McHenry County Blog

Two years ago, it was Congressman Joe Walsh for whom restauranteur Perry Moy hosted a pre-Fiesta Days Parade reception.

Now that Walsh has lost the McHenry County portion of his 8th District, to be replaced by Congressman Randy Hultgren, Moy is doing the same on July 22nd for Hultgren, plus McHenry County Board member Nick Provenzano.

The details are below:

Congressman Randy Hultgren 

& 

McHenry Co.Board Member Nick Provenzano 

Invite you to join them for a FREE McHenry Fiesta DaysPre-Parade Reception 

at the 

Plum Garden Restaurant 

3917 W.Main St. 

McHenry,IL

July 22, 2012 

12-1:30PM  

Meet with local elected officials, businesses and community organizations for dynamic networking, hors d’oeuvres and refreshments prior to the start of the McHenry Fiesta Day Parade (Click for map showing Plum Gardens location between Route 31 and the Railroad Station.)

Pick up your Hultgren for Congress t-shirt and join Randy 

who will be walking with the McHenry County GOP 

in the parade immediately following the reception.

John O'Neill makes his candidacy intentions clear at McHenry's Fiesta Days Parade. Here is about to announce the birth of hi son, Teddy.

Getting photos of McHenry Elementary School and Library Board member John O’Neill taken at McHenry’s Fiesta Days Parade reminds me that I was in Joplin at my nieces wedding when he announced.

There was a second banner announcing the birth of son Terry,

O’Neill was the only Republican brave enough to take on Democrat Jack Franks. While Franks won, the Democrat certainly took notice of O’Neill. The Spring Grove precincts O’Neill won were put in another state rep. district by Franks during reapportionment.

In any event, here is O’Neill’s announcement of candidacy:

John O’Neill Announces Candidacy for County Board
Makes Fiscal Responsibility, Responsive Government Top Priorities

McHenry, IL – In the upcoming 2012 Republican primary election, John O’Neill has announced his candidacy to run for one of four seats up for election in McHenry County Board District 3.

John O'Neill greets supporter.

Currently a member of

• the Board of Education for McHenry Elementary School District #15 and
• the Board of Trustees for the McHenry Library District,

O’Neill has fought for taxpayers of McHenry, casting the lone vote against accepting stimulus money for the library renovation project. O’Neill is committed to continuing the fight on the county level.

“Through policies of fiscal restraint and working with state and judicial representatives to ensure that any future trials of public officials do not result in taxpayers being saddled with outrageous legal fees,” O’Neill said, “we can work to maintain McHenry County’s AAA Bond Rating – one of only two counties with such a rating in the State of Illinois.”

O’Neill also made responsive government a central focus of his campaign.

“The County Board represents the whole of McHenry County. Sensitivity must be shown to the rights and desires of residents in the unincorporated areas of the county to maintain their communities the way in which they see fit.”

O’Neill continued, “The residents of McHenry County deserve a representative on the County Board who will stand up for their desires.”

John lives in McHenry with his wife Barbara and their children. They have been involved in numerous community activities such as the McHenry Baseball Association, Knights of Columbus Council #1288, and Boy Scout Troop #131.

I was attending a Christian retreat for teens this past weekend, so didn’t get a chance to snap photos of McHenry’s Fiesta Days Parade.

If you have photos of things political, please ship them off to me.

I’ve been told that the following officeholders/candidates were in the line-up. I assume that all or most of the McHenry City officials were in attendance, even though they were not mentioned by my source.

• Joe Walsh
• Jack Franks
• John Hammerand
• Sue Draffkorn
• John O’Neill

Pam Althoff and Sheriff Keith Nygren were listed, but my source didn’t spot them. (If you saw them or anyone else, please let me know and I’ll update this article.)

This parade was a bit disorganized on our end because Basia wasn’t there; she had a baby at 4:20 am. Justin Theodore “Teddy” O’Neill made his appearance weighing in at 8 lb 7oz and 20 1/4 inches.

We had 20 friends walking with us as we passed-out Tootsie Rolls and stickers. The reaction was great with many people coming up with unsolicited hugs, handshakes, and “fist bumps” congratulating us on Teddy’s birth.

The Announcer, Tim Stewart of the McHenry Area Chamber of Commerce gave us the opportunity to announce Teddy’s birth over the microphone to cheers from the crowd!

Overall it was a great time seeing the fine folks of McHenry, what made it especially nice was the opportunity to go home and see the baby once it was all over.

Here’s the latest email from the Joe Walsh for Congress campaign:

Boots on the ground…

Joe Walsh courting the ladies' vote at McHenry's Fiesta Days Parade.

40 days, that is it! We have 40 days to share our message with our friends and neighbors. 40 days until we can sing “This land is your land, this land is my land”  once again and have it ring true!

Victory is in your hands.

Joe needs you to “walk, talk and call” for the next 40 days.

Can we do this? Yes we can!

The office will be open from 10 am to at least 7pm Monday through Friday and from 10am to 4pm on Saturdays and noon to 4pm on Sundays. We will have literature, signs and bumper stickers at the ready.

We are able to give you the walk sheets for your neighborhood (precinct) BUT I need you to email me your request so that it can be prepared for you. Please be good enough to find your precinct number and include it in your request. Joe has hundreds of precincts in 3 Counties, knowing your numbers will help us serve all of you as quickly as possible. If there is something special that I can help you with, please call me!

You know that we do “Surges” each Saturday, please come and help if you can. This Saturday, we are being hosted by Candidate for the Statehouse, Tom Morrison. Please try to come if at all possible.

Tom Morrison Campaign Office
401 North Northwest Highway
Palatine, IL 60067
(847) 496-5400
10am-2pm

A special Shout Out to Joe’s supporters in Barrington. This is Melissa Bean’s home town! Please contact me if you are willing to walk, talk or call for Joe. It is important that we talk to every voter we can.
Phone Banking continues. We still need your help. We have made nearly 50,000 calls since August 9th. Please help us reach 100,000 independent voters by making calls for Joe. Call the office to reserve your time! 847-752-8155.

If you are able to help get signs out, Joe will be most grateful. Call the office and ask for Chicky. If you can help in any way please let me know. I am here to help you have the best and most productive experience you can. I thank you, as does the whole team, for your generosity. You have given of your time and talent, Joe’s victory in November is our victory. You will make us victorious!

At your service,

Marianne Bailey
marianne@walshforcongress.com
(847) 849-9508

Here’s the latest email from Melissa Bean’s challenger:

Urgent Call to Action!
Great News!

The Illinois Republican Party has selected the Walsh Campaign Team to be the newest site for VICTORY and SUPER SATURDAY.

The Victory program is the Illinois GOP statewide program to help Republican candidates get elected through an unprecedented Voter Identification Program (phone bank) and Get Out The Vote GOTV campaign.  This is the largest undertaking the Illinois GOP has ever launched, and the Walsh Campaign Team is now part of this dynamic and exciting program.

We would like to thank the Party Leaders for selecting the Walsh Campaign for this great opportunity.  This is a strong testament of the determination, strength and old fashioned hard work that YOU, our grassroots volunteers, have shown time and time again. Are we up for another challenge?  We can do this!

And There’s More!

We have also been added to the Super Saturday program for this Saturday August 7th!  Yes, this Saturday.  This is an excellent opportunity for our team to take on a tremendously important challenge.  We are gathering as many volunteers as possible to man the phones and make calls on behalf of Joe Walsh and the Republican Party this Saturday!!

Super Saturday @ Walsh Headquarters
Aug 7th 10 am – 7 pm
218 barron Blvd (Rte 83)
Grayslake, IL 60030

Joe Walsh expresses his enthusiasm to the McHenry Fiesta Days Parade crowd.

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL!!!

We are also pleased to announce our statewide recognition keeps on rolling right down to Springfield!  Joe Walsh and the entire Walsh Campaign Team have been invited to participate in the Illinois State Fair and Republican Day activities on August 19th.  Joe will be on stage with the entire Illinois Republican Slate and we want YOU to be there to cheer him on.   The Joe Walsh Campaign is sponsoring a motor coach bus to take our volunteers along to Springfield to celebrate.

Once again, the immediate CALL TO ACTION is this Saturday 10 AM to 7 PM, to make phone calls for Joe Walsh.

We understand this is short notice, but every once in a while an opportunity comes out of no where and provides a significant challenge.  But as we know, with great challenge comes great reward.  When we pull this off, we will have solidified our position on the statewide GOP stage and we will be well positioned to charge head first into the last three months of this campaign right down to victory on November 2nd!!

Joe is absolutely pumped-up about this opportunity and he’s ready to lead the charge.  He knows we can pull this off and is incredibly appreciative of all your hard work that got us to this point and to this opportunity.

Please take a moment now to email or call Marianne Bailey to reserve your time slot in the Joe Walsh Victory Center in Grayslake this Saturday or all next week.

Please Call and volunteer:

Marianne Bailey
Volunteer Coordinator
Walsh for Congress Committee, Inc.
Marianne@walshforcongress.com
847-849-9508

At last Sunday’s Fiesta Days Parade in McHenry, there were all sorts of churches.

These young men carried the banner for St. Patrick's Catholic Church.

St. Patrick Catholic Church had a banner and a float.

A "High Seas Adventure" is what the sail says as the float passes the old West McHenry State Bank building.

The float promoted a “High Seas Adventure.”

Even after the Fiesta Days Parade in McHenry, Joe Walsh, in a sweat soaked shirt, was raring to go. He stands where he started--at Plum Garden. Owner Perry Moy hosted a reception before the parade.

If there is anything the Joe Walsh for Congress campaign needs, it’s people dedicated to calling rich people to ask for contributions.

It will take hundreds of thousands of dollars to blunt the withering criticism from the forthcoming attack.

Now, Walsh announces three have stepped forward to assist in the onerous chore of raising campaign funds. They are Vince Foglia, Bill Kennedy and Mike Miller. The Walsh press release is below:weeks of the campaign.

incumbent Democrat Melissa Bean will unleash on Chicago television during the last two weeks of the campaign.

Walsh Campaign Gears Up for Stretch Run,
Builds out Finance Committee

The Walsh for Congress campaign has added a new fundraiser, signed on key Finance Committee members and built out the campaign’s digital infrastructure in preparation of the last 100-day sprint to the November 2nd finish.

Three local, 8th District businessmen and well-known civic leaders, Vince Foglia, Bill Kennedy and Mike Miller, have agreed to serve on the Walsh for Congress Finance Committee.

“Fundraising is admittedly an area where we know we need to make some strides in order to compete with all the money Melissa Bean is raising from the banks she voted to bailout and other DC special interests to whom she is beholden,” said Walsh.  “The leadership of local business leaders like Vince, Bill and Mike who understand the devastating impacts incumbent Bean’s policies have had on our local economy is critical.  I am very grateful and fortunate to have them on board.”

Walsh reported raising just over $105,000 in the 2nd Quarter.

Foglia is Chairman & CEO of Sage Products, Kennedy is a longtime area home builder and Miller is the proprietor of M.J. Miller & Co. in Barrington.”With these additions, I am confident we’ll have the resources we need to effectively communicate with 8th district families,” Walsh added. 

“We’re going to make sure that voters remember in November Rep. Bean’s record of supporting bank bailouts, cap-and-trade, government-run health care, and runaway spending.”

The Walsh campaign also reported it will launch a new website in July complete with new social media applications to fully leverage the strong grassroots support Walsh enjoys and the burgeoning field organization the campaign has pulled together.

“We’re running an old-fashioned campaign in the sense of relying on the grassroots and going door-to-door to speak with voters,” said Walsh.  “But we recognize the power of digital communication tools that enhance our ability to activate supporters throughout the district in real time and so we’ve spent the money to build the necessary digital infrastructure for an effective campaign.”

In Q2, the Walsh campaign added staff, including a field director and a technology director.

Yesterday, I posted an article about State Rep. Jack Franks‘ contingent in McHenry’s Fiesta Days Parade.

A banner led the John O'Neill for State Representative contingent.

Today, it’s GOP challenger John O’Neill’s turn.

O'Neill supporters carried red and white signs.

The size of the two groups was similar.

One big difference was that O’Neill’s folks were wearing red shirts and Franks had on white.

You can count the people, if you wish, and make the comparison yourself.

Unlike Franks, O’Neill had a banner.

The modes of transportation were varied.

Roller bladers for O'Neill.

There were roller blades for O’Neill.

Stolllers for O'Neill.

There were strollers for O’Neill.

Walkers for O'Neill.

There were, of course, walkers for O’Neill.

Trucking for O'Neill.

There were truck riders for O’Neill.

Wheelchair for O'Neill.

And there was even a wheelchair for O’Neill.

John O'Neill was passing out literature.

Like Franks, O’Neill was walking and working the crowd.

At McHenry’s Fiesta Days Parade almost all the political entries were in front.

Except for one. The pro-life entry was almost at the back.

The pro-life entry probably had more people walking than any politician's contingent. When Jack Franks first ran in 1998, some argued that he was more pro-life than his GOP opponent, although he always described himself as "pro-choice." Franks is now endorsed by the most radical pro-abortion political action committee in the country, Personal PAC. Personal PAC refused to endorse Franks until he moved left on the issue of abortion two years ago.

The candidate political entry with the most gripping graphics was that of State Rep. Jack Franks.

This was the front of Jack Franks' parade entry.

An extended cab pick-up truck led the Democratic Party state representative’s parade entry.  There was not the usual banner.

Here's the middle of Jack Franks' delegation. Note the "I Love McHenry" sign. Nice touch, don't you think?

I thought I had spotted the legislator to the left in the above photo, but as the white-haired man in white got closer, I figured out he was a volunteer in a Jack Franks shirt.

The man I thought was Jack Franks turned out to be a volunteer.

He was handed something to people in the crowd.

Kids were helping distribute as well.

It wasn’t candy that was being passed out it.  It was frozen sweet juice in a plastic sleeve called Pop Ice.

One of the young folks was kind enough to pause to allow me to take this photo. A frozen treat perfect for an over 90 degree day.

Then, I spotted Franks.  He was on the other side of the street hurrying to catch up with his volunteers.

Jack Franks had apparently stopped to talk or press the flesh before I identified him.

He was running.

I didn't know one could run so fast in sandals, but I guess the father in Jesus' Prodigal Son parable managed to do so when rushing to greet the son he thought he had lost forever after providing him his inheritance.

Since it is essential for Franks to win re-election if he is to accomplish the goal he is currently vocalizing in Springfield–winning a seat in Congress in 2012 after Mike Madigan and John Cullerton, the House and Senate leaders respectively, cut him a district based in McHenry County which he can win–no wonder Franks is working hard this year.

Franks filled his campaign fund mainly with family money over a year ago when he was posturing for a statewide run, governor at the end of the run-up, that apparently polling data indicated he could not win.

If he loses his state rep. contest, Franks will not end up representing Republican McHenry County in Congress.

It is a strange year.  Franks has a Republican opponent for the first time in six years.  McHenry Grade School board member and McHenry Library Trustee John O’Neill is challenging the veteran lawyer-politician.

Jack Franks kept running and my camera kept clicking.

The Republican Party is not rolling over and playing dead as it did in 2006 and 2008.  At least not all of it is.

We'll see how seriously Jack Franks takes Republican John O'Neill not from this sprint to rejoin his volunteers, but by whether he spends much of the campaign cash he has salted away.

You can’t lose an election when you don’t have an opponent.

But you can when you do.

This year the Republican Party is not playing dead.

At least those who didn’t contribute to Jack Franks campaign fund aren’t.  It remains to be seen if the public officials who have been elected as Republicans will contribute at least as much to John  O’Neill has they have to Jack Franks.

Talk about running for office. Franks' entry is already across Route 31.

In the final of six photos of the political sprinter, Jack Franks passes up the stalled fire engine of the Catholic Order of Foresters, St. Mary’s Court #594.

The front of the contingent of McHenry County Democrats in the Crystal Lake Indepence Day Parade. State Treasurer candidate Robin Kelly is waving at the crowd in the middle right behind the banner. For a better picture, see below.

McHenry County Democrats had a healthy contingent in Crystal Lake’s 4th of July Parade.

They plan a repeat performance Sunday in McHenry’s Fiesta Days Parade.

Alexi Giannoulias waving at crowd before greeting some more personally in Crystal Lake.

Somehow, I don’t think they will draw their U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias again.

But, they will have a sitting Member of Congress in Melissa Bean.

Robin Kelly, the Democrats' candidate for State Treasurer.

The State Treasurer’s chief assistant, who is running to succeed him, Robin Kelly, was also in Crystal Lake. I didn’t know it at the time, but I did get this photo of her marching right behind the Democrats’ banner.

McHenry County Clerk candidate Mark Freund and supporters were are in Crystal Lake as well. He is the one with the white hair behind the man pushing the cart.

In Crystal Lake, I saw Woodstock’s Mark Freund, the Democrats candidate for County Clerk walking with a cart containing what appeared to be water.

McHenry County Board member Kathy Bergan Schmidt was on the Democrats' float.

McHenry County Board member Kathleen Bergan Schmidt was riding on a float with several other people. Sitting next to her was Elizabeth Puchmelter, Grafton 3 Democratic Precinct Committeeman.

The Democrats have sent out this press release about Sunday’s parade participation:

Democrats Highlight Parades Participation

The Democratic Party of McHenry County back this week on the parades and the solemn community ceremonies they have already seen and forward to the festivals and parades in McHenry and Algonquin.

Coming up are the McHenry Fiesta Days and Algonquin Founders Days parades on July 18 and 24.

Democrat Sheriff's candidate Mike Mahon walks next to his float in Crystal Lake.

U.S. Representative Melissa Bean and state representative Jack Franks, and sheriff candidate Mike Mahon will be among those participating in the McHenry parade.

Parade efforts are seen by the party as a great way to show support for the party brand and to breed enthusiasm for the fall elections.

Democrats, as a party and on behalf of individual candidates, have already joined in the activities for Memorial Day and marched in parades in

• Harvard
• Wonder Lake
• Spring Grove and
• Crystal Lake

Democratic Party 16th congressional district candidate handed out candy along Dole Avenue in Crystal Lake.

Senate nominee Alexi Giannoulias, state comptroller candidate David Miller, and state treasurer candidate Robin Kelly have been among the state candidates marching, along with Rep. Bean and 16th district congressional nominee George Gaulrapp.

The McHenry Fiesta Days parade will kick off on Sunday, July 18th, at 1:30 PM, and the Algonquin Founders Day parade on Saturday, July 24th, at 11 AM.

Enthusiastic marchers are welcome.