District 5 County Board candidate is on the far left. Fourth and fifth from the left are County Board members John Jung (D-5) and Nick Provenzano (D-3).
As I walked into the Huntley Park District Building for the gun control/rights forum, I spotted three McHenry County Board candidates from three different districts:
- Nick Provenzano
- John Jung and
- Shawn Green
The meeting was already in progress with Moderator Jim Carlin explaining who was going to speak.
First up, introduced generously as someone who knows what the Tea Party movement is all about, was Congressman Joe Walsh.
“The media doesn’t understand this movement.
Joe Walsh waits to be called to speak at the Huntley Area Tea Party gun forum.
“My Republican Party doesn’t understand this movement….Maybe that’s a good thing.
“This movement has given the Republican Party one last time to get it right.”
Speaking to the subject of the event, Walsh remembered how he explained to his boys why the First Amendment was not the most important one.
“The Second Amendment is the last line of defense against our government.”
While admitting that Concealed Carry is a state issue, Walsh said,
“At the Federal level, we can be cheerleaders.”
“We ought to fight against our government’s (agreeing to international restrictions on gun ownership). We ought to cut off our funding to the United Nations,” he said to applause.
Referring to Illinois’ being the only state in the union without a Concealed Carry law, Walsh said his colleagues laugh at him for representing such a state.
Next up was State Rep. Mike Tryon, a co-sponsor of the bill that received a majority vote, but not the extraordinary 71 votes that Chicago’s Democratic Party Speaker had arbitrarily ruled were necessary to pass the measure.
Mke Tryon spoke about Concealed Carry from the state perspective.
“Illinois is the only state where you can’t carry a weapon in public,” he emphasized.
“Is that not an infringement upon our rights?
“It’s not the guns that are the problem, it’s gun violence.
“Our state needs the same right people have in every other state.”
Tryon also took on the FOID (Fireowners Identification) card.
“The FOID card could be considered an infringement on our rights.
He told of being in Missouri a couple of weeks ago and seeing more bumper stickers than he sees in Illinois.
Of two he shared, one referred to guns being no more the problem of gun violence that a spoon is the cause of Roseanne Barr’s weight.
As you might expect, that brought laughter from the crowd.
“The tool isn’t the enemy here,” the Crystal Laker said.
The next speaker was Bill Jenkins, about whose presentation I wrote yesterday.
During that speech Congressman Randy Hultgren arrived, sitting in the front row. He was led to the seat by McHenry County Board member Nick Provenzano.
After being introduced, Hultgren stayed a bit and then left with Provenzano.
Congressman Randy Hultgren greets 33rd District State Senate candidates (from left to right) Cliff Surges, Karen McConnaughay and Chad Koppie as he leaves the Huntley Tea Party gun forum.
I asked Provenzano, who was Joe Walsh’s last campaign manager in his 2010 victory over Melissa Bean if he were working for Hultgren.
He said he was.
Also arriving late were the three candidates for the vacant 33rd District State Senate seat:
- Cliff Surges
- Karen McConnaughay
- Chad Koppie
All were introduced and got a chance to wave to the crowd, although Surges had a “t” added to his name.
There was also a candidate for the Kane County Board who introduced himself and Sarab Herron, the daughter of Terry Hunt who is running for Kane County Auditor, made a pitch for his candidacy. (If anyone got the county board candidate’s name, please let us know in the comment section.)
