns’ professionally prepared and withering news releases, but he has only been strengthened in character and baptized by fire for the challenges in Springfield.
Discerning voters and men and women of integrity will follow courage, and if Surges displays more of what he has been doing with his campaign in the final week, as well as McConnaughay’s campaign focusing on Surges’ negatives instead of her positives, courage of the scale of David could prevail in an ultimate David vs. Goliath outcome on March 20th.
One of the best ways to judge the character of an individual is the type of children they raise.
I spent some time last night with Cliff and Audrey Surges’ three children.
Firm handshakes, good eye contact, positive attitudes, respectful to adults, etc.
Do not underestimate the people in the Dundee area who know this family who will be casting vote after vote for him.
He is head of the Sports Boosters Club and has been a youth coach in the region for 15 or so years. The Lauzens have 4 amazing sons.
Tom Hartwell’s two sons are exemplary students.
Terry Hunt’s daughter and Dr. Bob Tiballi’s daughter are great young women.
There is a pattern here and I know I am backing a great team of candidates here in Kane County.
I don’t think anyone wants a property tax freeze.
They want a cut.
about a 25% cut …. of LAST years taxes, then we can talk about a freeze … why are all of these nuts allowed to roam around outside of the looney bin!