This is the third article about the entries of Democratic and Republican Party in McHenry’s Fiesta Days Parade. The first concentrated on the Democrats.
What I have been concentrating on is Algonquin’s Founders Day Committee’s attempt to maintain what it considers the parade’s non-political nature.
Which of the entries in the McHenry parade would be allowed in Algonquin’s and which would be prohibited?
The pictures were provided by John O’Neill, who was one of the recruiters of the 244 Republican participants. O’Neill is also a Republican precinct committeeman and member of the District 15 Elementary School Board.
Floating their own boat float, McHenry Township Supervisor Donna Schaefer and her crew. There is no indication on the float that all township officials are on the ballot next spring, so they would pass muster down in Algonquin Township.
Beside Schaefer, you can see Township Trustee Kathy Kuchta, who is also heads the McHenry Township Central Committee. In the second row are Township Assessor Carol Perschke, Township Trustee Jim Condon. In the third row are Trustee Marsha Nelson and Highway Commissioner Leon VanEvery. In the last row is Township Clerk Bruce Novak.
McHenry County’s Young Republicans apparently came next. First you see a banner.
Then, a tractor with the sign,
GET INVOLVED
Thank you, Illinois Republicans,
For your years of support
The signs I see being carried by walkers seem to make the cut. At least, they don’t say, “Elect” so and so. John Hammerand’s just says, “COUNTY BOARD,” underneath.
Oh, no!
There’s a sign next to the tractor for 8th congressional district Republican challenger Steve Greenberg. He’s not an incumbent.
Think Algonquin parade monitors would catch that?
Doesn’t really matter since the 8th congressional district doesn’t cover Algonquin.
But, surely someone would notice that Steve Greenberg is not a congressman yet. The banner, I fear, would alert the authorities.
But, Greenberg had influential supporters. The Godmother of the pro-life movement in McHenry County, Irene Napier, is holding up one of his signs. Sue Serdar, head of the Pro-Life Victory PAC is standing behind her.
And, here’s the candidate himself. His wife Kristine, too. A non-incumbent walking, instead of riding. His wife, too.
Besides the Young Republicans, there was this delightful
Really Young Republicans
United for the Future
banner being carried by John O’Neil’s son Johnny.
Supporters of the GOP candidate for state senate, Dan Duffy, probably would get in trouble, too. Not enough name identification to be an incumbent.
But, unlike all the Republican incumbents, but Sandra Salgado, shown in photos above, yesterday and the day before, Duffy is doing one-to-one campaigning. I remember when I was state representative it was a rare parade that I didn’t hand out candy myself.
In the email that accompanied the photos, John O’Neill provided this bit of color commentary:
“We did not hit 300, but we did hit 244!!
“I had some Dems harassing me while walking the parade.
“’Hey John, how’s your bribery campaign going, ha ha ha’
“Referring to our feeding the walkers after the parade.
“I tried to tie it in with candidates taking their own people out for lunch after parades but they wouldn’t listen so I told them, ‘…we take care of our people.’
“Another made comments to the tune of, ‘…200 in Crystal Lake? Yeah, and then you woke-up!’
“I wonder who is going to get kicked-out of the Algonquin parade for electioneering???”
The bottom photo is of O’Neill’s wife Basia and son Jimmy. In the background you can see Republicans troops being fed.
