McHenry County Blog

The following was received from newly-elected Algonquin Township Trustee Larry Emery:

A point of view by the numbers

The 164th Annual Algonquin Township Town Meeting was called to order at 7 pm on Tuesday April 16th 2013 by Marc Munaretto.

A much larger group from normal monthly meetings of about 30 people was in attendance.

After the Pledge of Allegiance, it continued as many have gone before.

But after the election of a moderator, Charles Lutzow, a slight change was made during the normal flow that will be setting the tone for this years elected board, officials, and the township organization.

A motion was made to pay the moderator $1 for the services rendered that night.

Charles indicated to make it 0 and save the cost of writing a $1 check. The old fee was $50.

This is showing how the newly elected clerk is looking at all expenses and, like every vote counts, every dollar is important.

The meeting had the open discussion by the audience, the approval of all motions on the agenda, and the reading of the Annual Reports like many other township meeting going on that night.

The $1,486,000 ending balance in the Town fund, the $145,000 in the General assistance fund, and the 834,000 in the Road Fund indicates a very sound financial position.

There was a concern given by Citizen Anne Majewski on the sale/purchase of township property and if a certain dollar amount was needed to be approved.

Road Commissioner Bob Miller indicated there is no amount level but all activities must follow state township requirements.

Also a statement of concern for township employees having individual credit cards was raised by Citizen Lou Anne Majewski. Since it was not an official motion, it would have to be pursued during a regular monthly meeting in the future.

The underlying feeling I was sensing was a concern for change, but not for the sake of change.

A bible story from Luke 16: 1-13 came to mind. To paraphrase Money, utilize it effectively in a quick 5 point recap:

1. Value what you have and don’t waste. Use what you have to impact others. Help the poor and unfortunate.
2. Plan for the future and don’t rationalize. Humility, repent, do what’s right, and be frugal.
3. Operate shrewdly and Heaven rewards it. “Wise as serpents, but harmless as doves.”
4. Start early and God sees it Faithful with a little will be faithful in much. Tithe, save, and live on what you have.
5. Fire a master if you have more than 1, it’s time to settle it. Only can have one master. Don’t worry, be Happy.

The Daily Herald’s Jim Davis wrote an opinion piece criticizing the cost of holding township primary elections.

It’s an easy hit on politicians.

Hey. Nobody voted.

So, divide the number of people voting into the cost of the election and the result is a high price per vote.

That, of course, is the fault of the politicians.

After reading his article, I sent Davis this email:

“As the House sponsor of the twp primary bill, I really wonder at your line of logic about abolishing that option in the name of saving money.

“Why not just let the party leaders select who will be on the ballot in November general elections, too?

“Where do you draw the line on encouraging democracy?

At 22, Melissa Sanchez will be the youngest township official in McHenry County.

“Do you really think a 22-year old, just-graduated-from-college Melissa Sanchez would have been selected by party leaders to be the Republican candidate in McHenry County’s largest township, Algonquin?”I don’t.

“Why should every place but Cook County elect individual precinct committeemen, rather than have precinct captains appointed by the local party boss?

“Waste of space on the ballot, wouldn’t you say?

“Maybe you would say it’s too much democracy.

“I would argue the lack of such local precinct level elections in Chicago has thwarted the chance of minorities to take power in an incremental process, delaying the taking of power from white politicians until the voter majority was overwhelming.

“Dictatorships often save money by never having an election.

“But that’s a cheap shot.

“The real question is where you would draw the line?”

Now, if Davis had suggested cutting down the number of judges from two in the majority party and one in the minority party, I would have supported such an idea.

Maybe next time he will.

And it’s not that I haven’t bemoaned the low voter turnout. Consider what happened in Algonquin Township.

4.6% voter turnout.

I only managed to interest 7.8% of the voters in Algonquin’s 7th precinct to vote in the Republican primary election.

Quite disappointing but not a reason to abolish elections in favor of party caucuses that would have even fewer participants.

Algonquin Township is where I serve as the Republican Precinct Committeeman in the 7th precinct. It’s is located in the northwest corner of the township. Across my street is Grafton Township.

When the canvass of the February 26th primary were posted, I looked at turnout.

It was pathetic.

4.6% on the average.

Even considering the lists are not clean, that’s really bad.

1,443 votes.

I decided to see which precincts had more than 5% of those on the voter registration rolls go to the polls. Here are the results:

• Algonquin 18 – 8.3% (Township Trustee candidate Russ Cardelli lives in this precinct and his wife in the Precinct Committeeman.)
• Algonquin 7 – 7.8%
• Algonquin 19 – 5.4%
• Algonquin 30 – 5.1% (Township Supervisor candidate Marc Munaretto and Clerk candidate Linda Lance live in this precinct.)

Why is that news?

Don’t Republicans support other Republicans on the ballot?

There was no Republican primary election in McHenry Township and all of those running for office seem to be on the same page.

Unified.

At least that’s what one might conclude from the four by eight foot sign on Route 31 just north of Route 120.

No GOP primary winner is being challenged in Algonquin Township, so no one would expect much of an effort there.

In Nunda Township, only the Supervisor is being challenged and by an Independent, not a Democrat as in McHenry Township.

The Nunda Township was just finalized this week, so maybe there will be a joint sign promoting Republicans in the near future.

In Grafton Township, there is no doubt a serious effort is being made by a group of Independents to take out all of the Republican candidates but the person on the ballot for Clerk, a write-in candidate who is running unopposed.

There were three sharp primaries in Grafton Township:

• a three-way race for Supervisor, won by Pam Fender
• a two-way race for Assessor, won by Al Zielinski
• a two-way race for Road Commissioner, won by Tom Poznanski

Poznanski is the Chairman of the Grafton Township Republican Central Committee.

So the question of the day is whether the Nunda and Grafton Township Central Committee will be putting forth any organized effort on behalf of their Republican Party candidates?

The final results of the Republican primary elections in Algonquin, Dorr, Grafton and Nunda Townships.

All the preliminary winners continue to be ahead.

The final results, pending any recount requests, for Nunda Township are

For Supervisor, Bridgett Provenzano gained one vote.  She lost by eleven votes to Lee Jennings.

• Lee Jennings – 945
  

  “Iron Mike” Lesperance won by the least number of votes–3.

• Bridgett Provenzano – 934
• Kerry Leigh – 421

For Clerk, Angela Koscavage picked up one vote, ending up eight votes ahead.

• Angela Koscavage – 1153
• Susan Jennings – 1145

For Highway Commissioner, both Rob Parrish and Don Kopsell picked up a vote, leaving Parrish three votes behind winner Mike Lesperance.

• Mike Lesperance – 892
• Rob Parrish – 889
• Don Kopsell – 718

Although the margins were too large for the person in second place in Grafton Township to have a chance of winning, the final results are listed below:

For Supervisor, Linda Moore picked up both the outstanding write-in votes, but still ended up in third place eighteen votes behind Marty Waitzman and 180 votes behind victor Pam Fender.

• Pam Fender – 780
• Martin Waitzman – 618
• Linda Moore – 600

For Assessor,

• Al Zielinski – 1,049
• Bill Ottley – 875

For Road Commissioner,

• Tom Poznanski – 1,164
• Richard Dvorak – 676

In Algonquin Township, there were no outstanding write-in votes, so there was no change at the canvass.

• Dianne Klemm – 777
• Marc Munaretto – 622

For Township Clerk the results are

• Chuck Lutzow – 794
• Linda Lantz – 548

For Township Trustee, the only close race, the final results are

• Russ Cardelli – 794
• Dan Shea -  776
• Melissa Sanchez – 643
• Larry Emery – 614
• Neils Kruse – 605
• Bill Bligh – 581
• Lowell Cutsforth – 512

Recounts are possible, but with electronic counting of votes, it is unlikely that the results will change.

 

 

 

As McHenry County Blog reported Friday, the likelihood that the vote totals posted on McVote for the GOP primary elections  in Nunda, Algonquin and Grafton Townships show the final winners.

The closest race is for Nunda Township Road Commissioner.  It it “Iron Mike” Lesperance leads Rob Parrish by just four votes.

There are, however, as of Friday, only two absentee ballots left to be counted.

There are also two absentee ballots that had arrived by Friday for Grafton Township, but no close contests exist there.

No absentee ballots arrived at the McHenry County Clerk’s Office on Monday and the likelihood of some arriving today postmarked the day of the election or before are slim.

Recounts are a possibility but canvass results rarely change by enough to change the results. With the counts so close, however, one or more candidates may seek one.

If there were ever an election where every vote counted, it was the races in Nunda Township for Supervisor, Clerk and Road Commissioner, plus the Algonquin Township contest for Trustee.

The preliminary totals can be found here.

Algonquin Township Republicans get a free ride in the April general election.

In Nunda Township an independent is challenging the winner of the primary.

In Grafton Township, all of the Republicans are being challenged by independents, except the write-in winner for Clerk.

I asked newly-re-elected Algonquin Township Supervisor Dianne Klemm for her views on taxes

She replied,

“I will do the very best I can to keep the levy flat and not raise taxes.

“I will not make a promise I may not be able to keep since the Supervisor does not have total control over that issue.”

Yesterday I wrote about the defeat of Algonquin Township Highway Commissioner Bob Miller’s slate.

He backed Township Clerk Marc Munaretto for Supervisor against incumbent Dianne Klemm and Trustee candidates Dan Shea, Lowell Cutsforth, Neils Kruse and Bill Bligh for Trustee.

Only Shea emerged victorious.

See

Algonquin Township Board – The Times They Are a Changin’

Reflecting on the election, it occurred to me that there were also slates, formal and informal in Nunda and Grafton Township.

In Nunda Township, a sticker on the front page of the Sunday Northwest Herald heralded the linking of Township Supervisor candidate Lee Jennings with Road Commissioner candidate “Iron Mike” Lesperance. Presumably, Susan Jennings, running for Clerk was on the same slate, although not mentioned on the sticker.

Both Jennings and Lesperance won, albeit by tiny margins. Susan Jennings lost the Clerk’s race by a tiny margin as well.

In Grafton Township, the informal slate consisted of Township Supervisor candidate Marty Waitzman, Assessor candidate incumbent Bill Ottley and Road Commissioner candidate Tom Poznanski.

This slate had a strange twist with Township Supervisor candidate Pam Fender endorsing Poznanski.

In any event, only Poznanski emerged victorious.

So, what might one conclude about slates?

Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t.

The most formal slate, as evidenced by Bob Miller’s candidates for Algonquin Township Trustee on joint signs he financed, got shot down.

Not by very much though.

In Nunda Township the Northwest Herald-revealed Jennings-Lesperance slate won, but barely.

What might be called the Grafton Township Establishment slate of Waitzman, Ottley and Poznanski emerged with only Poznanski in the winners’ column.

As I reported eight days ago, Algonquin Township Road Commissioner Bob Miller, unopposed for re-election, was trying to take control of the Algonquin Township Board.  Maybe I should say “keep control.”

He contributed $1,000 to Marc Munaretto in his campaign to unseat Supervisor Dianne Klemm. While Munaretto ran a superior campaign, Klemm’s superior name identification led her to a convincing victory.

For Township Trustee, Miller contributed another $1,000 to Lowell Cutsforth’s campaign.

Shortly thereafter, signs started popping up promoting a slate of four candidates for Township Trustee:

• Dan Shea
• Lowell Cutsforth
• Neils Kruse
• Bill Bligh

On the other side were three candidates:

• appointed incumbent Russ Cardelli
• Larry Emery
• Melissa Sanchez

As you can see below, those three bested all of Miller’s Trustee candidates.  The fourth winner, who came in second, was incumbent Shea, a former Fox River Grove Village President and McHenry County Board member.

Now, as evidenced by the salary increases approved by Trustees Shea, Cutsforth and Linda Lance, who ran for Clerk against Chuck Lutzow and lost, allies of Miller control the Algonquin Township Board.

After the newly-nominated, but certain-to-be elected, township officials are sworn in, four of five Board members will carry the memory that Miller tried to defeat them.

While the Township Road District is run by Miller with little oversight from the Board, there may be some.

The score for those challenging incumbent township supervisors was 50-50.

Algonquin Township Supervisor Dianne Klemm fended off the strong challenge of Clerk Marc Munaretto.

But Grafton Township Supervisor Linda Moore could not withstand the four years of relentless pounding by winner Pam Fender and her allies.

Pam Fender’s fight to become Grafton Township Supervisor could be blocked by Independent Jim Kearns.

“While I’m disappointed with the results of today’s election,” Moore said, “I truly appreciate the volunteers and supporters across the township that made my grassroots campaign possible.

“Together we reformed the Grafton Township Supervisor’s Office.

“We ended patronage and eliminated waste.

“I’ll always be grateful to the voters for entrusting me with the job of reforming the Township Supervisor’s Office four years ago,” she continued. “I want to put the rhetoric aside and move forward. I wish my successor well.”

In Nunda Township only twelve votes separate leading vote getting Lee Jennings and Bridgett Provenzano. Don’t expect a concession from Provenzano. She will wait until the canvass, if not request a discover recount.

And the winner in Nunda will face an Independent candidate in April.