McHenry County Blog

The Daily Herald’s Jim Davis wrote an opinion piece criticizing the cost of holding township primary elections.

It’s an easy hit on politicians.

Hey. Nobody voted.

So, divide the number of people voting into the cost of the election and the result is a high price per vote.

That, of course, is the fault of the politicians.

After reading his article, I sent Davis this email:

“As the House sponsor of the twp primary bill, I really wonder at your line of logic about abolishing that option in the name of saving money.

“Why not just let the party leaders select who will be on the ballot in November general elections, too?

“Where do you draw the line on encouraging democracy?

At 22, Melissa Sanchez will be the youngest township official in McHenry County.

“Do you really think a 22-year old, just-graduated-from-college Melissa Sanchez would have been selected by party leaders to be the Republican candidate in McHenry County’s largest township, Algonquin?”I don’t.

“Why should every place but Cook County elect individual precinct committeemen, rather than have precinct captains appointed by the local party boss?

“Waste of space on the ballot, wouldn’t you say?

“Maybe you would say it’s too much democracy.

“I would argue the lack of such local precinct level elections in Chicago has thwarted the chance of minorities to take power in an incremental process, delaying the taking of power from white politicians until the voter majority was overwhelming.

“Dictatorships often save money by never having an election.

“But that’s a cheap shot.

“The real question is where you would draw the line?”

Now, if Davis had suggested cutting down the number of judges from two in the majority party and one in the minority party, I would have supported such an idea.

Maybe next time he will.

And it’s not that I haven’t bemoaned the low voter turnout. Consider what happened in Algonquin Township.

4.6% voter turnout.

I only managed to interest 7.8% of the voters in Algonquin’s 7th precinct to vote in the Republican primary election.

Quite disappointing but not a reason to abolish elections in favor of party caucuses that would have even fewer participants.

Newspapers go to a considerable amount of effort to offer recommendations for public office.

Sure, there’s favoritism and ideological bias and just plain bad judgment, but the process takes effort.

Here are the endorsements I pulled from the Daily Herald:

Cities, Villages and Townships

• Algonquin village board: Brian Dianis, Jerry Glogowski, Robert Smith
• Barrington Hills village president: Robert Abboud
• Barrington Hills village board: Colleen Konicek Hannigan, Michael Harrington, Fritz Gohl
• Cary village president: Bruce Kaplan
• Fox River Grove village board: Michael Ireland, Suzanne Blohm, Andrew Migdal
• Grafton Township Supervisor: James Kearns
• Grafton Township Board: Robert Wagner, Marcella Gordon, Dan Ziller Jr., Joseph Holtorf
• Huntley village board: John Piwko, Ronda Goldman, J.R. Westberg
• Lake in the Hills village president: Paul Mulcahy
• Lake in the Hills village board: Denise Barreto, Stephen Harlfinger, Robert Huckins

School Boards and Junior Colleges

• Cary D26 school board: Christopher Christensen, Josh Howel, Julie Jette, Floyd Myers
• Elgin Community College: Clare Ollayos, Rise Jones, Angela Causey, Nadia Daley
• Fox River Grove Consolidate Dist. 3: Patrick Riley, Timothy Hatfield, Stephen Pickering, Patrick Wall
• McHenry County College: Chris Jenner, Mike Smith, Tom Wilbeck

It’s a very Republican district, so the Daily Herald Editorial Board didn’t climb out on a limb when it endorsed Dan Duffyfor re-election to the State Senate.

The endorsement over Amanda Howland notes Duffy’s opposition to red light cameras and his being

“a strong proponent of governmental transparency, pushing legislation that would require local taxing bodies to put more of their financial information on line.”

In checking out the Northwest Herald’s endorsements, I see that paper also endorsed Duffy.

Having circulation in all six McHenry County Board districts, the Daily Herald has offered its Editorial Board’s opinions on how people should vote.

Five Democrats are endorsed. Only two now serve on the County Board and both are endorsed for re-election.

District 1

In District 1 only three people are endorsed for four spots. There are five running. Republicans Anna May Miller and Yvonne Barnes got the nod, as did Democrat Nick Chirikos.

Incumbents Robert Nowak and Bob Bless are not recommended, although one has to win. Bless is passed up because of “a pending ethics investigation by the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission.”

District 2

A non-incumbent Democrat is also endorsed in District 2. He is former Board member Jim Kennedy.

Among Republicans, Jim Heisler is the odd man out. Endorsed were Donna Kurtz, Carolyn Schofield and Ken Koehler. Koehler is praised for keeping county government “solidly in the black,” but the editorial notes, “it might be time to give someone else the reins as chairman.”

District 3

Incumbent Democrat Kathy Bergan-Schmidt is endorsed in the district that runs from northern Crystal Lake to southern McHenry.

Republicans endorsed at Nick Provenzano, Joseph Gottemoller and Michael Walkup. Mary McClellan, who ran fourth in the GOP primary was not one of the Daily Herald’s picks.

District 4

McHenry Township north to the Wisconsin board has one Democrat running against four Republicans.

Democrat Mary Margaret Maule did not receive the paper’s endorsement.

The four Republicans did:

• Sue Draffkorn
• John Hammerand
• Bob Martens
• Sandra Salgado

District 5

Running from Woodstock to Huntley and into Lake in the Hills, District 5 has the other Democratic Party incumbent, Paula Yensen. She was endorsed, as were the following Republicans:

• Tina Hill
• John Jung
• Mike Skala

Left out was Michael Rein. Skala was chosen over Rein for his Huntley School Board experience.

District 6

The most rural district in McHenry County is like a Wild West shoot-out at retiring County Board member Randy Donley’s establishment outside of Union.

The ballot will look like this:

• DIANE F. EVERTSEN, REPUBLICAN
• MARY T. McCANN, REPUBLICAN
• ERSEL C. SCHUSTER, REPUBLICAN
• MICHELE R. AAVANG, REPUBLICAN
• SCOTT SUMMERS, DEMOCRATIC
• RYAN HEUSER, DEMOCRATIC
• JAYANT KADAKIA, DEMOCRATIC
• LARRY W. SMITH, INDEPENDENT

The Daily Herald decided to endorse former McHenry County College Board President Scott Summers, running as a Democrat this year, rather than on the Green Party ticket.

Republicans Ersel Schuster, Diane Evertsen and Mary McCann were also endorsed. All are incumbents.

In Sunday’s paper the Northwest Herald endorsed Republican David McSweeney over Independent Dee Beaubien.

The middle of last week, the Daily Herald endorsed McSweeney.

The Daily Herald called Beaubien out for not saying for whom she would support in the all-important vote on the next Speaker of the Illinois House:

“Since then, Beaubien has been criticized for accepting money from House Speaker Michael Madigan and thereby beholding herself to him and Democrats,” the editorial says.

“But the larger issue for us is her unwillingness to reveal which caucus she would align herself with in Springfield. Voters cannot know what they would get when she keeps her cards so close the vest.”

The NW Herald followed suit:

“She says she is a fiscal conservative, but she has accepted financial and campaign help from Madigan.

“This will make her beholden to him if she is elected. In an interview with the Northwest Herald’s Editorial Board, she would not commit to not voting for Madigan for speaker.”

As one individual who considers Madigan a friend told me,

“Mike doesn’t spend a quarter million dollars without getting something.”

To the best of my knowledge, the NW Herald editorial was the first mention in the paper than Madigan is supporting Beaubien.

The David McSweeney campaign forwarded this endorsement from the Daily Herald:

McSweeney over Beaubien in 52nd House District

“McSweeney, a Barrington Hills investment banker and former Palatine Township trustee, offers experience in the business world and a strong plan to solve the state’s fiscal problems that focuses on small business.

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And the endorsement does not even mention Dee Beaubien’s name.

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Added after Dave’s comment concerning the whole endorsement, which McSweeney did not forward:

Take a look at the whole endorsement here.

It does mention Beaubien’s name. It points out that she decided to run as an Independent after the GOP’s favorite, Kent Gaffney, did not win the primary. It does not point out that Gaffney was also her personal choice.

“Since then, Beaubien has been criticized for accepting money from House Speaker Michael Madigan and thereby beholding herself to him and Democrats,” the editorial says.

“But the larger issue for us is her unwillingness to reveal which caucus she would align herself with in Springfield. Voters cannot know what they would get when she keeps her cards so close the vest.”

The editorial also comments negatively about McSweeney’s ballot challenges to all of this year’s opponents.

In the article posted below, Congressman Joe Walsh comments on the endorsements by the Chicago Tribune and Daily Herald of Democrat Tammy Duckworth.

I talked a bit about the Tribune endorsement last night.

Today, let’s take a look at the Daily Herald’s endorsement.

Like the Tribune, the Daily Herald seems to like Walsh’s message, just not the way he delivers it.

“We share his concern about the large fiscal challenges facing the nation,” the Daily Herald writes before condemning his “obstructionism of his methods in Washington.”

Remember when Barack Obama was saying that Social Security and Medicare payments would be cut off if the debt ceiling were not increased?

That was an outright lie that Joe Walsh called Barack Obama on.

While it is obvious that a government financed in part through borrowing would have to cut some expenditures if the borrowing part of the budget went bye-bye, it is equally obvious that it is up to the leadership of the government which expenditures to cut.

Walsh used his incredible ability to draw publicity to call the President out.

Afterwards, the Obama Administration stopped telling the lie.

It was not the Daily Herald that pointed out that the Emperor had no clothes.

It was Joe Walsh.

So, at least as far as what is said in the editorial, the Daily Herald dislikes Walsh’s “extreme rhetoric.”

The Board members think Tammy Duckworth will be more reasonable.

Or it could be that the Daily Herald would rather have someone who will toe the Nancy Pelosi line, rather than a back bench Republican capabler of taking on the biggest Democrats and unafraid to challenge his Republican House Leadership and, with the help of other fresh voices elected in 2010, change the course of the legislative trajectory.

Or maybe the Editorial Board is still smarting from Walsh’s stunning rebuke of its paper’s bias in favor of Melissa Bean two years ago.

A press release from Congressman Joe Walsh:

Rep. Walsh Comments on Chicago Tribune and Daily Herald Endorsement Decisions

The Chicago Tribune and the Daily Herald announced their endorsements for the 8th congressional district race with both choosing Democrat Tammy Duckworth. Following the endorsements, Congressman Joe Walsh released the following statement:

“I’m not at all surprised by the decisions of the Chicago Tribune and the Daily Herald to endorse Tammy Duckworth.

“Ms. Duckworth has always been the preferred candidate of the elite Chicago liberal media.

“The day I care what the Chicago media thinks about me or this race will be the same day that I leave the political arena.

“I am running for Congress to serve the people of the 8th district, who are struggling to find work, stay in their homes, and are fighting to make sure that their kids and grandkids have the same opportunities that they did.

“For years, the Chicago media has been out of touch with families like those in the 8th district.

“It is no surprise that these papers lose readership almost every single year and have essentially become irrelevant and bankrupt.

“It is because the elite media does not understand that American families are fed up.

“They are sick of the same old politicians making promises to get endorsements.

“As the Tribune said of my opponent, she is a ‘more-practiced politician. Practiced, that is, in not offering her opposition targets by getting to specific on solutions.’

“I can not and will not go down that same road.

“We are at a crucial point in America, and this country needs leaders who will stand up and say no to Washington’s back room go along to get along deals.

“Now more than ever we must move past the talking points and come up with real solutions.

“The elite Chicago media will never understand that, but the American people do.

“Let us remember that if the good people of Illinois cared about what these irrelevant papers had to say, Tammy Duckworth would now be serving her third term in Congress, as both the Herald and Tribune enthusiastically endorsed her 6 years ago, against Peter Roskam.”

Kerry Lester, in a post on the Daily Herald Blog, is reporting that the National Republican Campaign Committee has bought “$457,785 reservation on cable stations running from Oct. 5 through Election Day.”

Only yesterday, Capitol Fax Blog was relaying information from The Hill regarding “the NRCC is not doing much of anything for Walsh…

Publisher Rich Miller combined that report with a video of Walsh and a poll by the liberal Daily Kos showing Democrat Tammy Duckworth leading 52%-38% with 10% undecided.

 

It seems the National Republican Campaign Committee does not think the Daily Kos poll is worth much.

Today, we move to the fourth installment on the motion filed by former Deputy Sheriff Zane Seipler’s lawyer Blake Horwitz requesting sanctions against McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren for releasing confidential information.

This is occurring in Seipler’s Federal wrongful termination suit being heard in Rockford.

Paragraphing and formatting has been added in the text to make the text easier to read on a computer screen.

A second alleged violation of the Court’s Protective Order is described next.

“Second Violation of Court Order

“On April 9, 2007, a police report was filed by Rosalinda Saucedo-Seipler with the Woodstock Police Department, Woodstock Police Report #07-4183. The report contains very personal information regarding a domestic incident between Plaintiff Zane Seipler and his wife, Rosalinda Saucedo-Seipler (Exhibit E).

“On or around January 22, 2010, the Woodstock Police report #07-4183 was widely disseminated to the deputy officers at the McHenry County Police Department [Foot Note 2].

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Foot Note 2.  “Deputy Tim Matteson, a deputy of the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department personally observed a copy of the report in his mailbox and saw several reports placed in the mailboxes of various deputies and on a table in the Patrol Roll Call room in the McHenry County Sheriff’s made available in roll call two weeks prior to the primary.= = = = =

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“The report was unlawfully placed in the mailboxes of several Deputy Officers and put on tables in the Patrol Roll Call room in McHenry County Sheriff’s Department without the permission or knowledge of Rosalinda Saucedo-Seipler or Zane Seipler.

“Mr. Seipler was a Republican candidate for Sheriff. The Woodstock police report was placed in the boxes and
made available in roll call two weeks prior to the primary.”

“Department (Exhibit F). Deputy Matteson spoke to Deputy Milliman regarding the report, who stated that he saw several copies of the report in various areas of the Squad room in the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department.

“At the time, Zane Seipler was running for the position of Sheriff of McHenry County and the illegal distribution of the report negatively influenced his political campaign.

“Newspaper reporters, Chuck Keashan of the Daily Herald and Jillian Duchowski of Northwest Herald, contacted Zane Seipler to inquire about this personal matter.

“Finally, Seipler’s domestic incident was discussed on online blogs (e.g. http://antiwoodstockadvocate.blogspot.com) and in the comment sections of numerous Northwest Herald articles.

“The release of this report affected both Zane Seipler’s career and reputation in McHenry County.

“On February 23, 2010, Robert W. Lowen, the Chief of Police of the Woodstock Police Department wrote a letter to Rosalinda Saucedo-Seipler regarding the results of the investigation (Exhibit G).

“Chief Lowen wrote that there were two different requests to access the report through the City of Woodstock Freedom of Information Act. Chief Lowen and Officer Cindy Smiley recommended denial of these requests and stated that the report was not disseminated to the two entities that requested the report via FOIA.

“Chief Lowen also stated in this letter that the report was released by subpoena.

“The only firm that subpoenaed the materials was James G. Sotos and Associates. This firm admits having secured the documents via subpoena.

“As illustrated above, the law firm of James G. Sotos and Associates and the Defendant Officers were the only entities who were given access to the report through the use of a subpoena. As a result, they were the only persons who could have unlawfully distributed the report to the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department.”

Addition detail is included, then…

“Defendant’s distribution of the report was in direct violation of the Confidentiality Order entered by both parties: ‘The Parties will not use or disclose the PHI and/or Confidential Matter released in this proceeding for any other purpose or any other proceeding.’

“The dissemination of the report is a clear violation of Illinois law. 20 ILCS 2630/7 Sec. 7.

“No file or record of the Department hereby created shall be made public, except as provided in the ‘Illinois Uniform Conviction Information Act’ or other Illinois law or as may be necessary in the identification of persons suspected or accused of crime and in their trial for offenses committed after having been imprisoned for a prior offense …Violation of this Section shall constitute a Class A misdemeanor.

“In this instance, the distribution of the report by Defendants is a clear abuse of their official position.

“By releasing private information with regards to a candidate and citizen who was running for political office, the public good was harmed and the law was violated.”

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More tomorrow.