GOP Interviewing Committee Turns Thumbs Down on Woman Who Volunteered to Run Against Jack Franks

Tonya Franklin

Prospective candidate for State Rep. Tonya Franklin will not be getting the nod to run as the Republican candidate against 14-term Democrat Jack Franks.

She called me to tell me that she had been called by newly-elected Republican Central Committee Vice Chairman Mark Daniel.

The answer was no.

“We put an interview committee together and they interviewed her,” Central Committee Chairman Mike Tryon told me from Springfield.

“The decision the interview committee made was a recommendation not to put her on as a candidate for state representative.

“We were impressed with her level of energy and her willingness to come forward.”

Tryon’s stand-in was Republican Party Vice Chairman Mark Daniel.

He chaired last night interviewing committee at GOP Headquarters in the Crystal Lake Plaza.

Here’s what he told me:

“We were impressed with her willingness to run against Jack Franks.

“We felt at this time that we would like to see her be appointed a Precinct Committeeman to work with the constituents and other fellow Republicans in the County.

“The McHenry County Republican Central Committee would like to work with her to help her in her quest if she would like to run in two years.

“We feel she could be a valuable asset to the party.”

I asked if the Party is still trying to find a candidate for face off against Jack Franks.

“We will be looking,” Daniel told me.

= = = = =

There are two other candidates I’ve observed with the level of energy of Tonya Franklin.

One was Don Manzullo in 1992.

The other is Joe Walsh.

Every candidate has pluses and minuses.

Being driven to win the office is probably the biggest plus.

Ask Dianne Klemm about Leslie Root, who beat her when she was County Board Chairman.

Actually, Tonya Franklin reminds me of Leslie Root.

I believe Tonya Franklin would have driven Jack Franks nuts.

She certainly would have pinned him to McHenry County.

Franklin would have hampered Franks’ quest to gain statewide office.  Her presence on the ticket would have given Franks less time to campaign for other Democrats who will join him in voting for Mike Madigan for House Speaker. for the umpty-ump time.

As an active Tea Party participant, Tonya Franklin could have brought a wave of new volunteers to the local Republican Party.

And looking at the numerous vacancies for Republican Precinct Committeeman, an infusion of new blood is certainly needed.

Tonya Franklin campaigned in Florida during the last month of the 2008 campaign for John McCain and Sarah Palin.

On her own dime.

Maybe there are people in McHenry County who put as much money and effort to beating Barack Obama four years ago, but I’d be hard pressed to name one.

The primary role of party leaders is not to interview people who pop out of the woodwork to volunteer to take on someone no filed in the primary against.

It is to fill the slot on the ballot.

The deadline is June 4th.


Comments

GOP Interviewing Committee Turns Thumbs Down on Woman Who Volunteered to Run Against Jack Franks — 22 Comments

  1. If the Republican Party decided NOT to put Tonya Franklin on the ballot, who, in God’s name, did they decide to place on the ballot?

    If the answer is NO-ONE…..then the Republican Party de facto supports Jack Franks. That’s just simple deductive reasoning.

    Not a surprise, unfortunately.

    Mike Tryon and Mark Daniel better hope someone is placed on the ballot or they will have some explaining to do.

  2. Though I am disappointed Ms. Franklin will not be slated, some of the facts brought up by the McHenry County Republican leadership, as well as in the comments for a previous article (http://mchenrycountyblog.com/2012/05/10/republican-candidate-steps-forward-to-challenge-jack-franks/#comments) are very credible.

    Given a 7-term incumbent Democrat like State Representative Franks represents, and the very late start she would have to build a credible campaign for the fall, especially in a presidential year, the advise from Vice Chairman Mark Daniel is credible.

    That said, I must ask this question.

    If Ms. Franklin was motivated to step forward now, why didn’t she step forward late last year and file nominating petitions for the March 20th primary?

    Someone, please direct me to where she has answered this question, in event I missed it here on McHenry County Blog.

  3. Tonya You do not need Tryon and Daniel blessing go ahead and run!!

    Run against Franks.

  4. If Ms. Franklin was motivated to step forward now, why didn’t she step forward late last year and file nominating petitions for the March 20th primary?

    I don’t mind answering, I actually had hoped the Republican Party was a little more on the ball and had a candidate.

    I didn’t just decide to run, I was asked to run by many in McHenry County.

    I was working an excessive amount of hours setting up the online portion of the curriculum I teach.

    My job asked me to do this project after another instructor resigned.

    I would ask, not where have I been, but where is the party?

    Why have they not found anyone to run?

    Maybe it is because of the vote I received.

  5. Shame on Mike Tryon…

    What are you thinking?

    Or who is doing your thinking?

    Is your mouth now filled with GOLD?

  6. K K?

    You’re kidding, aren’t you?

    Right now, he’s the big fish making big money.

    I can’t inagine he’d give up the money and power his bullying has gotten him in the County.

    Maybe we’d be better off to have him out of McHenry County and in Springfield where he could be quickly neutralized, or vaporized.

    Sad, isn’t it, that only in government, doing a lousy job gets you kicked upstairs, e.g. Gene Lowery.

    Ms. Franklin sounds like a great candidate; is that the problem?

  7. Ms. Franklin, thank you for providing your explanation. I’ve cut & pasted this comment from a previous article here on McHenry County Blog on the topic of your prospective candidacy:

    ———————————————————————————–

    UnderCoverBrother says:
    05/10/2012 at 3:18 pm

    Here are the facts in real life……..

    McHenry County Dems are now pulling 38% of the General Election votes. This has been proven going back to the 2008 and 2010 election cycles.

    Let’s just say Jack Franks pulls 38% from his party.

    This means he only needs 13% of the Republican vote to win the election.

    Given the “Fact” (sad as you might think of it) that the McHenry County GOP power brokers will NOT support anybody but Mr. Franks as Ms. Franklin has already been keen enough to notice;

    DO the math folks?

    IF Ms. Franklin can come up with ONE MILLION DOLLARS, Right now cash for her campaign, the very best she will lose by is a 70/30 vote, in favor of State Rep. Jack Franks.

    Now, given this fact based scenario, do you still want to encourage this nice woman to run?

    Ms. Franklin, do yourself a favor, continue your work in the health care field, enjoy your kids, get involved in local politics if you like, then, perhaps next time around make a go of it.

    Trust me, you won’t regret my advise.

    All the best to you and thank you for even caring enough to try!

    —————————————————————————————-

    I do not know who this “UnderCoverBrother” is, but they bring up many valid points, which appear to echo the comments made to McHenry County Blog by McHenry County Republican Vice Chairman Mark Daniel.

    Look at how much money 52nd district Republican Nominee David McSweeney spent in his successful primary race.

    If my math is right, I counted over $353,000.

    Much of McSweeney’s expenditures was aggressive direct mail advertising from last fall right to the primary on March 20th, basically, a six-month period.

    And this was used to unseat an appointed incumbent who had been on the job for less than a year who didn’t have strong ties to the district he was appointed to represent.

    Now, multiply the kind of aggressive advertising McSweeney did against an appointed incumbent who didn’t have strong ties to the 52nd district, and assess what you’d be facing in 7-term incumbent Jack Franks, who has strong, Republican cross-over ties to his House district.

    Like that “UnderCoverBrother” poster said, “DO the math folks?” is a very credible point.

    Ms. Franklin, timing is everything in politics.

    A successful challenge against an entrenched incumbent like Jack Franks over the next 5 1/2 months, short of a $1 to 2 million infusion of cash, is highly problematic and will only bring you and any supporters grief, disappointment, and for your household, unnecessary stress.

    Getting involved in local politics (and that includes voluneteering with local TEA partiers to help Governor Walker during the recall election between now and June 5th), representing the party as an appointed Republican precinct committeeman, maybe even running for a township position next year, will help you build not only valuable experience, but credibility for a possible 2014 candidacy.

    Whether Franks will run for re-election in 2014, or pursue a statewide post then, you’ll be the best prepared to succeed in 2014, by becoming more involved from 2012 forward.

    I’ll respond to your references to the McHenry County GOP in my next comment.

    Hope this helps.

  8. Ms. Franklin, you said “I would ask, not where have I been, but where is the party? Why have they not found anyone to run? Maybe it is because of the vote I received.”

    From what I can tell of McHenry County Republican leadership, and many of the comments here on this blog, there is a lot of grass roots dissatisfaction with the Republican leadership in McHenry County.

    That said, McHenry County Republican Party Chairman Mike Tryon was just re-elected chairman at the county convention on April 18th, so any dissatisfaction represented here is not representative of the Republican precinct committeemen who won election on March 20th.

    This doesn’t absolve McHenry GOP leadership of not having a credible candidate ready to challenge and unseat Jack Franks.

    But there appears to be enough satisfaction in the status quo of the Republican establishment in McHenry County.

    Now, look at what happened in neighboring Kane County during this election cycle.

    Establishment Republican, Kane County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay won the State Senate District #33 race over a reform-minded opponent in the primary.

    In the primary for McConnaughay’s current job, Kane County Board Chairman, State Senator Chris Lauzen trounced the establishment candidate with a staggering 69% of the vote.

    Additionally, Lauzen running mates won the circuit court clerk’s race and auditor’s race.

    A Lauzen running mate unseated the Kane County Board Vice Chairman in a Batavia district.

    Additionally, the Kane County Republican Party Chairman lost his bid for a 3rd term to a Lauzen ally on the county board.

    TEA partier Allen Skillicorn was elected county party secretary by the committeemen last month.

    And primary voters threw out an establishment township party chairman.

    Many of the establishment township chairmen were replaced in party elections, too.

    Want to change McHenry County GOP leadership and the hold the establishment has?

    Look at what happened in Kane County for an example of how it was done and what needs to be done to make it a reality.

  9. So much for the “party of inclusion”.

    Yes, many Reps are disgusted with the fat cat establishment.

  10. This woman couldn’t possibly be worse as a State Rep. than Mike Tryon.

    The GOP continues its War on Women.

    Good going Mike Tryon.

    You’re a disgrace.

  11. Well what is the viable alternative candidate?

    Mr. Tryon has been living on the public payroll too long.

    McHenry County needs some independent thinking real representation.

  12. What’s with all the hate?

    Tonya I’m sure you’re a wonderful candidate but i agree with some of the people, You are running against a man who has been in there for 14 years.

    5 months to win an election where most people who don’t care about politics don’t know your name and don’t care too.

    You’d have to touch these people at least a dozen times for them to remember who you are let alone vote.

    Also Don’t rip on the Republican party for realizing that they can not accomplish winning against a democrat like that.

    You can be all that but the establishment doesn’t take risks in tarnishing their names.

  13. So, “Some Lady”…..I presume you are looking out for the best interests of Tonya Franklin. That’s so precious.

    Let Ms. Franklin decide if she wants to run.

    The Republican Party should let her run UNLESS they have someone in mind who would be stronger who will run.

    They don’t.

    They have no-one.

    That’s why the Republican Party is being ripped.

    They’re disorganized and can’t even agree to have a motivated candidate do their work.

    So, they’ll just sit on their behinds at the benefit of the Democrats.

    They should be ripped.

    Would you please stop with the paternalizing and condescending phoney “worry” about Ms. Franklin’s best interests.

    She’s a big girl.

  14. Well You know what Go ahead and Run Tonya.

    See how far you get.

    You won’t win you will lose and that’s the truth because Jack Franks isn’t just some Democrat in office.

    He’s a man who knows how to Campaign better than any Republican.

    For Gods sake he’s a Democrat in a Republican District for 14 years does that tell you anything?

    GO FOR IT.

    Just be prepared for him to destroy your political career because that is what he does.

  15. Do not bite at the bait of pleasure, till you know there is no hook beneath it.
    -Thomas Jefferson

  16. Run Tonya – the establishment has no idea how tired “Mainstreet” working Americans are of entrenched political candidates.

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