McHenry County Blog

This is the fourth article on Tuesday’s gambling debate at the McHenry County Board. Click to find who voted how and for Part 1 and Part 2.

Having failed to alter the agenda to allow a Tuesday up or down county board vote on video gambling, Nunda Township’s gambling opponent Barb Wheeler next sought to table the referendum resolution.

This motion was seconded by Ersel Schuster.

As it sat on the agenda, the outright ban was to be considered for 30 days and voted upon the first Tuesday in December.

But that rule can be waived.

Tina Hill asked if the committee was “going to ask to waive the 30-day review (for the gambling ban resolution).”

License and Liquor Committee Chairman John Hammerand related the history of the committee discussion. It started with talk of a ban, then “we decided it would be nice to have the people involved in the decision.”

He said he wanted the county board to have the opportunity to be a leader in the communities, so that municipalities could put similar referendums on the ballot on Feb. 2nd.

“I certainly support the referendum,” he said.

“It’s not my goal to waive the rules,” Hammerand continued.

Cary’s Anna May Miller took the delegate approach:

“I would like to move forward to allowing people with the county weigh in.”

Woodstock’s Hill wondered why there was all the fuss. She listed the number of people in each county board district who would be eligible to vote, 47,923 in all, while there are 200,228 registered voters in McHenry County. That’s not quite 25% of the total living outside of municipalities.

• District 1 – 4,034
• District 2 – 2,340
• District 3 – 11,214
• District 4 – 12,448
• District 5 – 3,254
• District 6 – 14,633

Huntley’s Dan Ryan pointed toward the moral aspect of the issue. He said there was no question from the fiscal point of view:

“Yes, we want the money.”

Ryan voted for a referendum, assuming I would guess that people know what their moral stand on the issue is.

The cost of the referendum also came up. Just under $18,000.

Yvonne Barnes of Cary came down on the trustee side of representation:

“I’m opposed to postponing the vote (on the gambling ban).”

Hammerand re-entered the debate:

“All I’m asking is to have status quo until we have a referendum and let them speak.”

Hill attempted to clarify what would be voted upon. Hammerand seemed to say that a vote on both Tuesday would be acceptable.

Pete Merkel, up for re-election in an unopposed McHenry-Richmond-Burton Township primary, took the trustee approach. He told of two advisory referendums on hot issues which a park board and city council decided to put on the ballot in an attempt to reach consensus.

The votes were 54-46 and 49-51.

No consensus resulted, he noted, supporting the “no advisory referendum” side of the issue.

“That’s why we get paid to make the tough decisions,” Merkel added.

“I’ll bet we’re going to be back here at the end of February with a whole roomful again and we’ll be having the same discussion.

“I think it is a cop out.

“Do we want to do that (have a referendum) with the 2030 Plan, with the public safety building?”

Merkel then pointed out that it was a social issue and questioned whether a “low turnout” primary election would yield a valid reading of public opinion.

Hedging his bet a bit, Merkel concluded,

“I don’t want to say, ‘We don’t want to listen to the people.’”

His vote, nevertheless, was against holding the advisory referendum.

“I totally agree with Mr. Merkel’s position,” Seneca Township board member Ersel Schuster added.

She remembered an advisory referendum that received 80% approval, but was ignored. The subject was whether the county board should require a three-quarters vote to approve conditional use permits.

Bull Valley’s Virginia Peschke agreed.

“I think the referendums should be reserved for asking people if (they want higher taxes).

“This is just government cowardice.”

Sandra Salgado, who like Merkel has not primary opponent, also took the “we can make the decision without voter input.”

“I can’t tell you how aggravated I was when legislators stood up here and said, ‘(You’re) going to make the hard decision.’”

“Obviously, I’m ready to make the tough decision,” Wheeler added.

“You don’t want the people to say you don’t want to hear them. (Let’s) not put the burden on our voters. We are elected to make these tough decisions.”

Also speaking in opposition to a referendum was Yvonne Barnes of Cary.

“I believe as elected officials it is our responsibility to make these decisions.

“This issue affects people throughout the area (county). An advisory referendum does not include (those in incorporated areas) in making the decision.”

Merkel then referred to the provision in the legislation that allows 25% of the voters to petition for a binding referendum.

Hammerand pointed out how extraordinary high that 25% signature requirement is.

“If it is (for) the board to wash out this referendum, I have no objection.”

He then attempted to amend the resolution motion to require a county board vote after the February 2nd primary election.

Tina Hill seconded the motion, “even though we’re probably on different sides of the issue.”

The attempt failed on a voice vote.

The McHenry County Board meeting debate Tuesday was extraordinary in its lack of focus on the gambling issue.

Algonquin’s Marc Munaretto put it best, asking why two resolutions, one to hold an advisory referendum on the issue and the other to ban video slot machines in unincorporated areas had gotten out of the License and Liquor Committee.

I wasn’t at the committee meeting when that happened, but someone who was told me that Barb Wheeler had made a motion to recommend a resolution banning video gambling and it almost failed for lack of a second.

The majority of the committee pretty obviously wanted a vote on the referendum resolution first, although Mary McCann may have changed her mind, because she voted against holding an advisory referendum.

The committee being a collegial group, however, both resolutions were forwarded to the county board.

A vote on the referendum question was scheduled for Tuesday; the one on the outright ban at a later meeting.

This did not please Wheeler, who tried to change the agenda so the ban could be voted upon Tuesday.

Clearly Wheeler is against this extension of gambling and was satisfied that her vote would represent her constituency.

It is much less clear how her colleagues would have voted today or will vote in a month.

If any of the opponents have taken the kind of tallies I used to take on the House floor in Springfield before one of my important bills, they have not shared that with me.

With many of the members up for re-election, going to a referendum could be considered a cop-out, that is, a way to avoid making a potentially dangerous political decision before the Feb. 2nd primary election.

Others believe with Mary Donner:

“I truly believe in my heart this belongs on a referendum first.

“I want to know what the voters in McHenry County feel about this.”

More tomorrow.

Maybe it was the $20,000 salary, plus full and generous health coverage, but whatever the motivation, all the incumbents but District 4 incumbents Sandy Salgado and Pete Merkel, both from McHenry, drew challengers.

Twenty-three people are vying for twelve spots on the fall ballot.

Thirteen are women; ten men.

In District 1, incumbents Anna May Miller and Yvonne Barnes are being challenged by Cary’s Bob Nowak.

In District 2, incumbents Ken Koehler and Lyn Orphal will face not only MCC Board member Donna Kurtz, but Crystal Lake City Councilwoman Ellen Brady Mueller, but also Sandra DePaul.

Mueller likes to be last on the ballot, but she didn’t wait long enough this afternoon. DePaul gets the coveted spot, worth an extra 5% in a six-person race, probably less in this five-person race.

In District 3, newly energized entrepreneur Craig Steagall, who lives just north of Crystal Lake will take on incumbent Barb Wheeler, former county board member Nick Provenzano and newcomers Veronica Armstrong and Karen Tynis.

Steagall is known for his full-page ads in the Northwest Herald in opposition to Metra’s purchase of 17 acres next to the old 84 Lumber (new Alexander’s Lumber) on Country Club Road.

Those ads have attacked McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler. Less well known is that he put together the people who built Prairie Ridge High School’s soccer field.

In District 5, Dave Frederick filed his nominating papers. The veterinarian will be running against incumbent Tina Hill and former county board member John Jung. The announced candidacy of John Vrett did not materialize.

In District 6, incumbent Mary McCann filed her petitions Monday. She joins incumbent Dan Ryan and challengers Richard Draper of Wonder Lake, Dianne Evertsen of Hartland Township and Victor Naursis of Woodstock.

John Hammerand, Chairman of the McHenry County Board’s Liquor and License Committee has informed McHenry County Blog that the question of whether an advisory referendum will be put on the February 2nd primary election ballot will be voted upon November 3rd.

About a month later, the question of whether to ban video poker, as it is euphemistically called by proponents, will be discussed December 1st.

= = = = =
From left to right are McHenry County Board members Bob Bless, Mary McCann, License and Liquor Committee Chairman John Hammerand, Assistant State’s Attorney’s Sara Jansen and Cynthia Schaupp and County Board member Barb Wheeler.

It conceivable that the McHenry County Board may allow citizens to vote whether they want slot machines and video poker in McHenry County.

It would be an advisory referendum, because the legislature only allowed binding referendums that are initiated by 25% of the voters in a county or municipality. 

“Why would we decide what’s best for them?” county board member Bob Bless asked.  “I think we should let them (the voters) decide.”

Committee Chairman John Hammerand agreed:

“If we’re all aflutter and can’t be a representative government, as we’re supposed to be, we could still put an advisory referendum on the ballot.

The minimum that will happen is that the county board’s License and Liquor Committee will hold a hearing on the evening of October 6th [since changed to the 7th; meeting starts at 6] to allow public input.  It may be in conjunction with the Finance and Audit Committee and the Law and Justice Committee, if they wish.  The full county board would consider the issue on October 20th.

County Administrator Pete Austin said chairmen of both committees “just want to see the whole board is considering the issue.  They’re glad the issue is coming up today.”

The committee members also want to give gambling expansion opponent State Rep. Jack Franks (D-Marengo), and gambling expansion proponents

• State Senator Pam Althoff (R-McHenry)
• State Rep. Mark Beaubien (R-Barrington Hills) and
• State Rep. Mike Tryon (R-Crystal Lake)

to give their views on the issue and answer questions.

The name of State Senator Dan Duffy (R-Lake Barrington) was not mentioned.  The newly-elected state senator voted against the slot machine bill.

Then, on October 20th, the county board could vote whether to ban slot machines in the unincorporated part of McHenry County having an effect on 44 bars, taverns and restaurants, plus 7 golf clubs, according to research that McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler passed out.  Koehler wanted the legislators at that meeting.

Under the slot machine legislation, county government would lose the just under $10,000 from licenses for coin operated amusement machines it now gets and pick up 5% of the amount gambled on a maximum of 225 slot machines.  The county’s share is estimated to be about $241,500.

“What we’re talking about on the county side is very small,” Koehler said.  He suggested it could go for gambling addiction treatment.

“If this is such a terrible thing, then maybe we ought to use it (for counseling).”

“It may have very large ramifications beyond revenues,” Wheeler replied.

Koehler pointed out,

“I’m told there is some gambling going on in McHenry County even as we speak.”

He spoke of some of its being stopped for a while only to spring up again.

Later, sardonically, Wheeler suggested legalizing and taxing marijuana.

“Apparently it grows pretty well in the county. (See 2008-1, 2008-2 and 2009 McHenry County Conservation District stories.)  Maybe we should legalize it and regulate it.”

Democrat Jim Kennedy wanted to make sure that the Chicago Crime Commission testified at the meeting, as well as the State Police, who, along with the state Gaming Commission are charged with with policing the slot machines under the legislation.

Committee Chairman Hammerand made an impassioned argument in favor of banning the slots, evoking how New Yorkers turned Coney Island from a sin city to a family-friendly location.

“Vice does not pay as well as decency,” he quoted those who turned its reputation around.

Hammerand pointed out that McHenry County has the highest percentage of families (adults married) in the state.

“If that’s something we want to continue selling, maybe we shouldn’t have video games here.

 ”If we want to be a bedroom community and attract families, I think we should (forego it).

“I feel revenue does not trump principles,” the Wonder Lake resident said.

In expressing her opposition to slot machines before the meeting Republican Precinct Committeeman Joyce Story of McHenry pointed out something I had not realized before.

Every liquor license holder will not be eligible to have five slot machines.

Only those who hold a license to pour liquor can have the gambling machines.

“That concerns me more,” she said.

“They will stay longer and gamble more.”

Also appearing in opposition was Republican Algonquin Township Precinct 51 Committeeman Eileen Marhoefer.

“I think this is a horse you just don’t want to let out of the barn,” she said.

“I think it’s going to be a huge problem for law enforcement.

“It’s hard enough to enforce cigarette sales (to minors),” Marhoefer concluded.

Bill Parrot, whom I first met at the huge Patriots United meeting on health care at the Crystal Lake Holiday Inn, also spoke against the proposal.

He asked if the retail businesses favored the proposal.

“Do we have a consensus among the (merchants) of the county?” the McHenry resident asked.

Leading off the meeting was Libertarian Dave Brady.

He had found a mistake in the resolution, which he pointed out to the committee.

After Brady’s presentation, Hammerand said that he “stole it (the resolution) from DuPage County. Just get rid of that (whereas clause).”

Hammerand asked the State’s Attorneys office to review the resolution.

On a philosophical level, Brady argued that the ban was another  example  of “the nanny state.”

“We’re going to protect you from yourself.”

He wondered how McHenry County could “accept money from gambling, but not allow it in the county.”

Brady asked whether that was being “family friendly” or “being hypocritical.”

McHenry County Board member Mary McCann was worried about the competitive disadvantage taverns near village boundaries might face if slot machines were banned for them but not for bars within a nearby municipality.

= = = = =
McHenry County Board member Bob Bless is in the top photo.

Below is a picture of the whole committee, plus staff from the State’s Attorney and Sheriff’s Office.

The three Republican state legislators representing McHenry County who voted for the gambling expansion bill are next in the article.

County Board member Barb Wheeler listens to County Board Chairman Ken Koehler in the next image.

Committee Chairman John Hammerand is next.

Below are public commenters Joyce Story, Bill Parrot and Dave Brady.

County Board member Mary McCann appears bottom right.

Yesterday McHenry County Blog concentrated on the fun kids had at Crystal Lake’s Nunda Township Republican Picnic. Today, we’ll look at political activities.

Going toward the food and drink, one could not miss Brent Smith. He was collecting petition signatures for all sorts of candidates. Here Christian Kwasigroch affixes his signature.

Not only politicians were in evidence, so were the bureaucrats. Here’s a permit required by the McHenry County Health Department. I guess it protects people from being poisoned by Republicans.

Chicago’s 11th Ward Republican Committeeman Carl Segvich, in Crystal Lake in support of Adam Andrezejewski’s gubernatorial campaign, can be seen at the food along with Bob and Veronica Armstrong.

The bratwurst and hamburgers were wonderful. Here you see the grilling area. Joe Wheeler can be seen on the left talking with Bloomington’s State Senator Bill Brady, who is running for the GOP nomination for governor for the second time.

Will Brady introduced himself on behalf of Senator Brady. I took him to be Bill’s brother, but it turns out he is Bill and Nancy’s son.

I saw GOP gubernatorial aspirant Adam Andrzejewski talking with Nick Provenzano, who is running for the GOP nomination for county board.

Two county board members, Mary Donner and Barb Wheeler, were looking at the table where a silent auction was being held. That’s Nunda Township Highway Commissioner Don Kopsell in the background.

I bumped into a face from my 1970’s past, former Dundee Township and now Barrington Township Trustee Ron Szymanski. Here he is being approached by DuPage County’s Appellate Court Justice Ann Jorgensen. Being from Cook County now, Szymanski can’t vote for her.

Jennifer Gibson, Nunda Township GOP Chairwoman, was the next person approached by Jorgensen.

Nearby, former Nunda Township Republican Chairman and precinct committeeman Blake Hobson (now a resident of and precinct committeeman in the Grafton Township portion of Lakewood) was talking to McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi. When Hobson commented on his carnation, Bianchi credited his wife.

I turned around and the second Appellate Court Justice in attendance, Lake County’s Mary S. Schostok, was chatting up Will Brady.

His father and mother were working the tent. Here Bill Brady is seen talking with Don Kopsell and Bob Armstrong.

State Rep. Mark Beaubien arrived and talked to Nunda Township Supervisor John Heisler, among others. I praised him and other House Republicans for forcing Democrats to cast the votes for any income tax those Democrats think they require. Beaubien is on the right.

(A parentheses about why Republicans should not vote for an income tax hike:

When Ron Blagojevich took office, he said he discovered a $5 billion budget deficit. Funny how he couldn’t find it before the election, but, assuming he was correct, I figured it was a two-year deficit that could easily be worked off…if Blagojevich made cuts similar to those proposed by Governor George Ryan, which Blagojevich campaigned against.

Blagojevich and the Democrats controlling the General Assembly did not cut the budget.

They raised it about $1 billion a year. Health insurance for illegal aliens, etc.

After six years, Blagojevich’s replacement, Pat Quinn, announced that there was an $11 billion deficit.

Let’s see.

$5 billion, plus $1 billion a year, equals $11 billion.

So, I conclude that the Democrats created any financial mess the state is in and the Democrats should have to provide any votes needed to raise taxes they think are needed.)

Now, back to Nunda Township’s Picnic.

2000 GOP state representative nominee Tom Salvi is seen with former Nunda Township Trustee James Schlader and Appellate Justice Ann Jorgensen.

Gubernatorial and other candidates spoke next.

I missed getting Adam Andrzejewski’s picture, but got shots of

• State Senator Bill Brady and
• Dan Proft,

all running for the Republican nomination for governor.

Brady, who can be seen on the left, is believed to be the runaway favorite in the contest so far.

After the speechifying, at least Brady was off to the McHenry County Fair.

All three were undoubtedly planning to visit the Young Republican picnic in Barrington later Saturday afternoon.

On the way out, Brady stopped to talk with State Rep. Beaubien. That the back of Nancy Brady’s head.

McHenry County Republican Central Committee Chairman and State Rep. Mike Tryon arrived. I caught him talking with McHenry County Auditor Pam Palmer, who isn’t even up for election this year. (Of course, neither is Bianchi.)

I really don’t like posed shots, but who could resist Tryon’s standing between two Appellate Court Justices? Amy B. Jorgensen is on Tryon’s left. Mary Seminara Schostok is on his right.

Before I left, McHenry County Young Republican President Bryan Jayor was arriving. You see Tom Salvi on the left and Appellate Justice Mary Schostok in the center.

As I was leaving, Pat Morris was signing her name to petitions being held by Brent Smith. Pat has been a community activist since at least the early 1970’s. I remember her song about our money never returning from the RTA (written to tune of the “MTA.” More recently, she offered opposition to McHenry County College’s proposed taxpayer-subsidized baseball stadium before the Crystal Lake City Council. She also wrote piraty lyrics about Mayor Aaron Shepley’s 75% Crystal Lake sales tax hike to the tune of the “Lincoln Park Pirates.”

I had come full circle.

Slim advertising have apparently loosened standards for political inserts at the Northwest Herald.

I can’t remember the campaign (one in the Cary area pops into my mind), but a former managing editor pledged that a political insert would no longer be allowed the day before an election.

The Republicans in Nunda Township, labeling themselves “Team Nunda,”
paid for an insert that I didn’t get, but discovered while reading the paper at the First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake. The church is located just north of the Algonquin-Nunda Township line, which is Crystal Lake Avenue.

So, it appears the local GOP candidates didn’t waste their money on the Algonquin part of Crystal Lake.

The Team Nunda sign is reproduced on both sides of the three color campaign piece.

Endorsements from

• former State Senator Dick Klemm
• current State Senator Dan Duffy
• State Rep. Mike Tryon
• McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren
• McHenry County board members Ed Dvorak, Mary Donner and Barb Wheeler

are featured on one side.

The other side has endorsements from

• State Senator Pam Althoff
• McHenry County Treasurer Bill LeFew
• McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler
• McHenry County Auditor Pam Palmer
• McHenry County Coroner Marlene Lantz
• Bryan Javor, Young Republicans Chairman

And there’s a big

on both sides.

It’s not just Algonquin Township Democrats who are feeling their oats after having seen a Democratic Party candidate carry McHenry County for the first time since the formation of the Republican Party.

Two candidates are running for Nunda Township trustee.

With only two on the ballot, the Nunda Dems cannot take control of the township board as the Algonquin ones can.

They two are endorsing the township open space referendum today. Besides the press release below, they are promoting it on their web site.

CRYSTAL LAKE—Patrick Murfin and Meredith Reid Sarkees, candidates for Nunda Township Trustee, announced their endorsement of the Nunda Open Space Referendum on Tuesday.

Democrats Murfin and Sarkees are running together as the “Change for Nunda” ticket and are opposed by four Republican “Team Nunda” candidates.

Both Sarkees and Murfin supported the last Open Space Referenda in which the authorization to establish the program was passed, but the funding mechanism was narrowly defeated. Both, however, wanted to take a careful look at the new proposal.

“One of our main campaign issues,” Murfin said, “has been ‘how can we best preserve our threatened ground water resources and preserve open space as citizens buffeted by the economy while tax revenues stagnate or fall?’”

He said a close examination of the referendum question in its present form convinced the candidates that it was the best option for preserving ground water and maintaining open and undeveloped land in a responsible and affordable manner.

Responding to critics of the referendum Murfin noted that intense development with its roads and rooftops really is a demonsratable threat to scarce ground water recourses. Land purchases under the program will insure that more rain water and snow melt will recharge the aquifer.

The program, which will save smaller and isolated parcels, does not in anyway duplicate or compete with the McHenry County Conservation District’s land acquisition program, which the MCCD itself has acknowledged.

The total bonding authority being requested has been reduced to 15 million dollars from the measure as it last appeared on the ballot. Yet currently falling land prices means that the same amount—or even more—land will be able to be acquired for preservation.

The twenty year level tax rate to repay the bonds means that costs to individual homeowners are reasonable and predictable—they will not rise. An average 250,000 home, for example, would see only a $44 yearly cost. “And open space is proven to enhance property values in the long run,” Murfin said, “many homeowners could find their costs offset by the rise in the value of their property.”

Murfin and Sarkees join elected officials from both parties in supporting the referendum including Nunda Township Supervisor John Heisler, State Senator Pam Althoff, and County Board District 3 members Kathy Bergan Schmidt and Barb Wheeler.

The measure is also endorsed by virtually every environmental organization in the county including the McHenry County Conservation Foundation, the Land Conservancy, Boone Creek Watershed Alliance, USDA Natural Resources Conservation District, The Sierra Club, McHenry County Audubon Society, Friends of the Fox, Environmental Defenders of McHenry County, and the McHenry County Soil and Water Conservation District Open Lands Project.

Agricultural and land owning interests including the McHenry County Farm Bureau and the Bull Valley Association are also on board.

“We feel we are in good company joining this broad support for the public good,” Murfin said.

I had heard the rumor that McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler had told those thinking of voting against him that such action would result in their not getting a chairmanship.

If true, Koehler, re-elected in early December over challengers Barb Wheeler (whom you see at the left being hugged by Koehler after he beat her) and Marc Munaretto, did not apply that guideline uniformly.

Otherwise, Marc Munaretto would not have been re-appointed Chairman of the Finance Committee.

He was the only exception, however.

Challenger Wheeler was stripped of her Planning and Development Committee chairmanship and even denied a vice chairmanship, usually a pretty meaningless position.

First term Lake in the Hills Democrat Jim Kennedy, who voted for Koehler, on the other hand, landed two vice chairmanships:

• Law and Justice and
• Liquor & License

Let’s see what happened to those who voted for candidates other than Koehler.

Republicans voting for Barb Wheeler:

Sue Daffkorn – District 4
Virginia Peschke – District 5
Dan Ryan – District 6
Sandra Salgado – District 4
Barb Wheeler – District 3

Like Wheeler, Sue Draffkorn ended up as neither a committee chairman or vice chairman.

Long-time member Virginia Peschke, who was chairman of the Public Health Committee and who previously ran against Koehler, ended up a complete backbencher.

Dan Ryan was not selected to be neither a chairman nor a vice chairman.

Sandra Salgado also didn’t place in the chairman, vice chairman derby.

Freshman Democrat Kathy Bergan Schmidt, who also supported Wheeler, had to settle for being an ordinary committee member like the rest of Wheeler’s supporters.

Randy Donley, who supported Munaretto, also finished out of the money, so to speak.

“Reward your friends, punish your enemies” is old political advice.

Koehler seems to have followed that advice, except for Munaretto.

Maybe Koehler concluded that his political coalition didn’t have anyone as qualified as Munaretto to head the Finance Committee.

I had heard the rumor that McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler had told those thinking of voting against him that such action would result in their not getting a chairmanship.

If true, Koehler, re-elected in early December over challengers Barb Wheeler (whom you see at the left being hugged by Koehler after he beat her) and Marc Munaretto, did not apply that guideline uniformly.

Otherwise, Marc Munaretto would not have been re-appointed Chairman of the Finance Committee.

He was the only exception, however.

Challenger Wheeler was stripped of her Planning and Development Committee chairmanship and even denied a vice chairmanship, usually a pretty meaningless position.

First term Lake in the Hills Democrat Jim Kennedy, who voted for Koehler, on the other hand, landed two vice chairmanships:

• Law and Justice and
• Liquor & License

Let’s see what happened to those who voted for candidates other than Koehler.

Republicans voting for Barb Wheeler:

Sue Daffkorn – District 4
Virginia Peschke – District 5
Dan Ryan – District 6
Sandra Salgado – District 4
Barb Wheeler – District 3

Like Wheeler, Sue Draffkorn ended up as neither a committee chairman or vice chairman.

Long-time member Virginia Peschke, who was chairman of the Public Health Committee and who previously ran against Koehler, ended up a complete backbencher.

Dan Ryan was not selected to be neither a chairman nor a vice chairman.

Sandra Salgado also didn’t place in the chairman, vice chairman derby.

Freshman Democrat Kathy Bergan Schmidt, who also supported Wheeler, had to settle for being an ordinary committee member like the rest of Wheeler’s supporters.

Randy Donley, who supported Munaretto, also finished out of the money, so to speak.

“Reward your friends, punish your enemies” is old political advice.

Koehler seems to have followed that advice, except for Munaretto.

Maybe Koehler concluded that his political coalition didn’t have anyone as qualified as Munaretto to head the Finance Committee.