McHenry County Blog

Sometimes people ask for advice on how to win an election.

If I were running for office in Crystal Lake, I would go door-to-door seeking petition signatures on a binding referendum to abolish home rule.

It would be a lot of work, but, along the way, I would pick up others as incensed as I about Mayor Aaron Shepley’s 75% city sales tax hike last July 1st to help me get the 3,500 or so signatures that would be needed to put the question on the ballot.

And, if I didn’t, I’d take it as a personal challenge.

After all, I don’t have to spend all my time writing McHenry County Blog.

Would the tactic work?

Take a look at what I found yesterday on Capitol Fax Blog:

Writing about the negative reaction to the Cook County sales tax hike, which took effect the same day as Crystal Lake’s, Miller tells of the role it had in Mike Quigley’s 5th congressional district Democratic Party nomination.

Then he drops this tid-bit about how a Democrat took over a Republican Illinois House seat in Arlington Heights and Mount Prospect:

“This is not rocket science.

“Freshman Rep. Mark Walker (D-Arlington Heights) spent several months last year carrying a petition from door to door against Stroger’s tax hikes. Stroger and Blagojevich were the objects of attack by both parties last year, quite often with success.

“And with the economy in free fall, voters are even more sensitive to tax increases than before.“

Think it wouldn’t work in Crystal Lake?

It’s probably too late to gather all 3,500 signatures before the April 7th Crystal Lake city council election, but someone who wanted to differential him or herself from the crowd and who was willing to put in a lot of footwork could make a good start.

He or she could finish up during the summer.

Of course, if successful the new council member would be severely pressured to drop the idea.

After all, Crystal Lake’s services would collapse without the extra money. Others (like Don Totten and I) argue that government will spend every dime it gets its hands on.

Would such a referendum win in Crystal Lake at the primary election next February?

Beats me, but, if some city council candidate doesn’t take up the idea, a county board candidate could.

Wouldn’t it be interesting if the Democrats fielded two candidates in District 2 and two in District 3 dedicated to putting such a referendum question on the ballot in Crystal Lake?

After all, all of the city council members who voted for the 75% city sales tax hike are Republicans.

If a councilman candidate passed the petitions, he or she could run for mayor two years from now on the “Tax Fighter” vs. “Tax Hiker” theme.

Come to think of it, so could a county board candidate.

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The Crystal Lake City Council members who voted for the 75% city sales tax hike along with Mayor Aaron Shepley are seen above. Smiling, looking straight at the camera, is Ellen Brady Mueller. Looking left and up is Kathy Ferguson. The young man looking right in the washed out photo is Brett Hopkins. Dave Goss is the one with the mustache. Ralph Dawson is the older gentleman.

There are two photos of Crystal Lake City Hall.

Needless to say, I have done some research on petitions used to repeal Home Rule.

Keely Cat is not going to be happy about this.

I am featuring a cat, but it’s not him.

It’s a more appropriate to Halloween black feral cat.

Along with its colleagues it hangs out across the street from Crystal Lake’s City Hall.

So, if you are walking on Woodstock Street or Walkup Avenue or Caroline Street tonight and see a black cat cross your path, remember you can come back during the day and see the same thing.

Keely Cat is not going to be happy about this.

I am featuring a cat, but it’s not him.

It’s a more appropriate to Halloween black feral cat.

Along with its colleagues it hangs out across the street from Crystal Lake’s City Hall.

So, if you are walking on Woodstock Street or Walkup Avenue or Caroline Street tonight and see a black cat cross your path, remember you can come back during the day and see the same thing.

The morning sun must have been just right as I went to the Crystal Lake City Hall to file more Freedom of Information requests after dropping my son off for his first day of school last Wednesday.

I had noticed City Hall’s metal roof as I drove down Dole Avenue remembering the old stores in West Virginia on the back road my bride and I took from one interstate to the Skyline Drive.

What a splendid idea the designers of Crystal Lake’s City Hall when they decided to go with a metal roof. I’ll bet the WV stores and homes we saw with similar roofs were 70-80 years old.

As I was getting out of the car, I glanced up again and saw little metal spires. They are all over the place.

I figured they must be lightning rods.

The three you see are on the cupola above the room where the city council meets.

Not particularly colorful, but probably effective ways to ground the building.

The photo may be enlarged by clicking on it.

The morning sun must have been just right as I went to the Crystal Lake City Hall to file more Freedom of Information requests after dropping my son off for his first day of school last Wednesday.

I had noticed City Hall’s metal roof as I drove down Dole Avenue remembering the old stores in West Virginia on the back road my bride and I took from one interstate to the Skyline Drive.

What a splendid idea the designers of Crystal Lake’s City Hall when they decided to go with a metal roof. I’ll bet the WV stores and homes we saw with similar roofs were 70-80 years old.

As I was getting out of the car, I glanced up again and saw little metal spires. They are all over the place.

I figured they must be lightning rods.

The three you see are on the cupola above the room where the city council meets.

Not particularly colorful, but probably effective ways to ground the building.

The photo may be enlarged by clicking on it.

That was the question that I and two Crystal Lake Library employees pondered last Wednesday.

I went to the library to look at the most recent audit.

The one that should have been finished sometime last fall.

The information lady was sure that it would be posted on the internet on the city’s web site.

Nope?

Wasn’t there.

She sent me back to the reference desk.

That librarian found the city budget.

But, the audit was no place to be found.

The helpful information desk librarian called city hall and told me she was transferred to three people before she discovered I could look at a copy, if I went to city hall.

So, I drove north and parked.

When I asked for the latest audit, the woman at the counter asked for my driver’s license.

I asked, “Why?”

She told me it would be returned when I returned the audit.

Bet I would not have had to surrender my driver’s license or even reveal my name had the city hall folks put their audit at the library.

I’m pretty certain that one of the librarians requested the audit, which, I discovered, also contains the library’s own audit. That’s because the library is a city library and serves no one outside of Crystal Lake…unless someone like me walks in and asks a reasonable question.

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You can tell from the coats in the photo of the newly-remodeled library that it was not taken in mid-August. It was taken in May.

That was the question that I and two Crystal Lake Library employees pondered last Wednesday.

I went to the library to look at the most recent audit.

The one that should have been finished sometime last fall.

The information lady was sure that it would be posted on the internet on the city’s web site.

Nope?

Wasn’t there.

She sent me back to the reference desk.

That librarian found the city budget.

But, the audit was no place to be found.

The helpful information desk librarian called city hall and told me she was transferred to three people before she discovered I could look at a copy, if I went to city hall.

So, I drove north and parked.

When I asked for the latest audit, the woman at the counter asked for my driver’s license.

I asked, “Why?”

She told me it would be returned when I returned the audit.

Bet I would not have had to surrender my driver’s license or even reveal my name had the city hall folks put their audit at the library.

I’m pretty certain that one of the librarians requested the audit, which, I discovered, also contains the library’s own audit. That’s because the library is a city library and serves no one outside of Crystal Lake…unless someone like me walks in and asks a reasonable question.

= = = = =
You can tell from the coats in the photo of the newly-remodeled library that it was not taken in mid-August. It was taken in May.

This sign stands in front of Crystal Lake City Hall’s front door.

It is an invitation to any mother with a newborn that she can leave her child at city hall without any criminal penalties.

The program was advanced by pro-abortion women in the Illinois General Assembly.

It is a good example of the “shield” approach to contentious subjects.

If you support gun rights, you advocate strong penalties for violation of gun laws.

If you support abortion, you emphasize your support of adoption. Maybe you introduce a bill to provide a state subsidy.

Or, maybe you introduce a bill that will require the posting of “Safe Haven” signs.

You can say that you don’t want unwanted babies tossed in dumpsters, that you are providing a way for them to be put up for adoption.

Of course, you don’t mention that you support abortion.

This sign stands in front of Crystal Lake City Hall’s front door.

It is an invitation to any mother with a newborn that she can leave her child at city hall without any criminal penalties.

The program was advanced by pro-abortion women in the Illinois General Assembly.

It is a good example of the “shield” approach to contentious subjects.

If you support gun rights, you advocate strong penalties for violation of gun laws.

If you support abortion, you emphasize your support of adoption. Maybe you introduce a bill to provide a state subsidy.

Or, maybe you introduce a bill that will require the posting of “Safe Haven” signs.

You can say that you don’t want unwanted babies tossed in dumpsters, that you are providing a way for them to be put up for adoption.

Of course, you don’t mention that you support abortion.

Since I have an article about the McHenry County Treasurer’s office below, today is as good a one as any to post this sign.

It’s a political sign that helped me (barely) win the 1966 Republican June primary election for county treasurer two days after my 24th birthday.

It’s 8½ inches wide and 7 inches high.

It says,

There were made out of 8½ by 14 inch goldenrod card stock.

They were printed on a mimeograph machine. This one didn’t get inked as well as it should have.

Then, they were cut in half.

You will not the hard charging elephant, which the national Republican Party has replaced with a stylized one with rounded edges.

I like the older, more energetic elephant.

The campaign had about a third of the precinct committeemen supporting me. I remember Nunda Township Supervisor Ted Sterns, after whom Sterns Woods is named, telling me that I should wait my turn, that I was young, that I had time.

(A neighbor across the way from his basket show on Woodstock Street said he ran a bookie joint. He said there was an incredible amount of traffic in and out of the little building that was torn down to be part of the Crystal Lake City Hall parking lot.)

Another precinct committeeman from McHenry Township told me I would be eaten alive by the tigers in the courthouse.

When I campaigned at the small grocery store in Fox River Grove, the Republican precinct committeeman called to complain that I had not asked his permission. Ted Mandale was a Goldwater Republican who later moved to Lake Forest where I reconnected with him and his wife Ruth after I became more conservative.

Because the election was held the second Tuesday of June, I had plenty of time to knock on doors—some 4,000, I think. The county’s population was about 90,000 at the time.

With nightfall being pretty late, I found that I could knock on doors until 8:45 without scaring people. Of course, it helped that I was young. I sensed many of the older women gave me the same benefit of the doubt they would have given their grandsons.

In any event, I put these little posters up all over McHenry County. Supporters of the other two candidates, Harvard Police Chief Gene Brewer and Hartland Township Supervisor and county board member Ray Murphy thought there must be at least six people putting them up.

But it was just me.

I even put one on a telephone pole outside the police department door. It stayed up for years, but was probably a bad idea, because Brewer probably just got more energized every time he saw it.

After Earth Day in 1969, Jack Schaffer and I pretty much agreed that signs on poles and in rights-of-ways were something that no longer seems appropriate.

The right-of-way avoidance continued until Don Manzullo ran for congress in 1992. Apparently he had more signs than he could find supporters to give permission to place on their properties. Maybe it was because he was running against Schaffer and McHenry County was his “home town.”

Signs have been illegally put in road rights-of-way ever since.

My father designed the sign, by the way.