McHenry County Blog

The following was received from newly-elected Algonquin Township Trustee Larry Emery:

A point of view by the numbers

The 164th Annual Algonquin Township Town Meeting was called to order at 7 pm on Tuesday April 16th 2013 by Marc Munaretto.

A much larger group from normal monthly meetings of about 30 people was in attendance.

After the Pledge of Allegiance, it continued as many have gone before.

Newly-elected Algonquin Township Clerk Chuck Lutzow, elected Annual Meeting Moderator, sits next to outgoing Township Clerk Marc Munaretto.

But after the election of a moderator, Charles Lutzow, a slight change was made during the normal flow that will be setting the tone for this years elected board, officials, and the township organization.

Three electors were caught in this photo: Eileen Marhoffer, Lou Anne Majewski and Chuck Lutzow.

A motion was made to pay the moderator $1 for the services rendered that night.

Charles indicated to make it 0 and save the cost of writing a $1 check. The old fee was $50.

This is showing how the newly elected clerk is looking at all expenses and, like every vote counts, every dollar is important.

More of those interested enough in township government to attend the meeting.

The meeting had the open discussion by the audience, the approval of all motions on the agenda, and the reading of the Annual Reports like many other township meeting going on that night.

The $1,486,000 ending balance in the Town fund, the $145,000 in the General assistance fund, and the 834,000 in the Road Fund indicates a very sound financial position.

There was a concern given by Citizen Anne Majewski on the sale/purchase of township property and if a certain dollar amount was needed to be approved.

Road Commissioner Bob Miller indicated there is no amount level but all activities must follow state township requirements.

Also a statement of concern for township employees having individual credit cards was raised by Citizen Lou Anne Majewski. Since it was not an official motion, it would have to be pursued during a regular monthly meeting in the future.

The underlying feeling I was sensing was a concern for change, but not for the sake of change.

A bible story from Luke 16: 1-13 came to mind. To paraphrase Money, utilize it effectively in a quick 5 point recap:

1. Value what you have and don’t waste. Use what you have to impact others. Help the poor and unfortunate.
2. Plan for the future and don’t rationalize. Humility, repent, do what’s right, and be frugal.
3. Operate shrewdly and Heaven rewards it. “Wise as serpents, but harmless as doves.”
4. Start early and God sees it Faithful with a little will be faithful in much. Tithe, save, and live on what you have.
5. Fire a master if you have more than 1, it’s time to settle it. Only can have one master. Don’t worry, be Happy.

Look what I found distributed by the Crystal Lake Tea Party:

REMINDER OF TOWNSHIP ELECTIONS ON TUESDAY. THIS IS THE CLOSEST GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATION WE HAVE. BE SURE TO VOTE!

For what it is worth here are my personal recommendations for Nunda Township (of which I am a resident)

• Road Commissioner: Rob Parrish
• Supervisor: Bridgett Provenzano
• Clerk: Angela Koscavage

Township Polling places:
http://mchenry-il.connect.clarityelections.com/ElectionPollingPlaces.aspx

Letter from Irene Napier in support of Pro-life candidates in Algonquin Township:

Irene Napier at the annual Pro-Life Pig Roast, usually held at her farm.

Dear Pro-Life Supporter,

I was going to sit this election out, but two Pro-Lifers running for Algonquin Township Trustee are being slandered.

One is Melissa Sanchez, a 22-year old recent college grad (who has a job already!). Melissa, from Lake in the Hills, took a bus to the Pro-Life Washington demonstration three years ago and ended up meeting the young man she is going to marry. She is running with Larry Emery of Crystal Lake.

The key issue is pay raises voted for by three incumbent Trustees—Dan Shea and Lowell Cutsforth, plus Linda Lance, running for Township Clerk.

Both Melissa and Larry are being accused of voting to raise their own salaries.

The absurdity of the falsehood being spread is obvious when you think about it.

How could two candidates who are not in office have voted to raise their own salaries?

Such a “Big Lie” approach has been used successfully in politics before.

Shame on us if we let it work next Tuesday, when the Republican primary election is held.

What kind of a world do we live in when supporters of politicians spread outright lies about a recent retiree and a young woman inspired to try to improve things by entering public service?

Shouldn’t we be encouraging people like her and her friend Larry Emery, another Pro-Lifer, to stay involved in a political process that most of us would rather ignore because it is so often so dirty?

To summarize, there are three people on the ballot who voted to raise township salaries:

•         Dan Shea running for Trustee
•         Lowell Cutsforth running for Trustee
•         Linda Lance running for Clerk

There is one candidate, a current Trustee, running for re-election who led the fight to cut salaries

•         a Pro-Lifer named Russ Cardelli.

And there are the two candidates opposed to higher salaries who are being lied about

•         Melissa Sanchez
•         Larry Emery

Finally, a well-known Pro-Lifer named

•         Chuck Lutzow

is running for Township Clerk against a woman who voted to raise salaries.

Vote as you please, but please vote.

Irene Napier

Township Republican primary election campaigns vary in intensity.

The one for Algonquin Township Clerk matches Township Trustee Linda Lance with former Trustee Chuck Lutzow.

Both have four-by-four foot signs placed along high traffic roads.

Last week Lutzow upped the ante by sending out a post card, which you see below:

Fox River Grove Republican Precinct Committeeman Andrew Gasser has published his Algonquin Township GOP primary election recommendations, which he has given me permission to share.

Here they are:

Consolidated Primary Endorsements – 2013

“All politics are local.” – Tip O’Neill, 1982

We have an election coming up in a week.

Many of my friends and neighbors in the 4th precinct are not sure who to vote for so I wanted to put together a small voter guide for the people that I am supporting in the Consolidated Primary to be held on February 26th, 2013.

As many of you know – I am a reformer. I am an articulate conservative who believes in the core values of

• fiscal responsibility
• limited government
• free market principles

These are the things that America great. These are the principles that are so definitively dictated in our constitution.

The candidates listed below will do just that for us here locally.

The is how we begin to rebuild the Republican Party in the belly of the beast, or in the lion’s den. I have attached a PDF you can download here to print out and share with your friends and neighbors. Lets turn out the vote.

Andrew Gasser’s Sample Ballot.

Chuck Lutzow

Chuck Lutzow is running to be your Township Clerk.

Chuck owns a small business in Crystal Lake and has lived in the local area for over 20 years. He is an active committeeman in the local party.

He does not want to raise taxes or government wages, however his opponent voted to raise her salary and the tax levy.

We simply can’t afford NOT to have Chuck representing us.

Russ Cardelli

Russ Cardelli was appointed to be a trustee last year and is now running for election, not re-election.

He has raised his family here in Algonquin.

He has made a name for himself asking good, difficult questions at township board meetings.

I want you all to know Russ was the only trustee who voted NO to the elected official salary hike.

We need to send him back to the township as a trustee so he can continue to work to bring down the cost of government, not raise it.

Larry Emery

Larry Emery is a retired business analyst who lives in Crystal Lake.

He is an active precinct committeeman who worked several campaigns as well as an election judge. He is running to be one of our four trustees in the township.

Larry has already attended several township board meetings and even has pointed out mistakes to the sitting board members.

His excellent “attention to detail” is desperately needed.

Melissa Sanchez of Lake in the Hills, a candidate for Algonquin Township Trustee.

Melissa Sanchez of Lake in the Hills is another active precinct committeeman running for trustee.

Even as she finishes up her double major in Political Science and Legal Studies, she has still found the time to work locally with the local party.

Like Larry, she has vowed to follow Russ’ lead and vote NO to raise salaries.

Melissa will be a great addition to the board and serve us all well.

I know many of you are disgruntled, angry, and somewhat detached from politics after November; especially nationally. However, all politics start locally.

Let’s work to build a stronger, more vibrant local Republican party that increases its influence.

Early voting is going on now so please vote today at the township hall!

This banner for Bruce Kaplan hung on the wall.

I got to Bruce Kaplan’s fund raiser in Cary about an hour after it started, so an accurate count of the number attending is impossible, but I’d guess there were 80-100.

In other words, a good crowd for a municipal fund raiser over two months before the election.

Kaplan is in the real estate business, so, not surprisingly, there were a number of real estate people in attendance.

But there were local political types as well.

Lou Bianchi talks to those supporting Bruce Kaplan for Mayor of Cary. The man in the middle is Michael Karnauch.  To the left is Michael Rein.

McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi was there.  So was Republican McHenry County Sheriff candidate Bill Prim.

Jack Schaffer talks with Chuck Lutzow’s wife Darlene.

The Bob Miller family was well represented. I counted four family Republican Precinct Committee in attendance, including County Board member Anna May Miller.

Cary Village Trustee Bob Bragg, Cary Fire Protection District Trustee Mark Guerra and Algonquin Township Clerk candidate Chuck Lutzow posed for this picture.

Demetri Tsilimigras, also a GOP Committeeman from Cary was there, too.

Former McHenry County State Senator and Republican Party Chairman Jack Schaffer was also in attendance.

I only saw one Algonquin Township candidate, Chuck Lutzow, who is running for Township Clerk.

A late arrival was McHenry County Board member Joe Gottemoeller, who reminded me that his District 3 contains part of the Village of Cary.

Bruce Kaplan was kept busy greeting supporters.

I asked Kaplan why he entered the political arena.

Before he ran successfully for Village Trustee, the Village requirement of a $95 fee for every real estate sign caught his attention big time.

That had never happened before.

After getting the Illinois Association of Realtors involved, the village dropped the fee to $45, then waived it entirely “for election year,” Kaplan told me and several others.

The back of Bruce Kaplan’s post card.

He also pointed out that before he and his allies were sworn in two years ago, the Village Board denied a homeowner permission to put on a metal roof.

Kaplan said there was no ordinance prohibiting metal roofs, but the Village Board wouldn’t let the man do it anyway.

Such non-written rules are high on Kaplan’s list of things to change in village government.

The address side of Bruce Kaplan’s post card has his talking points. They include continuing to ask hard questions, a low tax levy, making Cary more business friendly and a cohesive board, among others you can see above.

I had a good talk with Brett Coleman. He came up with this marvelous comment about the state of business in Illinois:

“The only business to be in in Illinois is the moving business.”

Only Township Assessor Bob Kunz and Road Commissioner Bob Miller managed to avoid a challenge in the late February Republican Party Primary Election.

Everyone seated at the November Algonquin Township Meeting except for attorney Jim Kelly is running in next February’s Republican Primary Election.

Township Supervisor Dianne Klemm is being challenged by Township Clerk Marc Munaretto.

Two are running for the Clerk

• current Trustee Linda Lantz and
• former Trustee Chuck Lutzow

For Trustee there are seven candidates.

Three are currently Trustees:

• Dan Shea of Fox River Grove
• Lowell Cutsforth of Fox River Grove
• Russ Cardell1 of Algonquin

Four are not:

• Neils Kruse of Cary
• Melissa Sanchez of Lake in the Hills
• Larry Emmery of Crystal Lake
• Bill Bligh of Crystal Lake

Of the Trustee candidates, Shea, Cutsforth, Kurse, Sanchez and Emery are Republican Precinct Committeemen.

Bligh applied to be Associate Judge in 2011.

A line of people waiting to vote early at the Crystal Lake City Hall.

Crystal Lake Estates comprises a precinct east of Pingree Road and west of Route 31.

It is a precinct in the state representative district in which Dave McSweeney is fighting a pitched battle with Dee Beaubien-Mike Madigan combine.

It has an active Republican Precinct Committeeman, Chuck Lutzow.

He is keeping track of those who are voting early.  The totals, in percentages, are found below:

• 67% Republican
• 10% Independent
• 22% Democratic

That represents 69 voters.

Four years ago, 701 people voted, so about 10% of those expect to vote have done so.

In my precinct, Algonquin 7, 73 people have voted.  350 voted in the 2008 Presidential Election.

That’s 21% of those who voted four years ago.

I have not analyzed the partisan make-up.

Marc Munaretto

There is no indication that current Algonquin Township Supervisor Dianne Klemm is not running for re-election.

In fact, she told me she was.

Even so, Township Clerk Marc Munaretto, who currently also serves on the McHenry County Board from District 1, is passing petitions to run for Supervisor.

Munaretto decided not to run for re-election to the County Board.

At the Algonquin Founders Day Parade Munaretto was coy when asked if he were running for re-election.

The Township Supervisor currently pays $64,401.35, while the Township Clerk gets $17,173.70.

Salaries have not been set for the next term of office.

County Board members make about $20,000.

Election to the higher paying post would increase Munaretto’s Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Pension.

In addition, former Township Trustee Chuck Lutzow, who lives in Crystal Lake Estates, told me, “I am strongly considering a run for Township Supervisor.”

Ken Koehler and Dan Rutherford chat briefly after Rutherford's speech at Lakeside Center.

The guest speaker for McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler’s Koehlerfest was State Treasurer Dan Rutherford.

Meeting at Lakeside Center’s dining room, Koehler introduced him as “a good friend of McHenry County.”

Some of the crowd at the 2012 Koehlerfest. At the table in the foreground is Chuck Lutzow and Judge Michael Chmiel.

The gathering of Koehler supporters was also “Chainsaw Jack” Franks’ prospective opponent Tonya Franklin’s “coming out party.”

Introduced to Koehler as the woman who was going to keep Jack Franks off his back, Franklin received nothing but encouragement.

He said he would be at the Special Meeting of the County Central Committee at 9 AM at D’Andrea’s in Crystal Lake on this Saturday morning.

Koehler noted that he is the only Republican elected official to take Franks on.

Tonya Franklin did some retail campaigning.

As Tonya worked the room, those trying to suppress turnout sufficiently so there will not be a quorum on Saturday morning were seen talking to Precinct Committeemen with whom she had talked.

Tom McDermott

While they were doing their thing, I was trying to find people to fill empty precincts.

One Koehler contributor seemed quite interested so I passed his name onto Tom McDermott, who heads the Algonquin Township Committee looking for people willing to work in the fall election.

I ran into former McHenry County Republican Party Chairman Jack Schaffer, who was State Senator in the 1970′s (and beyond), and introduced him to Tonya.

“Go get them,” he said encouragingly.

Other candidates were in attendance.

Working the room most systematically was GOP State Rep. candidate David McSweeney.

State Rep. candidate David McSweeney worked all the tables in the room.

He is still unopposed, although Dee Beaubien is circulating petitions to gain ballot access as an Independent.

To be a candidate, Beaubien has to file petition signatures in Springfield the same as Tonya Franklin.

Leslie Schermerhorn was accompanied by family members to Koehlerfest.

The woman slated to run for McHenry County Superintendent of Schools by the Central Committee, Leslie Schermerhorn, was in attendance with a number of family members.

McHenry County State’s attorney was in attendance.  He greeted Tonya Franklin warmly.

Yvonne Barnes

Carolyn Schofield

I also saw County Board candidates Yvonne Barnes, from Cary and running in District 1, and District 2 candidate Carolyn Schofield, currently serving on the Crystal Lake City Council.

District 5 candidate John Jung, who lives in Bull Valley and is the Republican Precinct Committeeman in the only Jack Franks precinct containing part of Crystal Lake, was at the event with his wife and newly-appointed Dorr Township Precinct Committeeman Josie.

= = = = =
If I missed a candidate, please let me know in a comment so I can complete the story.

The Algonquin Township Board last summer.

Word from the Algonquin Township meeting is that Russell Cardelli of Algonquin was named to replace Joe Powalowski, who resigned.

Russell Cardelli

I interviewed Cardelli about the interviewing process.

“I was a little surprised.

“It seemed one of the other guys had been a trustee (Chuck Lutzow) and was a little better qualified.

Referring to Tom McDermott, Vice Chairman of the Algonquin Township Republican Central Committee, Cardelli said, “I just assumed someone like that would get the position.”

Asked what Township Trustees do, Cardelli said townships maintain the roads, they try to save the taxpayers money, they re-cycle old wood chips and give them away, among other things.

Cardelli has been a carpenter-contractor for thirty-five years in Algonquin, Lake in the Hills and Crystal Lake, and more recently “all over place.”

The five candidates not selected were

• Robert Abraham, Lake In The Hills
• Charles A. Lutzow, Crystal Lake
• Thomas P. McDermott, Crystal Lake
• Catherine Nash, Algonquin
• Bob Simpson from Crystal Lake