McHenry County Blog

Every day anyone who wishes to subscribe to Dave Diersen’s GOPUSA Illinoisan get the results of his daily searches for articles, mainly political. (The third button down on his web site is “Subscribe.”)

Dave Diersen’s efforts to provide people with links to political stories every day received praise from the State Journal-Register’s political columnist Bernie Schoenburg Thursday.

As Springfield’s State Journal-Register political columnist Bernard Schoenburg points out, Diersen is not shy in adding his own opinion if he thinks the Mainstream Media is slanting things against his point of view.

The links save a lot of time for those interested in things political and provide information that I, for one, would not otherwise find.

So let me ad my thanks to Dave Diersen for his seven day a week, fifty-two week a year efforts.

Don Gray, Advocacy Director of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, has done some first-class political research.

He has figured out what percentage of money the twenty top county Republican and Democratic Party organizations spend on overhead versus candidates.

As I have been known to argue in Algonquin Township Republican Party meetings, “What’s the purposed of a political party, if it is not to elect candidates?”

Below is the graphic he has for Republicans:

Compare the McHenry County Republican Party’s 40% plus spent on candidates to what Democrats spend their money on:

McHenry County Democrats spent 60% of its money on electing candidates, rather than overhead.

Thanks to the State Journal-Register’s Bernie Schoenburg for writing the article that Dave Diersen found and put on his GOP Illinois email blast.

The highlight of the session most of the time I was in the Illinois House was the Gridiron Dinner put on by the press corps.

When Senate President Pate Philip managed to shorten the session by getting a constitutional amendment passed requiring a super majority to pass legislation starting on June 1st, rather than on July 1st, that changed.

While Philip got to go fishing earlier, the workload for reporters got too heavy to put on an annual show.

So, who stepped in to fill the void?

Legislators.

After all, they don’t have a lot to do with four people in the General Assembly making most of the important decisions.

The Conference of Women Legislators already put on a fund raising event. I remember Clyde Robbins singing at one held at the pool of the Statehouse Inn. That was the same event that State Senator John D’Arco read poetry.

The event now brings in $90,000, according to Springfield Journal-Register political reporter Bernie Schoenberg (whose high school son Samuel’s accomplishments were featured in last Sunday’s Chicago Tribune). The money goes for for scholarships and leadership training.

Featured in this knock-off of American Idol was McHenry County’s State Senator Pam Althoff. She was Paula Abdul, one of the judges.

There’s even a recording of part of the event that can be accessed through the Journal-Register story.

The highlight of the session most of the time I was in the Illinois House was the Gridiron Dinner put on by the press corps.

When Senate President Pate Philip managed to shorten the session by getting a constitutional amendment passed requiring a super majority to pass legislation starting on June 1st, rather than on July 1st, that changed.

While Philip got to go fishing earlier, the workload for reporters got too heavy to put on an annual show.

So, who stepped in to fill the void?

Legislators.

After all, they don’t have a lot to do with four people in the General Assembly making most of the important decisions.

The Conference of Women Legislators already put on a fund raising event. I remember Clyde Robbins singing at one held at the pool of the Statehouse Inn. That was the same event that State Senator John D’Arco read poetry.

The event now brings in $90,000, according to Springfield Journal-Register political reporter Bernie Schoenberg (whose high school son Samuel’s accomplishments were featured in last Sunday’s Chicago Tribune). The money goes for for scholarships and leadership training.

Featured in this knock-off of American Idol was McHenry County’s State Senator Pam Althoff. She was Paula Abdul, one of the judges.

There’s even a recording of part of the event that can be accessed through the Journal-Register story.