McHenry County Blog

The unions decided to keep their benefits. That was more important than letting the commuters ride the CTA.

The grief of Scott Lee Cohen's 11-year old son at his father's fall from grace was more important to the Chicago Sun-Times than the "doomsday" for CTA riders trumpeted on page 5.

And the personal grief of Democratic Party Lieutenant Governor Scott Lee Cohen’s son was more important that the doomsday for CTA strap holders who read the Sun-Times.

There was a  CTA bailout in the spinrg of 2008.  It probably cost State Senator Kirk Dillard the Republican gubernatorial nomination.

You remember.

The tripling of our RTA sales tax the week before the Crystal Lake City Council decided to play pile on by hiking its city sales tax by 75%.

Dillard voted for it and Andy McKenna blasted away on radio, TV and in direct mail about Kirk Dillard having voted for a regional states tax as evidence that he was not rock solid on opposing an income tax hike.

That doomsday was on the front page of the Chicago Tribune right before the vote.

But, today, another so-called “doomsday,” the Chicago Tribune and the Sun-Times featured Democratic Party Lt. Gov. nominee Scott Lee Cohen announcing he will not accept the nomination. Cohen, by the way, carried the Democratic Party primary in McHenry County.

Take a look:

40% of McHenry County Democrats voted for Scott Lee Cohen for lieutenant governor.

State Senator Terry Link, chairman of the turnaround Democratic Party in Lake County, came to Woodstock to ask for support of McHenry County Democrats, but that doesn’t seem to have done him much good, as he placed fourth behind State Representatives Art Turner (Chicago) and Mike Boland (East Moline).

Making a pitch to the Young Democrats of McHenry County was Thomas Castillo.
= = = = =

Turned over the Tribune that was delivered to my driveway and discovered it did have something about the CTA cuts…below the fold. The snippet directing people to pages 6-8 had a photo of a family who had to wait 30 minutes for a bus while on the way to a party.

And, inside–wouldn’t you know it?–the word “Doomsday” turns up in a headline:

This is so simple I am amazed that I haven’t heard it anywhere else.

Let’s put a couple of small slot machines on each CTA bus and rapid transit car.

Let the CTA keep all the profits.

Consider it a user fee.

The answer is simple, but the politics is difficult.

It is pretty obvious that real estate value is greatly affected by closeness to mass transportation, especially that which runs on rails.

It is equally obvious that downtown business interests have a vested interest in getting people to and from jobs in and near the Loop.

Not coincidentally, that is where the most valuable real estate is.

So, I propose additional funding for the CTA come from the real estate tax in areas served by the system.

Those who receive the most value from mass transit would pay the most; those receiving the least value, the least.

Naturally, the best tax is a tax someone else pays.

But a good tax is one that can be logically linked to what it is financing.

A property tax can achieve that linkage to the Chicago Transit Authority; a sales tax cannot.

And, there is one other advantage. The property tax on at least residential property in Chicago is very, very low compared to elsewhere in Illinois.

Every time we go to Milwaukee via the four-lane highway that connects with Illinois’ U.S. 12, I see the park and ride site on the Wisconsin side of the state line.

The article you see having the RTA announce a $100,000 study ($80,000 from the RTA) of the feasibility of a transit center in East Dundee at the intersection of Route 25 and 72 reminds me of a similar suggestion for the corner of Randall Road where CVS pharmacy now sits.

It probably would have been about where the McHenry County Conservation District is planning to build a parking lot for those wishing to enter the Lake in the Hills Fed from Crystal Lake.

It was going to be a bus station and a parking lot where commuters could begin carpools.

That plan was right up there in fantasy land with the first RTA (former CTA) Chairman Milton Pikarsky’s stood near the then-Crystal Lake Herald office (near the current location of Nick’s Pizzera) and announced that eventually train service would run from Crystal Lake to Gary, Indiana.

The bike path was then a railroad right-of-way. Every time we go to Milwaukee via the four-lane highway that connects with Illinois’ U.S. 12, I see the park and ride site on the Wisconsin side of the state line.

The article you see having the RTA announce a $100,000 study ($80,000 from the RTA) of the feasibility of a transit center in East Dundee at the intersection of Routes 25 and 72 reminds me of a similar suggestion for the corner of Randall Road where CVS pharmacy now sits.

It probably would have been about where the McHenry County Conservation District is planning to build a parking lot for those wishing to enter the Lake in the Hills Fed from Crystal Lake.

It was going to be a bus station and a parking lot where commuters could begin carpools.

That plan was right up there in fantasy land with the first RTA (former CTA) Chairman Milton Pikarsky’s stood near the then-Crystal Lake Herald office (near the current location of Nick’s Pizzera) and announced that eventually train service would run from Crystal Lake to Gary, Indiana.

The bike path was then a railroad right-of-way.

In 1976 Quincy Republican Jeff Mays and Rockford Republican Lynn Martin ran for state representative.

Illinois House Republicans had been devastated in the 1974 Watergate elections. They held onto just 76 out of 177 seats.

1976 was a comeback year.

Common in both media markets was a radio ad telling how incumbent Democrats had

Both incumbents Mike McClain of Quincy and Zeke Giorgi from Rockford had taken a well-published tour of the Chicago Transit Authority.

With publicity from some of us folks in the suburbs who were still hopping mad about being forced into the Regional Transportation Authority, the two GOP challengers used the CTA bailout to lash their opponents. (Anything favoring Chicago is a sure winner outside of the Chicago metropolitan area.)

McCain lost and Giorgi ran third out of three for the only time I remember.

From the Chicago Tribune article above, printing on Saturday, April 17th, I’d assume that someone paid for legislators to come to Chicago to tour the CTA. If past practice holds true, visiting legislators were also treated to some more entertaining venues.

All members of the General Assembly used to have passes to all the museums in town, for instance.

I wonder if this decades’ ride on the CTA will yield results similar to those in 1976.

The McHenry County Republican Central Committee has moved.

Right into my father’s and my old office space in the tip of the “V” at the Crystal Lake Plaza.

In the early 1970’s, Dad has his Barley and Malt Institute office there before he moved it across from the train station at the corner of Woodstock and Brink Streets.

That’s where he and his allies brought forth the slate of 8 “Responsible Republicans” to challenge the candidates put up by the local GOP Establishment in District 1 after a Federal court decision required that county board districts be re-apportioned on a one-man, one-vote basis.

No longer would every township supervisor be automatically on the county board, with larger townships having extra representation, but not in proportion to population.

The days of the Alden, Burton, Coral, Dunham, Hartland, Seneca and other small townships automatically having representation on the county board were over.

The Algonquin-Grafton Township slate of “(John) Bick to (Brad) Burns” slate lost, with Dad coming in 9th. He got more votes than any candidate in Districts 2 or 3, however, and was elected two years later.

After that special 1972 primary election was over in late January, No. 8 in the Plaza was headquarters for my first campaign for state representative.

Perhaps noteworthy was that this office was the headquarters for the kNOw RTA campaign in the spring of 1974. Dad’s hobby was printing and he had two offset machines in the back.

Working as much as 24-hours a day, people like my father and Forrest Hare ran presses to print the anti-RTA pamphlets that were distributed all of the six-county area.

During that campaign, I picked up the phone once and heard my father’s name. I apologized for interrupting the conversation and went into his office to do so in person.

To my surprise he was not and had not been on the phone.

I concluded that someone had tapped the phone line.

That led to our realizing how important that little back room was to someone other than ourselves.

There was a lot of money at stake in this referendum.

The Crystal Lake Police Department was kind enough to send a car past the back door once an hour.

The paper ballot referendum officially to bail out the Chicago Transit Authority passed by less that 13,000 votes. That night about nine I heard the first Mayor Daley being asked about his side of the referendum not winning.

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” he replied. “We have stopped casting the ballots.”

Now, Mayor Daley was known for his malopropisms, but, in this case, I think Daley was telling what was happening in Chicago precincts as “No” votes were being turned into spoiled ballots by having judges put X’s into the “Yes” boxes so two votes were cast.

And, if you think I am kidding, let me tell you about one precinct that State Representative and Schaumburg Township Republican Chairman Don Totten’s people discovered while color coding the results of every precinct in Chicago.

There was one precinct that went 100% for the Regional Transportation Authority referendum.

There were about 80 “Yes” votes, no “No” votes and 60 spoiled ballots.

The ward was going about 60% for the referendum.

No recount was allowed by the newly-created Illinois State Board of Elections—not exactly a profile in courage, but, considering the Establishment in both the Republican and Democratic Parties favored creation of the RTA, not much of a surprise.

So, the new location of the McHenry County Republican Party is one from which large projects can be run.

Instead of having a friendly hairdresser between the office and H.C. Stamp and Coin Company (probably the oldest tenant in the Plaza) the GOP will have the friendly owner of Moseley Plumbing. I served with his daughter Vickie Moseley in the Illinois General Assembly in the 1990’s until Raymond (“Think Poe”) Poe beat her.

Hours at the new GOP office will initially be Tuesday and Thursday, 11AM – 5PM, and Saturday from 10-2.

= = = = =
The kNOw RTA pamphlet was used by opponents of the 1974 referendum to create the Regional Transportation Authority. If there were ever a grass roots campaign, this was it. Opposition snowballed as election day approached. Most active opponents were freshmen state representatives elected after the 1970 re-apportionment.

The “kNOw” combination was resurrected by Chicago Sun-Times graphic artist and long-time reporter Tom Frisbie for the Iraq election.

The lapel button was given me by former State Rep. Gene Hoffman. He found as he was cleaning out his stuff after he retired. Hoffman is the one who put House Republican Leader Lee Daniels in office.

The McHenry County Republican Central Committee has moved.

Right into my father’s and my old office space in the tip of the “V” at the Crystal Lake Plaza.

In the early 1970’s, Dad has his Barley and Malt Institute office there before he moved it across from the train station at the corner of Woodstock and Brink Streets.

That’s where he and his allies brought forth the slate of 8 “Responsible Republicans” to challenge the candidates put up by the local GOP Establishment in District 1 after a Federal court decision required that county board districts be re-apportioned on a one-man, one-vote basis.

No longer would every township supervisor be automatically on the county board, with larger townships having extra representation, but not in proportion to population.

The days of the Alden, Burton, Coral, Dunham, Hartland, Seneca and other small townships automatically having representation on the county board were over.

The Algonquin-Grafton Township slate of “(John) Bick to (Brad) Burns” slate lost, with Dad coming in 9th. He got more votes than any candidate in Districts 2 or 3, however, and was elected two years later.

After that special 1972 primary election was over in late January, No. 8 in the Plaza was headquarters for my first campaign for state representative.

Perhaps noteworthy was that this office was the headquarters for the kNOw RTA campaign in the spring of 1974. Dad’s hobby was printing and he had two offset machines in the back.

Working as much as 24-hours a day, people like my father and Forrest Hare ran presses to print the anti-RTA pamphlets that were distributed all of the six-county area.

During that campaign, I picked up the phone once and heard my father’s name. I apologized for interrupting the conversation and went into his office to do so in person.

To my surprise he was not and had not been on the phone.

I concluded that someone had tapped the phone line.

That led to our realizing how important that little back room was to someone other than ourselves.

There was a lot of money at stake in this referendum.

The Crystal Lake Police Department was kind enough to send a car past the back door once an hour.

The paper ballot referendum officially to bail out the Chicago Transit Authority passed by less that 13,000 votes. That night about nine I heard the first Mayor Daley being asked about his side of the referendum not winning.

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” he replied. “We have stopped casting the ballots.”

Now, Mayor Daley was known for his malopropisms, but, in this case, I think Daley was telling what was happening in Chicago precincts as “No” votes were being turned into spoiled ballots by having judges put X’s into the “Yes” boxes so two votes were cast.

And, if you think I am kidding, let me tell you about one precinct that State Representative and Schaumburg Township Republican Chairman Don Totten’s people discovered while color coding the results of every precinct in Chicago.

There was one precinct that went 100% for the Regional Transportation Authority referendum.

There were about 80 “Yes” votes, no “No” votes and 60 spoiled ballots.

The ward was going about 60% for the referendum.

No recount was allowed by the newly-created Illinois State Board of Elections—not exactly a profile in courage, but, considering the Establishment in both the Republican and Democratic Parties favored creation of the RTA, not much of a surprise.

So, the new location of the McHenry County Republican Party is one from which large projects can be run.

Instead of having a friendly hairdresser between the office and H.C. Stamp and Coin Company (probably the oldest tenant in the Plaza) the GOP will have the friendly owner of Moseley Plumbing. I served with his daughter Vickie Moseley in the Illinois General Assembly in the 1990’s until Raymond (“Think Poe”) Poe beat her.

Hours at the new GOP office will initially be Tuesday and Thursday, 11AM – 5PM, and Saturday from 10-2.

= = = = =
The kNOw RTA pamphlet was used by opponents of the 1974 referendum to create the Regional Transportation Authority. If there were ever a grass roots campaign, this was it. Opposition snowballed as election day approached. Most active opponents were freshmen state representatives elected after the 1970 re-apportionment.

The “kNOw” combination was resurrected by Chicago Sun-Times graphic artist and long-time reporter Tom Frisbie for the Iraq election.

The lapel button was given me by former State Rep. Gene Hoffman. He found as he was cleaning out his stuff after he retired. Hoffman is the one who put House Republican Leader Lee Daniels in office.

“You’re way off,” Cat Dad said.

“Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley is trying to fool you into thinking his 75% sales tax increased is smaller than it really is.

“Have you heard people complaining about the RTA sales tax that went into effect April Fool’s Day?

“Boy, are we fools to be paying that extra half cent on a dollar to bail out the CTA!” Cat Dad said.

“Sure, the McHenry County Board is going to get half of it, but they won’t spend it all on roads, the way they should.

“Try again, Keely.

“Look higher.

“Mayor Shepley’s sales tax hike is a 75% sales tax hike.

“That’s really high.”

“Maybe you are right,” Keely replied, upon reflection.

“Now can I have some cat candy?”

“You’re way off,” Cat Dad said.

“Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley is trying to fool you into thinking his 75% sales tax increased is smaller than it really is.

“Have you heard people complaining about the RTA sales tax that went into effect April Fool’s Day?

“Boy, are we fools to be paying that extra half cent on a dollar to bail out the CTA!” Cat Dad said.

“Sure, the McHenry County Board is going to get half of it, but they won’t spend it all on roads, the way they should.

“Try again, Keely.

“Look higher.

“Mayor Shepley’s sales tax hike is a 75% sales tax hike.

“That’s really high.”

“Maybe you are right,” Keely replied, upon reflection.

“Now can I have some cat candy?”