McHenry County Blog

Over the weekend I became convinced that McHenry County Republican Party Chairman Mike Tryon is the only one who can either take steps to allow Tea Party activist Tonya Franklin a chance to get on the ballot to run against Democrat “Chainsaw Jack” Franks or be responsible for Franks’ running unopposed.

During his last term as Republican Party County Chairman (and County Treasurer), Bill LeFew gave Franks a free ride. That was in 2006.

State Rep. Mike Tryon took LeFew’s place after the 2008 primary. No one filed in the primary election to run against Franks. During the period running up the the GOP organizing convention, Tryon was busy solidifying support.

Although all the Central Committee had to do was nominate a candidate that that candidate would appear on the ballot, Franks got another free ride.

In 2010, self-starter John O’Neill decided if no one else was going to run against Franks he would.

And he did.

I remember his telling me how excited Republicans were to have someone carrying showing the Republican’s banner, so to speak.

A lot better than flying a white flag from the party headquarters in Crystal Lake.

(There was one Dorr Township precinct with Crystal Lake addresses in Franks’ district and still is after Franks eliminated all of his the precincts he lost during last year’s reapportionment, which, like everything else in Springfield is pretty much controlled by the man Jack Franks has voted for for House Speaker seven times so far.)

This year no one was recruited by the Republican Party to pass petitions to run against “Chainsaw Jack,” although to be fair, the reason for that nickname did not surface until after the filing deadline had passed.

Trying to position himself so that he could win a statewide Democratic Party primary, Franks got family and friends to put a couple of hundred thousand dollars into his campaign fund just before the end of June, 2009, campaign filing deadline. Franks wanted to be the Democratic Party candidate for Governor.

Comparing his resources with other Democratic legislators who might have statewide ambitions led me to the finding that he has the fourth highest amount of money in the bank.

Since the beginning in 1998, Franks has said he was Pro-Choice at candidates’ nights.

But his voting record at one point could be argued to be more Pro-Life than the Republican he defeated.

But he wasn’t Pro-Choice enough for Personal PAC, the pro-abortion group that requires candidates to say they don’t support and limiting of abortion in Illinois. (Currently, one can have an abortion the day before a due date and it will be legal.)

Knowing he had to have this big bucks Political Action Committee at least neutral in a statewide race, Franks agreed with their wishes and in 2008 and 2010 was endorsed by Personal PAC.

And, then there’s the homosexual vote.

Franks has been going out of his way to court gays and lesbians, even being quoted saying favorable things in the Windy City Times about the action of a northeastern Lake County gay teenager.

And, in an attempt to curry favor, he voted for the civil unions bill.

To make nice-nice with Com Ed (they don’t call it the “power company” just because it usually delivers electricity), he voted for that monopoly’s electric rate increase bill, announcing his break with populism the night before the vote to a favored TV reporter and introduced a bill to allow Com Ed to cut down every tree within twenty feet of an electric line, hence, then nickname “Chainsaw Jack.”

So, if Republican Chairman Mike Tryon doesn’t want to throw in the towel for a second time, what does he have to do to give Tonya Franklin a fighting chance to get on the ballot.

It takes more than gaining Party approval.

That “party approval,” by the way has been made more difficult.

Now, a Central Committee must meet and name two members of a “Representative Committee” from the 63rd State Rep. District. As I understand the law, those two have to be from Franks’ district and, together with Tryon, they have the ability to nominate someone to run against Franks.

But, since last time around, in order to make it more difficult for minority parties to put someone up against incumbent Democrats, the General Assembly and Governor added another hurdle.

The nominee must get at least 500 “good” signatures on petitions, the same thing that would have been required if one had filed in the primary election.

The deadline for filing both the party nomination papers and the petitions and all the other paperwork that primary candidates have to file is June 4th.

Read the by-laws of the McHenry County Republican Central Committee and it says that there was supposed to be a meeting last Thursday night.

But, I was told by Mark Daniel, the new Central Committee Vice Chairman, who is also Township Chairman in Nunda Township, that the May meeting was canceled.

Maybe other GOP Precinct Committeeman got a routine notice of the cancellation, but I got nothing until I asked Daniel.

So, how does one call a Special Meeting before the “regular” third Thursday of the month meeting in June, which, of course, is after the June 4th deadline.

The by-laws says there has to be a ten-day written notice.

If mailed today, under that rule, the earliest a meeting could be held would be after the Memorial Day weekend giving Tonya Franklin’s volunteers one weekend to gather the signatures.

She’d need a lot of volunteers to do that but, if she could pull it off, it would pretty well put to bed the Establishment argument that she has no support. Indeed, I doubt there is any candidate on the ballot in McHenry County who got all of his or her signatures in one weekend.

Making the task even more difficult is the June 5th Wisconsin Recall Election date, which one might expect to drain off volunteers who might assist Franklin gather signatures.

However, state law does not say that ten days notice must be given.

An attorney I talked to this weekend said that in emergencies, such as the shortage of time between now and June 4th certainly seems to represent, notice could be given via a shorter notice period.

I was told that calling twice notifying Committeemen of a meeting two days hence would probably be good enough.

The process, however, must be initiated by Chairman Mike Tryon.

And, we all know that there are GOP Precinct Committeemen who are on Jack Franks’ fundraising “Host Committee.” (Not to mention Host Committee member Sheriff Keith Nygren, who applied for appointment as Sheriff as a Democrat when Democrat Art Tyrell resigned.)

From talking to John O’Neill, I believe there are current Republican Precinct Committee who campaigned for Franks over O’Neill in 2010.

So Franks has his own blowback machine within the McHenry County Republican Party.

You might say, there is something of a “McHenry County Combine,” with apologies to Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass.

Will Tryon follow the example of the new Cook County GOP Chairman?

Or do what he can to make sure that Jack Franks has a Republican Party opponent this fall?

Other articles that might be of interest follow:

4/29/12 Help Wanted – GOP Opponent for Labor-Lawyer-Lobbyist Democrat “Chainsaw Jack”

5/9/12 “Chainsaw Jack” Franks’ Drano Bill Makes Menards’ Shelf

5/9/12 Clock Is Running on Finding GOP Opponent for Jack Franks

5/10/12 Republican Candidate Steps Forward to Challenge Jack Franks

5/11/12 GOP Interviewing Committee Turns Thumbs Down on Woman Who Volunteered to Run Against Jack Franks

5/11/12 Jack Franks Now Free to Help Democrats Running for the McHenry County Board

5/12/12 Who Could Name a Candidate to Run Against “Chainsaw Jack” Franks?

5/13/12 The McHenry County Committee Who Interviewed Tonya Franklin for State Rep. Vacancy against Jack Franks

5/16/12 19 Days Until Jack Franks Gets a Third Free Ride from McHenry County Republicans

5/17/12 18 Days Until McHenry County Republicans Give Democrat “Chainsaw Jack” Franks Ability to Campaign Statewide with Impunity

5/18/12 Wouldn’t You Think Tom Cross Would Want an Opponent for “Chainsaw Jack” Franks? 17 Days to Get One

5/19/12 16 Days for McHenry County Republicans to Put Someone on the Ballot against State Rep. “Chainsaw Jack” Franks

5/20/12 15 Days from “Chainsaw Jack” Franks’ Big Celebration Because the McHenry County GOP Didn’t Put Up an Opponent, Even though Tonya Franklin Volunteered

Here we go again.

It wasn’t good enough for an outside arbitrator to rule that McHenry County Sheriff’s Deputy Zane Seipler should get his job back, but be punished with a three-day suspension, just as another Deputy, Jennifer Asplund, had been.

It wasn’t good enough that Associate Judge Thomas Meyer ruled a year ago that the arbitrator’s ruling was reasonable.

It wasn’t good enough that three justices of the 2nd Appellate Court in Elgin ruled without dissension that Seipler should get his job back, just as the auditor and the 22nd Circuit Court Judge ruled.

So, as predicted, Sheriff Nygren is off to the Illinois Supreme Court on a Don Quixote windmill tilting mission.

Why?

It’s not just to waste more taxpayer’s money, which an appeal such as this will assuredly do.

After all, the Illinois Supreme Court is controlled by Justices who were elected with the help of labor union money.

Hard to think of such Justices weakening union arbitration bargaining rights, especially when three Republican Appellate Court Justices would have to reversed.

In my opinion, this is more than just revenge on Nygren’s part, although it is certainly that.

No one has given Nygren as many fits as Zane Seipler.

No one has caused so many reforms within the Department since Democrat Art Tyrell in the mid-1970′s..

In his Federal court case claiming wrongful termination Nygren’s employees, past and present, have been put under oath and Nygren knows what has been said about himself and the department he runs.  He can’t be anxious for the transcripts to be shared with the media, even if the Northwest Herald will treat them with kid gloves.

So keeping Seipler from earning a livelihood for a couple of more months while the appeal process grinds on, even with Seipler going to get a couple hundred thousand dollar check for back pay, is undoubtedly part of Nygren’s thinking.

That not only makes family finances tough, but it deprives Seipler of the money to finance a campaign against newly-named Undersheriff Andy Zinke, just in case Nygren’s succession plan includes a primary election in March for a two-year unexpired term for Sheriff.

Or, as one of my readers told me recently, am I being too conspiratorial?

Hard not to be having grown up in McHenry County and Illinois politics.

Rep. Jack Franks supported and endorsed Governor Quinn’s primary opponent Comptroller Dan Hynes.

Quinn wasn’t enough of the organization Democrat he goes fishing with in Canada, I guess.

Too unpredictable.

So, it shouldn’t be a big surprise that Franks is not a political fan of Quinn.

But Quinn heads the Democrat ticket. A kick at Quinn doesn’t help the undercard of Dem candidates.

Franks is wildly trying to get any publicity to show he isn’t the liberal Democrat that he really is.

On Sunday morning’s Fox channel television show Franks decided to give Quinn a huge political kick to make himself sound unlike one of the Dems that drove Illinois broke.

Franks outright said Quinn wasn’t competent. To make sure no one can misunderstand Franks, he said:

“He’s frankly not been competent.”

This is after saying this about Quinn:

“He is an honest Governor.”

Franks later tries to pull the wool over viewers’ eyes with this one:

“What’s the difference with the parties in the State of Illinois. I can’t tell the difference.”

On difference is that Republican candidates for the legislature are not running away from their gubernatorial candidate.

Why denounce Quinn, but not Rod Blagojevich in 2002 ans 2006?

That’s a pregnant question, isn’t it?

What Franks doesn’t want voters to get is how the Democrats have held all of the political power in Illinois for eight years and this is their mess.

Franks included.

If Quinn is so honest, then why did his chief of staff who just resign?  Engaging in political activities while on the job may meet Franks’ interpretation of “honest.”

Franks is trying to position himself for the next election, possibly running for U.S. Congressman representing all of McHenry County in a newly-drawn district.

If he has to give Quinn a kick in the political not-competent groin, he couldn’t care.

He’s trying to build an image with voters as not being part of the last twelve years as a Dem State Rep driving Illinois broke.

He’s betting image will trump facts.

A lesson learned from Blago.

Franks is trying to win big in this election and somehow prove he is different than all of the other Dems across Illinois.

You can hear Franks’ not competent remark at about 4 minutes into playing this link.

Dems who stand near Jack Franks need to watch out for being thrown under the nearest moving bus.

Why do local Democrats need enemies when they can have a friend like Franks?

It’s possible if Democrats get severely trounced that Franks may make the argument he can do a better job of leading his party in Springfield.

Quinn, Madigan, does anybody think Franks cares about who he throws under the bus?

A real team Dem, oops, me kind of guy.

It says a lot about how much trust anybody beyond immediate family should put into Franks.

For anyone watching Franks’ attack on Quinn, Franks didn’t back up his opinion with any facts.

He went for the jugular with an immediate here’s your-throat-is-sliced conclusion.

Will Franks now follow the example of Democratic Party Sheriff Art Tyrell and become Chairman of Democrats for Bill Brady? Tyrell, elected in 1970, was Chairman of Democrats for Dick Ogilvie for Governor in 1972 when I first ran for state representative.