McHenry County Blog

You’ve heard that definition, haven’t you?

Sometimes events get ahead of their elected officials.

What’s an elected official to do?

Run faster.

That’s should happen in the conflict of interest arena at the McHenry County Board. Right now.

Those Republicans (and one Democrat) in control cannot imagine why their constituents don’t trust them enough to take their word for not having conflicts of interest.

But the writing is on the wall, not to mention in the Northwest Herald.

The writing on the wall is 20 out of 27 candidates for the county board in the February 2nd primary election voluntarily filling out questionnaires for the Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water concerning potential conflicts of interest. Those holding many assets found the form challenging, as they thought of more ramifications of the questions, but they answered them anyway…even if it took an amendment.

This is the kind of good faith effort that those of us in the Chicago media market need.

Those of my advanced age have been watching U.S. Attorneys indict and convict politicians for decades and decades.

True most of those folks were not local, but some were pretty close.

So how do those in control of the McHenry County Board “run faster?”

Say,

“I have nothing to hide.”

Say,

“I realize in this day when there is a constant revelation of corruption in Chicago, those of us watching, listening and reading about it have a right to be disillusioned.”

Say,

“We on the McHenry County Board are going to do our part to not only help restore public confidence in the honesty of local officials, but lead the way statewide.”

“We Republicans on the county board are determined to pass an ordinance that will reveal property ownership of county board members and other county officials, employees and consultants that might present a conflict of interest.

“We shall reveal business relationships we have.

“We shall require those who work for us, directly or indirectly, to do the same.

“In short, we shall go farther than any other public officials or government in Illinois to restore citizen trust that what we are doing is above board.

“If passage of new state laws are needed to allow us to accomplish what we desire, we are assured that our legislators will carry the ball. They have led the way on transparency before and this is right up their alley.”

Yesterday, I commented on the Northwest Herald’s recommendation that the McHenry County Board move forward on enacting some form of the Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water’s proposed conflict of interest ordinance.

I disagreed with the NW Herald editorial writers’ willingness to allow those who are not paid, e.g., planning and zoning commissioners, to get away without revealing their local property ownerships. Clearly, there could be potential conflicts of interest.

The editorial also did not mention including employees and consultants.

These categories of people who financially benefit from county government should be included in any enhanced ethics ordinance, in my opinion.

Thinking things ethical brought to mind another real estate matter that needs sunshine.

Imagine for a moment that a local municipal official went into the real estate business. In the town where he/she is an elected official.

Imagine further that another local tax district decides to buy some property, but before that other tax district will buy it, it suggests it might be a good idea to designate the elected municipal official as the seller’s real estate agent.

Understand the land selection has already been determined; the tax district is just trying to make sure the elected municipal official gets a commission.

Had I heard of this at the time it happened, I would have been on the phone with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

It is that wrong.

Ridgefield Metra Station site with sign indicating real estate company with the listing.

This year, I noticed that Metra has figured out a way to protect themselves from similar charges.

It’s pretty simple really.

In the contract to buy land, for instance, the new Ridgefield commuter station, there is a section which says who will get the commission.

I believe that is a good example for local tax districts to follow.

Pete Merkel

Yesterday I weighed in with my thoughts on McHenry County Board member Pete Merkel’s apparently harsh criticism of the Alliance for Lake, Agriculture and Water’s proposal for a conflict of interest ordinance.

The group asked county board candidates whether they would support such an ordinance, but didn’t ask that they fill out the questionnaire in the ordinance.

Northwest Herald ad concerning McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler's real estate holdings the Sunday before the primary election.

Nevertheless, 20 out of 27 candidates, some from all three parties on the ballot, did so.

After the election, county board member Dan Ryan explicitly blamed his defeat on his unwillingness to volunteer to fill out the ALAW questionnaire.

And the Sunday before the election, McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler ran a half-page ad concerning his property holdings.

Clearly the issue has traction.

Today the Northwest Herald editorial adds its support for part, but not all of what ALAW wants in a new ethics requirement.

But, first the editorial dismisses Merkel’s objection that ALAW’s advocacy of the property revelation requirement for elected and appointed officials, plus consultants is political by saying,

“So what?”

Indeed,

“So what?”

Merkel’s opposition is political, too.

The Herald notes and I agree that it does not matter where good ideas come from?

The NW Herald does demur on a requested requirement where I wouldn’t.

It says that those who volunteer their time, that is, county officials who are not paid, should not be subjected to as strict conflict of interest scrutiny as those getting a salary.

It is my experience that people who think they are not getting paid what they are worth are most likely to take something that is not theirs. That’s why we pay police well. We don’t want them to think they are underpaid when they are enforcing, say, drug enforcement laws.

Think of how stores watch for shoplifting among lowly paid clerks.

I am sure you can come up with other examples.

So, do I think those who plan and zone property should be required to reveal any conflicts of interest?

You bet!

Tomorrow, another property-related reform that is ready for prime time in McHenry County.

Crystal Lake City Councilman Jeff Thorsen

Following in the footsteps of Crystal Lake City Councilwoman Carolyn Schofield is her colleague Jeff Thorsen.

He has filed the Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water’s ethics form.

You can find it here.

As with Schofield, Thorsen was elected last year.

I wonder if this signifies that something similar to the ALAW ordinance might be considered by the city council. A motion and a second could put the issue on the floor.

Thorsen has emphasized his support of a strong Crystal Lake Watershed Ordinance, voted against allowing McHenry County College to build a minor league baseball stadium and opposed Mayor Aaron Shepley’s 75% city sales tax hike.

In an interview with the Daily Herald, Sun City McHenry County Board member Dan Ryan blamed his refusal to disclose personal financial information requested by the Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water and low turnout in his retirement community.

“It infringed on individual privacy too much,” was what he told a reporter.

Regrets?

“Absolutely not,” he told the Daily Herald. “I don’t care if it cost me my office. I have principles.”

District 6 incumbent Daniel Ryan, sitting second from the right of the photo was the only candidate who either has not filed the ALAW conflict of interest form or committing to doing so. From left to right you see Richard Draper, Diane Evertsen, Victor Narusis, Dan Ryan and Mary McCann,

At the Patriots United County Board Candidates’ Forum, Ryan received decidedly tepid applause when he said he was not going to fill out the ALAW form.

Ryan was similarly resistive when the Illinois Family Institute, in conjunction with Patriots United made phone calls to him, among others, seeking people to call Ryan in favor of a ban on video gambling. When he figured out who had stimulated the 50-some calls, Ryan called IFI, telling the person who answered the phone that he would call them every time someone called him.

Ryan voted to allow video poker in rural bars and restaurants.

The conflict of interest form, which asks for property ownership and business relationships, was completed by 20 of 27 candidates in the February 2nd primary election.

Ryan was the only incumbent who lost who failed to fill out the form.

District 1’s Yvonne Barnes and District 2’s Lyn Orphal, both of whom sent ALAW the answers to the financial questions asked, also lost.

The other four Republican candidates in Ryan’s District 6 voluntarily turned in their questionnaires. (Those who did not volunteer for the financial exposure can be found here.)

With regard to the Sun City turnout question, the precinct voting returns for Ryan’s Grafton Township Precinct 15 showed these returns:

• Ryan – 107
• Evertsen – 71
• McCann – 55
• Draper – 33
• Narusis – 33

These totals are not the final precinct totals. The finals will show more votes, perhaps many more because lots of folks in Sun City are out of town this time of year and Ryan made a determined effort to solicit absentee votes.

It should be noted, however, that the McHenry County Clerk’s web site shows Ryan receiving 272 votes for precinct committeeman.

It will be interesting to see the final totals to compare his precinct committeeman total with those votes he received to retain his county board seat.

Here’s what happened to those county board candidates who did not send in a completed ALAW ethics form.

Apparently the advantage incumbency and the advantage that having a woman’s name on the ballot usually brings wasn’t enough to spare District 1 from the expense of a mailing.

Both Yvonne Barnes and Anna May Miller have sent out mailings.

If their challenger Robert Nowak has, no one has shared it with me.

Miller has managed to capture the gold ring.

Hers was delivered today, at least in Algonquin.

The day before the election. Can’t get much better than that.

Miller lists her committee assignments, plus these goals:

• Improved transportation
• Fiscal responsibility
• Managed growth
• Groundwater protection
• Preserving our quality of life

Yvonne Barnes’ piece came last week.

Barnes emphasizes her experience on the Cary Village Board (three terms), her integrity (“caring, honest and dedicated public servant) and professionalism (small business owner, bachelor’s degree in business administration).

If either woman loses, consider it a big upset.

Lurking in the background is the question of filling out the Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water’s (ALAW’s) conflict of interest statements.

Only seven of 27 candidates have not yet filed the ethics statements. Interesting that two of those seven are from District 1.

Perhaps that will change if the Democrats slate one of more opponents after the primary election and they make property and business disclosure an issue.

Of the three candidates, only Barnes has sent hers in.

It’s the day before the election and time to do some reviewing of issues that McHenry County Blog has covered on the county level.

McHenry County Board Map

Most attention was given to the Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water’s conflict of interest questionnaire.  It is now under consideration by the county board. It has not been voted upon.

Nevertheless, most candidates on the ballot for county board have voluntarily completed it and sent it to ALAW for posting on its web site.

A couple of candidates own significant land in McHenry County and their filings make interesting reading.

One, Victor Narusis, proposes putting his real estate, except for his home “in a blind trust to be managed by an independent third party.”

I consider that a sincere attempt to deal with a problem that other land owners on the current board might follow. He would still know where the land he owned was located when he put  it in the trust, though, so it seems to me he shouldn’t vote on zoning matters concerning it. There may, of course, be other avenues for county board members to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, which I think is what the public expects.

Below are the candidates on the county primary ballot who have NOT voluntarily filled out the ALAW ethics form. Incumbents running for re-election are seen in bold face type.

McHenry County Sheriff

Sheriff Keith Nygren (R)

District 1 County Board Candidates

• Anna May Miller (R)
• Robert Nowak (R)

District 2 County Board Candidates

• McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler (R)

District 3 County Board Candidates

• None (all filed)

District 4 County Board Candidates

• Pete Merkel (R)

District 5 County Board Candidates

• Dave Frederick (R)
  Jim Kennedy (D)

District 6 County Board Candidates

• Dan Ryan (R)

Again, those named above did not volunteer to fill out ALAW’s conflict of interest form.

One, Ken Koehler, seems to tacitly admit his land ownership is an election issue by buying a half-page ad in the Northwest Herald on Sunday.

Ad McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler put in the Northwest Herald two days before the election. Koehler is the only candidate in District 2 to refuse to fill out the ALAW conflict of interest questionnaire. All of his female opponents did so.

There is, of course, significant question as to whether Metra has selected the correct side of the tracks for the Ridgefield station, although I have never suggested that Koehler used his position to influence Metra’s decision.

Two more county board candidates have filed their conflict of interest forms with the Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water.

That brings the total to 20 out of 27 candidates who have answered the ALAW questionnaire.

74%.  Pretty amazing.

McHenry County Board Distrist Map

District 1 incumbent Yvonne Barnes is one of the recent filings. She has a contested primary election with three candidates—fellow incumbent Anna May Miller, Algonquin Township Highway Commissioner Bob Miller’s wife, and Robert Nowak, neither of which have filed. At the Patriots United County Board Candidates’ Forum, Nowak was the only one of the three to attend.

The second new filer is unopposed District 3 Democrat Lori McConville. District 3 is where the Democrats picked up a seat two years ago when Kathy Bergan Schmidt beat incumbent Nick Provenzano. Provenzano is trying to regain that seat this year. All five Republicans previously filed forms.

That means both non-incumbent Democrats have filled out the form. The other is District 4 candidate Jeff Thirtyacre.

However, the Democratic Party incumbent who is up for re-election, District 5’s Jim Kennedy, has not yet done so. He will be on the ballot this fall whether or not he decides to reveal his potential conflicts of interest. His Democratic Party colleague from District 5, Paula Yensen, not up for re-election this year, has also voluntarily filed the form.

Twenty-seven people want to be elected to the McHenry County Board next fall.

Twenty-one are Republicans, three are Democrats and one is a member of the Green Party.

Although the February 2nd election will decide who will be on the GOP ballot, the Democrats and Greens could appoint people to the ballot after the primary to challenge Republicans in Districts 1, 2 and 6, where Republicans currently face no fall contest.

100% of the Greens have filed (Frank Wedig, running in District 5).

Two-thirds of the Democrats have filed.

Of the twenty-one Republicans, seventeen have filed. That’s over 80%.

So, which Republicans haven’t told us what land they own and what business interests they have?

• District 1 – Incumbent Anna May Miller of District 1 and challenger Robert Nowak.
• District 2 – McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler of District 1. ( All of his opponents have filed their ethics forms with ALAW.)
• District 4 – Incumbent Pete Merkel
• District 5 – Challenger Dave Frederick
• District 6 – Incumbent Dan Ryan

Two-thirds of the non-filing Republican candidates are incumbents.

Of the ten Republicans and Democrats now in office running for re-election, sixty percent have now filled out the conflict of interest forms.

There’s still time to file and I’ll more than happy to write an article if addition people decided to reveal their potential conflicts of interest.

Remember hearing about how forest fires sometimes jump fire breaks that are intended to contain them.

That may have happened late last week with the Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water’s conflict of interest ordinance.

Originally presented to the McHenry County Board in December, the draft ordinance was shipped off to the State’s Attorney’s Office for review.

The review came back with some good points, along with some trivial ones.

And the number of county board candidates voluntarily filing the form kept increasing. Here’s who have filed so far:

• District 1 – None
• District 2 – All but Ken Koehler, that is, Sandra DePaul, Donna Kurtz, Ellen Brady Mueller and Lyn Orphal
• District 3 – Everyone of them! Veronica Armstrong, Nick Provenzano, Craig Steagall, Barbara Wheeler and Karen Tynis
• District 4 – Sandra Salgado and Jeff Thirtyacre (Democrat)
• District 5 – Tina Hill, John Jung and Frank Wedig (Green).  Incumbent Jim Kennedy and challenger Dave Frederick have not yet filed the form.
• District 6 – All but incumbent Dan Ryan, that is, Richard Draper, Diane Evertsen, Mary McCann and Vic Narusis.

Since there is no deadline, candidates or public officials can still download the conflict of interest form, fill it out and send it in.

Indeed ALAW did not even ask candidates to fill out the ethics form; it did have a questionnaire on issued of interest, however, the results of which can be found here for the twelve county board candidates who completed it.

As you can see more candidates filled out the ethics statement than filled out the issue questionnaire.

Along the way, every candidate for sheriff has answered the conflict of interest questionnaire.

And, two incumbent county board members not up for election have completed it. One, Republican Virginia Peschke, the other, Democrat Paula Yensen.

Crystal Lake Councilwoman Carolyn Schofield

Late last week, however, the first municipal official sent in answers.

She is Crystal Lake City Councilwoman Carolyn Schofield.

What’s that all about?

She just got elected.

Does this portend an issue in the Crystal Lake city elections next spring?

Will Schofield introduce an ordinance to make completing the conflict of interest form a requirement for elected and appointed city officials, as well as city consultants?

Unlike the County of McHenry, the City of Crystal Lake is a Home Rule unit of government.

What’s that mean?

It means the Crystal Lake City Council and other Home Rule cities have more power than county government.

The standard explanation of what a Home Rule government can do is anything the General Assembly doesn’t say it can’t do.

If Schofield, the newest member of the city council, follows decides to make a variation of the ALAW ordinance mandatory in Crystal Lake, the debate could turn quite interesting.

Since city Councilwoman Ellen Brady Mueller is running for county board in District 2, she might get elected. She certainly is in the top three in the sign war.

If elected, I imagine she would resign from the council. If so, a replacement would have to be selected.

Might the council require applicants for the possible vacancy to answer the conflict of interest questions first?

Whether or not the city council passed such a requirement, any council member could let it be known that he or she would not support a candidate who did not fill out the form.

Yes, ALAW has started something that could get very, very interesting.

Zane Seipler, GOP candidate for McHenry County Sheriff. was the first countywide candidate to file the conflict of interest form with ALAW,

Now there are two candidates for countywide office who have filed the conflict of interest forms prepared by the Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water.

The first was Zane Seipler, the Republican challenging McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren for his spot.

Power party sheriff candidates Nygren and and Mike Mahon have not done so.

Gus Philpott is the second candidate for McHenry County Sheriff to file the ALAW potential conflict of interest questionnaire. He's running on the Green Party ticket and will be on the fall ballot.

Now, a fall challenger has stepped up to the plate.

It’s the Green Party candidate for sheriff and operator of Woodstock Advocate Gus Philpott.

That means both of the Green candidates on the ballot—the other is District 5 county board candidate Frank Wedig—have filled out the questionnaire that ALAW wants all elected and appointed county officials to file, including those who zone property.

17 of 27 county board candidates have completed the paperwork. That’s 63% of the candidates.

Showing how threatening to the Establishment this concept is, however, is the fact that 60% of the incumbent county board members running for re-election have neglected to reveal their potential conflicts of interest.

The idea, if enacted by the county board, would require elected and appointed officials, plus consultants to reveal potential conflicts of interest.

The ones who did file did it voluntarily and had to find the find the form on the ALAW web site.

Clearly, this is not your ordinary questionnaire.

District 2 county board candidate Craig Steagall was the first to complete the ALAW ethics questionnaire.

Donna Kurtz, District 2 candidate who was the second to file the ALAW ethics from.

District 3 county board challenger Craig Steagall was the first to file.

District 2 challenger Donna Kurtz was the second.

Now, all candidates from District 3 have sent the completed form to ALAW.

In District 2, all but County Board Chairman Ken Koehler have voluntarily filed the forms with the alliance.

Koehler was also the only candidate in District 2 to miss the Patriots United county board candidates night. No newspaper wrote an article. McHenry County Blog did publish a story.

Philpott issued the following statement about the questionnaire:

“The ALAW Disclosure is a very important document.

“Citizens have the right to know, up-front, about conflicts-of-interest for elected officials.

“I support disclosure by appointed officials, too.

“Cozy, backroom deals must be a thing of the past. I would support widening the disclosure to require reporting of any conflicts that come into existence, after the Disclosure is filed.

“I am pleased to report that I have no conflicts-of-interest

“Gus Philpott”