McHenry County Blog

The only candidate in McHenry County’s rural 6th District who is providing information about the campaign is Diane Evertson. (Anyone else that wants to let me know what’s happening in their campaign anywhere in the county, please email me the details.)

Here’s the guts of an email that I received from her husband, Hartland Township Supervisor Ev Evertson:

Diane has been busy attending meetings, walking door to door and tending phone calls.  There have also been people walking on her behalf in the Alden, Wonder Lake and Huntley areas.

Now that Christmas has come and gone, we will be stepping things up a notch.

If you have time available to walk on Diane’s behalf, please give me your schedule of availability and I will supply you with walking sheets and handouts.  If you have time available to stuff door hangers, also, please advise your availability.

Below you will find a listing of the upcoming meet and greets.  Please spread the word even though we are mailing out over 13,000 invites next week.  Flyer copy is attached.  Please attend as many meet and greets as you can (eats and drinks will be provided for everyone who shows).

We have 100 four by four feet signs and 1,000 smaller yard signs ready to plant next week.  Please reply by return mail as to how many and what size you want.  The larger signs are meant to be used in rural areas because most municipalities have a four square feet maximum sign ordinance.

• Tuesday, January  5, 2010 – Crandall’s Restaurant, 10441 Route 47,         Hebron        05:00 – 08:00 pm
• Friday,    January   8, 2010 – Deeter’s Restaurant, 15105 Route 14,           Woodstock 05:00 – 08:00 pm
• Sunday,  January 10, 2010 – Deer Run Driving Range, 11007 Route 120, Woodstock  01:00 – 05:00 pm
• Thursday, January 14, 2010 – Donley’s Restaurant, 8512 S. Union Rd.,     Union            05:00 – 08:00 pm

Another bumper sticker from Ev Evertsen’s vehicle parked outside of McHenry County Board member John Hammerand’s Grand Old Mill fund raiser:

OUR DREAM ACT:
DUMP DURBIN

The bumper sticker even has a dump truck—undoubtedly from McHenry County.

Another bumper sticker from Ev Evertsen’s vehicle parked outside of McHenry County Board member John Hammerand’s Grand Old Mill fund raiser:

OUR DREAM ACT:
DUMP DURBIN

The bumper sticker even has a dump truck—undoubtedly from McHenry County.

This was found on Ev Evertsen’s vehicle at John Hammerand’s fund raiser at the Grand Old Mill in Wonder Lake last night:

This was found on Ev Evertsen’s vehicle at John Hammerand’s fund raiser at the Grand Old Mill in Wonder Lake last night:

John Hammerand held a fund raiser for his re-election campaign at the Grand Old Mill near the dam in Wonder Lake. Since my in-laws live up there, I decided to take them.

The food was much too good. The deviled eggs were delicious!

The dessert table was really difficult to ignore, but, believe it or not, I managed.

There was a pleasant assortment of politicians and those interested in politics.

Among the elected officials I picked out were McHenry County Auditor Pam Palmer, McHenry County Coroner Marlene Lantz, McHenry County Treasurer Bill LeFew, McHenry Township Clerk Bruce Novak and McHenry Township Trustee Marsha Nelson. My apologies to any I missed.

There was one face I had not seen at other political fund raisers—former Assistant State’s Attorney Dave Stone. He pointed out to someone that now he had more freedom than he had before and, having served as the county board’s parliamentarian, he had watched county board members in action.

Stone pointed out that Hammerand actually spoke up for the interests of taxpayers. In the last budget discussions, for instance, Hammerand asked why the budget had to go up 7%. The answer was something to the effect that since the county could get that much they should.

Sounds as if the county board hasn’t changed much since I sat through over 4½ years of meetings before and while McHenry County Treasurer from 1966 through 1970.

Back then, you’d never be able to figure out that Republicans were in control.

Of course, they may not have been. No one ran on major party labels then.

In any event, conservative, tight-fisted Republicans they were not.

In fact, the most fiscally conservative was Ed Buckley from Dorr Township. He ran Buckley’s Cleaners and I took him to be a conservative Democrat.

The majority taxed to the max in order to illegally accumulate money to build the new courthouse.

And, yes, I know the levies were illegal because every taxpayer that paid his taxes under protest with an attorney got a refund. I wrote some of the checks. It amounted to about 10% of the county taxes paid. But, that meant the 90% of those not protesting lost their money to that rapacious county board. I am sure the county board majority was thinking,

But, back to the fund raiser.

I pointed out that Hammerand had told me he had another reason for voting against this year’s budget. He didn’t get to see it before the vote.

Frankly, I have never heard of a public body voting on a budget without its legislative body getting to see the budget. Even in Springfield we usually got a couple of hours to look at it before the proforma vote was taken.

Tom Matthews sat down at our table and, when I introduced my in-laws, he immediately knew they lived in the house that had a problem with freezing pipes during the winter. Matthews owned the water company serving Wonder Lake until he sold it to the village. I admit to being impressed that he knew about that service problem.

= = = = =
On top you see John Hammerand’s yard sign.

Next, you can see the good eats my willpower stood up to.

A head shot of John Hammerand follows.

In the next picture you see Ev and Diane Evertsen, who traveled from Harvard to support the candidacy of John Hammerand for his District 4 McHenry County Board seat.

Finally, Tom Mathews and Hammerand share a light moment. I had fund kidding him that Barack Obama was going to give him the (patriotic) privilege of balancing the budget (or at least decreasing the deficit).

John Hammerand held a fund raiser for his re-election campaign at the Grand Old Mill near the dam in Wonder Lake. Since my in-laws live up there, I decided to take them.

The food was much too good. The deviled eggs were delicious!

The dessert table was really difficult to ignore, but, believe it or not, I managed.

There was a pleasant assortment of politicians and those interested in politics.

Among the elected officials I picked out were McHenry County Auditor Pam Palmer, McHenry County Coroner Marlene Lantz, McHenry County Treasurer Bill LeFew, McHenry Township Clerk Bruce Novak and McHenry Township Trustee Marsha Nelson. My apologies to any I missed.

There was one face I had not seen at other political fund raisers—former Assistant State’s Attorney Dave Stone. He pointed out to someone that now he had more freedom than he had before and, having served as the county board’s parliamentarian, he had watched county board members in action.

Stone pointed out that Hammerand actually spoke up for the interests of taxpayers. In the last budget discussions, for instance, Hammerand asked why the budget had to go up 7%. The answer was something to the effect that since the county could get that much they should.

Sounds as if the county board hasn’t changed much since I sat through over 4½ years of meetings before and while McHenry County Treasurer from 1966 through 1970.

Back then, you’d never be able to figure out that Republicans were in control.

Of course, they may not have been. No one ran on major party labels then.

In any event, conservative, tight-fisted Republicans they were not.

In fact, the most fiscally conservative was Ed Buckley from Dorr Township. He ran Buckley’s Cleaners and I took him to be a conservative Democrat.

The majority taxed to the max in order to illegally accumulate money to build the new courthouse.

And, yes, I know the levies were illegal because every taxpayer that paid his taxes under protest with an attorney got a refund. I wrote some of the checks. It amounted to about 10% of the county taxes paid. But, that meant the 90% of those not protesting lost their money to that rapacious county board. I am sure the county board majority was thinking,

But, back to the fund raiser.

I pointed out that Hammerand had told me he had another reason for voting against this year’s budget. He didn’t get to see it before the vote.

Frankly, I have never heard of a public body voting on a budget without its legislative body getting to see the budget. Even in Springfield we usually got a couple of hours to look at it before the proforma vote was taken.

Tom Matthews sat down at our table and, when I introduced my in-laws, he immediately knew they lived in the house that had a problem with freezing pipes during the winter. Matthews owned the water company serving Wonder Lake until he sold it to the village. I admit to being impressed that he knew about that service problem.

= = = = =
On top you see John Hammerand’s yard sign.

Next, you can see the good eats my willpower stood up to.

A head shot of John Hammerand follows.

In the next picture you see Ev and Diane Evertsen, who traveled from Harvard to support the candidacy of John Hammerand for his District 4 McHenry County Board seat.

Finally, Tom Mathews and Hammerand share a light moment. I had fund kidding him that Barack Obama was going to give him the (patriotic) privilege of balancing the budget (or at least decreasing the deficit).

Harvard’s Ev Evertsen has this lead in before his wife Diane’s Field Report for Sunday:

“As Diane states below, the best was saved for last. The D-50 Superintendent stated that no registration of voters was being conducted at the school – we have taped evidence to the contrary.

“The Mexican Consulate was issuing documents to illegal aliens on American soil – last time I checked, this is serious violation of federal law – we have credible taped testimony to confirm that.

“After you have read Diane’s report remember one thing, our borders and ports of entry are NO more secure now then they were before 09/11.

“We could deport every illegal alien in our country and they could be back in very short order because your elected officials have let you down.

“Find candidates for office who will deploy our military on OUR borders and we ask you get to work to have them elected. People in Illinois need to get up from behind their keyboard and start pounding on doors to educate the public about what happened in this small town of 9,000.

“Representatives from a third world country were able to break federal law on U.S. taxpayer property!

“We informed the appropriate authorities but nothing was done to stop it!!!!!

“Why? We need to work harder to elect HONEST people who will defend our country before they approve spending your tax dollars in foreign countries. Just how much money did our Congress just approve to be GIVEN to Mexico?

“In additon to what Diane reports below, more will come out after we complete our dialogue with people in D.C.

“In the meantime we do know that the Illinois Center for Immigrant Refugee Rights and LULAC and Pedro Enriquez of the Illinois Migrant Council (a listed affiliate of the National Council of the Race), D-50 representatives, and pastor Dan Larsen of the Woodstock were all present while laws of the United States were violated.”

Here is the field report on last Sunday, written by Diane Evertsen:

Field Report: July 20, 2008;
Mexican Consulate, Harvard, IL

“The fourth and final day for the Mexican Consulate to use public property in their efforts to provide ‘passports and government identification’ to Mexican Nationals in the United States. And a beautiful day it was.

“The usual parade of SUVs drive in past the large banner at the road which announces that the Mexican Consulate is here.

“Again, papers and hands go up to hide their faces from our ever-vigilant camera and many of the foreign nationals entering onto our public property seem less than thrilled to find they are the focus of our attention.

“We have noted a particular fondness for tinted windows on vehicles which arrive; these are the folks who roll their windows up quickly as they approach our cameras. One man in a green van with Wisconsin license plates wanted to know if we were going to burn his house down. The absurdity of the question indicates the stupidity of the questioner.

“The four-day visit by a foreign government was, in fact, very insightful.. It brought home the reason dessert is the last course of a meal: you always want to save the best for last.

“And did we ever!

“APPLE PIE:

“Our very convivial group of Patriots enjoy each others’ company; while sitting under sun umbrellas with coffee and doughnuts the conversation is lively and lighthearted.

“How delightful that a young girl stops by for conversation. Her opener is:

“‘Why are you guys doing this?’ Our response is that we want the laws of the United States enforced, and anyone here illegally should be deported. Her response to that was, ‘So you guys think Mexicans are lazy?’ (From what planet did that come?!)

“I must give great credit to this girl, though; she decided to come up to us and speak. She was very civil, very polite; she told us her name, she’s 14 years old and lives in Marengo and that she‘s 100% Mexican.

“She has at least one brother (18) and her parents have been here illegally for at least 18 years. She tells us that her father was in the school to ‘get his papers to be legal.’

“We respond that he couldn’t get ‘legal’ in the school because there was no one from the US Government in there to give him documents.

“She mentioned that the father had gone to court before to ‘get legal’ and tried to make a point that they (the parents) are just here to work.

“We responded that we feel they must leave because they have broken the law, impressing upon her that it is not her fault that her parents have engaged in illegal activity. As she said goodbye and walked away a short time later, it saddened me to think that her parents had so used and exploited their own child and continue to lie to her (and probably her brother as well). She now has an inkling of the truth and it’s a lot for a 14-year-old to think about.

“ALA MODE:

“Later on in the afternoon, a chubby-faced male with an ICIRR vest on stopped by on his way out the driveway, and asked if we were all registered to vote.

“If any of us were not registered to vote, he would be happy to register us, because that’s what he was doing – he’s a voter registrar. I think we were all so stunned by this fabulous act of kindness that it rendered us speechless.

“We decided we’d check back with him when he returned, just to see how much longer he’d be there registering ‘voters.’ Fortunately for the Mexican nationals who were there to get ‘passports and government identification offered by the Mexican Consulate of Chicago’ we found he’d be there until they closed up for the day at 3:00 pm. (Just in time to make sure everyone could get to church.) More fortunate for us, it’s all on tape.

“Summing up, let’s look at the numbers:

“Approximately 100 cars per day (to be confirmed after we decipher the pictures and hours of tape)

“Approximately 200 Mexican Nationals ‘served’ each day

“4 days = 800+ total

“License plate numbers are being uploaded.

“I don’t know about all of you, but I can hardly wait to thank the school board at their meeting Wednesday evening at 7:00 pm in the Board Room at the High School (1101 North Jefferson Street). Hopefully they haven’t rented that building out to the Chinese Consulate of Chicago to perpetrate more fraud – and maybe American CITIZENS will actually be able to use the bathrooms if they choose to do so. Hey, it could happen!!

“Also, not to be forgotten, the fine folks at Castle Bank who sponsored this event should receive your appropriate thanks. They’re good enough to provide an 800 number – feel free to call them: Head office: 800-990-5713; Harvard office: 800-952-6441. Let us know if they say, ‘Your call is important to us . . .’

“Again, a HUGE thank you to all who took part, encouraged us on, made calls and asked questions. This is not the finish; the ball has just begun to roll here, and we’ll continue to push it. So, stay tuned, boys and girls; same bat time, same bat channel!”

Harvard’s Ev Evertsen has this lead in before his wife Diane’s Field Report for Sunday:

“As Diane states below, the best was saved for last. The D-50 Superintendent stated that no registration of voters was being conducted at the school – we have taped evidence to the contrary.

“The Mexican Consulate was issuing documents to illegal aliens on American soil – last time I checked, this is serious violation of federal law – we have credible taped testimony to confirm that.

“After you have read Diane’s report remember one thing, our borders and ports of entry are NO more secure now then they were before 09/11.

“We could deport every illegal alien in our country and they could be back in very short order because your elected officials have let you down.

“Find candidates for office who will deploy our military on OUR borders and we ask you get to work to have them elected. People in Illinois need to get up from behind their keyboard and start pounding on doors to educate the public about what happened in this small town of 9,000.

“Representatives from a third world country were able to break federal law on U.S. taxpayer property!

“We informed the appropriate authorities but nothing was done to stop it!!!!!

“Why? We need to work harder to elect HONEST people who will defend our country before they approve spending your tax dollars in foreign countries. Just how much money did our Congress just approve to be GIVEN to Mexico?

“In additon to what Diane reports below, more will come out after we complete our dialogue with people in D.C.

“In the meantime we do know that the Illinois Center for Immigrant Refugee Rights and LULAC and Pedro Enriquez of the Illinois Migrant Council (a listed affiliate of the National Council of the Race), D-50 representatives, and pastor Dan Larsen of the Woodstock were all present while laws of the United States were violated.”

Here is the field report on last Sunday, written by Diane Evertsen:

Field Report: July 20, 2008;
Mexican Consulate, Harvard, IL

“The fourth and final day for the Mexican Consulate to use public property in their efforts to provide ‘passports and government identification’ to Mexican Nationals in the United States. And a beautiful day it was.

“The usual parade of SUVs drive in past the large banner at the road which announces that the Mexican Consulate is here.

“Again, papers and hands go up to hide their faces from our ever-vigilant camera and many of the foreign nationals entering onto our public property seem less than thrilled to find they are the focus of our attention.

“We have noted a particular fondness for tinted windows on vehicles which arrive; these are the folks who roll their windows up quickly as they approach our cameras. One man in a green van with Wisconsin license plates wanted to know if we were going to burn his house down. The absurdity of the question indicates the stupidity of the questioner.

“The four-day visit by a foreign government was, in fact, very insightful.. It brought home the reason dessert is the last course of a meal: you always want to save the best for last.

“And did we ever!

“APPLE PIE:

“Our very convivial group of Patriots enjoy each others’ company; while sitting under sun umbrellas with coffee and doughnuts the conversation is lively and lighthearted.

“How delightful that a young girl stops by for conversation. Her opener is:

“‘Why are you guys doing this?’ Our response is that we want the laws of the United States enforced, and anyone here illegally should be deported. Her response to that was, ‘So you guys think Mexicans are lazy?’ (From what planet did that come?!)

“I must give great credit to this girl, though; she decided to come up to us and speak. She was very civil, very polite; she told us her name, she’s 14 years old and lives in Marengo and that she‘s 100% Mexican.

“She has at least one brother (18) and her parents have been here illegally for at least 18 years. She tells us that her father was in the school to ‘get his papers to be legal.’

“We respond that he couldn’t get ‘legal’ in the school because there was no one from the US Government in there to give him documents.

“She mentioned that the father had gone to court before to ‘get legal’ and tried to make a point that they (the parents) are just here to work.

“We responded that we feel they must leave because they have broken the law, impressing upon her that it is not her fault that her parents have engaged in illegal activity. As she said goodbye and walked away a short time later, it saddened me to think that her parents had so used and exploited their own child and continue to lie to her (and probably her brother as well). She now has an inkling of the truth and it’s a lot for a 14-year-old to think about.

“ALA MODE:

“Later on in the afternoon, a chubby-faced male with an ICIRR vest on stopped by on his way out the driveway, and asked if we were all registered to vote.

“If any of us were not registered to vote, he would be happy to register us, because that’s what he was doing – he’s a voter registrar. I think we were all so stunned by this fabulous act of kindness that it rendered us speechless.

“We decided we’d check back with him when he returned, just to see how much longer he’d be there registering ‘voters.’ Fortunately for the Mexican nationals who were there to get ‘passports and government identification offered by the Mexican Consulate of Chicago’ we found he’d be there until they closed up for the day at 3:00 pm. (Just in time to make sure everyone could get to church.) More fortunate for us, it’s all on tape.

“Summing up, let’s look at the numbers:

“Approximately 100 cars per day (to be confirmed after we decipher the pictures and hours of tape)

“Approximately 200 Mexican Nationals ‘served’ each day

“4 days = 800+ total

“License plate numbers are being uploaded.

“I don’t know about all of you, but I can hardly wait to thank the school board at their meeting Wednesday evening at 7:00 pm in the Board Room at the High School (1101 North Jefferson Street). Hopefully they haven’t rented that building out to the Chinese Consulate of Chicago to perpetrate more fraud – and maybe American CITIZENS will actually be able to use the bathrooms if they choose to do so. Hey, it could happen!!

“Also, not to be forgotten, the fine folks at Castle Bank who sponsored this event should receive your appropriate thanks. They’re good enough to provide an 800 number – feel free to call them: Head office: 800-990-5713; Harvard office: 800-952-6441. Let us know if they say, ‘Your call is important to us . . .’

“Again, a HUGE thank you to all who took part, encouraged us on, made calls and asked questions. This is not the finish; the ball has just begun to roll here, and we’ll continue to push it. So, stay tuned, boys and girls; same bat time, same bat channel!”