McHenry County Blog

McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler

McHenry County Board member Lyn Orphal

There’s a five-way race for two seats in the Crystal Lake-Lake in the Hills District 2.

The incumbents are County Board Chairman Ken Koehler and Lyn Orphal.

Challenging them are three women:

• Sandra DePual, a member of the Regional Board of School Trustees
• McHenry County College Board member Donna Kurtz
• Crystal Lake City Councilwoman Ellen Brady Mueller

McHenry County Regional Board of School Trustee Sandra DePaul

If one were to handicap this race, Sandra DePaul would be coming in last place…just because she is the only candidate who is virtually unknown as a result of the low profile position she holds.

So, what’s up with the Northwest Herald’s endorsement of DePaul, along with the perfectly predictable endorsement of Koehler.

Let’s begin by making the perfectly reasonable assumption that the primary goal of the paper is to get Koehler re-elected.

To do that one must split the opposition.

If two women were running against Koehler, he might have some trouble.

But with five women…split the vote evenly and just over 20% of the vote is enough to win.

McHenry County College Board Trustee Donna Kurtz

Let’s agree that it won’t be split even.

Orphal, although able to manage to put out a letter to Republican voters the same day Koehler early this week, is the more vulnerable of the two candidates. Even though in her second term, she does not have a lot of name identification.

So, with Kurtz charging hard and Brady Mueller having quite noticeable signs, how to pull votes to perhaps the least known of the female candidates?

Endorse her along with Koehler.

That will pull some votes to DePaul that otherwise would go to one of the better known women.

Crystal Lake City Councilwoman Ellen Brady Mueller

Koehler will probably get more than enough of the combined vote to win. Surely being chairman of the board, he ought to be able to do that.

He will remember how a strong-charging Leslie Root managed to beat out then-County Board Chairwoman Dianne Klemm, however. In that contest, Mike Tryon was on the ballot. He and Root beat Klemm.

In this race, I can’t point to the second candidate who could beat Koehler.

One final thought.

The Northwest Herald also managed to pick two people who hd not filled out the ALAW conflict of interest questionnaire. The only candidate in District 1 to have done so when the endorsement appeared was Donna Kurtz.  Now, all but Koehler have answered ALAW ethics form, not because they were forced, but voluntarily.

From left to right are Sandra DePaul, Lyn Orphal, Ken Koehler's empty seat, Ellen Brady Mueller and Donna Kurtz. They were participating in Patriots United county board candidates' forum.

In the Patriots Unity county board candidates’ forum Friday night, the only candidate in District 2 who did not come was County Board Chairman Koehler.

“Traditional” might be the best way to describe literature being rolled out by the Algonquin Township candidates at the Crystal Lake Expo this weekend.

It’s pretty much a straight name ID piece with a group photo of all the candidates on the front and head shots and names on the back.

No reason offered to vote for the candidates unless the words

• Experience
• Integrity
  
• Dedication

and the phrase

Local Government Service at the Lowest Possible Cost

motivates you to vote Republican.

Two of the candidates, Linda Lance and Lowell Cutsforth were manning the Algonquin Township Republican Central Committee’s booth at the Crystal Lake Expo.

Each of them had signs.

The other two candidates, Joe Powalowski and Neils Sorensen, did not.

All are incumbent Algonquin Township Trustees.

Click to enlarge the images.

= = = = =
For those of you who don’t know much about townships, they perform three basic functions: assessing, road maintenance in unincorporated areas and hand out local welfare, called General Assistance. Crystal Lake is in four townships. The two major ones are Algonquin and Nunda. The horizontal dividing line is Crystal Lake Avenue. The western part of Crystal Lake (west of our home in Lakewood on Meridian Street, in fact, is Grafton Township. The far Northwestern corner is in Woodstock-dominated Dorr Township.)

In McHenry County’s largest township Republicans occupying the offices of Supervisor, Assessor and Road Commissioner will skate through the February 24th primary election.

If there is a challenge to Supervisor Dianne Klemm, Assessor Bob Kunz or Road Commissioner Bob Miller it will have to come from unknown Democrats who are allowed by state law to hold a caucus to select candidates. Part-time Clerk Marc Munaretto also escaped an opponent.

That’s the way all but Democratic Party candidate for coroner Dave Bachmann and McHenry County Board member Paula Yensen gained ballot position for November’s election. The only caucused candidate who achieved victory was Kathy Bergan Schmidt, Democratic Party Chair, who won a county board seat in District 3 (between Crystal Lake and McHenry).

There will be a race of Algonquin Township Trustee, however.

Filing on the final day was appointed incumbent Joe Powalowski. That gives him last place on the ballot, something of an advantage.

That means all of the incumbents filed for reelection.

Trying to gain a seat is Mark Guerra.

The other incumbents seeking another term are

• Linda Lance
• Nels Sorensen and
• Lowel Cutsforth.

In McHenry County’s largest township Republicans occupying the offices of Supervisor, Assessor and Road Commissioner will skate through the February 24th primary election.

If there is a challenge to Supervisor Dianne Klemm, Assessor Bob Kunz or Road Commissioner Bob Miller it will have to come from unknown Democrats who are allowed by state law to hold a caucus to select candidates. Part-time Clerk Marc Munaretto also escaped an opponent.

That’s the way all but Democratic Party candidate for coroner Dave Bachmann and McHenry County Board member Paula Yensen gained ballot position for November’s election. The only caucused candidate who achieved victory was Kathy Bergan Schmidt, Democratic Party Chair, who won a county board seat in District 3 (between Crystal Lake and McHenry).

There will be a race of Algonquin Township Trustee, however.

Filing on the final day was appointed incumbent Joe Powalowski. That gives him last place on the ballot, something of an advantage.

That means all of the incumbents filed for reelection.

Trying to gain a seat is Mark Guerra.

The other incumbents seeking another term are

• Linda Lance
• Nels Sorensen and
• Lowel Cutsforth.

Eight offices are up for grabs in Algonquin Township next April–and some of them pay pretty well—but on there’s still only one candidate for each office.

The incumbents have filed petitions for all the big offices:

Dianne Klemm for Supervisor
Bob Miller for Road Commissioner
Bob Kunz for Assessor
Marc Munaretto for Clerk

For Trustee four have filed for four positions:

Linda Lance
Nels Sorensen
Lowel Cutsforth and
Mark Guerra.

The top three are incumbents; Guerra wishes to join them.

Incumbent Trustee Joe Powalowski has not filed for re-election.

If no additional candidates file there will be no township primary election in February. There was no primary four years ago for the same reason.

Petitions may be filed through next Monday.

Eight offices are up for grabs in Algonquin Township next April–and some of them pay pretty well—but on there’s still only one candidate for each office.

The incumbents have filed petitions for all the big offices:

Dianne Klemm for Supervisor
Bob Miller for Road Commissioner
Bob Kunz for Assessor
Marc Munaretto for Clerk

For Trustee four have filed for four positions:

Linda Lance
Nels Sorensen
Lowel Cutsforth and
Mark Guerra.

The top three are incumbents; Guerra wishes to join them.

Incumbent Trustee Joe Powalowski has not filed for re-election.

If no additional candidates file there will be no township primary election in February. There was no primary four years ago for the same reason.

Petitions may be filed through next Monday.