I thought some might be interested in the letter than I am distributing to those who live in Algonquin Township Precinct 7. It is below:
Dear Algonquin Township Precinct 7 Voters:
From the TV ads for President, you will, of course, know an election is coming.
What you may not know is that everyone can vote in the Republican Primary election.
That’s because Illinois has an “Open Primary.” That means you can walk into the polls, ask for a Republican
ballot and get one whether you consider yourself a Republican, an Independent or, gasp, even a Democrat.
Since the GOP primary is where the action is, I would encourage you to weigh in with your opinion.
Besides the GOP Presidential primary, about the only thing else of interest is the McHenry County Board race.
Five people are running for four spots. So you get to decide whom to eliminate.
The ballot order of the candidates follows:
-
Carolyn Schoefield
- John Heisler
- Ken Koehler
- Tom Wilbeck
- Donna Kurtz
Heisler, Koehler and Kurtz are running for re-election.
Schoefield and Wilbeck are running for the County Board for the first time.
The most interesting motivation for running is held by Wilbeck. He didn’t decide to run until his read that all District 2 incumbents voted to hike our taxes by as much as the law allowed. That day
he was out in Country Club Additions gathering the necessary signatures.
Since I am a “tax hawk,” you can bet I am going to vote for him.
Carolyn Schoefield is now a Crystal Lake City Councilwoman. She says that she would not have voted for the 1.5% county tax increase and that on the City Council, she voted to use financial reserves, rather than hike city taxes.
All the incumbents have pluses and minuses, the biggest minus, of course, I have already mentioned. They all voted to high our tax bills…even though the value of our homes have fallen.
Koehler has presided over a government with an AAA credit rating. Considering what Democrats have done to our credit rating in Springfield, that’s worth a mention.
Kurtz has the knack of asking questions that the Establishment does not want asked. An admirable trait, I’d say.
Heisler is like a Hush Puppy. He is readily available in his shoe store downtown and can give you a rational answer as to why he voted as he did.
There are two new names on the ballot.
Congressman Peter Roskam has been given Algonquin Township in the new reapportionment map. He lives in Wheaton and we were both elected to the Illinois House in 1992 election. As the fourth-ranking Republican in the United States Congress, we shall have a powerful advocate.
Not only are we the most Northwest precinct in Roskam’s 6th Congressional District, but we are the Southernmost precinct in Mike Tryon’s old 64th State Rep. District. The dividing line is Country Club Road.
Mike decided to run in the district that goes way south alone Randall Road to St. Charles.
Running in our area is current McHenry County Board member Barbara Wheeler. She is the one who led the fight against video poker (can you say slot machines?) in every rural bar and restaurant. She voted against hiking the county’s tax bill next year.
There is also an electrical aggregation referendum. The short description of what it would do, if passed, is to allow Crystal Lake and Lakewood governments to negotiate for electricity on our behalf. It’s a group buying idea which will undoubtedly pass now that the General Assembly has voted and Governor Pat Quinn signed a bill to allow Com Ed to raise our rates. (It was euphemistically called the “Smart Grid” bill. Smart for Com Ed, at least.)
If you don’t want to be in the buying pool, you can opt our.
There’s a lot more information I’ve posted on McHenry County Blog. It’s increasingly become the place to go to find out what is happening politically in McHenry County.
If you have questions, please call 815-459-3506.
The polls are open at the Main Beach House from 6-7 Tuesday.
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All the candidates brochures mentioned above can be found in this story.
The pictures are in ballot order.
All but about 40 of the homes in my precinct have received the letter and pamphlets in bags from the next Congressman, Peter Roskam.