Prior to the 1972 elections, the United States Supreme Court ruled that legislative bodies like the McHenry County Board and city councils had to be apportioned on a one-man, one-vote basis. The county board divided the county into three districts, … Continue reading
This is the fourth in a serialization of my father’s biography. Previous parts can be found below on McHenry County Blog. One of Dad’s inspirations for running for office involved an unresponsive city government. Plunk, plunk, plunk. I can hear … Continue reading
Previous parts of this biography can be found below on McHenry County Blog. I am running them again because my father would have been 105 on June 8th, if he hadn’t been a smoker. (His mother lived to be 96.) … Continue reading
Take a look at the crystal box shaped like a heart on the left side of the photo below: Stewart specializes in crystal boxes. The heart-shaped box was created at my request to give my future wife way back in 1990 Stewart … Continue reading
This weekend the Tribune highlighted the problem of school districts not being able to find out if prospective teachers had been found to have sexually abused students. In 2009, eight years after bringing too many boxes home my legislative office, … Continue reading
Watching Virginia Democratic Party Governor Ralph Northam twist in the wind becomes more interesting when one considers the following from Channel 7 against two campaign pieces for his gubernatorial campaign: Northam spent years actively courting the black community in the … Continue reading
All the blackface stories have brought back memories from my childhood in Easton, Maryland. Easton was a segregated town of about 5,000 people where my father was chosen in an uncontested special election as President of the Town Council when … Continue reading
And here’s the evidence: In other news, electricity off for a lot of McHenry residents, but despite so-called “smart meters,” Police ask residents “to report your outage directly to Comed for their accurate tracking.” Go figure. In McHenry, the following … Continue reading
The Daily Line touches on a subject that comes up once in a while, that of whether a politician can take money from his or her Political Action Committee when he or she retires. As the years go by, the … Continue reading
While State Representative, I attended conventions of the American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC, for short. In an informal conversation with a Mississippi State Rep., I was told that the law that allowed only the top two finishers in a primary … Continue reading
Published first by Illinois Family Action, the political arm of the Illinois Family Institute: Republicans Ignore Abortion as a Wedge Issue Written by Cal Skinner McHenry County Blog – Former Illinois State Representative In 2010 State Senator Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) … Continue reading
Looking at affordable housing statistics for yesterday’s story reminded me of a bill introduced by Eddie Kucharski back in the 1970’s to help veterans purchase their first home. He figured many would need help with their downpayment, so introduced a … Continue reading
In Dec. 1978, the search for a missing Chicago-area student led police to John Wayne Gacy’s doorstep SUNDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2018, 7:03 PM CT John Wayne Gacy was known to his suburban Chicago neighbors as an affable businessman, a party … Continue reading
Here is the letter that I am taking to residents of my precinct: Cal Skinner Republican Precinct Committeeman Home with the tree house on Lake Ave. 459-3506, calskinner2@gmail.com It’s time to look at who is running for office and figure … Continue reading
Four suburban women running for the State Senate as Democrats are using the issue I introduced in 2002 when I ran as a Libertarian for Govenror. They are Laura Ellman, Suzy Glowiak, Ann Gillespie and Bridget Fitzgerald. You can read the … Continue reading
Here’s what Reuters has to say about the ease of hacking election results: Boy, 11, hacks into replica U.S. vote website in minutes at convention (Reuters) – An 11-year-old boy managed to hack into a replica of Florida’s election results … Continue reading
A time-honored tradition in Springfield is ignoring the deadline after which the number of votes to pass a bill increases from a simple majority to a three-fifths majority. By “tradition,” I mean that it happened more than once. One, for … Continue reading
Illinois House Clerk Fred Seclke was the person who delivered the message that virtually all of the employees on the Republican staff when Bob Blair was elected House Speaker would not have jobs after the middle of January. I was … Continue reading
A Chicago Tribune editorial earlier this month brought back memories of former Secretary of State Paul Powell. He died in 1970, reportedly which making love with his mistress in Michigan. When I got to Springfield in 1973, I was told … Continue reading
Reprinted from McHenry Times with permission of the author: McHenry County board chairman Franks receives ‘Civility’ award despite his dust-ups with watchdog groups by W.J. Kennedy Despite a history of ugly clashes with government watchdog groups, Jack Franks, chairman of the … Continue reading
