State senate candidate and McHenry County Board Member John Reinert took to Facebook to announce he was withdrawing from his Illinois State Senate bid. If true this opens the path for fellow McHenry County Board Member Craig Wilcox. You can read his statement below:
John Reinert
After much thought and reflection, I have decided to withdraw from the race for the 32nd Illinois Senate District.
I want to thank all of my friends and supporters throughout the 32nd Senate District who believed in me and helped my campaign. I was truly looking forward to a campaign that would give the people of Lake and McHenry counties a choice in the primary election, and I am disappointed in being denied the honor of taking my message to the voters.
To be blunt, my campaign was dealt a devastating blow by a company in which I misplaced my trust.
My supporters helped me collect more than 1,100 signatures from the people of Lake and McHenry Counties. In early November, my advisors suggested hiring an outside firm to collect additional signatures to be safe.
We submitted 2,000 signatures to the Illinois State Board of Elections – more than double the needed amount. However, almost all of the petitions generated by this company did not meet state guidelines and were rejected, and my campaign therefore no longer has the minimum number of signatures required to be on the March Republican primary ballot.
I put my trust in a company that was dishonest, to say the least. It was hired to help my campaign, but instead sabotaged it. While I fully intend to seek legal justice from these individuals who grievously damaged my campaign, I cannot honestly and with integrity defend their dishonest actions in an effort to stay on the ballot.
He’s doing the right thing. For himself, and the Republican Party.
by withdrawing.
Typical Democrat – play the role of the ‘victim’!
Truth be told, he himself had too many invalid signatures which did not pass scrutiny!
Now, how long before Pam Althoff throws her money behind Wilcox?
Not holding my breath!
Where is his endorsement of Mr. Wilcox?
Classy move Mr. Reinhart especially faced with the situation you found yourself in. Best of luck to you as new opportunities will manifest themselves to you.
I was hoping Mr. John Reinert would do the honorable thing and withdraw from the race. Mr. Craig Wilcox has my full support.
Will he do the right thing and support Wilcox? There’s no reason not to if you want what’s best for IL
John needs to look in the mirror to cast blame on this. Nearly 40% of the signatures he collected HIMSELF were bad. He also fails to say he is now supporting Wilcox, which would have been the classy thing to do.
Reinert should do the honorable thing and resign from the county board. You did this to yourself.
Same old story. [sigh]
@GettaClue Just so you know the Republican Party or what is left of it at this point is irrelevant. In case people haven’t realized it yet there is a power play going on in this County. And it involves Althoff, Tryon, McConnaughay and their followers Gottemoller, Skala, and bring Schofield back into the mix. Altohoff has someone running with her that will ride her coat tails. McConnaughy has someone from her office running in District 5. 3 School board members from District 2 can be on the County Board. Then you have Jung, Bates, McCann, Smith, Christensen, Aavang, Wilbeck, Reinert, Nowak, and Yensen who all fall in line with Franks. And Franks you know is talking with his old friends from Springfield. If Franks leaves that leaves Althoff, Gottemoller or Skala as front runners. See what your county can look like quickly in a election cycle. Do you think Rauner will sign the HB171? This is all about power and nothing more! Good Luck McHenry County with this as your leadership!
@Just Sayin You are kidding me with the Classy Part right! LOL He will be tarred and feathered if he was even thinking of letting the State Board of Elections make a decision! Now he avoids the total embarrassment of them denying him. It is a joke! His new opportunities might be in the private sector but not politically! Sincerely good luck in private sector John because Pam Althoff and any other person that helped lead you down this path is just as responsible.
‘JustSayin’, Classy? Situation he found himself in? New Opportunities will manifest?
I see a pattern here with this ‘brainchild’ candidate of Althoff’s and
the horribly dysfunctional candidate McClellan put up for Clerk.
No way I’d vote for either of these candidates.
Candidates like these leave an incurable stink on those that promoted them. And maybe that’s a good thing!
I tried to tell John that he was being led down a path of impropriety. Guess he was over the moon that someone would ask him to run for this. It’s never REALLY flattery when you’re to be a minion for someone else’s agenda. My advice would be: Have a plan, work that plan, don’t take any shortcuts, watch who you surround yourself with and run on your own terms to make a positive difference. At first I sympathized with him, now I’m glad for him that he got this hard, fast education in Politics and a crash coarse on that group of people he was all too willing to surround himself with. My arms are open if he starts taking responsibility for his foolishness. “Lawsuit”, please?! Consider yourself very lucky you’re not the one in legal trouble. Good luck, John. You have a road of introspection to travel. I hope you come out of this a better person. <3
sorry ^ posted under the wrong article.
Will this candidate “seek legal justice” on behalf of his primary opponent, whom he caused to spend thousands of dollars (legal fees and County Clerk voter certification fees) and many hours of volunteer labor in fighting these clearly fraudulent signatures?
Withdrawing after he lost is not withdrawing, its called losing!
Col. Wilcox demonstrated that he will follow the law and that his opponent did not. Reinart blames the company he hired when he should be looking in the mirror. Seriously, he elected to pay pay a cook county crook. What steps John take to check out the friends of old guard crook squad?
I love stupid criminals. That’s all.
the Honorable thing For Reinart to do is move …maybe to Iowa
at least this Rino was stopped before he got into office….
Janice Dalton should learn a lesson here. Like Reinherr, she should withdraw.
Nicely said Nob.
http://i.pinimg.com/736x/5d/60/4c/5d604c397e4d87301472b87680ea014c.jpg
—not with a bang but a whimper!
Libtard Althoff stooge, and a crooked, stupid, and lazy stooge a’ that, eliminated.
The Althoff-Mahady Axis suffers first major defeat.
Janice Dalton ….. pay heed:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/fr/thumb/4/4d/You%27re_next_logo.jpg/600px-You%27re_next_logo.jpg
Typical loser, blames others for things he knew about all along. PoS!
Now he’ll work hand in glove with his ideological fellow-traveler, Mary “Shady” Mahady, WHILE THIS CORRUPT MOPE STILL SITS ON THE COUNTY BOARD!
I don’t give a damn about his illustrious career as a parasite-realtor
When all this Cook County corruption he imported was exposed in the complaint, he laughed!
If State law enforcement refuses to act, can a qui tam lawsuit be filed on behalf of State to collect penalties and restitution?
(It cost the rival candidate thousand$$ to contest these fraudulent forged petition signatures).
Furthermore, BAD ACTORS may be barred form holding political office.
Example of a prosecuted case:
Eugene Kryczka
Eugene Kryczka, of Antioch, pleaded guilty to perjury in 2009. He had falsified 50 signatures on a ballot petition, in an attempt to run for Antioch town assessor. He also signed certifications in 19 of these cases, asserting that he had seen these individuals sign the petitions, when in fact, he had not. Kryczka was sentenced to a five-year suspended sentence, two years’ probation, and a $500 fine. He was barred from holding public office.
Source: bit.ly/2tmL591, bit.ly/2tvF0FM, bit.ly/2uPHDBz
http://www.heritage.org/voterfraud/search?state=IL&name=&year=&case_type=All&fraud_type=All&page=1
Looks like the State Board ain’t done with RINO-ert:
GENERAL PRIMARY – 3/20/2018
VERR V REINERT
12/11/2017 11:35 AM
PENDING
As of 10:59 a.m., I do not see John Reinert’s name in the ISBE candidate list (page 33).
No, Rienert is through. A withdrawal preempts further action, but who knows?
Maybe if they catch a crime, they’ll refer it out.
I don’t think ISBE prosecutes election fraud, they just monitor elections.
If people want to require consequences to bad actors in Illinois, people have to take the burden of prosecution on themselves.
It’s up to one of the county States’ Attorneys to decide to prosecute anyone. Cook County could do it as the attestations which were admitted to be fraudulent were signed in Cook County.
McHenry and/or Lake might also be able to do something but they might have to prove that one or more signatures allegedly gathered there were actually forged as that has not been admitted to.
Patrick’s office reportedly did have someone sitting in on one or more of the petition challenge proceedings.
About the only person about whom it could be said is completely innocent here is John. I am sure he didn’t have a clue.
Susan you are mistaken. Nobody can undertake prosecution of any criminal matter. The State’s Attorney has that power. What prompts him to act is only known to him.
I meant prosecution in a civil sense
If Reinert’s primary opponent had not had the money, time, and willing volunteer backing to challenge these fraudulent forged signatures, the fraud would have stood.
now, State criminal prosecutors declining to act are stealing the actual VICTIM’s rights: the rights to restitution for costs incurred.
Remember, the candidate Reinert paid an attorney to fight the petition signature contest, he acted in bad faith in forcing the primary opponent to spend time and monetary resources to obtain justice.
When ‘the King’ declines to act to enforce his own laws, citizens may act on his behalf to enforce those laws, by way of qui tam lawsuit.
Swampbuggy, Reinert didn’t have ‘a clue’? Really?
He filed the petitions didn’t he?
He said the objection was ‘baseless’?
The Gottemoller must have told him he was in trouble.
A staggeringly high percentage of his own petitions were bad.
C’mon, ‘clueless’? Or he thought he’d get away with it and the election rules were only for his amusement.
Swamp, Reinert is hardly innocent. It’s up to the candidate to verify signatures. He waltzed in there with double the amount- 63% being bogus? That’s disgraceful! “
When all this Cook County corruption he imported was exposed in the complaint, he laughed!?”
He’s got only himself to blame for his own bad action sinking his campaign. He also knew the caliber of people he was surrounding himself with and didn’t care as long as he thought it was gonna get him somewhere!
If Reinert really is that clueless, he should get out of politics. He’s more dangerous to us than he’d be helpful. What do you want to bet he hasn’t read one county board packet yet! He didn’t examine his own petitions! Or did he, but turned them in anyway? Either way you look at it, it’s BAD! We need LEADERS willing to work hard at cleaning up Govt., not Baffons or “stupid criminals”!
Why does everybody feel so sorry for poor little Rienert, aka Mr. Oh, so politically correct (ie, not Merry Christmas, “Happy Holidays”, LGBT agandaboy; Althoff flunkey; open-borders rat, etc. etc.,?
He tried to scam the whole process because nobody would bother collect petitions for him … even the criminals he hired! Well, her filthiness Tina Hill did get him some. Hello!
This is like some mobster bewailing crying about how his own hoodlums let him down!
I agree that John was certainly negligent, but he is not criminally culpable.
Being naïve is not a crime.
Questions:
How much did John Reinert pay for these forgeries?
Who gave Rienert $?
Did Sen. Pam Althoff (McHenry) really crown John?
We should be done wasting time on this failed campaign and focus on Craig Wilcox’s campaign. He needs our support, $, and VOTES! He’s a knowledgeable, intrepid, fighter! And undoubtedly the kind of Leader This County has been lacking in Springfield for a very long time.
On the County level, we can’t let UnEthical McClellan win a judges seat! We also can’t let her ethically challenged pick for Clerk be in charge of our Elections, property Deeds and a multi- million dollar tax dollar budget!
Say ‘’NO’ to UnEthicalMcClellan’ and ‘NO’ to GamblinJanice! ‘NO’ to sleazy Pam Althoff.
NO MORE CROOKS!
The way to accomplish “NO” to bad actors is to create consequences for bad actions.
not only are there (apparently) rarely any consequences for fraud and forgery on election nomination petitions in Illinois, opposing candidates who NOTICE fraud and forgery are forced to send their own resources (time, money, volunteer goodwill) in order to FORCE isbe to disallow fraudulent, forged petitions.
Therefore in this case I propose that every single minute aspect of this case—EVERY signature on EVERY petition– be examined in the only process available to the damaged candidate in order to obtain restitution: civil prosecution of Candidate Reinert, his political advisors and petition gatherers.
When the bad actors are identified through due process, they can be expelled from the remaining pool of active Illinois political ‘movers and shakers’.
AND, the opposing primary candidate who spent his own time and money to ferret out this FRAUD and FORGERY can be reimbursed for his out-of-pocket costs.
Sorry Lorna, I’m NOT gonna sweep everything under a stinking rug.
The way to prevent FUTURE depradations is to make the evil doer pay something!
Even if its just non-monetary ignominy.
Did Sad John endorse Wilcox? NO!
Did he apologize for anything he did? NO!
Did he offer to compensate Wilcox, Verr, or even return money to his own deluded donors? No!
Did he make any recompense to the State Board of Elections for all the disorder he caused? No!
Does he think it’ll all be business as usual now, and he can sit in RINO-triumph on the County Board? Yes!
Does he want everyone to forget he brought criminal thugs to McHenry County? Yes!
Is he saying he’s the ‘real victim’? Yes!
Does he represent in his own person what’s wrong with this whole State? Yes!
Wilcox is not going to have easy sledding in the General.
The generic Democrat numbers are up by 10% over 2014 nationally.
The base Democrat percentage in McHenry County in 2014 was probably around 40% (Quinn got 35% and Lisa Madigan 48%).
That means that every General Election race starts out pretty even.
IF Rauner is the GOP candidate, many conservatives will not show up.
It will be all about turn out.
It would be nice if Reinert could do a photo op with Wilcox to show that the GOP is united. (or “untied” based on Cal’s latest T shirt post).
The good news is that Franks will probably not lift a finger to help Mahady as he wants Wilcox off the Board.
RickyRicardo.
Truth be told, the Chicago thugs never actually came to Mchenry County to get signatures. You got everything else correct.
Swampbugg,
Do you really think Franks wants Wilcox in the Senate? Which local politician would be Franks’ ally in Springfield then?
I can guarantee Franks will be supporting Mahdy along with RINOs through various hidden channels.
Another reason to not pass up ‘discovery’ part-and-parcel to a civil suit against all petition participants on Reinert campaign team: discovery may reveal the ‘hidden channels’, and may damage some of those sub rosa operators’ credibility and political capital going forward.
Ricky, you’re right, on all accounts. I guess he caught me at a moment in which I wanted to move forward and get as much support for his Republican opponent, Craig Wilcox, who did nothing wrong and was greatly inconvenienced by this jerk, Reinert.
His political career should be over and so should the ones that put him up to run and his supporters in the political arena.
This should be front page Chicago Tribune news.
And YES to Susan’s comment!
I stand corrected as well. Exhaust all civil and criminal avenues to the fullest extent of the law!
It’s the only way to weed out corruption and all connected with it!
Who is responsible for the current petition/signature process in Illinois? The Illinois Legislature? Needs to be looked at and revised.
Lorna, I love ya’.
It’s only normal to feel sad for people who are ‘down’ …
….. but Reinert is like a schizoid kid who pleads for the Court’s mercy (after he killed his parents) by weeping he’s ‘just a poor orphan.’
He had a chance to drop out a long time ago when the crookedness was first exposed, yet he chose to inject even more disorder and damage in the juridical and political spheres because he thought, like most sociopaths, that he could get away with it, and ride it out, all the while professing the objection was totally baseless and a pack of lies.
After all, the NWH kept spiking news of his or his political campaign’s CRIMES and kept covering for him… even NOW!
All this melodrama over a complete douche. PATHETIC!
Bred, it’s the State Board of Elections.
Bred, what’s needed is not new laws, but prosecutions of existing laws!
Sad sack Reinert shirked his existing County Board obligations be going AWOL today (Thurs.)and failing to attend a set meeting.
He didn’t pull a Pagano after he got caught did he?
I can’t believe something like could happen.
If there wasn’t an objection, Rinert would just skate to the ballot?
There’s no vetting process by the State somehow?
Wow! What utter corruption.
Yeah, Rienert back on the ballot in 22 to stink it all up again!