Northwest Herald Finally Recognizes Jack Franks Lies

When Breaker Press President Richard Lewandowski told the Friday courtroom that he had heard that McHenry County Board that he had heard that Jack Franks was involved Franks’ charade of non-involvement collapsed.

Of course, it was obvious to anyone with minimal deductive power that the common denominator in the hate mailings against County Clerk candidate Joe Tirio, plus County Board candidates Chuck Wheeler, Michael Rein, Ersel Schuster and Orv Brettman was that all had been severe critics of Democrat Jack Franks.

When the Northwest Herald could not reach Franks for comment after the hearing, it looked in its archives to find what Franks had said during the GOP Primary Election.

Here is what was found:

“In March,  the Northwest Herald asked Franks whether he knew anything about the Illinois Integrity Fund.

He said he did not,

but he commended its mailers. [Emphasis added.]

“‘It’s refreshing,‘ Franks said, ‘to see someone push back against an entrenched, entitled group that’s done a pretty poor job for a really long time.”

So, now NWH readers can see that Jack Franks lied.

No wonder this campaign piece from the 2016 County Board piece from Mike Walkup urging voters to keep county government “CLEAN” got under Jack Franks’ skin.

The leaflet from Mike Walkup got under Jack Franks’ skin.

The back of Mike Walkup’s leaflet reproduces the content of the memo that Jack Franks sent requesting patronage appointments from Govenror Rod Blagojevich.

The lie about apparently knowing nothing about the GOP Primary Election hit pieces, even though two Chicago Democratic Party operatives connected to him ended up to be the case (memorialized by an election night picture on the front page of Saturday’s front page), reminds one of Jack Franks’ CUT 10 lie.

There was, of course, the unambiguous campaign logo below, put on everything from literature to bottles of water to wristbands:

Here’s the Cut 10 logo used in Jack Franks’ campaign.

Consider the campaign mailing below in conjunction of the CUT 10 logo.

It says,

“Cut All Property Taxes 10%.”

This campaign piece from Jack Franks has Franks comparing himself to Mike Walkup. the top comparison says that Franks will “Cut All Property Taxes 10%.” Real estate taxes in McHenry County have not decreased by 10%, as all taxpayers know.

Late in the campaign, when people with more knowledge about the property tax system than the ordinary voter, especially editorial boards, talked with Franks, he retreated from the promise of his logo and on the above mailing by saying he was only talking about cutting county government’s tax levy by 10%.

Cutting county government’s tax bill by 10% would result in a 1% cut in one’s real estate tax bill.

During the County Board Chairmanship campaign, a website appeared called LyingJackFranks.com.

Checking to see if it is still active, I found it up, but with no entries for almost a year.

Seems like it might be time for an update.


Comments

Northwest Herald Finally Recognizes Jack Franks Lies — 13 Comments

  1. That’s the problem with Lying Jack eventually the truth always comes out, now you have to think of some new lies to cover the lies that you got caught saying. 🤔

  2. And now we have the list (thanks to the State of Illinois) of all those who contributed to the fund where the money came from.

    So many respectable people from McHenry County.

    How they ever got in bed with someone like Jack; it’s amazing. What to do with the list ?

    Thinking of taking a poll to see if we should publish it.

  3. When I was at the County Fair in August of 2016 I was approached by Herb Franks who told me that Jack was hopping mad about this piece, as it had a copy of the list of the people for whom he had requested jobs from Blago on the back.

    A bit later Jack came over to the GOP booth which I was helping to man at the time with one of the flyers in his hand and told me that now he was going to take the gloves off and would “destroy me”.

    Within the hour, a very negative hit piece was seen in the hand of a voter who stopped by the GOP booth, which was being passed out at the Franks booth, so obviously he had those flyers ready to go before even seeing anything from me.

    During the campaign his hit pieces against me were very similar to those used in 2018, taking very innocuous normal things and twisting them beyond recognition.

    For example, he would have one of his minions, sometimes someone from Chicago, file a campaign finance complaint that was completely spurious and/or technical and then put out something which said I was “under investigation by the State Board of Elections for campaign finance violations”.

    Then I would go to the hearing and no one would show up resulting in the complaint being dismissed. This happened several times.

    The mailer against Mike Rein was similar.

    Mike lived in Woodstock and was very careful to never charge for mileage to the administration building which he could have done. (Members outside of Woodstock routinely collected mileage).

    However, he did go to a downstate seminar and charged a small amount of mileage for that.

    All of that was then lumped into his health benefits,(which EVERYONE on the Board who was not already covered by another health plan was subscribed to), and he was depicted in a convertible overflowing with cash with the implication that he had collected a large sum of money for mileage.

    Local campaigns never used to be like this.

    Politics has become a blood sport and Truth is the casualty.

    I hope that Joe’s suit can start to move the pendulum back to some semblance of sanity.

    But I doubt it.

  4. “In March, the Northwest Herald asked Franks whether he knew anything about the Illinois Integrity Fund. He said he did not, but he commended its mailers. “It’s refreshing,” Franks said, “to see someone push back against an entrenched, entitled group that’s done a pretty poor job for a really long time.” ”

    This quote illustrates exquisite political sophistry.

    There is an entrenched, entitled group doing a poor job.

    But the subjects of the defamatory mailers were a minority group of outsiders trying to fight the actions of the entrenched, entitled group.

    This anti-corruption posture was the common thread between the targets of IIF.

    One specific example of this commonality was participation in an effort to prevent the County Board Chair hiring of 2 alleged patronage workers to newly created, unnecessary County posts in contravention of County Code and Salary Administration Policy.

    Political sophistry employs generalities.

    Call someone a bigot or thief on a postcard and the damage is done, a political opponent is discredited.

    Defamed parties aren’t allowed fair scrutiny of specifics behind such defamatory labels, except through judicial review. Or, through objective and diligent journalistic investigations.

    This case presents an opportunity for Democrats and Republicans who are trying to oppose political ‘business as usual ‘ to draw public attention to methods employed against reformers by the monied political class.

  5. Did anyone seriously think that Franks was innocent?

    Of course he was involved.

    The guy in my opinion is as crooked as Madigan.

  6. I was driving past McHenry County College towards The City of Crystal Lake (another ethics issue) and saw a billboard with Franks picture on it advertising his legal services with the phrase ……

    ” Justice Starts Here”

    I guess for Mr. Franks if true that he is involved in these shenanigans, Justice will start here !

    Oh the irony !!!!!

  7. Don’t forget Jack Franks is taking Illinois pension for his 18 years or work as a state legislator.

    Pretty nice for what many consider a part time job.

    I assume he was a full time at his family law firm then, and now?

    Remember, Illinois has a 3% a year compounded increase baked into the various pension schemes.

    From a previous post from Mark:

    $4,885.19 monthly pension x 12 months per year = $58,622 annual pension.

    There’s no state income tax on retirement income in Illinois.

    The pension is for 18 years as a State Representative (Jan 1999 – Jan 2017).

    Now the County Board Chair salary is $82,200 per the county’s salary compensation report.

    $82,200 salary + $58,622 pension = $140,822.

    Plus the County share of health insurance is $20,620.

    Plus the County share of dental insurance is $1,230.

  8. Well maybe the NWHerald is going to care now because he’s lied to Them!

    They even printed a press release from Franks’ elected office with lies about Tirio.

    All fabricated to try to sway the general election (seeing those mailers were under investigation)

    The NWHerald never should have printed that.

    It’s Not Good when a news source prints lies as truth from oner of the sleaziest politician in the County.

    The board should have censured Franks and put him on notice for using his elected office to propagate lies.

    But we all know the board’s a gaggle of gutless wonders.

    Maybe the NWHerald will grow a pair and start repairing their reputation and actually investigate before regurgitating Ol’ Mouthful O’Farts Franks.

    PS He lied about cutting taxes too.

    He saddled the county taxpayers with 2 patronage hires that do his job and who will suck salary/benefits now and pension long after most of us are dead.

    Your Grandchildren thank you…

  9. The key thing about these mailers is that the shadow group did not file with the State Board once they exceeded $5K in either receipts or expenditures.

    This violates state campaign finance laws.

    I cannot imagine two political functionaries sitting around one day and deciding “lets send out some really bad mailers in some GOP primary races in McHenry County and pay for them ourselves and then not file anything with the State Board!”

    Political functionaries do things they are asked to do by some politician and are paid for their services. Its their profession.

    So obviously they were asked to do it by “Someone” and guaranteed payment or reimbursement for not only the costs involved but some other reimbursement or future patronage jobs to boot.

    It probably didn’t occur to that “Someone” that it would ever be traced.

    It’s only because Joe Tirio decided not to take it laying down and filed a defamation suit, and because it was assigned to a courageous local judge who persisted in ferreting out the truth, that it came to light.

    It reminds me of Watergate and what Judge John Sirica did early on to the burglars.

    And like Watergate, those lower echelon minions will be squeezed with treat of prosecution to name names.

    And the money will be followed.

    “Someone” is in a lot of trouble….

    Career and law license ending trouble…..

  10. Re: “This violates state campaign finance laws. ”

    When the dust settles we may be presented with proof that Jack Franks did in fact file with the state the expenses incurred for the mailers which had the fake name / address of IIF but they are buried in his payments to Roosevelt and KNI communications or under some other transfer of funds to somewhere.

    Franks is a documented liar but he is a lawyer and knows how to USE the law to his advantage.

    The following needs to be accentuated: “It’s only because Joe Tirio decided not to take it laying down and filed a defamation suit, and because it was assigned to a courageous local judge who persisted in ferreting out the truth, that it came to light. ”

    The end result will likely be a little rap on Franks’ knuckles but in fact the damage to his reputation is done – Who in their right mind will vote for a guy who it appears was willing to let a guy go to jail to keep his identity hidden?

    When Brettman went to jail, it was to protect the taxpayers – when the President of Breaker Press was threatened with incarceration it was to protect the identity of a / some perpetrator(s) of intentional character assassination.

    In addition the negative impact on reputation rubs off on those Republicans who have supported him or openly worked with him in the past – that would include almost everyone on the current County Board and some local State Legislators and other government officials (past and present).

  11. Dots:

    Several states have made campaign finance violations criminal offenses to stop the use of “dark money” campaigns which this clearly was. (MI and MO for example).

    The federal campaign finance laws clearly do so and is why John Edwards was able to be charged and why Trump may very well be.

    Merely fining people who are in the business of raising large sums of money anyway for campaigns has little effect.

    Also this arguably is a violation of the state bar rules and could subject Franks to discipline there.

    “It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to:

    (a) violate or attempt to violate the Rules of Professional Conduct, knowingly assist or induce another to do so, or do so through the acts of another.

    (b) commit a criminal act that reflects adversely on the lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer in other respects.

    (c) engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation.

    (d) engage in conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice.”

    Lawyers have been seriously disciplined or disbarred under this section for things like bouncing checks at the supermarket, or willfully not filing federal tax returns.

    A request for investigation can be filed by anyone, and can be done online at the ARDC site. http://www.iardc.org/howtorequest.html

    Once filed, Franks would have to file a written response within 21 days or any extension of time granted.

    There is no way to avoid this.

    All request for investigation must be responded to in writing.

    The complainant would receive a copy which could be publicized. (Hint, hint).

    Now that the organizers of the IIF are known, a complaint can be filed with the State Board of Elections where they will be required to come in a answer questions on tape and under oath.

    Again, any citizen can file a complaint to initiate this, and it could include Franks’ name.

    Both are professional political operatives whose careers will be ruined one way or the other as a result of this.

    It is noteworthy that the President of the printing company, which does business mostly with Democrats (plus Mary McClellan, enough said) would volunteer Franks’ name.

    He could have simply said he didn’t know, which was true, in the sense of first hand information.

    The fact that he put that out there may indicate that the state Democrats are leaving Franks to twist slowly in the wind.

    It is likewise telling that Franks has not been heard from to comment.

    When has he ever passed up a chance to get a quote in the papers before?

    Franks can also kiss any type of state appointment goodbye.

    He is going to be persona non grata everywhere.

    He will be unable to command any moral authority as Board Chairman as well for the remainder of his term and is now very vulnerable to a serious challenger such as Althoff.

    He could even be challenged in his own primary by someone like Yensen or one of the progressives now on the Board.

    The national attention that campaign finance fraud and dark money laundering are going to be getting thanks to Trump is going to place the Franks fiasco under more scrutiny as well.

    Finally, to the extent that campaign finance violations in Illinois may not already be criminal, our intrepid local GOP legislators could make the filing of bills to criminalize dark money a priority starting in January when the new Legislature is sworne in.

    How about it Steve, Alan, Dave, and Craig?

    Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!

  12. Wow Known Extremist just gave us ( all of us- honest Republicans, Democrats, indepenents) a non-partisan blueprint to follow to help clean up government!

    Althoff is in bed with Franks.

    She is another self-serving sleazy politician willing to sell McHenry County to the highest bidder.

    We need someone with no baggage, no self-serving agenda, someone willing to do the job themselves without a STaff.

    A statesman who is respected, and humble.

    NOT someone who bullies and convinces the county admin and board that they report to Him-because they don’t.

    We need Someone who will conduct themselves by the county board rules and with dignity and humility.

    Someone who is beyond reproach.

    No state politicians wanting to come back to our county who want to leverage the county for their own benefit!

    No county board members wanting to run for chairman for the same reason.

    Let’s learn from this Franks debacle.

  13. Chuck Wheeler might be a good choice.

    I can’t think of anybody else.

    Wheeler vs Althoff would make a good primary match up.

    Also Yensen vs Franks on the Democratic side.

    The progressives would eat that up.

    In fact, I can’t think of many Democrats who would vote for Franks in the wake of Trump’s possible impeachment/resignation or general complete meltdown and how that echoes what Franks has done here.

    Progressives will be out in force to vote for Bernie or Warren. Bernie won the Democratic primary in McHenry County in 2016.

    They would back Yensen I believe.

    Regardless, whoever it is going to be they are going to have to start staking out positions contrary to Franks right away to have any credibility.

    Should be a blast to watch.

    Happy New Year!!!!

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