Jack Franks Thinks He Has Same Power as a County Officials Created by the State Constitution

Reading Kevin Craver’s Northwest Herald article on the Human Resources Committee I found a reference from McHenry County Board Chairman Jack Franks that amused me.

Apparently, he thinks he has the same power as county officials created by the Illinois State Constitution.

When I was McHenry County Treasurer from 1966-70, I found legal cases that said Constitutionally-created county officials had a lot of power concerning how they spent their money.

The County Board has the power to tell elected county officials who are authorized by the State Constitution how much they can spend.

But the County Board cannot tell them how to spend it.

Any following of County Board  “rules” is strictly voluntary.

However, the office of County Board Chairman in counties like McHenry is not mentioned in the State Constitution.

Jack Franks

So, when Franks defends his patronage hires “as no different from other countrywide elected officials, who have the power to hire and fire in their own offices,” as Craver reports, Franks is dead wrong.

Since he is an attorney, I would think he could figure that out.

Maybe he’s not as good a lawyer as he wants people to think he is.


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