Non-Establishment candidates for McHenry County Clerk and County Treasurer have gained endorsements from the Daily Herald.
McHenry County Board member Nick Provenzano was favored McHenry County Board member Mary McClellan.
The Provenzano endorsement concludes with
Nick Provenzano
“These are two impressive, well-qualified candidates, but with McClellan still relatively new to politics and Provenzano having plenty of political experience,
“Provenzano would provide better leadership as McHenry County clerk and is endorsed.”
Crystal Lake City Councilman Jeff Thorsen got the nod over Chief Deputy Treasurer and Chemung Township Trustee Glenda Miller.
Andy Zinke
Zinke gained the endorsement for Sheriff. Here are some of the Daily Herald’s reasons:
“Zinke recently got his MBA, and in talking about department operations can appear to talk coldly about personnel. Nevertheless, with his experience and education, he is well-equipped to become sheriff.”
Jeff Thorsen
The conclusion of the Thorsen’s endorsement follows:
“It’s not clear that Thorsen would be able to achieve the cost savings he’s hoping for, but he has studied McHenry County operations and those of the treasurer’s office well from the outside.
“Miller has excellent experience inside and outside the treasurer’s office, but it’s not clear her leadership and management skills can match Thorsen’s.”
An online MBA is the scale-tipper in the Daily Herald’s eyes?
I fear for the future of this county that a credential that wouldn’t get a 23 year old hired for an entry-level corporate job is the eye-popper difference in a county-wide race.
I have a suggestion to save money in the Treasurer’s office, the Sheriff’s office, and the Recorder of Deeds.
Show up for work and do your job.
Then the department no longer needs the person who is “second in command” (the person who actually does the job).
With benefits, all 3 departments would save $150,000+ a year.
Gee, Zinke seems to be stacking up quite a few more endorsements than Primm – including Prim’s old boss.
That’s gotta sting.
Online MBA? Have you really checked out the requirements for online degrees from reputable programs?
To my thinking this is way over the credentials of Prim.
Please tell me what his college background is..what degrees does he possess?
Easy to throw stones, but what has your guy done.
Prim has been a commander (which is equivalent to a sheriff Lieutenant) for how many years?
He was at Des Plaines for 27 years, but how many as a supervisor?
In 27 years he NEVER attended any college to better himself in his craft?
So, ….no self initiated education past high school.
Please tell me his educational background if I’m wrong.
Zinke has an AAS, BS and MBA from Aurora College, a highly qualified college, now the Prim supporters minimize his education.
Zinke has him beat hands down by qualifications.
Prim never did anything to better himself, now he wants to be the Sheriff.
Nawww!
The McHenry County Sheriff web site does not have some of the most basic information online for taxpayers to evaluate how the department is spending it’s money:
Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) for:
1. FOP McHenry County/McHenry County Sheriff Unit #1 – Patrol Officers & Detectives Lodge 118.
2. FOP McHenry County/McHenry County Sheriff Unit #2 – Corrections Officers.
3. FOP McHenry County/McHenry County Sheriff Unit #3 – Civilian Employees of the Sheriff’s Office.
The McHenry County Sheriff web site does not have a salaries and benefits report online containing for each employee, the employee’s name, title, employee pension contribution, employer pension contribution, and each benefit.
Zinke in his police uniform in his police vehicle during the Crystal Lake Independence Day Parade on Sunday July 7, 2013, flips off the local blogger Skinner for everyone to see including taxpayers and kids.
You don’t need an MBA to treat the public respectfully or put basic financial documents and information online.
Not only the current CBA but previous CBA’s should be online.
Not only the current salaries and benefits report should be online, but prior years as well.
So why are they making the public FOIA that information?
We don’t know but it doesn’t take a genius to make an educated guess.
Why the Daily Herald doesn’t call for that information to be online for all taxing districts is beyond me.
Are they really looking out for the taxpayers.
Or they just wanting press releases from taxing districts and money for public notices and other legal documents the taxing district is required to publish in a local paper.
The public sector in Illinois has gone hog wild and the press is asleep at the press.
Anyone with basic knowledge of County Government knows the the County board negotiates the counties union contracts.
As for the finger flipping…I am one of the many people that still wish it really had happened.
If you offer a public forum where it is acceptable to target a candidates family you really need to have thicker skin than whining that it appears you may have been flipped off…
I mean come on the nasty targeting of the guys wife that goes on here on a regular basis any you whiners really still want to cry that your feeling may have been bruised?
Pitiful.
Why should one have to go to the County Board website to find such information?
If a taxing district has a website, the collective bargaining agreement(s),s salaries, benefits, and information about the pension fund should be on the taxing district website and the County Board website.
Taxpayers shouldn’t be made to FOIA basic information about government finance such as collective bargaining agreements, salary, benefits, and some basic information about the pension fund.
There is a very good reason that too many Illinois government salaries, benefits, and pensions are out of line with the private sector.
The people footing the bill don’t know any of the basic details of what is really happening.
There is nothing preventing the McHenry County Sheriff’s office from putting any of that information on their website.
There are many taxpayers that would be very interested in reading that information.
As for the Zinke MBA, an MBA is a Masters in BUSINESS Administration.
The County Sheriff’s office is not a business.
It’s a unit of government.
Governmental accounting is different from business accounting.
Governmental accounting uses what is called Fund Accounting.
Different rules, regulations, and guidelines apply.
While there is a not for profit management course offered through the Aurora University MBA, it’s just that, a course, not the focus of the entire program.
You can transfer some of the knowledge over but it’s not the focus.
Which leads to a very good question.
Why an MBA if one wants to be a Sheriff?
Is he going to start a business after becoming a Sheriff?
Is running a Sheriff’s office similar to running a business?
The Sheriff’s office is looking for sources of revenue, the primary being taxpayers?
Secondary sources of revenues being grants and donations.
The Sheriff’s office wants to grow its operations, meaning more employees, meaning more taxes?
Too many governments consider taxpayers as a source of revenue to grow their salaries, benefits, and pensions.
It’s completely unacceptable for anyone wishing become a Sheriff to flip off someone in their uniform in
their police vehicle in the middle of an Independence Day parade in front of the public.
And it was caught on camera.