Second-term State Senator Dan Duffy, whose district reaches all the way into the middle of Crystal Lake as a result of the Democrat’s redistricting plan and includes a fair amount of southeastern McHenry County, has endorsed Bill Prim as the Republican candidate for Sheriff.

This is the second major endorsement from a political figure that Prim has received.

The first was from McHenry County’s first resident congressman, now-WIND talk show host, Joe Walsh.

It apparently wasn’t considered important by the Northwest Herald, because I didn’t see an article.

We’ll see if a sitting elected official’s endorsement is worthy of conveying to the 30,000+ readers of the NWH.

Dan Duffy

STATE SEN. DAN DUFFY ENDORSES BILL PRIM FOR SHERIFF

A powerful voice has been added to the chorus of those backing Bill Prim for McHenry County Sheriff. Popular Illinois State Sen. Dan Duffy (R-26th) announced Monday that he is endorsing Prim in the Republican primary election next year.

The landslide winner in his contest for reelection last November, Duffy said he recently concluded his review of the candidates for Sheriff and wanted to make his endorsement early to add to the growing momentum behind Prim’s campaign.

“There is absolutely no doubt Bill Prim is the most qualified candidate we have for this critical post.

“His 27 years of ever-increasing responsibility in police work are a great fit for McHenry County.”

Duffy added, “There is more to being Sheriff than catching bad guys. The Sheriff must also be able to work with county wide officeholders and, at the same time, be accountable to taxpayers for how he spends their hard-earned money.”

Duffy continued, “In all of these areas, Bill Prim is the right choice. I urge all of McHenry voters to join me in supporting Bill Prim for Sheriff.”

Prim said he was pleased and grateful for Duffy’s endorsement.

“Anyone who lives in McHenry County knows that Sen. Duffy is a man of integrity and courage.

“His efforts on behalf of small business owners, who are the backbone of our economy, and his concern that taxpayers be listened to at all levels of government, may have not made him the most popular man in Springfield, but they have certainly earned him a great deal of respect in McHenry County.”

Prim added, “The hard-working people who support Dan Duffy will find themselves right at home with the message I am sending in my campaign.”

I thought you might be interested in the use of email for election purposes.

Remember to Vote This Tuesday!!!!!

Mike Shorten

Good Morning,

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

Chris Jenner

Last week, the Northwest Herald was set to endorse Chris Jenner for the McHenry County College Board.

But he was sued, along with Eric Sivertsen, by the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office in attempt to knock them off the ballot.

The suit must have unsettled the Editorial Board at the NWH, because when a revised editorial was posted, Jenner’s name was gone and Tom Wilbeck, Mike Smith and Molly Walsh were recommended.

Last Monday, the case went to trial and Judge Thomas Meyer ruled the State’s Attorney’s claim invalid.

So Jenner and Sivertsen stayed on the ballot for MCC.

Jenner had previously withdrawn from a second race to be elected to a third term on the Cary Grade School Board, but Sivertsen did not.

The dual candidacies were what the State’s Attorney was objecting to.

Because of Judge Meyer’s ruling Sivertsen remains on both ballots.

Now, the NWH has posted a revised editorial with the following note below it:

“Note to readers: The Northwest Herald Editorial Board’s original endorsement for McHenry County College’s Board of Trustees included candidate Chris Jenner.

“When the McHery County Clerk’s Office announced that Jenner and another candidate could not be on the ballot because the two simultaneously filed to run for other seats, we removed Jenner from our list of endorsed candidates, expecting that he no longer would be on the ballot.

“But a judge has since ruled that Jenner can remain on the ballot.

“In light of that, we add him back to our list of endorsed candidates.

“As a result, four candidates are endorsed. Note that voters can choose only three at the polls.”

“The endorsement of Jenner has been added to Wilbeck’s, Smith’s and Walsh’s.”

Fox River Grove Republican Precinct Committeeman Andrew Gasser has published his Algonquin Township GOP primary election recommendations, which he has given me permission to share.

Here they are:

Consolidated Primary Endorsements – 2013

“All politics are local.” – Tip O’Neill, 1982

We have an election coming up in a week.

Many of my friends and neighbors in the 4th precinct are not sure who to vote for so I wanted to put together a small voter guide for the people that I am supporting in the Consolidated Primary to be held on February 26th, 2013.

As many of you know – I am a reformer. I am an articulate conservative who believes in the core values of

• fiscal responsibility
• limited government
• free market principles

These are the things that America great. These are the principles that are so definitively dictated in our constitution.

The candidates listed below will do just that for us here locally.

The is how we begin to rebuild the Republican Party in the belly of the beast, or in the lion’s den. I have attached a PDF you can download here to print out and share with your friends and neighbors. Lets turn out the vote.

Andrew Gasser’s Sample Ballot.

Chuck Lutzow

Chuck Lutzow is running to be your Township Clerk.

Chuck owns a small business in Crystal Lake and has lived in the local area for over 20 years. He is an active committeeman in the local party.

He does not want to raise taxes or government wages, however his opponent voted to raise her salary and the tax levy.

We simply can’t afford NOT to have Chuck representing us.

Russ Cardelli

Russ Cardelli was appointed to be a trustee last year and is now running for election, not re-election.

He has raised his family here in Algonquin.

He has made a name for himself asking good, difficult questions at township board meetings.

I want you all to know Russ was the only trustee who voted NO to the elected official salary hike.

We need to send him back to the township as a trustee so he can continue to work to bring down the cost of government, not raise it.

Larry Emery

Larry Emery is a retired business analyst who lives in Crystal Lake.

He is an active precinct committeeman who worked several campaigns as well as an election judge. He is running to be one of our four trustees in the township.

Larry has already attended several township board meetings and even has pointed out mistakes to the sitting board members.

His excellent “attention to detail” is desperately needed.

Melissa Sanchez of Lake in the Hills, a candidate for Algonquin Township Trustee.

Melissa Sanchez of Lake in the Hills is another active precinct committeeman running for trustee.

Even as she finishes up her double major in Political Science and Legal Studies, she has still found the time to work locally with the local party.

Like Larry, she has vowed to follow Russ’ lead and vote NO to raise salaries.

Melissa will be a great addition to the board and serve us all well.

I know many of you are disgruntled, angry, and somewhat detached from politics after November; especially nationally. However, all politics start locally.

Let’s work to build a stronger, more vibrant local Republican party that increases its influence.

Early voting is going on now so please vote today at the township hall!

After the deluge of publicity about how “extreme” Congressman Joe Walsh is on the abortion issue went unanswered, my frustration level grew so much that I posted the following on Capitol Fax Blog:

Cal Skinner – Monday, Oct 15, 12 @ 10:33 am:

Picture a bold Pro-Lifer’s response.

Run a video of a baby developing.

Say, “Not all of us are going to agree when this becomes a baby, but all of us are going to agree there is a baby before the baby is born.

“Tammy Duckworth believes that mothers should be able to abort their babies up until the day they are born.

“Now, that’s extreme.”

Run text along the bottom quoting what Duckworth’s told the Tribune: “Duckworth said she does not ’support any restrictions on a woman’s right to chose or her access to safe, affordable reproductive health services.”

Now, it would take a bold Pro-Life candidate to follow this advice and there have been none sighted in Illinois.

Something like this run against Pat Quinn during the last days of the campaign would have elected Bill Brady, I believe.

Dave McSweeney went in this direction in a mailing that got delivered on Saturday that can be seen here:

http://mchenrycountyblog.com/2012/10/14/mcsweeney-responds-to-beaubien-pounding-on-abortion-issue/

Also related to abortion, a Catholic Church in Crystal Lake went all in on Obama last weekend:

http://mchenrycountyblog.com/2012/10/15/crystal-lakes-st-thomas-parishioners-get-handout-like-none-they-have-ever-seen/

Below you will see the pro-abortion Personal PAC five-page questionnaire for legislative candidates. Personal PAC requires answers that agree with its positions in order to get an endorsement.

Take a read and see if you conclude that a Personal PAC-endorsed candidate has an “extreme” position on abortion.  Click on any page to enlarge it.

Some of the letter writers in the Chicago Tribune provide rebuttals to the attacks on Joe Walsh:

The letters supporting Joe Walsh don’t get put in a prominent location, but they did make the Tribune Monday. Click to enlarge.

A letter arrived in the mail today from Erin Smith.

She is the Village President of Lakewood, where I live.

I wondered if she was announcing she is running for re-election, thinking that I hadn’t written a story about that and all of the incumbent trustees but John Burton’s decision to do the same.

But, not.

It was an endorsement letter for McHenry County Board candidate and Chairman Ken Koehler.

Koehler worked with Lakewood on the SportsPlex, so the endorsement didn’t surprise me.

You can see the letter below:

The endorsement letter of Ken Koehler from Lakewood Village President Erin Smith.

Smith relates how Koehler has worked closely with Lakewood “on a variety of issues. She notes the county’s sound financial standing as opposed to those of state government.

I found the following interesting:

“As some people criticize Ken’s influence at the county, state and federal level, it is important to keep in mind that his influence has grown based on trust and credibility. And there is only one way to establish credibility–you do what you said you were going to to. Ken established credibility with his fellow board members and other elected officials by accomplishing the things we defined as priorities.”

Interesting to see how Koehler is viewed by an elected official who has worked with him.

Here’s the palm card that was inside the envelope:

The Ken Koehler palm card that was enclosed in Erin Smith’s envelope.

Here’s the back of the Koehler palm card:

Click to enlarge so you can read the small print on the back of Ken Koehler’s palm card.

A press release from the Board of Directors of Patriots United:

Patriots United is Opposed to County Executive Referendum

Jack Franks and Mike Tryon faced off on the County Executive referendum at a forum sponsored by Patriots United and the Northwest Herald.

You will be asked to vote on a referendum at the election in November as to whether McHenry County should change its form of government to the County Executive form.

Because Patriots United believes this is a very important decision, it co-sponsored with the Northwest Herald a public forum to hear the pros and cons of the proposal.

State Representative Jack Franks, a sponsor of the referendum, spoke in favor and argued, among other things, that passage would result in lower taxes and greater transparency.

Mike Tryon, State Representative and former McHenry County Chairperson, argued against the proposal saying it would not lower taxes and would result in less transparency, not more.

He argued the proposal, if adopted, would create another layer of government and result in significantly more County expense.

The presentations were detailed and informative.

Based on the forum and after careful consideration, the board of directors of Patriots United voted unanimously to recommend to you, the voters, that the referendum should be defeated.

We are of the opinion that the proposal would not result in greater transparency or lower taxes.

It is very likely it would result in significantly more County expense and cronyism of a kind and extent we have not yet known.

We want to thank the Northwest Herald for co-hosting the forum and Representatives Franks and Tryon for their participation.

= = = = =
The debate between Franks and Tryon can be seen here.

The Northwest Herald concluded its endorsements for County Board yesterday.

McHenry County Board District lines.

Here are the results:

District 1

Yvonne Barnes, Anna May Miller, Nick Chirikos and Robert Nowak were endorsed. Chirikos is the only Democrat on the ballot. Passed over was incumbent Republican Bob Bless.

Bless, Miller and Nowak did not attend the County Board candidates’ night.

District 2

The four Republican running in the Crystal Lake-Lake in the Hills-Lakewood district were selected by the Northwest Herald Editorial Board. They are Jim Heisler, Ken Koehler, Donna Kurtz and Carolyn Schofield.

There was an interesting comment about Koehler: “If Koehler is re-elected, we do think it is time for him to step down as County Board chairman, a position he’s held for eight years.”

Part of the reason is probably the Editorial Board’s strong disapproval “of the secret meeting he presided over during last year’s redistricting…”

Koehler did not attend the County Board candidates’ night.

The two Democrats, former Board member Jim Kennedy and Jim Roden were not recommended.

District 3

While I am listing the candidates in alphabetical order, the NWH listed Democrat Cathy Bergan Schmidt first in is District 3 endorsement editorial.

The candidates preferred are Joe Gottemoller, Mary McClellan, Nick Provenzano and Kathy Bergan Schmidt.

Disappointment was expressed with Provenzano’s “involvement in a secret meeting during last year’s redistricting process.”

Left out in the cold was Republican Mike Walkup.

District 4

Those endorsed are Sue Draffkorn, Bob Martens, Mary Margaret Maule and Sandra Salgado.

Martens is identified as the former CEO of Family Service. He did not attend the County Board candidates’ night.

Odd man out was John Hammerand, who ran first in the Republican primary election.

District 5

In its District 5 endorsements, the NWH picked Tina Hill, John Jung, Mike Skala and Paula Yensen.

Yensen is an incumbent Democrat who defeated Jung four years ago. Two years ago, Jung took out Jim Kennedy, who is running in District 2 this time around.

Republican Michael Rein and Green Party candidate Frank Wedig did not make the select list.

Disappointment was noted in the editorial for Hill’s and Jung’s participation in an illegal secret meeting about reapportionment.

District 6

A Democrat and three Republicans were recommended for election in District 6, the most rural in McHenry County.

The Democrat is Scott Summers, former President of the McHenry County College Board, who, along with then board member Donna Kurtz, was censured by his colleagues for changing his mind on forcing taxpayers to guarantee the bonds for a minor league baseball stadium.

The Republicans are Mary McCann, Diane Evertsen and Ersel Schuster.

Not recommended were Republican Michele Aavang, Democrats Jay Kadakia and Ryan Heuser, plus Independent Larry Smith.

David McSweeney has reason to smile now that the three major newspapers circulating in his district have endorsed him. Besides the Tribune, the Daily and Northwest Heralds have endorsed him.

There has been a lot of contention on the comment boards about how Dee Beaubien used the word “fair” with regard to the 67% state income tax that Mike Madigan pushed through the Illinois House.

Both I and reader Dave contacted Editorial Page Editor Bruce Dold.  Dave’s email was a follow-up to my own question.

You can read answers to both of our emails in this article.

Because the Tribune addresses the use of the word in its endorsement of David McSweeney over Dee Beaubien, I am publishing the entire endorsement below:

52nd District: One of the most expensive House races is unfolding between Dee Beaubien, running as an independent, and Republican David McSweeney.

They’re both from Barrington Hills. Beaubien’s husband, Mark, represented the district until his death in June 2011.

Beaubien jumped into the race after McSweeney beat an ally of her late husband in the GOP primary.

“The Republican Party is in danger of being left behind. There’s no room for moderates anymore in Illinois. I’m sorry I feel I have to run against you,” Beaubien told McSweeney during their Tribune endorsement interview.

Beaubien says she’ll be bipartisan, but her campaign is being bankrolled by House Speaker Michael Madigan, the state Democratic Party chairman.

Madigan must think he can win this one and count on her support.

“People don’t tell me what to do,” she says.

Come, now.

There is no Democratic candidate in the race.

Beaubien is Madigan’s hope for a steal here.

McSweeney and Beaubien don’t seem far apart on fiscal issues, but McSweeney is much more specific about his plans for pension reform, spending reductions and tax cuts.

McSweeney would immediately repeal the 67 percent individual income tax hike of 2011; Beaubien told us the 5 percent tax rate is “fair” compared with other states, but she would allow it to expire on schedule.

McSweeney is endorsed.