McHenry County Blog

Thought you might be interested in the money that has flowed into the Dee Beaubien against David McSweeney from Mike Madigan Political Action Committees and close allies.

Contributions to Dee Beaubien based on Illinois State Board of Elections Reporting

Dee Beaubien Contributions from Democratic organizations and special interests through October 18, 2012:

• Friends of Michael J. Madigan – $66,000
• Lou Lang  – $5,500
• Barbara Flynn Currie – $1,500
• Democratic Party of Illinois – $150,771.51
• Democratic Majority – $89,171.80
• Personal PAC – $106,223.59
• Planned Parenthood – $500
• Equality Illinois – $418
• Fred Eychaner $5,000.00
• Labor PACs $50,750.00

Total – $475,834.90

Mike Madigan’s Democratic Party dumped another $23,000 into Independent Dee Beaubien’s State Rep. campaign, according to Illinois State Board of Elections’ reports filed September 12th.

$22,588.31, to be exact.

That brings the total Madigan investment in the supposed Independent Dee Beaubien’s campaign to $35,686.05.

Take a look and shake your head in wonder at what may well be a new campaign strategy to elect those willing to vote for Madigan for Speaker, if they vote is needed.

Not that Madigan might not let Beaubien off the hook and allow her to vote for her husband Mark’s legislative leader Tom Cross.

If her vote is not needed, why not let her caucus with Republicans to bring back more or less secret information?

Besides being provided two of Democratic Party Chairman and House Speaker Mike Madigan’s staffers during July, local rich folks are also contributing to Independent Dee Beaubien’s campaign.

See “Madigan Money for ‘Independent’ Dee Beaubien.”

Those that have reported so far are

• $5,000 – Patricia Foglia, North Barrington
• $5,000 – Vincent Foglia, CEO, Sage, North Barrington
• $2,500 – Robert Brumbaugh, Jr., Owner/President, Omnibus Advertising, Invrnesss
• $1,000 – Michael Asher, Attorney, Palatine
• $1,000 – James Bramsen, CEO/President, Spraying Systems Co., Barrington
• $1,000 – Kimbery Duchossois, President, Duchossois Family Foundation, Barrington
• $1,000 – Michael Hayward, Orthodontist, Hayward Orthodontics, North Barrington
• $1,000 – Arthur Johnston, Corporate Executive, Side By Side, Inc., Chicago
• $1,000 – Harry J. Pearce, retired, Bloomfield Hills, IL 48304 (sic)
• $1,000 – Lynn White, Executive, C F Industries, Barrington Hills

Beaubien is running as an Independent against Republican Dave McSweeney.

Yesterday Ronald Garcia, the President of Chicago Medical Equipment & Supply Company, was indictedby the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

There were $28,400 in contributions listed on the Illinois State Board of Elections web site.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle received $1,500 on September 21, 2010.

What will Preckwinkle do to cleanse herself of this tainted money?

If she gives it back to Garcia, he can use it to help mount his legal defense.  (That’s what Rod Blagojevich did with a contribution from a mob-owned firm when I brought it to his campaign guy’s attention.)

She could give it to some charity.

Regardless, this is probably the first time she will have been faced with such a problem.

On Mary 3th, senior One Percenter J.B. Pritzker gave another $5,000 to junior One Percenter State Rep. Jack Franks.

That was just two days after McHenry County Blog’s article reporting past such contributions to Supporters of Jack Franks.

This is just one of a series of $5,000 donations to the Marengo Democ,

Check it out:

Here.

Or here.

Or here.

State Rep. Jack Franks isn’t a billionaire like J.B. Pritzker, but his family wealth certainly qualifies him for the top one percent.

Jack Franks is a Democrat.

The Daily Herald has a story about campaign contributions from billionaires and up popped Jack Franks’ name.

$5,000.

Of course, readers of McHenry County Blog could have read that here.

Or here.

Or here.

McHenry County Republicans ended up with about $2,000 more at the end of March than they had at the beginning of the year, ending March with $7,188.71.

The annual Lincoln Day Dinner was the major fund raiser and also amount to most of the expenses.

Contributions came from the following individuals:

• $175 – Mary Alger, Crystal Lake
• $275 – Scott Breeden. Crystal Lake
• $175 – Michael Chmiel, Crystal Lake
• $175 – Michael Feeterer, Crystal Lake
• $175 – Shawn Green, Union
• $175 – James Heisler, Crystal Lake
• $175 – HR Green Company, Cedar Rapids, IA
• $750 – Innovative Component Sales, Huntley
• $175 – John Jung, Woodstock
• $175 – Kathy Keefe, Woodstock
• $200 – Diane Klemm, Crystal Lake
• $175 – Rosemary Kurtz, Crystal Lake
• $175 – Dale Lewis, Woodstock
• $175 – Liberty Outdoor, Crystal Lake
• $200 – Pam Palmer, Union
• $175 – Metropolitan Health Care, Chicago
• $250 – Peter Baker & Son, Lake Bluff
• $175 – Pint Size Productions, Crystal Lake
• $175 – Tom Schermerhorn, Woodstock
• $175 – Robert Stephenson, Barrington Hills
• $750 – Trotter & Associates, St Charles
• $175 – Marty Waitzman, Algonquin
• $175 – Webb Marketing, McHenry
• $175 – Tom Wilbeck, Lakewood

There were also contributions from individuals of less than $150 that amounted to $3,375.

Campaign funds made contributions of $6,160. All but $985 were disclosed, as you can see below:

• $700 – Citizens for Karen McConnaughay, St Charles
• $900 – Citizens for Kent Gaffney, Fox River Grove
• $175 – Citizens for LeFew, Harvard
• $750 – Citizens for Mark Beaubien, Barrington
• $750 – Citizens to Elect Andy Zinke, Crystal Lake
• $175 – Citizens to Elect Dan Duffy, Barrington
• $1,000 – Citizens to Re Elect Bob Miller, Cary
• $175 – Cliff Surges for State Senate, Gilberts
• $200 – Joe Walsh For Congress, Lake Zurich
• $175 – Jourdan Committee to Preserve and Project Good Government, McHenry
• $175 – Skinner Campaign Fund, Crystal Lake

Here are the expenditures:

• $6,731.62 – Lincoln Day Dinner. D’Andrea’s Banquets, Crystal Lake
• $1,005 – Election Night Party, D’Andrea’s Banquets, Crystal Lake
• $1,800 – Salary, Geri Davis, McHenry
• $1,476 – Rent, Madison Corporate Group
• $742.74 – Printing, CL Graphics 124 S Virginia
• $452.76 – Lincoln Day Flowers, Lockers Flowers, McHenry
• $428.33 – Withholdings, United States Department of Treasury
• $390 – Storage Unit Rental, Liberty Outdoor, Crystal Lake
• $350 – Accounting fees, Giloa Yapelli, Crystal Lake
• $192.50 – AT&T, Louisville, KY

$239.78 was not specifically listed.

The Kane County Chronicle had a story Saturday telling of Board Chairman (and now GOP State Senate candidate) Karen McConnaughay’s making public campaign contributions by potential contractors prior to County Board approval.

For two years, those wanting county business have had to fill out forms telling

• owners of the company,
• names of lobbyists who have been used, plus
• campaign contributions to county officials

I don’t know if such information is posted on the Kane County web site, but that would be a good idea.

On additional bit of transparency might clarify zoning matters.

Might it be relevant to know whether the applicants and their attorneys had made contributions to any county officials?

Here’s the first attack piece I have seen in this year’s McHenry County Board races.

It is signed by District 6 McHenry County Board incumbent Mary McCann and Michele Aavang.

Included in the piece is the following paragraph (the emphasized one above):

“Incumbents Schuster and Evertson have voted against any conditional use or issue that supports farming or expanding specialized agribusiness in the County. Their election guarantees their ‘no’ votes will continue.”

Evertsen replies:

Diane Evertsen

“I would say that there is no doubt in my mind that I have voted ‘no’ on the majority of conditional use permits which come before the Board because they do not, in most instances, support farming.

“Should reference to ‘expanding agribusiness in the County’ refer to the seemingly unrestricted growth of ‘landscapers’ allowed to bring yard waste and debris from other counties to be dumped here in McHenry County, again I’d have to plead guilty to voting against this expansion of ‘agribusiness.’

Please know that, indeed, I will continue to vote ‘no’ on businesses which want to circumvent the necessity of purchasing commercial property on which to operate their businesses while choosing to use agricultural properties with lower taxes and supervision to subvert the intent of our zoning ordinances.”

Schuster has this to say:

“It is unfortunate that campaigns at this level of government have sunk to this depth.

“I have always, and will always, be a firm supporter of our food producing, agricultural community.

“I will stand strong against those who, for personal financial gain, work to inject non-agricultural uses into the farming community.”

[The following I earlier attributed to Schuster. I now see it came from another source.]

“The flyer contains a statement that I will refer to as totally untrue.

“However, due to the transmission of the flyer I will ask a question:

‘Why did Mary McCann actively lobby the McHenry County Board for a Conditional Use permit at 14510 IL Hwy 176, Woodstock, Il for James and Sue Hong?

‘Could there possibly be a connection to the political contributions from James and Sue Hong?’

If you want verification of the donations, here are the links:

• July, 1, 2011, through Sept. 30, 2011
• October 1, through December 30, 2011

I looked at the State Board of Elections links and share what they show about campaign contributions from the Hongs below:

Additionally, Evertsen offers the following evidence of the incorrectness of the statement excerpted from the McCann-Aavang flyer:

Insofar as Diane always voting NO on Conditional uses and zoning changes you need not look far to find this is false. Just go to the minutes of the County Board last October 18 and you can read:

ZBA (Zoning Board of Appeals) CONSENT AGENDA

Chairman Koehler asked if anyone wished to remove a petition, there were none.
Ms. Hill made a motion seconded by Ms. Donner to approve the following Petitions:

• Exb #11-32; Nunda Twp; Andrew/Jennifer Myers; reclass A1-A1CV
• Exb #11-35; Algonquin Twp; Richard Norwood/Monika Zajac; reclass R1-R1V
• Exb #11-37; Algonquin Twp; Tom/Joan Claypool; reclass R1-R1v
• Exb #11-39; Coral Twp; Grismer Trust; reclass A1-A2
• Exb #11-42; Chemung Twp; Kenneth/Mimi Book; reclass A1-A2C

Chairman Koehler asked for a roll call vote. The following members responded aye: Wheeler, Yensen, Bless, Breeden, Donner, Draffkorn, Evertsen, Hammerand, Heisler, Hill, Jung, Kurtz, McCann, Merkel, Miller, Munaretto, Nowak, Peschke, Provenzano, Salgado, Schmidt, Schuster and Koehler. Absent: Donley. The vote being twenty-three (23) ayes noting one (1) absent, the Chairman declared the motion to approve the ZBA Consent Agenda has passed.

A press release from State Senate candidate Cliff Surges criticizing his questioning his opponent Karen McConnaughay’s contributions from unions.

Surges calls on McConnaughay to explain Union Contributions

Gilberts, IL – On last Monday evening at a candidate forum at Del Webb’s Sun City in Huntley, Karen McConnaughay called herself a “union fighter” that has “stood up to unions” as Chairman of the Kane County Board. However, once again, a search of her campaign financial disclosure forms shows she has taken $64,367.00 (see attachment) from unions as campaign contributions since 2003. The source for this information is the Illinois State Board of Elections website.

In her own literature, and in the “United to Restore Freedom” candidate questionnaire, which can be found on the Illinois Review Blog, McConnaughay states she is opposed to PLA’s (Project Labor Agreements), opposes the Prevailing Wage Act, and supports right-to-work in Illinois.

Someone who is truly supporting these positions cannot justify taking such a large sum of money from labor unions.

“This contradiction of words and actions, especially concerning campaign contributions, is a repeating pattern in her history and indicative of how Ms. McConnaughay has eroded the public’s trust.” Cliff Surges stated.

“How can we trust a career politician who tells the voters what they want to hear by taking positions on public issues like these, while taking massive amounts of campaign cash from the very organizations that oppose those positions?

“Who will Ms. McConnaughay really represent if elected in Springfield, the voters or the Unions which have funded her campaigns?”

The contributions found by the Surges’ campaign follow: