McHenry County Blog

“All politics is local,”

said Democratic Party House Speaker Tip O’Neill.

Too many Tea Party people haven’t figured that out.

These signs on Randall Road in Algonquin don't have a local angle. Dissatisfaction is directed at the national government. There are lots and lots of vacancies for GOP Precinct Committeeman in Algonquin and Lake in the Hills.

You can tell by the signs at the early demonstrations.  Most were aimed at President Obama and Obamacare.

True, elements were deeply involved in the victory of Joe Walsh over incumbent Melissa Bean.

But, for 2010, I can identify only three new McHenry County Republican Precinct Committeeman candidates who were at a demonstration:

• Diane Evertsen of Hartland 1, who also ran for the McHenry County Board and won
• Shawn Green of Coral 3, then-President of the Huntley Park Board, now running for the County Board
• Rita Heuel of Algonquin 13 in Crystal Lake’s Coventry subdivision

It’s now 2012.

Both Evertsen and Heuel are running for re-election as Precinct Committeeman, while Green is not.

But, there is a new crop.

Not large, but enthusiastic.

They cover all four corners of the county.

In the northwest corner is 19-year old [not 23, as originally posted] McHenry County College student Melissa Denker. She is running in Dunham Township, which is the southern part of Harvard and points south.

Lori Lee White

In the northeast section there are two candidates, also women:

• Mary B. Joestgen in Richmond 4
• Lori Lee White in Burton 3, active in the Antioch Tea Party. White provided most of the content of this weekend’s article,

Spring Grove Tea Party Members Rally for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker

In southeastern Algonquin Township Heuel has been joined by Andrew Gasser in Algonquin 4, a Fox River Grove precinct south of the tracks.

Andrew Gasser

Gasser is a coalition coordinator within the tea party movement and also leads the TEA Party in Space.

During the debt ceiling debate, he worked in DC to spread the Tea Party message of fiscal responsibility, limited government, and free markets.  Gasser reaches out to state and local Tea Party leaders to ensure message clarity to maximize impact in Washington DC. He most recently worked the SOPA and PIPA issue informing leaders and members of the tea party who to contact in Washington, besides their local Congressman, which lead to SOPA and PIPA being dropped.  In McHenry County, he works closely with the Algonquin Tea Party and Crystal Lake Tea Party.

Although not running for GOP Precinct Committeeman, Nunda Township’s Mary Alger, head of the Crystal Lake Tea Party, is running for the McHenry County Board in District 3.

You can tell from Mary Alger's yard sign that she is a TEA Party Republican. Look especially st the upper left hand corner where Alger has turned the stylized GOP elephant into a tea pot.

Of course, there are others who identify with the Tea Party folks, but pre-date the movement.

If I missed anyone activated by the TEA Party movement, please tell us in the comment section.

Jeff Thirtyacre

Below are the people who have filed to run write-in campaigns in McHenry County:

For public officer there are two Democrats:

• John Joseph Polachek  – United States President [Polachek did not filed a copy, not an original document, so there will not be a write-in spot for President on the ballot]
• Jeff S. Thirtyacre -  64th District Representative

Polackek isn’t local.  He is from Chicago.  The link to Thirtyacre has his background.  He will have to obtain 500 votes to appear on the fall ballot against Republican Barb Wheeler.

For Republican Precinct Committeeman, there are six:

Dave Goss

• Cynthia Allen Schenk – Marengo 3
• Michael Clarke – Chemung 3
• Donald J. Drzal -  Grafton 18
• Mark Widhalm – McHenry 3
• David Goss – Algonquin 38
• Sharon Ann Meroni – Algonquin 45
• Kenneth Poling -  Algonquin 54

Cynthia Allen Schenk was an unsuccessful candidate for the Marengo Grade School Board last year.

Michael Clarke is a newly-elected Alderman in Harvard.  “I was the only city council member who voted against raising Harvard’s property tax levy,” he told me.

Donald J. Drzal is on Huntley’s District 158 School Board.  He was aligned with the Grafton Township Trustees at the Annual Meeting two years ago, I found when I ran a search of his name in past McHenry County Blog articles.

Mark Widhalm is running on the Ron Paul slate for Delegate to the National Convention.

Dave Goss is a former Crystal Lake City Councilman who now serves on the city’s Planning and Zoning Board.

Sharon Ann Meroni runs Defend the Vote, an organization that seems to be a lineal descendent of Operation LEAP (Legal Elections in All Precincts)  and filed an objection to President Barack Obama’s petitions.

Ken Poling was active in politics in Michigan before moving to Crystal Lake.

For Democratic Precinct Committeeman, there are three:

• Robert S. Jackson – Dorr 8
• Barbara Bovinet – McHenry 14
• Sandra Bartholmey – Algonquin 10

Richard S. Jackson

Barbara Bovinet

Robert S. Jackson of Woodstock was an unsuccessful candidate for the McHenry County College Board
last year.

Change.org reports that Barbara Bovinet’s interests line in human rights and criminal justice from the petitions she has signed.

The following has been received from Marengo Elementary School candidate Cynthia Allen Schenk outlines what she would like to do as a grade school board member below:

I believe District 165 needs a fresh perspective on Education. Property values are directly tied into the strength of our school district. We will never attract high quality residents who can afford our property taxes if we have a struggling school district.

Each School Board member must be accountable for the performance of Dist 165. I won’t hide behind excuses.

If elected I will be available to discuss and engage the public on subjects important to them as taxpayers and citizens of our community.

I encourage completely open dialogue and transparency. In pursuit of this I would welcome all (and help people feel comfortable) to school board meetings.

I wish to make it very clear that the children and the taxpayer should be a school board’s first and most important customer. We serve them.

A public school is a service to the community paid for by tax payers. They should not be a burden or a yoke on the neck of the community.

As an Executive Vice President of an International Management Consulting firm I am able to bring a strong communication style, financial management skill, sound budgeting practices and a common sense, down to earth back to basics approach to Dist 165 school board.

I have a proven track record of improving the bottom line with new creative and successful management initiatives and holding the line on spending.

I have also studied education for the past several years and believe we can look to other school districts across the country for ideas and then custom design solutions to suit our community’s unique needs.

District 165 was more than 3 million dollars in debt.

For a small town like Marengo this is a huge and very disturbing amount of money.

What I do know is: Don’t spend what you don’t have. The District has done just that.

Administration pay increases well above taxpayer salary increases, capital expenditures like a brand new bus fleet. New employees hired.

We cannot go on like this as a community.

We have more than enough money if we spend it wisely and we can obtain more quality with our dollar if used effectively.

To achieve this we need experience in business and education to rein in the waste. Until I am able to review the District’s budget in its entirety I cannot go into more detail, but rest assured, I am able to help find solutions which will be beneficial to the community.

On the subject of consolidation: Johnsburg did a consolidation a few years ago. The projected tax saving to the citizen was 2.5 million. It was a similar size to the three Marengo schools of Dist. 165, the High School and Riley. 

Today Illinois has more school districts than any other state our size. We should have around 300 school districts in the State but we have close to 900.

This is a huge waste of tax payer resources and it robs children of numerous programs.

So either we take the lead and consolidate or we let the State do it.

I would prefer we control our own destiny.

That said we will still need to determine equalized salary cost between grade school and High School union teachers contracts.  Does it make good fiscal sense?

Further, District 165 has had far too many new Superintendents over the last 20 years. This is an enormous cost to the taxpayer. I calculate several million dollars has been lost to this attrition.

If elected I plan to contact many of the past Superintendents to find out what could be done differently and how could we improve upon what they saw happening in the District. I am a seeker of the truth and always try to learn from others who have gone before me so I will call upon others to learn new successful strategies and avoid pitfalls of the past.

We have many good teachers in District 165. I am a back to basics type of person. We need to focus on our core strengths like Reading, writing and math and science.

We have some excellent teachers and students who excel in these areas. Good teachers know how to teach. We as the school Board need to support those initiatives and help find the tools and resources to allow good practices to flourish. Perhaps this could give us the best chance to improve the performance of ALL students in our District.

Public Education must improve in Illinois. This is a fact. I am focused on process improvement. I have 24 years of experience in this area of business. I think I can help our community. I would like the chance to try.

In the area of Special education and mental health services and support we can do much better. I wish to improve upon the general knowledge of special education service and the mental health services in our community.

I believe this is an area which needs some immediate attention, maybe even from the State.

We can do more for students in our community with special learning challenges and mental health needs and I think we can do it more cost effectively like Woodstock and Huntley. I have been a volunteer for the McHenry County Mental Health Board.

We can also do more for our Home School parents. I would like to see every support given to the large and growing Home School population in Marengo. Home schoolers are tax payers like all of us in the community and the Public School is a public resource with publicly employed staff. The school board and the public schools are here to SERVE the community. Let none of us forget this.

Should I be elected I would: Address the budget shortfalls. Identify and solve pending issues, engage parents and the public in open forums, start evaluating consolidation requirements, reach out to the community elders for ideas, talk with students and other school districts.