McHenry County Blog

Confirmation has been received that Woodstock’s Frank Wedig will again run for the McHenry County Board in District 5.

That district covers Dorr Township, which covers most of Woodstock and Bull Valley, plus the eastern part of Grafton Township, including parts of Huntley, Lake in the Hills, Lakewood and Crystal Lake.

Wedig ran two years ago. You can find out how well he did here.He then ran for Dorr Township Trustee.

Wedig was competitive, running 158 votes behind the lowest Republican, Joseph Evanoff.

Wedig received 84% of the votes of the lowest Republican vote getter. (That is the margin prior to adding in absentee and early voting results, which were not tremendous in this election.)

Most recently,. the Green Party came out against the Woodstock baseball stadium’s being allocated $15 million in Federal Stimulus Recovery Zone Bonds.

There are four Republicans who have taken out primary petitions in District 5:

• Tina Hill (incumbent)
• John Jung (who lost to Democrat Paula Yensen last year)
• Dave Frederick
• John Vrett

The winners will face Democrat Jim Kennedy and Wedig.

Not only may the most rural McHenry County Board district, District 6, have a four-way Republican primary, but District 5 (the one covering most of Woodstock, Huntley and a lot of Lake in the Hills and some of the southwestern part of Crystal Lake) may also.
This is the district in which all four Republicans holding office during most of the first decade of this century had Woodstock zip codes and lived in Dorr Township, while the population center of the district was south in Grafton Township.

With all the new residents in western Lake in the Hills and Huntley, Democrats saw an opening four years ago, running Lake in the Hills Trustee Jim Kennedy.

In a slash and burn campaign, combined with lots of shoe leather, I learned later, incumbent Perry Moy was defeated.

Two years later Lake in the Hills Trustee Paula Yensen ran an extensive door-to-door campaign and unseated Republican incumbent John Jung.

Now, Kennedy is up for re-election, looking apprehensively at the upcoming reapportionment by his GOP county board colleagues.

District 5 Democratic Precinct committee met after the August Democratic Party Central Committee meeting.

With the Barack Obama phenomenon wearing off and groups like Patriots United, while not a participant in partisan politics, drawing over 500 people to a hot button meeting on the Democrats health care reform program, you can imagine that District 5 Democrats are wondering if they can re-elect Kennedy.

Republicans apparently don’t understand that Kennedy’s seat is a “Democratic” one.

Besides incumbent Tina Hill, three others have picked up nominating petitions at the county clerk’s office.

You know about John Jung.  He lost to Yensen, but is running again.

Two others are apparently gathering signatures:

• John Vrett
• Dave Frederick

I hope each will send me a bio, but let me tell you what I know about them.

Vrett served on the Woodstock Unit School District 200 school board. Although he taught in the Marengo Grade School District and Carpentersville’s District 300, his school board service reflected a “protect the taxpayer” point of view. He is an avid hunter and lives on Bull Valley Road just east of Woodstock. Vrett is now retired.

Frederick has served on the McHenry County Regional Board of School Trustees.  He has also run for the District 200 Board. He lives on Mt. Tabor Road about halfway between Route 176 and Lucas Road. He is a veterinarian, specializing in horses.

Both can accurately be described as conservatives.

It should be noted that all of the Republican candidates live in the Woodstock zip code, although Frederick’s children have attended St. Thomas School in Crystal Lake and he lives right on the edge of the Crystal Lake-Woodstock zip code.

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Facing the camera in the photo of District 5 Democratic Party activists at their party’s last Central Committee meeting are McHenry County Board members Jim Kennedy and Paula Yensen.

I have received the following statement from Frank Wedig, Chairman of the McHenry County Green Party. He ran for a District 5 county board seat (how well he did is in this article) and, next, Dorr Township Trustee.

“One of the components of the Green Party Platform that is at the lop of my priority list is Fiscal Responsibility.

“The $15 Million Federal Stimulus Bonds to be allocated to the Woodstock Baseball Stadium do not meet that criterion.

“If the Stadium starts out being heavily subsidized by taxpayer money, future taxpayer bailouts are almost guaranteed.

“What is worse, if future bailouts are not forthcoming the $15 Million Dollars will have been lost – wasted. The economics of the stadium should stand on their own and be totally transparent.

“I am against corporate welfare, but in these difficult economic times some Government stimulus to the private sector can be justified.

“Spending the limited stimulus money on an entertainment complex is economically unsustainable. There will be good paying construction jobs initially, but then the permanent service-sector jobs will be low paying.

“For this Stadium to succeed, the local residents will have to spend their hard-earned money on entertainment. There are only so many entertainment dollars a family can spend. In this economy, people’s discretionary income may be diminished for a long time to come.

“This whole thing just doesn’t make good economic nor policy sense.”

An article that focused on the issue, on the Tuesday agenda at the Finance Committee meeting at 9:30, can be found here. Here is an article about the Woodstock City Council meeting that approved the proposal.

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The photo is of Frank Wedig knocking on doors while running for Dorr Township Trustee.

Former McHenry County Board member John Jung is gearing up for another try.

Jung was defeated by Lake in the Hills Village Trustee Paula Yensen last fall. She won by 1,223 in the hard-fought battle.

I have long contended that women running for office in our area have a five percentage point advantage. Five percent of the 38,673 votes cast is 1,933.

That’s not to minimize Yensen’s hard door-to-door campaigning, but her gender certainly was an advantage.

Yensen also had the advantage of Barack Obama’s carrying McHenry County by 5.3 percentage points.

Jung also campaigned vigorously door-to-door.

“I worked my head off,” Jung told me after the election.

With the Democratic Party incumbent being a male, Jim Kennedy won’t have the same advantage Yensen had.

But, then again, Kennedy did defeat a man, Perry Moy. Kennedy’s direct mail campaign can only be described as vicious.

If you don’t remember, take a look at the extremely negative campaigning by Democrats in District 5 four years ago. See

Picking of Perry – Part 1,
Picking on Perry – Part 2,
Picking on Perry – Part 3,
Perry Takes Another Hit, and
Negative Campaigning Apparently Works.

And, somehow I don’t think the Democratic Party candidate for governor will carry McHenry County, especially, if Democratic legislators hike the income tax on the relatively high income McHenry County residents.

Yensen spent $9,141; Jung spend $6,666.

Perhaps significantly, neither Jung nor District 2 Republican Nick Provenzano ran coordinated campaigns with their female GOP running mates. Both lost to Democratic Party women, Jung to Yensen and Provenzano to Democratic Party Chair Cathy Bergan Schmidt.

In fact, Jung’s running mate, Virginia Peschke, who ran first by 96 votes, did not start campaigning until the end of October. It consisted mainly of yard signs.

Provenzano is also seeking to regain his seat on the McHenry County Board.

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The head shot is of Democratic Party McHenry County Board member Jim Kennedy. The photo of John Jung and his wife Josie is from last year’s campaign pamphlet.

The District 5 contest is over and John Jung lost to Democrat Paula Yensen.

He spent $6,666.40 in his attempt to win re-election.

Jung’s only reported contribution during the six-month period was trucker Jim Tonyan, who gave $250.

The District 5 contest is over and John Jung lost to Democrat Paula Yensen.

He spent $6,666.40 in his attempt to win re-election.

Jung’s only reported contribution during the six-month period was trucker Jim Tonyan, who gave $250.

Add the $2,075 to the $4,427 Lake in the Hills Trustee Paula Yenson raised previously for her attempt to pick off another Republican on the McHenry County Board and she has about $6,500 for her campaign.

She has been out knocking on doors and I expect to hear of some hit pieces similar to those that took down Republican Perry Moy two years ago. Let me know if you receive one.

Add the $2,075 to the $4,427 Lake in the Hills Trustee Paula Yenson raised previously for her attempt to pick off another Republican on the McHenry County Board and she has about $6,500 for her campaign.

She has been out knocking on doors and I expect to hear of some hit pieces similar to those that took down Republican Perry Moy two years ago. Let me know if you receive one.

Campaign literature is beginning to trickle out for the fall election. Any that is sent to me, I’ll be happy to share with you.

Here is what District 5 McHenry County Board member John Jung is distributing:

Committed, concerned, qualified.

Those are the headings on Jung’s handout.

He quotes what I assume is an endorsement from the Northwest Herald:

“A difference maker…his leadership will be instrumental in the successful completion of the 2030 plan.”

Jung also points out he voted against the salary increases for elected officials.

He has a web site which says,

“I consider public service an honor and have felt privileged to serve McHenry County as your District 5 representative and vice-chairman of the county board.

“I believe in being responsive and responsible to my constituents and strive to make my decisions based on what is right for McHenry County and its residents.

“This has led me to drive and support decisions that have resulted in positive changes for our county, including

• better roads and highways through improvement of our transportation infrastructure,
• increased support of our environment and groundwater protection,
• preservation of farmland,
• an increased cash reserve and an AA+ financial rating for the first time in the county’s history.

“I am proud to be a leader of our county and ask for your support and vote on November 4th.”

Campaign literature is beginning to trickle out for the fall election. Any that is sent to me, I’ll be happy to share with you.

Here is what District 5 McHenry County Board member John Jung is distributing:

Committed, concerned, qualified.

Those are the headings on Jung’s handout.

He quotes what I assume is an endorsement from the Northwest Herald:

“A difference maker…his leadership will be instrumental in the successful completion of the 2030 plan.”

Jung also points out he voted against the salary increases for elected officials.

He has a web site which says,

“I consider public service an honor and have felt privileged to serve McHenry County as your District 5 representative and vice-chairman of the county board.

“I believe in being responsive and responsible to my constituents and strive to make my decisions based on what is right for McHenry County and its residents.

“This has led me to drive and support decisions that have resulted in positive changes for our county, including

• better roads and highways through improvement of our transportation infrastructure,
• increased support of our environment and groundwater protection,
• preservation of farmland,
• an increased cash reserve and an AA+ financial rating for the first time in the county’s history.

“I am proud to be a leader of our county and ask for your support and vote on November 4th.”