McHenry County Blog

I’ve shown you the campaign literature from the top two finishers in the Nunda Township Road Commissioner’s race. (Don Kopsell, who ran third, did not share them with McHenry County Blog.)

Here is one of the campaign pieces in the Belvidere township Republican primary election.  It’s from Ken McBee and takes on Richard Lee’s residency.

Just thought some might be interested in what others did. I found this on Boone County Watchdog in this article.

Of potential interest to McHenry County readers with a good memory of the last Sheriff’s race is the issue of a candidate’s Homestead Exemption address is raised.

Lee beat McBee 737 to 512 with perhaps a couple of absentee ballots that might arrive after election day outstanding.

Keri-Lyn Krafthefer

Reading Boone County Watchdog, I was surprised to find a story including Keri-Lyn Krafthefer, the attorney put out of a job by McHenry County Judge Michael Caldwell.

For those of you interested in this attorney, you can read a story in the Belvidere Daily Republican here.

A Rockford Register-Star article quotes the Supervisor as saying, “officials are being ‘picked on’ and must consult an attorney before taking any action.”

Grafton Township Trustee Gerry McMahon expresses his disdain for constituents by facing away from them. Here he points at ally Trustee Rob LaPorta.

Grafton Township Trustee Gerry McMahon is known for not facing the audience.

Now, I learn that a Belvidere Township Trustee has the same disdain for his constituents.

Other similarities to Grafton Township include the Board’s desire to buy a building, the old Eagles Club.

It sounds a lot like the old Grafton Township Board before Linda Moore defeated John Rossi.

Belvidere Township Supervisor Pat Murphy and Trustees Debbie Carlson, Bill Robertson, Bob Turner and Paul Zeien seem to have an edifice complex. (A condition in which public officials want to have their names affixed in bronze so people can see who was responsible for it construction or purchase.)

The Board wanted to offer $150,000, but were backed down by constituents.  The building later sold for $60,000 Boone County Board member Cathy Ward wrote in the Rockford Register-Star.

Ward reports on the budget meeting at which no public comment was allowed.

One of the questions someone would have asked was,

“Why didn’t you significantly lower the levies to reduce our taxes when you have more than enough cash on hand to pay projected bills for more than two years?”

That’s probably a question that could be asked of many township boards, such as last year’s Nunda Township Board, sans Supervisor John Heisler, who was not at the budget-setting meeting.

Unlike in Grafton Township, the entire board is unified. A $3.7 million Town Fund was approved, along with a $6.2 Road and Bridge Fund.

The column points out that many consider the amounts “dangerously bloated with projected expenditures that have never been spent in past years and simply cost Belvidere Township residents more in taxes and keep adding to township carry-over funds.”

Ward was joined by Pat Mattison, Bill Wolf and Max Newport, good government guys from the time I served Boone County in the Illinois House of Representatives, joined with Ward and Don Sattler is signing on to the guest column.

The column ends with the information that petitions for next year’s elections will be available in August.

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Thanks to Boone County Watchdog for pointing me to this story.