Tryon Pours Water on Special Central Committee Meeting Called by GOP Precinct Committeemen to Get Tonya Franklin on the Ballot to Challenge Democrat “Chainsaw Jack” Franks

Democrat State Rep. Jack Franks will be enyoing the Memorial Day Weekend as he thinks about how his legisaltive colleague Mike Tryon is using his power to keep people away from a grassroots-called Central Committee meeting next Saturday at 9 at d'Andrea's in Crystal Lake. No 40% quorum and Franks gets his third free ride in four elections.

Although no letter has reached my email inbox, a Precinct Committeeman has forwarded me a letter from Mike Tryon addressed to Precinct Committeemen.

Tryon obviously is supporting his four-member interview committee in its decision not to support Tea Party-inspired Tonya Franklin’s offer to run for State Representative against Democrat Jack Franks.

If the Leadership of the McHenry County Republican Party is successful in thwarting Tonya Franklin’s effort to gain ballot status, Tryon and his predecessor Bill LeFew will have managed to give “Chainsaw Jack” a free ride three out of the last four elections.

Tryon’s email discourages people from attending the Saturday, June 2nd 9 AM meeting at d’Andrea’s, which was called by more than 25% of the Precinct Committeemen pursuant to the Central Committee Bylaws.  (You can find the Bylaws, which are not published on the Central Committee web site, here.)

Tryon asserts–without telling why–that the “meeting is NOT a Central Committee meeting.”

While Tryon can call a meeting, I don’t see anything in the Bylaws that allows him to cancel one.

Indeed he says, “As your Chairman, I cannot and will not tell you not to attend this meeting.”

I guess he remembers hearing something in the First Amendment about Freedom of Association,.

Tryon’s letter, however, does give a pretty clear signal of the Party Establishment’s strategy.

It’s a simple one.

BOYCOTT

Make sure there aren’t 40% of the Precinct Committeemen in attendance so there can’t be a quorum.

One of Tryon’s arguments in favor of running no one against the electric rate hike guy is laughable.

He says it will divert energy away from defeating Barack Obama.

OK.

Anyone who thinks Barack Obama is going to lose Illinois, raise your hand.

Here is Tryon’s letter:

Dear McHenry County Republican Committeemen and Committeewomen:

Mike Tryon's opposition to Tonya Franklin's running againnt Jack Franks may lead to another year when Franks can campaign against Tryon allies on the County Board like its Chairman Ken Koehler.

You may have already received a letter from Algonquin Committeewoman Sharon Meroni requesting a special meeting to nominate Tonya Franklin to run against Representative Jack Franks on the November ballot.

Please be advised that this meeting is NOT a Central Committee meeting.

I would be remiss as your Chairman if I did not enlighten you as to how this transpired.

I was contacted several weeks ago by Ms. Franklin who expressed an interest in running against Rep. Franks.

I met with her and assigned several members of the Executive Board to serve as a vetting committee.

My committee did meet with Ms. Franklin twice.

While they commended her on her efforts, at the time of the interviews they found her to be uninformed on the issues.

In addition, she had no experience in running for office, had never been a precinct committeeman and had only voted twice in the four years since she registered.

It was pointed out to her that we, as a Party, were committed to working to elect the Republican candidates that had been victorious in the Primary Election.

We are committed to help elect our Congressmen, our State Senators and Representatives, our County Board candidates and most of all, electing a Republican President.

At the time of those interviews, Ms. Franklin was not receptive to any suggestions that she become active in our Party, get to know the elected officials and the constituency and work towards running in the future.

After the two meetings, the seven members of the executive board who met with her decided not to advance the process to nominate her.

However, she was encouraged to spend the next year learning about the issues of District 63 and of Illinois so she could pass petitions in 2013 for a 2014 run in the 63rd District.

As your Chairman, I cannot and will not tell you not to attend this meeting.

That is your decision.

I will say that I believe the events that have transpired over the last several days are unfortunate and have not been in the best interests of the McHenry County Republican Party.

I appreciate your confidence in reelecting me your Chairman for another two years and look forward to working with you for the good of our Party.

Sincerely,

Mike Tryon, Chairman

In Bill McCormick’s chemistry class at Crystal Lake Community High School in 1959 I was asked to weigh out a gram of phosphorus.

By mistake, I gave my teacher ten grams.

Phosphorus burning in a high school chemistry class.

The room had to be evacuated because of all of the smoke.  (And, no, I did not know he was a Democratic Party Precinct Committeeman at the time.)

So the question I would ask is,

Has Mike Tryon poured water on burning phosphorus?

Come to d’Andrea’s next Saturday morning at 9 AM and see.  It will be an open meeting.  (Come as early as 8 and meet Tonya Franklin.)

= = = = =
Read Sharon Meroni’s reply to Tryon’s attempt to sabotage the meeting she got over 25% of the GOP Precinct Committee to call here.


Comments

Tryon Pours Water on Special Central Committee Meeting Called by GOP Precinct Committeemen to Get Tonya Franklin on the Ballot to Challenge Democrat “Chainsaw Jack” Franks — 19 Comments

  1. Ms. Franklin was thoughly vetted by the Committee and time will tell that they were absolutely correct in declining Ms. Franlin’s candidacy.

    Had Ms. Franklin been vetted by the general public and Mr. Franks staff, it would have been a embarrassing experience for all Republicans.

    I would hope Ms. Meroni would do a better job of supporting an unknown candidate in the future.

  2. I have not yet met Ms. Franklin, so I cannot comment on her ability as a candidate, but the issue that will be addressed in this meeting will not be whether or not she should run.

    The issue is in the fact that as committeeman one of our jobs is to fill vacancies.

    There is a process for filling vacancies that was ignored.

    Maybe there is someone in the district who would have had an easier time beating Franks, but we haven’t had a committee out there searching for them.

    We need to appoint a committee so that we can find somebody to run against Franks, and at this point it looks like it will be Ms. Franklin.

    We cannot allow Franks and Madigan to continue to ruin our state.

    Maybe at the next meeting it should be on the agenda to consider finding a new chairman, if this one is not willing to hold the meetings required by the by-laws, and not willing to encourage attendance of all committeeman at a meeting that was called in accordance with the by-laws.

    This is my second term as a committeeman and this meeting was the first one that I have been officially notified of.

    Maybe we need to look at replacing more than just the chairman?

  3. It would be refreshing to have some people in charge that actually do their job.

    Too many free loaders.

    Any organization – government is only as good as its leaders.

    We are starving for leadership in this county at all levels including the county board.

    I agree with Cal. Is Illinois really going to support Romney??

    This is Tryon spin speak.

    How many moons for his planet??

    All I witness is that the good people are hard to get elected.

    There is not a shortage of them, just no support for them.

    The free loaders want to keep their spots and milk the county and state/

  4. Why bother? The whole thing is a farce.

    Everyone seems to be decrying Tryon’s lack of adherence to the McHenry County GOP’s by-laws.. but ignoring the reality that notice was NOT sent 10 days prior, nor was it *mailed* as the by-laws call for.

    Moreover, as another commenter noted, several committeeman rescinded their support after being delibrarely misled.

    Better start your legal defense fund too, Ms. Franklin.

    Enjoy this circus, all.

  5. Tryon , Daniel, Davis , Palmer, Wickham will not show up next Saturday morning. T

    hey all JOKES, . lol

  6. As reader above writes : “Enjoy this circus ..”

    Ring Master Tryon blow your whistle.

    Let the show begin.

    Democrats are rolling with laughter in the aisles.

  7. The funny thing is that she’s only voted twice since she’s been registered..

    WHAT AN AMERICAN!!!

  8. It is a downright shame that Mr Tryon the GOP Chairman thinks he is the Judge and jury to decide if Tonya Franklin is capable of representing district 63 as their Representative.

    Over the past 4 years Tonya has spent thousands of dollars of her own money being politically involved across the Nation.

    I wouldn’t underestimate Tonya’s knowledge on the issues or the loyalty she would show to her constituents.

    Mr. Tryon would rather see a career politician such as Jack Franks keep his job than for IL to be able to choose someone that would have their best interest in mind.

    Tonya was a military wife and moved to IL with her husband in June of 2008, and she registered to vote right away and began volunteering for McCain/Palin.

    She also voted in several other states over the years that her husband was stationed at..

  9. Marie, Chairman Tryon has every legal right to do what he did as the duly elected GOP Chairman of the County. His word is law, here.

    You say “over the past 4 years Tonya has spent thousands of dollars of her own money being politically involved across the Nation.”

    That’s beautiful, but she should have been spending her time and money being involved right here in McHenry County, helping local candidates and the local party both with grassroots and financially.

    Instead, Tonya barely votes in elections.

    She claimed her workload was what prevented her from circulating petitions to be on the ballot in the primary.

    That explanation from Tonya was glib, and betrays someone not ready to run for public office.

    Tonya’s only claim-to-fame locally was protesting her 23-year old daughter being fired from the Crystal Lake Outback restaurant last fall.

    Franklin’s actions that night damaged a local business’ revenues.

    And why was Tonya out there protesting?

    She falsely claimed her daughter was fired because of a political bracelet with the “Don’t Tread on Me” from the Gadsden flag and “November 6, 2012” on it.

    The truth was, according to Outback corporate management, was Tonya’s daughter was terminated because she talked-back to the store manager in a 1-on-1 conversation while being disciplined for several complaints one night.

    Tonya’s first impressions to McHenry County politics has not been a good one.

    With the Outback incident, and coupled that her “introduction” press release inaccurately reported a vote by State Representative Franks, I fully understand and support Tryon’s conclusion on a Tonya Franklin candidacy this year.

  10. Mr Smith, when I say Tonya has been politically active across the Nation that includes within the State of IL, she has volunteered over the past few years with numerous candidates within the state of IL, attended numerous town hall meetings and gave donations to candidates she has supported in IL.

    Any of you that don’t know who Tonya Franklin is must not have been at the events she attended, making me question your involvements with being politically active within the state of IL.

    Mrs. Franklin has also been very actively involved against the “recall” efforts of Gov Walker

    As far as the incident that happened with her daughter at Outback, you sir do not have all the FACTS on what happened that evening with customer complaining about her daughter for wearing the “Don’t Tread on Me” bracelet. It was ruled by the State of IL unemployment that her daughter was wrongfully fired for wearing that bracelet.

    The incident was not about “a claim to fame” it was standing up for the Civil Rights of any American for “Freedom of Speech”

    Your claims on her lack of voting are ridiculous, Tonya was a military wife, her husband whom was born and raised in IL moved back to IL in 2008, Tonya registered to vote in IL as soon as they moved there.

    It is FACT that there has only been 2 elections (2008, 2010) that it was even possible for her to vote.

    It looks to me with the points you made against her that you are discriminating against Tonya Franklin for being a supportive military spouse.

    IL is known for corrupt politicians, know it is being made clear that both Republican and Democratic parties are responsible for what comes out of IL, by deciding who fits into their agenda.

  11. Marie, I have more facts then you think, and resent the half-truths you posted here.

    Let’s take the simple one with her voting record in elections. You say she registered in IL in 2008?

    And there have been 2 elections since then (2008, 2010)?

    What about the 2009 local elections?

    What about the 2010 primary election?

    What about the 2011 local elections?

    If Tonya is as patriotic as you purport, then why did she not vote in local elections?

    And with absentee and early voting, casting a ballot is more convenient then ever.

    Concerning the incident at Outback in Crystal Lake and Tonya Franklin’s 23-year old daughter,

    To begin, the bracelet not only had “Don’t Tread on Me”, it also had “November 6, 2012”.

    Whether patriotic or political, anyone can interpret what they want about the meaning of the bracelet.

    The point is the bracelet in question had more then the Gadsden flag motto, but the date of the next presidential election, over a year in advance of the election.

    State of IL unemployment ruling?

    Here’s the rest of the facts in an official letter from Joe Kadow from Outback’s Corporate Offices, courtesy of NebraskAttitude blog (http://nebraskattitude.blogspot.com/2011/11/outback-steakhouse-fires-tea-partier.html):

    “Thank you for your interest in Outback Steakhouse.

    The employee was not let go because of her Tea Party bracelet.

    On the night in question two separate tables complained about her lack of attention – one flagging down the manager to pay their bill as they could not find her and another going to the bar because they received the wrong drink and could not find her.

    When the manager spoke to the employee about this she responded by yelling at him with a hostile attitude. This is why she was fired.

    She was not fired because a customer complained about her bracelet. That would have simply been handled by asking her to take off the bracelet.

    As to the Illinois Department of Employment Security letter stating she was fired for wearing the bracelet – this simply reflects what the employee told them.

    No hearing was held that we participated in, nor did we submit any information regarding her claim.

    Thank you.

    Joe Kadow
    Outback Steakhouse”

  12. The information you provide is the response from the Manager at Outback and it is inaccurate.

    The State of IL Unemployment ruled that Tonya’s daughter was wrongfully fired for wearing the “Don’t Tread on Me” bracelet.

    Using Tonya’s voting record against her will prove you to be false in your statements.

    Tonya has the right to be heard by people in her district and it is up to them to decide if she is the candidate of their choosing.

    There are far more pressing issues involved with Tonya seeking ballot access than disguising the incident at Outback or her voting record.

    We will choose to stick to speaking about Franklin s accomplishments and where she stands on the issues.

  13. Why not discuss the voting record of Jack Franks?

    Now that’s where the voters may have a problem.

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