When the last new pipeline went through McHenry County, opponents convinced the Illinois Commerce Commission that the pipeline should not have condemnation power.

The frosting on the opponents’ arguments was a paper by a University of Chicago Nobel Prize winning economist who argued that the price of gas and oil would not decrease if the Lakehead pipeline were built.

So the company had to pay market value.

As I remember, the last 100 feet were across Conservation District property in the Marengo-Union area.

The pipeline agreed to $2 million, but half of that was diverted to what I remember was not-yet-approved 501(c) charitable organization called the McHenry County Conservation Foundation.

The trustees of the $1 million of court ordered, but agreed upon by MCCD Board members, diversion of the $1 million from taxpayer-controlled to private interest controlled turned out to be former MCCD Board members.

That was disturbing enough, but it gets worse.

The Conservation District held a referendum to authorize the purchase of $73 million referendum in 2001.

Guess who paid for the campaign to convince taxpayers to raise their taxes?

The McHenry County Conservation Foundation.

At the time, the Foundation claimed that it only use interest on invested money.

Pardon me, if I concluded that it was unethical.

But, apparently, not illegal.

The research I did then and a couple of years later when a similar sized bond issue was put forth and whose campaign was again financed by the Foundation showed me that such 501(c) organizations can spend 10-16% of their money on “lobbying.”

The IRS definition for “lobbying” includes supporting or opposing referendums.

Don’t I believe in following the voters wishes?

Sure, but there is something very special about the financing of Conservation District tax hike referendums.

The bulk of the money comes from the McHenry County Conservation Foundation.

What you see below does not seem to include all the money from the 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that I remember being spent, but it certainly is enough to make my point.

Contributed By	Amount	Received By
McHenry County Conservation Foundation P.O. Box 1108 Woodstock, IL 60098-1108	$30,000.00 3/19/2001	Loan Received McHenry County Citizens for Clean Water and Open Space
McHenry County Conservation Foundation P.O. Box 1108 Woodstock, IL 60098-1108	$10,000.00 3/23/2001	Loan Received McHenry County Citizens for Clean Water and Open Space
McHenry County Conservation Foundation P.O. Box 1108 Woodstock, IL 60098-1108	$2,444.00 6/1/2001	In-Kind Contribution McHenry County Citizens for Clean Water and Open Space
McHenry County Conservation Foundation PO Box 1108 Woodstock, IL 60098	$25,000.00 3/26/2007	Individual Contribution McHenry County Citizens for Clean Water & Open Space
McHenry County Conservation Foundation PO Box 1108 Woodstock, IL 60098	$38,000.00 4/4/2007	Individual Contribution McHenry County Citizens for Clean Water & Open Space

When I discovered these campaign contributions, I was incensed.

Why?

The money came from a settlement with Lakehead Pipeline for an easement through about a hundred feet of Conservation District land.

Below you will see an article I published on June 22, 2009.  The links no longer work, but reading it will fill you in on the details:

Money That Should Have Been MCCD’s Used to Finance 2007 $73 Million, 27% Tax Hike Campaign

The McHenry County Conservation Foundation sounds all warm and fuzzy until you figure out that the Conservation Board set it up specifically to keep $1 million paid by Lakehead Pipeline out of MCCD’s coffers.

Out of the control of public officials and into the hands of ex-Conservation District leaders.

Read the whole sordid tale here, as well as how that Foundation spent $137,000 to pass a $73 million bond issue in 2001.

You might find of interest a statement by a local Republican leader asserting that raising taxes helps taxpayers.

In retrospect, it sounds a lot like Pat Quinn this spring.

For the 2007 $73 million bond issue, the Foundation only kicked in $63,000.

At least that’s what its captive campaign committee—the McHenry County Citizens for Clean Water & Open Space—reported to the Illinois State Board of Elections.

I guess the $24,000 of polling in the month before the election showed there was not a need to spend as much money that time around.

The mailings were financed over 95% by tax free money that should have been in the McHenry County Conservation District’s treasury where it could not have been spent to pass a bond issue.

You can read who lent their names, but, with few exceptions, not their money to passing the MCCD’s 27% property tax hike here.

Other people’s money is the best money, right.

Here are the mailings I snagged. (I may have missed some because they took me off their mailing list.)

McHenry County Conservation Foundation Hides Its Payment of Tax Hike MailingProtecting Open Space

That’s the end of the 2009 article.

Looking at the Foundation’s web site, I see the following:

“in 2001 and again in 2007, we ran two successful Open Space Bond Referendums, ultimately providing $141.5 million in funds to purchase open space and manage it for the public benefit.” 

Who runs the Foundation, you might ask?

Can’t tell you that in the short time I have to write this article because they are not listed on the Foundation’s web site, but the officers of the now inactive campaign committee which spent the money to raise our taxes in 2001 and 2007 follow:

Name	Title	Address
Pam Althoff	Chairman	3107 Judy Ln McHenry, IL 60050
Robert Bartlett	Chairman	1163 N Shore Dr Crystal Lake, IL 60014
Christine Slattery	Chairman	c/o TPL 53 W Jackson Blvd, Suite 1663 Chicago, Il 60604
Ken Koehler	Treasurer	320 Douglas AveCrystal Lake, IL 60014

Let’s assume the two bills pass the Illinois General Assembly and are signed by Governor Pat Quinn.

Based on experience, what can taxpayers expect?

If there is opposition, (and, given the economy and the realization that McHenry County ranks in the top 30 highest property taxed counties in the entire country, there will be), taxpayers can expect to see up to four glossy campaign pamphlets, most directly from the Foundation “informing” us what a wonderful thing open space is.

Then there will be one or two from a campaign committee telling us to “Vote Yes!”

My view is that the Foundation will be using money, most of which should have been in the coffers of the McHenry County Conservation District all along, to convince us to raise our taxes.

Of course, the Conservation District is prohibited by law from doing so.

Where the MCCD owns land can be seen below:

McHenry County Conservation District land as of March, 2014,

County Board members’ email addresses can be found here.