McHenry County Blog

“Teeni Weenie Bikini” was the come-on for State Rep.-to-be Barb Wheeler Saturday in Wauconda.

There may have been some at Lindy’s Landing on Bangs Lake, but they were covered up.

Some people might wonder why people running unopposed for the Illinois General Assembly need to hold fund raisers.

In the case of all Republican legislators, their leaders expect contributions that can be used elsewhere in Illinois in the goal of winning control of the chamber in question.

Wheeler, for example, is expected to pony up $5,000 a year.

Her more senior McHenry County colleague Mike Tryon is assessed $10,000 per year.

And State Senator Pam Althoff, because of her unpaid leadership position as the one who chairs the Senate caucus, needs to come up with $20,000 per year.

There were plenty of Lake County politicians. Lake County Recorder of Deeds candidate Bob Bednar was there, for instance, as were State’s Attorney candidate Mike Nerheim and County Board candidate Tom Weber.

Although Republican Precinct Committeemen were told all the 2012 Illinois State Republican slots were filled and a list was never made public, there were lots of empty seats allocated to the McHenry County Republican Party in Tinley Park.

And some people who were registered as “Guests” were made “Delegates” on the day of the plenary session, Saturday.

(In another party jurisdiction, such a request made by the party head, was denied.)

There were even names on them.

I checked with three and asked if that person had paid, but just not attended.  I was told nothing came out that checking account.

McHenry County GOP Treasurer Fred Wickham told me that no check was written from the Central Committee’s coffers.

Did someone pay for the delegates?

If so, who?

Beats me, but if you see any of the following, whom I did not see at the convention, you might want to ask them.

I should emphasize that it is possible that some named below were in attendance prior to the main session and went home early and there were two people on the floor I did not recognize, so did not put them in article on who went (which misses some people who attended Friday, but left before speeches).

• Joe Calomino, Lake in the Hills
• Tine Hill, Woodstock
• Al Jourdan, Johnsburg
• Carrie Jourdan, Johnsburg
• Ken Koehler, Crystal Lake
• Mary Ann Louderback, Cary
• Rick Mack, Ringwood
• Mary McClellan
• Bernard Narusis, Oakwood Hills
• Regina Narusis, Oakwood Hills
• Roberta Panfaleo, unknown
• Jack Schaffer, Cary
• Mike Shorten, Crystal Lake
• Joyce Story, McHenry
• Barbara Wheeler, Crystal Lake

The annual Pro-Life Pig Roast was held again at Irene Napier’s farm on Valley View Road.

There was a goodly crowd of supporters of the Pro-Life position.

Old friends renewed acquaintances.

Candidates from Lake courted voters.

Lake County Republican Bob Bedar advanced his candidacy for Recorder of Deeds.

30th District GOP State Senate candidate Don Castella was there, too.

I even sat at his table briefly talking to Barrington’s Jim Finnegan about how Democrat State Rep. Jack Franks of Marengo had stymied Chose Life license plates by putting authorization bills in subcommittees to die.

There were at least three McHenry County Board members and candidates in attendance.

I saw Board members Nick Provenzano and John Hammerand.  Cheryl Hammerand, a Wonder Lake Fire Protection District Board member was there, too.

Mary McClelland, a GOP McHenry County Board candidate in District 3, spoke to the crowd.

State Senator Dan Duffy also spoke to the crowed.

He told of how Illinois Senate President John Cullerton changed his parking space when he would not use an offered Point of Personal Privilege to apologize to his fellow members for having insulted them when he spoke during Governor Rod Blagojevich’s impeachment trial.

Duffy had said that he didn’t understand how Blagojevich has been allowed to do all the things that had been presented in evidence at the trial by those who had served in the legislature at the same time.

Duffy told Cullerton that if he were granted the floor again, he had more to say in the same vein.

Shortly thereafter Cullerton announced the change in parking space.

Duffy said he thought he was back “in junior high.”

The highest ranking official to address the crowd was Congressman Randy Hultgren.

Illinois Democrats redistricted congressional districts so that all of McHenry County but Algonquin Township will be represented by Randy Hultgren…unless Democrat Dennis Anderson of Gurnee pulls off a bigger upset than Joe Walsh did when he beat Melissa Bean.

Hultgren praised Walsh for not doing what the Democrats hoped would occur–a face-off between Hultgren and Walsh.

He urge the crowd to help Walsh beat Tammy Duckworth.

Peter Roskam will represent the rest of McHenry County, that is, Algonquin Township, unless there is a Democratic landslide of enormous proportions.

Joe Edwards talked of the progress being made to bring an ultrasound machine to McHenry County.

I think I heard that the Lutheran Life League had recently pledged $10,000.

The Thomas More Law Society‘s Peter Breen told of his groups defense of Pro-Life video makers and other Pro-Life causes.

He also told of the role that his organization is taking in defending the Defense of Marriage Act, which liberal Cook County officials are refusing to defend.

Below are photos of the two other County Board members I noticed.

There was lots of networking.

Although Congressman Peter Roskam was absent, campaign worker David Rivera and his fiancee Kelly Baumgart were there to carry the flag…or at least wear the tee shirt.

And, how could I pass up Woodstock’s Jim Klocek’s tee shirt of “Umbert?”

I’ve finally figured out who was at the meeting in the Crystal Lake Plaza GOP Headquarters last week.

You remember.

The one who recommended that Tea Party enthusiast Tonya Franklin should not run this year against Jack Franks, but maybe should in two years after more Republicans got to know her and after she had served as a Precinct Committeeman (which she tells me she wants to become).

It was headed up by newly-elected Vice Chairman Mark Daniel, who also heads the Nunda Township Republican Central Committee, replacing Brent Smith, who really got things moving there.

Daniel was asked to head the committee because County Republican Chairman Mike Tryon was in Springfield doing his legislative duties in the Illinois House of Representatives.

Another of the Central Committee’s officers, Fred Wickham was present, too.

He is Treasurer and his victory showed the party establishment thought the Pro-Life faction deserved a seat at the table.

Such recognition has not yet been granted the Tea Party members of the GOP, so Tonya had no one in the room who probably understood such motivations.

Neither man is from the 63rd District which Jack Franks has represented for over 13 years.

From Franks’ district were

• Republican Party Executive Director Geri Davis, also a Precinct Committeeman held by a Davis since Tom Davis’ widow, Boots Davis, activated by the Goldwater campaign in 1964, ran unopposed in 1966 when then-GOP Chairman Chuck Miller retired and
• McHenry County Auditor Pam Palmer, who lives in Coral Township (Union, Illinois, address).

Various people have told me that Palmer was acting in the capacity of head of the little townships (those with “under ten” precincts.)  Those townships which have fewer than ten precincts are those in County Board District 6, plus, inexplicably, Richmond and Burton Townships, which are in District 4, most of which is located in McHenry Township.

Of the Precinct Committeemen I have contacted, none received notice of a meeting to organize the “under ten” counterpart to the big townships.

Someone not from the area told me the meeting had been held the night the Central Committee was organized, but, if so, a number of committeemen in the room knew nothing of it.

But, back to the interviewing meeting.

While the committee’s negative recommendation may put the kabash on Tonya Franklin’s offer to run against Jack Franks, had they recommended she run, they would have not have had the authority to nominate her.

At least as I read the state law for filling vacancies for state representative ballot slots.

County political party committees held organization meetings all over Illinois Wednesday night.

At the McHenry County Republican Party Central Committee meeting, State Rep. Mike Tryon was re-elected Chairman.

Nunda Township’s Mark Daniel was selected as Vice Chairman. He will replace Kathy Kuchta of McHenry Township.

The Secretary and Treasurer will remain the same, Glenda Miller and Fred Wickham.

In other action, the Precinct Committeemen voted to put Leslie Schermerhorn on the ballot for Regional Superintendent of Education.

She was appointed to the post on Tuesday night by the McHenry County Board.

After the meeting the new and old Precinct Committeemen got to know each other.

The Daily Herald actually sent a reporter.

Kane County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay brought her campaign for the Illinois State Senate to Lakewood’s Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria Thursday night.

Nothing like free eats to bring out a crowd.  And Lou Manati’s pizza.  What a treat!

The event featured high-profile politicians like State Rep. Mike Tryon. Tryon would be one of the State Representatives in the 33rd State Senate District.

McConnaughay outlined her accomplishments during her seven years in office.  They included achieving a better bond rating from the two major agencies.

Lots of talk about politics, of course.

People looking for yard sign sites.

Others discussing court proceedings and Judge Gordon Graham’s order to pay a couple hundred more thousand dollars to the Special Prosecutors Henry Tonigan and Thomas McQueen and (their expensive investigators at Quest) who had no case against State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi.

At the end of event, campaign assistant Becky Cress was handing out McConnaughay tee shirts.

Mass at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church began the day for those attending the first McHenry County Catholic Prayer Breakfast.

Boulder Ridge Country Club was the next destination.

Down Randall Road to Miller Road the cars drove.

The place was packed.

Over 500 people by one estimate.

After the welcome by event chairman Fred Wickham and a prayer by Msgr. Daniel Hermes, breakfast was served.

A prayer for our country’s leaders, out nation and families was offered by Jeff Ladd, Jr.

There were politicians courting votes.

Both Congressman Randy Hultgren and Joe Walsh were in attendance.

The two are Pro-Life.

The sanctity of human life was one of the topics of the main speaker, Raymond Cardinal Burke.

Another was birth control.

The Cardinal spoke at length.

The Cardinal’s biography identifies him as “one of the foremost authorities on Roman Catholic cannon law.

“Raymond Cardinal Burke leads with an unwavering passion for the integrity of Catholic doctrine embodied in the words of Jesus Christ,” it continues.

The Cardinal was born in 1948 in Richland Center, Wisconsin.

Ordained by Pope Paul VI in 1975 in Rome, one of his first assignments was teaching religion at Aquinas High School in LaCrosse, Wisconsin.

After studying canon law at Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, he became the first American to hold the position of Defender of the Bond of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the Catholic Church’s supreme court.

He now serves Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, to which post he was appointed in 2008 by Pope Benedict XVI.

McHenry County’s local prelate, Rockford-based Bishop Thomas Doran, helped celebrate the Mass and gave a talk at the breakfast.

Brian Burch, President of CatholicVote.org, also spoke to the group. It’s a lay movement of committed Catholics who “are passionate about living our the truths proclaimed by Christ and His Church in the modern world.”

Issues promoted include

• the dignity of the human person from conception until natural death
• the traditional definition of marriage as between one man and one woman
• religious freedom for all people

But, back to political figures in McHenry County.

Candidate for Coroner Anne Majewski was in an exuberant mode.

I saw a photo of Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley.

From the program, I see that County Board member Nick Provenzano played a role.

So did County Board candidate Mary Alger.

County Board member Barbara Wheeler, who is running for State Representative, was caught posing with Patriots United Brian Kelly and Judge Michael Chmiel.

You see Jean Bianchi with Rosemary and Bob Blazier in the photo below, so I assume State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi was also present.

Below is a list of the members of the Board of Directors of the prayer breakfast.

Standing in the Crystal Lake City Council Chambers, where he presides as Mayor at Tuesday night meetings, Aaron Shepley put on his other hat to represent Centegra, his day-time employer, in its opposition have competitor Mercy Health System be given state permission to build a hospital in Crystal Lake at Route 31 and Three Oaks Road (across from the Holiday Inn).

The first page of transcript you see below has former Crystal Lake City Councilman Fred Wickham finishing his testimony in favor of Mercy’s building a Crystal Lake hospital. Shepley’s testimony starts on the second page.

Tuesday night, the home of former Crystal Lake City Councilman Fred Wickham and his wife Lynn, owner of Wickham’s Interiors in Downtown Crystal Lake was vandalized.

The manger was dragged out onto Blue Mound, where it was discovered by Crystal Lake Police.   Blue Mound runs into Wedgewood from the south.

Representations of the Wise Men, shepherds and their animals were knocked over.

The spot light be broken.

Paint ball damage was inflicted on the front of the house.

Are Christian symbols now open game in Crystal Lake?

Was this a “hate crime?”

The leadership team of the McHenry County Republican Central Committee will be the same as it has been the last two years.

State Rep. Mike Tryon of Crystal Lake continues as Chairman.

Vice Chairwoman will be McHenry’s Kathy Kuchta.

Harvard’s Glenda Miller will be Secretary.

Fred Wickham, who won a contest two years ago will again be Treasurer.

Likewise there was no contest for 8th Congressional District State Central Committeeman. All present voted for Barrington Township’s Gene Dawson.

With the empty precincts added in, pursuant to passage of a motion earlier in the night, Dawson received 10,134 votes in his attempt to turn back a challenge by the Schaumburg Township Committeeman, Michael Adelizzi.

In the race for the 16th Congressional District Committeemanship, the race was more interesting.

Cal Skinner made a pitch for Joe Wiegand, pointing out that he had never seen incumbent Dave Syverson during the past two years since he had joined the Central Committee for the third time. He said that Wiegand’s lack of a public office gave him the time to do much more than a state senator could.

Jack Schaffer spoke for Syverson, explaining that he was a respected leader on the Republican State Central Committee.  He added that Syverson had been in Congressman Don Manzullo’s Sunday School class.

After Schaffer, Tom Zanck asked if he could second Wiegand’s nomination and was granted that wish.

“I don’t agree with Cal Skinner on anything, but I agree with him on Joe Wiegand,” he said. Zanck said he had worked with Wiegand in the campaign to defeat the establishment of a Kishwaukee Water Authority and praised his imagination, thoroughness and initiative.

A not-so-secret ballot was taken instead of a roll call, resulting in Syverson getting 4,054 votes and Wiegand 2,554.  (Because each precinct committee had the number of Republican votes cast in his precinct, the way people voted had to be known to the canvass team.)

After the vote Chairman Tryon asked if anyone wanted to switch to the winner and Dan Shea and Patrick Collins did, leaving the tally at 4,347 to 2,261.

Adding in the precinct totals of precincts where no vote was cast, Syverson ended up with a margin of 11,428. The total vote of precincts not represented because the elected committeeman did not show up or because no one ran for precinct committeeman was 9,342 votes.

15,950 people voted in the GOP primary in Congressman Don Manzullo’s part of McHenry County, but only 6,608 of them had elected precinct committeemen present at the meeting.

That means there is plenty of room for volunteers. If you would like your name passed on, you can email McHenry County Blog. The email is on the upper left hand side of this page.

Schaffer, who chaired Bill Brady’s McHenry County campaign, told the party representatives that Brady was leading Kirk Dillard by 246 votes by Brady’s count.

“We think Brady will be the winner,” the former Central Committee Chairman said.

Brady is expected to be in Chicago shaking hands at the Union Pacific train station Friday morning and do a fly-around on Monday. The closest landing will be in Rockford.

Extolling the virtues of his candidate, Schaffer said, “His family is from Central Casting.”

Describing his principles, his spokesman described them as “solid.”

Schaffer also said that he his answers frustrate the media.

When asked a question about social values, he says,

”I am who I am.“

Then, he starts talking about the problems of the day.

“We stand at the brink,” Schaffer said. “The demographics are running against us. We have a chance. The Democrats have done everything for us but raise money…and Blagojevich is still working for us.

“If we can’t prevail this year, I don’t know when we ever will again.

“I won’t say, ‘It’s now or never,’  but you guys will all be as old as I am when we get the next chance.”

Tryon then introduced the county board candidates in attendance and let state representative candidate John O’Neill make a pitch for his March 15th corn beef and cabbage fund raiser at the Bull Valley Country Club.

McHenry County Young Republican President Bryan Javor took the opportunity to announce he was not running for re-election, but, pointing to the county board candidates,  instead “would work to get these guys elected.”

Then, Tryon headed back to Springfield for session on Thursday.

He had left 1 PM Wednesday afternoon to drive up to Woodstock.