McHenry County Blog

About 150 enthusiastic supporters and just the curious came to meet 2014 Sheriff’s candidate Bill Prim at the Bull Valley Country Club Tuesday night

It came on the day after Undersheriff Andy Zinke subordinate Sgt. John Koziol swore that his boss told the subject of a ten-month Drug Enforcement Administration investigation that he was under investigation. (Summary here.)

Alleged target Brian Goode, President of Crystal Lake’s RITA Corporation, has donated big bucks to Zinke and Sheriff Keith Nygren.

It was obvious by the attendance of Lou Bianchi and many of his followers that the McHenry County State’s Attorney is supporting Prim.

Many of Bianchi’s supporters were in attendance.

Prime was introduced by Gary Rabine, the man whose company’s radio commercials most have heard.

Rabine described Prim as “a servant leader,” then listed his specialties, the first of which, ironically, was narcotics.

“I understand this job from the bottom up,” Prim explained to the crowd.

“I’d never ask anyone to do anything I haven’t done.

“It’s apparent there are obvious problems trickling down from the top of [the Sheriff's Department].”

He promised to restore the Department to its former reputation.

Prim called for basic fiscal management and promised significant cost savings.

The former Des Plaines Police Commander, recently retired, said he would “expand upon the relationships within and outside the County so we can have an effective department again.”

“You can’t be effective if you have the top two law enforcement officers not [talking to each other}."

Prim said that he thought the problem could be solved in one conversation.

An Internal Affairs Division would be established "outside of the normal chain of command."

He added that training should mitigate the litigation, which he believes can be handled by the State's Attorney's Office.

“There’s no reason to go outside looking for attorneys.”

Prim called for more volunteers and transparency, which he said could not exist “if you don’t write the public in.”

He promised to “rebuild the trust that seems to have been eroded.

In meeting with Rabine, he was impress with his company’s goal: “world class service with a world class product.”

“We absolutely need a world class Sheriff’s Department,” he concluded.

“You people deserve that.”

Dave Bachmann, who unsuccessfully ran as a Democrat for Coroner four years ago, has a blog entitled, “Dirty Keith vs. Dirty Harry.”

It’s up and it’s down, but, as of now, it’s up.

Bachmann has a couple of observations about the affidavit about Undersheriff Andy Zinke, which was filed by McHenry County Sheriff’s Deputy John Koziol, that you might find of interest.

When Ron Wait was running for the State Rep. seat I passed up to run for State Comptroller in 1982, he asked Mort Zwick what he should do to win the primary election against Jim Kelley, an appointed incumbent.

“Spend money like water,” was the advice of then-pork belly trader Zwick, who got his wife Jill elected State Rep. in 1980 when I vacated a seat to run an unsuccessful race for Congress.

Although I doubt Dee Beaubien has talked to Mort, she is following his advice.

Monday she reported putting another $50,000 in her campaign fund.

That brings the total to $236,500.

In addition, Beaubien reported receiving

• $4,600 – Personal PAC
• $2,000 – Marena Love, Winnetka
• $1,000 – Robert T. Brumbaugh, Jr., President, Omnibus Advertising, Inverness
• $1,000 – Springfield Partners LLC, Effingham

Working my way to the amount Dee Beaubien has given her campaign, I discovered she had returned $16,000 to the Friends of Mike Madigan.

Wonder what that means.

Beaubien is running as an Independent against Republican David McSweeney.

As predicted, the end of June fund raiser held by Undersheriff Andy Zinke at Donley’s Wild West in Union didn’t raise much money.

You can see the contributions exceeding $150 below in alphabetical order:

• $310 – Anthony T. Huemann, Johnsburg
• $200 – Donald V. Norton, Carol Stream
• $500- Pamela Sosnowski, Richmond
• $200 – Micheal Wilgosiewicz, West Dundee

There were $5,140 in smaller contributions, which may have come in then.

The big money came in at the end of the reporting period, however.

Take a look at the late September donations in descending order by amount congtributed:

• $5,000 – RITA Corporation, Crystal Lake
• $2,500 – Cabay & Company, Inc, McHenry
• $1,500 – Pork King Packing, Inc, Marengo
• $1,000 – Alliance Contractors, Inc, Woodstock
• $1,000 – Gary Lang Chevrolet, Inc, McHenry
• $1,000 – Home State BankCorp, Inc, Crystal Lake
• $1,000 – Reliance Tool & Manufacturing Company, Elgin
• $1,000 – Keith C. Wagner, President, Fabrik Molded Plastics, McHenry
• $500 – Campion Curran Dunlop Lamb & Cunabaugh PC, Crystal Lake,
• $250 – Richard & Elizabeth Graves, Spring Grove
• $250 – William & Elizabeth Mack, Crystal Lake
• $250 – Mary Nader, Attorney at Law PC, McHenry
• $250 – Mark Wilcox, Crystal Lake

No large contribution, however, from Sheriff Keith Nygren, who has endorsed Zinke.

Yesterday this information was referenced in an amendment in McHenry County Sheriff Sgt. John Koziol’s call for the appointment of a Special Prosecutor to probe whether Zinke has broken the law.

A summary of the allegations can be found here.

The campaign disclosure filings of Zinke are mentioned here.

Member of the Merit Commission Sheriff Keith Nygren appointed follow:

• William Mack (Republican)
• Gloria Urch-VanHof (Democrat)
• Brian J. Goode (Republican)
• Janelle A. Crowley (Republican)
• Patrick J. McAndrews (Democrat)

With a new aspect of McHenry County Undersheriff Andy Zinke’s “service” to McHenry County taxpayers having been laid out in detail yesterday more people will be taking a look at the two outside candidates, Bill Prim, and Jim Harrison.

Prim is holding an affair at the Bull Valley Country Club on Wednesday Oct. 24th between 6:00 P.M and 9:00 P.M.

“What better way to energize the local Republican Party, then with a Sheriff that has experience, integrity, and leadership skills,” writes campaign manager Matt McNamara.

“Your attendance and participation will help launch an exciting campaign that will positively change the Sheriff’s Office and rejuvenate the Republican Party.”

The Bull Valley Country Club is off Country Club Road at the intersection of Bull Valley Road.

A press release from the Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water:

Endorsements

In preparation for the upcoming election on November 6, The Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water (ALAW) has surveyed and interviewed County Board candidates on environmental issues. We are focused specifically on their understanding of the complex relationship of land use to the preservation of open space, agriculture and water resources.

Our non-partisan recommendations for this election are:

• District 1: No recommendations
• District 2: Donna Kurtz, Jim Heisler, Carolyn Schofield, Jim Roden;
• District 3: Michael Walkup;
• District 4: John Hammerand;
• District 5: John Jung Jr., Paula Yensen;
• District 6: Ersel Schuster, Diane Evertsen.

Copies of the survey for each candidate are available on our web site at https://sites.google.com/site/landagricultureandwater

We would like to remind you that “vote for not more than four” does not mean you cannot limit your vote to one, two or three candidates.

ALAW encourages all registered voters to exercise their right to vote this election.

Patricia Kennedy, President
Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water

= = = = =
Fourteen candidates answered the organization’s questionnaire last spring.

The Republican who ran first in the GOP Primary Election last March has become the target of the only Democrat running for the McHenry County Board in District 3, which runs from southern McHenry all the way north to the Wisconsin state line.

You can see the mailing below:

The back side is below:

Four people will be elected in each County Board district.

In District 5, there are five candidates, four Republican, one Democrat.