McHenry County Blog

The pharmacist who broke the Democratic Party dam in the Metro East part of Illinois and rose to be Senate Republican Leader announced his retirement yesterday.

First, Watson was elected to the Illinois House.

Then, he was elected to the State Senate and was replaced with State Rep. Ron Stephens.

The Republican franchise in this St. Louis suburban area is beginning to look and act more and more like the Chicago suburbs in the 1970’s.

Frank Watson was the leading edge.

I remember working with him on State Rep. Penny Pullen’s behalf when she was pushing her public protection AIDS/HIV legislative package. His office was on the first floor of the Capitol then.

Watson was in his prime when he gave an off-the-cuff speech at the Republican State Convention in Decatur in early June. I characterized the talk as a “red meat” talk.

I asked his press secretary if I could have a copy of it. She told me he didn’t prepare a text.

Here is part of that speech:

= = = = =
We’ll see if he was right.

The pharmacist who broke the Democratic Party dam in the Metro East part of Illinois and rose to be Senate Republican Leader announced his retirement yesterday.

First, Watson was elected to the Illinois House.

Then, he was elected to the State Senate and was replaced with State Rep. Ron Stephens.

The Republican franchise in this St. Louis suburban area is beginning to look and act more and more like the Chicago suburbs in the 1970’s.

Frank Watson was the leading edge.

I remember working with him on State Rep. Penny Pullen’s behalf when she was pushing her public protection AIDS/HIV legislative package. His office was on the first floor of the Capitol then.

Watson was in his prime when he gave an off-the-cuff speech at the Republican State Convention in Decatur in early June. I characterized the talk as a “red meat” talk.

I asked his press secretary if I could have a copy of it. She told me he didn’t prepare a text.

Here is part of that speech:

= = = = =
We’ll see if he was right.

Early on in the Protect Marriage Illinois advisory petition campaign the Illinois Republican Party was making supportive noises.

There was even a link on the main page of the state GOP web site.

But, as far as I know, no Republican organization helped gather signatures.

And the petition effort fell short.

Not a lot short, but not enough signatures were gathered where it was thought the petition could withstand a vigorous attack from well-financed organized homosexuals.

Now, it turns out that about the only bright spot on the conservative election horizon is the constitutional amendment banning of same sex marriage in California.

The ballot measure, labeled Proposition 8, is passing 52.3% to 47.7%. There’s over a half million vote spread.

Ironically, many of the same voters who pushed Barack Obama to victory voted to ban same sex marriage.

Exit polls taken of 1,200 voters in 50 Los Angeles precincts by the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University found that “50 percent of Latinos voted for Proposition 8 and 39 opposed it, while 47 percent of African-Americans voted for it and 40 percent against it,” according to the LA Times

So, here’s my question?

Had the state GOP gotten the Protect Marriage advisory referendum on the ballot in Illinois, might someone like Elgin’s State Rep. Ruth Munson have eeked out a victory, instead of losing by an unofficial 322 votes?

Understand that I don’t know how Munson stands on the issue and she would obviously have to been against gay marriage and her opponent Keith Farnham would have had to have been in favor of it for my suggested strategy to have had a chance of working.

However, if they had been on opposite sides of the issue, Elgin could have been ready-made to have replicated how California voters behaved.

In 2000, Elgin had 34% Latinos and almost 7% African Americans. These Elgin minorities are concentrated in Munson’s district. The district also dips into Carpentersville, which has 41% Hispanics, most of whom live on the East side in the Munson district.

“Blacks voted 70 percent in favor of Proposition 8, and slightly more than half the Hispanic voters backed the measure, according to exit polls released by the National Election Pool,” the Washington Times reported.

And, Andrew Pugno of ProtectMarriage.com said, “Inner-city black neighborhoods voted stronger for Prop. 8 than the Republican suburbs. An amazing analysis.”

According to Mark DiCamillo, director of The Field Poll in California,

“The Field Poll, completed one week before the election, had Catholics voting at about their registered voter population size (24% of the electorate) with voting preferences similar to those of the overall electorate, with 44% on the Yes side.

“However the network exit poll shows that they accounted for 30% of the CA electorate and had 64% of them voting Yes. Regular churchgoers showed a similar movement toward the Yes side. The pre-election Field Poll showed 72% of these voters voting Yes, while the exit poll showed that 84% of them voted Yes…

“My take is that polling on issues like same-sex marriage that have a direct bearing on religious doctrine can be affected in a big way in the final weekend by last minute appeals by the clergy and religious organizations.”

Whether Catholic Church priests and black ministers in Munson’s district would have done what their counterparts are said to have done in California is unknowable.

But, if they had, and if Munson had a campaign staff astute enough to capitalize on the issue, maybe she would have been re-elected.

Since neither the State GOP nor House Republicans nor Senate Republicans showed any inclination to help get the signatures to put the referendum on the ballot this year, I somehow doubt Munson would have been able to grab the opportunity.

If Tom Cross or Frank Watson’s successor or Andy McKenna figure out this could issue could help some legislators or even the GOP gubernatorial candidate in 2010, the time to be starting a petition campaign is now.

Early on in the Protect Marriage Illinois advisory petition campaign the Illinois Republican Party was making supportive noises.

There was even a link on the main page of the state GOP web site.

But, as far as I know, no Republican organization helped gather signatures.

And the petition effort fell short.

Not a lot short, but not enough signatures were gathered where it was thought the petition could withstand a vigorous attack from well-financed organized homosexuals.

Now, it turns out that about the only bright spot on the conservative election horizon is the constitutional amendment banning of same sex marriage in California.

The ballot measure, labeled Proposition 8, is passing 52.3% to 47.7%. There’s over a half million vote spread.

Ironically, many of the same voters who pushed Barack Obama to victory voted to ban same sex marriage.

Exit polls taken of 1,200 voters in 50 Los Angeles precincts by the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University found that “50 percent of Latinos voted for Proposition 8 and 39 opposed it, while 47 percent of African-Americans voted for it and 40 percent against it,” according to the LA Times

So, here’s my question?

Had the state GOP gotten the Protect Marriage advisory referendum on the ballot in Illinois, might someone like Elgin’s State Rep. Ruth Munson have eeked out a victory, instead of losing by an unofficial 322 votes?

Understand that I don’t know how Munson stands on the issue and she would obviously have to been against gay marriage and her opponent Keith Farnham would have had to have been in favor of it for my suggested strategy to have had a chance of working.

However, if they had been on opposite sides of the issue, Elgin could have been ready-made to have replicated how California voters behaved.

In 2000, Elgin had 34% Latinos and almost 7% African Americans. These Elgin minorities are concentrated in Munson’s district. The district also dips into Carpentersville, which has 41% Hispanics, most of whom live on the East side in the Munson district.

“Blacks voted 70 percent in favor of Proposition 8, and slightly more than half the Hispanic voters backed the measure, according to exit polls released by the National Election Pool,” the Washington Times reported.

And, Andrew Pugno of ProtectMarriage.com said, “Inner-city black neighborhoods voted stronger for Prop. 8 than the Republican suburbs. An amazing analysis.”

According to Mark DiCamillo, director of The Field Poll in California,

“The Field Poll, completed one week before the election, had Catholics voting at about their registered voter population size (24% of the electorate) with voting preferences similar to those of the overall electorate, with 44% on the Yes side.

“However the network exit poll shows that they accounted for 30% of the CA electorate and had 64% of them voting Yes. Regular churchgoers showed a similar movement toward the Yes side. The pre-election Field Poll showed 72% of these voters voting Yes, while the exit poll showed that 84% of them voted Yes…

“My take is that polling on issues like same-sex marriage that have a direct bearing on religious doctrine can be affected in a big way in the final weekend by last minute appeals by the clergy and religious organizations.”

Whether Catholic Church priests and black ministers in Munson’s district would have done what their counterparts are said to have done in California is unknowable.

But, if they had, and if Munson had a campaign staff astute enough to capitalize on the issue, maybe she would have been re-elected.

Since neither the State GOP nor House Republicans nor Senate Republicans showed any inclination to help get the signatures to put the referendum on the ballot this year, I somehow doubt Munson would have been able to grab the opportunity.

If Tom Cross or Frank Watson’s successor or Andy McKenna figure out this could issue could help some legislators or even the GOP gubernatorial candidate in 2010, the time to be starting a petition campaign is now.

Talking about Illinois government under total Democratic Party control, Senator Minority Leader Fran Watson observed,

“It’s live for today and don’t worry about tomorrow.”

Watson criticized government in Illinois.

“…45th in job growth,”

I jotted down.

The senator who represents the non-Republican part of Decatur and whose district snakes southwest to his Metro-East hometown told the audience of how he had been trying to attract businesses to his area for decades.

Watson explained he would make progress only to have those he was courting say,

“The cost of doing business is less (in surrounding states) and I’m sorry but we’re going to take our business (elsewhere).”

“We have a U.S. Attorney looming at the steps of the Capitol,”

Watson continued.

“It doesn’t have to be that way.

Here’s the fifth installment of my photos of Republican notables I found at the 2008 Illinois Republican Party Convention in Decatur.

After taking some pictures of a relative empty front of the convention floor before the convention started, I walked to the back of the room, where the McHenry County delegation was relegated.

I saw State Rep. Raymond Poe, who sought the Lt. Governor nod in 2006. It turns out he was talking for former gubernatorial candidate Ron Gidwitz. Gidwitz was bold enough to suggest that a ticket of Gidwitz and Poe would have been better than the candidates who lost to Governor Rod Blagojevich.

8th congressional district Republican Party candidate for congress was the next in my view finder. Here Steve Greenberg shakes hands with Michael Livshutz with Dr Michael Menis looking on.

Looks like State Senator Bill Brady gets a twofer. Here he is talking to Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson. In the Democratic Party’s reapportionment effort to defeat Watson, he was given the least Republican part of the Decatur area, while Brady got the Republican part. Watson is on the right, Brady on the left.

State Representative and State Central Committeeman Skip Saviano was also standing in line waiting to be introduced to the convention.

16th congressional district State Central Committeeman and State Senator Dave Syverson was talking to Saviano, so I got his picture, too.

More Republican Convention notables tomorrow.

Talking about Illinois government under total Democratic Party control, Senator Minority Leader Fran Watson observed,

“It’s live for today and don’t worry about tomorrow.”

Watson criticized government in Illinois.

“…45th in job growth,”

I jotted down.

The senator who represents the non-Republican part of Decatur and whose district snakes southwest to his Metro-East hometown told the audience of how he had been trying to attract businesses to his area for decades.

Watson explained he would make progress only to have those he was courting say,

“The cost of doing business is less (in surrounding states) and I’m sorry but we’re going to take our business (elsewhere).”

“We have a U.S. Attorney looming at the steps of the Capitol,”

Watson continued.

“It doesn’t have to be that way.

Here’s the fifth installment of my photos of Republican notables I found at the 2008 Illinois Republican Party Convention in Decatur.

After taking some pictures of a relative empty front of the convention floor before the convention started, I walked to the back of the room, where the McHenry County delegation was relegated.

I saw State Rep. Raymond Poe, who sought the Lt. Governor nod in 2006. It turns out he was talking for former gubernatorial candidate Ron Gidwitz. Gidwitz was bold enough to suggest that a ticket of Gidwitz and Poe would have been better than the candidates who lost to Governor Rod Blagojevich.

8th congressional district Republican Party candidate for congress was the next in my view finder. Here Steve Greenberg shakes hands with Michael Livshutz with Dr Michael Menis looking on.

Looks like State Senator Bill Brady gets a twofer. Here he is talking to Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson. In the Democratic Party’s reapportionment effort to defeat Watson, he was given the least Republican part of the Decatur area, while Brady got the Republican part. Watson is on the right, Brady on the left.

State Representative and State Central Committeeman Skip Saviano was also standing in line waiting to be introduced to the convention.

16th congressional district State Central Committeeman and State Senator Dave Syverson was talking to Saviano, so I got his picture, too.

More Republican Convention notables tomorrow.

Not once, but twice late Friday afternoon Arizona’s United States Senator John McCain asked all of the veterans in the audience at DuPage County’s Odeum to stand.

They did, the ones with McCain signs waving them.

And, what did he have to say to the veterans besides,

to the “evil” that would strap bombs to retarded women and blow them up, as the news reported today in Iraq?

And, yes, he said “evil.”

Remind you of what President Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union?

A plastic card which veterans needing ordinary medial care could use at local doctor’s offices.

McCain read a quote from George Washington saying that the prospect of future soldiers serving our country was dependent on how we treated our veterans.

Clearly, McCain thinks that treatment has not been adequate, mentioning specifically that there would be a lot of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome cases from this war.

From complaints I heard when I was state rep. that would be so much better than the standing in line to get an appointment, as McCain put it, then, standing in line again for the appointment (and I think he had a third line that veterans had to stand in line before seeing a doctor at facilities run by the Veterans Department).

I’m not sure it was before or after a couple with a child in the back of the room supporting Ron Paul for president started yelling their support for their candidate, but McCain answered the illegal alien question by saying that he understood that the borders had to be secured first.

He said that each border state governor would have to certify that the borders were secure. It was the first time I had heard that proposal, but I haven’t watched any of the debates, so maybe he has said it before.

Before McCain took the stage, State Rep. Jim Durkin, McCain’s 2002 Illinois chairman and heading it up again in 2008, gave his reasons for supporting the Senator and made introductions. He mentioned supporters, such as McCain’s Illinois co-chairman Senate Republican Leader Frank Watson, who had been at a rally with McCain in the St. Louis media market earlier Friday, as well as the mid-state honcho, State Rep. Dan Brady, plus others.

The only mistake I noticed was his saying that Antioch’s State Rep. JoAnn Osmond was from McHenry County. (Her late husband Tim used to sit next to me on the Illinois House floor. You’re welcome anytime in McHenry County, JoAnn.)

Then, the microphone went dead.

Durkin tried it the old fashioned way…the way that U.S. Senator Carl Curtis explained it was done in Nebraska before amplification systems when he spoke to Kane County Republicans in the 1970’s.

Durbin’s deputy Illinois chairman Julie Brady of St. Charles spoke second. She started without a mike, but soon someone figured out how to make one work and Durkin handed it to her.

If this woman ever decides to run for public office, her opponents better hope there are not a lot of candidates’ nights.

Should the Democrats pick off former House Speaker Denny Hastert’s 14th congressional district seat this fall as a result of the incredibly bitter primary election, whatever Democrat wins better watch his back if she decides to run.

This mother of four is one effective speaker.

Brady told of her 4-year olds’ asking, “Mommy, do we have to buy guns?” after the second tower collapsed on 9-11.

This is a “security mom” to the max.

Her husband Pat had earlier asked me to take some pictures of her. I was happy to do so.

She and her husband met at the Justice Department in Washington and now live in St. Charles. Her efforts of McCain’s behalf were featured on the front page of Elgin’s Courier-News Thursday. Husband Pat was clearly surprised I had seen the article.

Illinois Republican State Chairman Andy McKenna was in attendance. When he spoke to the crowd, he did not endorse McCain.

But McKenna said, “Illinois would respond a hero like McCain” as the party’s presidential candidate.

Mary Jo Arndt, the party’s National Committeewoman, was also in attendance. National Committeeman Bob Kjellander is supporting Mitt Romney for president.

Congressman Mark Kirk, who works on military intelligence in the Pentagon for his Reserve duty, told of one day of his military training, a day in which he was put in a simulated prisoner of war camp.

He said he thought of how McCain, one of his heroes, had already having been under the kind of pressure that a president faces…while he was prisoner of war.

I found that to be an interesting analogy.

I was standing next to the parents of a Glenview teen who volunteered two nights a week making phone calls for Kirk’s campaign.

He also had made 5,000 calls for his first choice for president, Rudy Giuliani.

5,000 calls!

He’s a junior in high school and wants to go to college in Washington, D.C.

And speaking of converts, former State Senator Roger Keats was at the rally representing the Fred Thompson campaign.

It’s my guess that all legislators attending were introduced. I know I talked to Bloomington’s Dan Brady earlier. There were others and I would insert their names here, if I had Durkin’s list in front of me.

First term Congressman Peter Roskam looked at the audience and proclaimed,

“The DuPage County Republican Party is back.”

Let’s hope he is right, but having three DuPage County state senators vote for a one-half cent sales tax might prove an impediment to recovery.

told me that she didn’t think Romney was representing Mormon principles properly.

All pictures can be enlarge by clicking on them.

More on Sunday.

Here’s where you can find more McHenry County Blog.

Not once, but twice late Friday afternoon Arizona’s United States Senator John McCain asked all of the veterans in the audience at DuPage County’s Odeum to stand.

They did, the ones with McCain signs waving them.

And, what did he have to say to the veterans besides,

to the “evil” that would strap bombs to retarded women and blow them up, as the news reported today in Iraq?

And, yes, he said “evil.”

Remind you of what President Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union?

A plastic card which veterans needing ordinary medial care could use at local doctor’s offices.

McCain read a quote from George Washington saying that the prospect of future soldiers serving our country was dependent on how we treated our veterans.

Clearly, McCain thinks that treatment has not been adequate, mentioning specifically that there would be a lot of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome cases from this war.

From complaints I heard when I was state rep. that would be so much better than the standing in line to get an appointment, as McCain put it, then, standing in line again for the appointment (and I think he had a third line that veterans had to stand in line before seeing a doctor at facilities run by the Veterans Department).

I’m not sure it was before or after a couple with a child in the back of the room supporting Ron Paul for president started yelling their support for their candidate, but McCain answered the illegal alien question by saying that he understood that the borders had to be secured first.

He said that each border state governor would have to certify that the borders were secure. It was the first time I had heard that proposal, but I haven’t watched any of the debates, so maybe he has said it before.

Before McCain took the stage, State Rep. Jim Durkin, McCain’s 2002 Illinois chairman and heading it up again in 2008, gave his reasons for supporting the Senator and made introductions. He mentioned supporters, such as McCain’s Illinois co-chairman Senate Republican Leader Frank Watson, who had been at a rally with McCain in the St. Louis media market earlier Friday, as well as the mid-state honcho, State Rep. Dan Brady, plus others.

The only mistake I noticed was his saying that Antioch’s State Rep. JoAnn Osmond was from McHenry County. (Her late husband Tim used to sit next to me on the Illinois House floor. You’re welcome anytime in McHenry County, JoAnn.)

Then, the microphone went dead.

Durkin tried it the old fashioned way…the way that U.S. Senator Carl Curtis explained it was done in Nebraska before amplification systems when he spoke to Kane County Republicans in the 1970’s.

Durbin’s deputy Illinois chairman Julie Brady of St. Charles spoke second. She started without a mike, but soon someone figured out how to make one work and Durkin handed it to her.

If this woman ever decides to run for public office, her opponents better hope there are not a lot of candidates’ nights.

Should the Democrats pick off former House Speaker Denny Hastert’s 14th congressional district seat this fall as a result of the incredibly bitter primary election, whatever Democrat wins better watch his back if she decides to run.

This mother of four is one effective speaker.

Brady told of her 4-year olds’ asking, “Mommy, do we have to buy guns?” after the second tower collapsed on 9-11.

This is a “security mom” to the max.

Her husband Pat had earlier asked me to take some pictures of her. I was happy to do so.

She and her husband met at the Justice Department in Washington and now live in St. Charles. Her efforts of McCain’s behalf were featured on the front page of Elgin’s Courier-News Thursday. Husband Pat was clearly surprised I had seen the article.

Illinois Republican State Chairman Andy McKenna was in attendance. When he spoke to the crowd, he did not endorse McCain.

But McKenna said, “Illinois would respond a hero like McCain” as the party’s presidential candidate.

Mary Jo Arndt, the party’s National Committeewoman, was also in attendance. National Committeeman Bob Kjellander is supporting Mitt Romney for president.

Congressman Mark Kirk, who works on military intelligence in the Pentagon for his Reserve duty, told of one day of his military training, a day in which he was put in a simulated prisoner of war camp.

He said he thought of how McCain, one of his heroes, had already having been under the kind of pressure that a president faces…while he was prisoner of war.

I found that to be an interesting analogy.

I was standing next to the parents of a Glenview teen who volunteered two nights a week making phone calls for Kirk’s campaign.

He also had made 5,000 calls for his first choice for president, Rudy Giuliani.

5,000 calls!

He’s a junior in high school and wants to go to college in Washington, D.C.

And speaking of converts, former State Senator Roger Keats was at the rally representing the Fred Thompson campaign.

It’s my guess that all legislators attending were introduced. I know I talked to Bloomington’s Dan Brady earlier. There were others and I would insert their names here, if I had Durkin’s list in front of me.

First term Congressman Peter Roskam looked at the audience and proclaimed,

“The DuPage County Republican Party is back.”

Let’s hope he is right, but having three DuPage County state senators vote for a one-half cent sales tax might prove an impediment to recovery.

told me that she didn’t think Romney was representing Mormon principles properly.

All pictures can be enlarge by clicking on them.

More on Sunday.

Here’s where you can find more McHenry County Blog.