Two years ago, McHenry Grade School and Library Board member John O’Neill put forth a good enough effort to defeat long, long-time incumbent Democratic Party State Rep. Jack Franks that Franks re-drew his district boundaries to excise Spring Grove.

That’s where Franks lost.

No one filed as a Republican candidate this year.

But the GOP Precinct Committeemen from the House District can still nominate a candidate.

Then 500 good signatures have to be gathered for the nominee.

More actually, because lawyer Franks is likely to challenge them if he thinks he has a chance to knock the candidate off the ballot.

Can someone beat Franks, a millionaire with a bit over $450,000 in his campaign fund’s bank account?

Probably not, but I believe every public official should have an opponent.

Franks is reaching the stage in his political career where he can be painted as part of the problem in Springfield.

And, why would McHenry County Republicans want to give Franks, who sought to be named the Democratic Party candidate for Governor three years ago as his family and friends stuffed hundreds of thousands of dollars into his campaign account just before the reporting deadline, the opportunity to go elsewhere in Illinois to help elect 67% income tax hikers in electoral trouble?

We want Mike Madigan gone.

Jack Franks will always vote for Madigan for House Speaker.

Leaving Franks without a Republican opponent will make it easier for Mighty Mike to keep iron-clad control over Illinois’ failed political system.

An opponent forces any incumbent to touch base with his or her constituency.

And, boy does Jack Franks need to reconnect with the folks in his district.

He voted to increase Com Ed’s electric rates.  It will cost you at least $3 a month more…just for so-called Smart Meters for which I can see no added benefit.  (Believe me, when power is out in my neighborhood more than one person calls the electric company.)

Was Jack Franks vote to hike electric rates influenced by campaign contributions?  Take a look and draw your own conclusions.

Franks, you may remember, introduced a bill that would allow Commonwealth Edison to chop down every tree within 20 feet of a power line.

The Chicago Tribune envisioned an “Illinois Chain Saw Massacre.”

When Rockford Register-Star asked Franks how he felt about being called “Chainsaw Jack,” he said he did favor “clear cutting,” even though his bill would allow that.

“I live on a farm with a forest in back. No one can question my conservation credentials.”

Yeah, OK.  If you say so, “Chainsaw Jack.”

He said his constituents wanted such deforestation (read that in the image of Chuck Sweeney’s article) after the storm last July that took out power lines and electricity for days at a time.

Just chop ’em down.  That was “Chainsaw Jack’s” answer.

But, his constituents made him do it, he said in a variation of “the Devil made me do it” argument.

Considering how disturbed folks get when Com Ed contractors buzz saw (not an exaggeration of the process) rural roads to keep tree limbs away from power lines, one would think a man who was elected 14 years ago might know that quality of life is a big reason people move to McHenry County, especially, the less congested portion he represents.

And, when one thinks “Quality of Life,” don’t most people think trees?

Even my Chinese young political leader visitors in 2007 were enthralled with the trees, wondering who tended to them as we drove along Briarwood Drive in Crystal Lake.

There are lots more issues.

Franks is supported by Personal PAC, the most rabid pro-abortion Political Action Committee in the country.

He voted to approve Civil Unions.

He voted against helping disadvantaged inner city black kids get a decent education, caving to the teacher unions whose leaders are only interested in keeping the dues rolling in.

That was not only an appalling vote for someone who touts himself as a liberal, but the program would have saved the state $240 million a year.

Franks was close enough to Rod Blagojevich to ask that family members get patronage appointments and he was intimately involved with promoting the Crystal Lake Mercy Hospital approval.