McHenry County Blog

It’s been a couple of weeks since the McHenry County Board bucked Chairman Ken Koehler, State Senator Pam Althoff, State Rep. Mike Tryon and those who stand to gain financially from placement of video poker machines in local taverns and restaurants.

It’s time to tell the tale of how McHenry County Establishment got narrowly beaten in that fight.

The vote was close (13-10-1) and my guess is that video poker proponents will try to reverse that vote after new county board members are sworn in, if the people they back defeat anti-gambling incumbents like District 2’s Barbara Wheeler.

Video gambling was the first local issue taken on by Patriots United, the folks who coordinated the Independence Day TEA Party, picketed State Rep. Jack Franks’ office on a cold spring day about his sponsorship of a bill considered pro-abortion and gun control, held a well-attended forum on the Democrats’ health care reform, and co-sponsored with the McHenry County Young Republicans a candidates’ night for 8th congressional district GOP aspirants.

Members attended John Hammerand’s License and Liquor Committee meetings and sponsored a debate between proponents and opponents.

Here are Patriots United video slot machine debate panels, ban proponents on the right, opponents on the left. Opponents, from left to right, are Tom Grey, David Smith and James Blue.

Then, Patriots United had a forum in Woodstock during which video poker machine salesmen debated three social conservatives:

• Tom Grey, the nationally- known Methodist minister who started out in Galena during the time the county board decided to site a riverboat in Jo Davies County and now Field Coordinator and National Spokesman for Stop Predatory Gambling
• Jim Blue, representing Illinois Church Action on Alcoholism and Addiction Problems
• David Smith, Executive Director of the Illinois Family Institute

They urged their members to contact county board members, but that was not what did the trick.

They used this robo call technique I first saw tobacco companies us in lobbying against cigarette tax hikes maybe ten years ago.

Call people, explain the issue and ask if they would like to speak to their county board member.

Since there are four county board members per district, how would that work?

The Illinois Family Institute selected six county board members considered to be approachable on the issue.

They were

• Yvonne Barnes in District 1
• Jim Heisler in District 2
• Ed Dvorak in District 3
• Sue Draffkorn in District 4
• Jim Kennedy in District 5
• Dan Ryan in District 6

From 1,334 to 1,453 calls were made in each district.

From to 649 to 774 of the calls were answered by voters. After the recorded pitch, voters were asked to push a phone button if they wished to be transferred to their county board member.

There were over fifty transfers for all but one district.

From the time my father served on the county board, I can tell you that he never got that many calls on any subject. On some zoning matters, especially the landfill ones, he might have gotten fifty letters. One phone call on a subject was a big number back in the 1980’s.

Getting dozens of calls must have sounded like a tidal wave.

And it was. You can’t find an issue where that many constituents have contacted county board members by phone. Undoubtedly, some of them were friends and supporters of each member.

A little over half of the calls were answered in person; the rest went to answering machines.

Of the six county board members receiving calls, only Huntley’s Ryan, a Sun City resident, voted in favor of allowing video slot machines in establishments serving liquor in unincorporated McHenry County.

Barnes, Kennedy and Ryan are up for election this year. District 6’s Ryan is the only one with GOP primary opposition.

= = = = =
Check out possible targets for the pro-gambling forces in this post.

Leaves are still waiting to be raked this last week that my Village of Lakewood picks them up, so I won’t be in Woodstock for the McHenry County Board meeting vote on video slot machines.

Little casino next to Wisconsin's Happy Trails Restaurant

Proponents, of course, will describe the devices as video poker machines.

With all the poker tournaments on TV, it sounds more like a game of skill, rather than a carefully devised program to induce one to gamble more and more.

In any event, only the final vote counts.

If you want my prediction, it’s that the resolution which would ban video slot machines in unincorporated areas will fail.

That, even though a Chicago Tribune poll showed suburban residents in opposition.

After all, all three Republican state legislators—State Senator Pam Althoff, State Representative Mike Tryon and State Representative Mark Beaubien—voted for this massive expansion of gambling.

Tryon has been particularly active in promoting approval of video slot machines, but Althoff also made a pitch for approval at last month’s county board meeting when a resolution. (Articles about that meeting: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.)

McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler, a close ally of Tryon, has consistently supported the gambling devices.

This is the fourth article on Tuesday’s gambling debate at the McHenry County Board. Click to find who voted how and for Part 1 and Part 2.

Having failed to alter the agenda to allow a Tuesday up or down county board vote on video gambling, Nunda Township’s gambling opponent Barb Wheeler next sought to table the referendum resolution.

This motion was seconded by Ersel Schuster.

As it sat on the agenda, the outright ban was to be considered for 30 days and voted upon the first Tuesday in December.

But that rule can be waived.

Tina Hill asked if the committee was “going to ask to waive the 30-day review (for the gambling ban resolution).”

License and Liquor Committee Chairman John Hammerand related the history of the committee discussion. It started with talk of a ban, then “we decided it would be nice to have the people involved in the decision.”

He said he wanted the county board to have the opportunity to be a leader in the communities, so that municipalities could put similar referendums on the ballot on Feb. 2nd.

“I certainly support the referendum,” he said.

“It’s not my goal to waive the rules,” Hammerand continued.

Cary’s Anna May Miller took the delegate approach:

“I would like to move forward to allowing people with the county weigh in.”

Woodstock’s Hill wondered why there was all the fuss. She listed the number of people in each county board district who would be eligible to vote, 47,923 in all, while there are 200,228 registered voters in McHenry County. That’s not quite 25% of the total living outside of municipalities.

• District 1 – 4,034
• District 2 – 2,340
• District 3 – 11,214
• District 4 – 12,448
• District 5 – 3,254
• District 6 – 14,633

Huntley’s Dan Ryan pointed toward the moral aspect of the issue. He said there was no question from the fiscal point of view:

“Yes, we want the money.”

Ryan voted for a referendum, assuming I would guess that people know what their moral stand on the issue is.

The cost of the referendum also came up. Just under $18,000.

Yvonne Barnes of Cary came down on the trustee side of representation:

“I’m opposed to postponing the vote (on the gambling ban).”

Hammerand re-entered the debate:

“All I’m asking is to have status quo until we have a referendum and let them speak.”

Hill attempted to clarify what would be voted upon. Hammerand seemed to say that a vote on both Tuesday would be acceptable.

Pete Merkel, up for re-election in an unopposed McHenry-Richmond-Burton Township primary, took the trustee approach. He told of two advisory referendums on hot issues which a park board and city council decided to put on the ballot in an attempt to reach consensus.

The votes were 54-46 and 49-51.

No consensus resulted, he noted, supporting the “no advisory referendum” side of the issue.

“That’s why we get paid to make the tough decisions,” Merkel added.

“I’ll bet we’re going to be back here at the end of February with a whole roomful again and we’ll be having the same discussion.

“I think it is a cop out.

“Do we want to do that (have a referendum) with the 2030 Plan, with the public safety building?”

Merkel then pointed out that it was a social issue and questioned whether a “low turnout” primary election would yield a valid reading of public opinion.

Hedging his bet a bit, Merkel concluded,

“I don’t want to say, ‘We don’t want to listen to the people.’”

His vote, nevertheless, was against holding the advisory referendum.

“I totally agree with Mr. Merkel’s position,” Seneca Township board member Ersel Schuster added.

She remembered an advisory referendum that received 80% approval, but was ignored. The subject was whether the county board should require a three-quarters vote to approve conditional use permits.

Bull Valley’s Virginia Peschke agreed.

“I think the referendums should be reserved for asking people if (they want higher taxes).

“This is just government cowardice.”

Sandra Salgado, who like Merkel has not primary opponent, also took the “we can make the decision without voter input.”

“I can’t tell you how aggravated I was when legislators stood up here and said, ‘(You’re) going to make the hard decision.’”

“Obviously, I’m ready to make the tough decision,” Wheeler added.

“You don’t want the people to say you don’t want to hear them. (Let’s) not put the burden on our voters. We are elected to make these tough decisions.”

Also speaking in opposition to a referendum was Yvonne Barnes of Cary.

“I believe as elected officials it is our responsibility to make these decisions.

“This issue affects people throughout the area (county). An advisory referendum does not include (those in incorporated areas) in making the decision.”

Merkel then referred to the provision in the legislation that allows 25% of the voters to petition for a binding referendum.

Hammerand pointed out how extraordinary high that 25% signature requirement is.

“If it is (for) the board to wash out this referendum, I have no objection.”

He then attempted to amend the resolution motion to require a county board vote after the February 2nd primary election.

Tina Hill seconded the motion, “even though we’re probably on different sides of the issue.”

The attempt failed on a voice vote.

Yesterday, McHenry County Blog published a little of the unfocused situation surrounding the county board’s debate on gambling, as well as the roll call showing who was up for election this time around.

Today, I’m going to tell you what I saw from a civics classroom point of view.

From the beginning District 3 county board member Barb Wheeler has been ready to vote to ban video gambling in the unincorporated part of McHenry County.

She made that very clear in the License and Liquor Committee.

British Member of Parliament Edmund Burke took a position similar to Wheeler’s and several of her colleagues. He epitomizes the “trustee model” of representation. Some might refer to the role as a “statesman.”

Burke’s most famous quote of justification was to the electors of Bristol in 1774:

“Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.”

My quick research indicates he lost the Bristol seat six years later.

Here’s how Wikipedia explains the different concepts of representation:

“The trustee model of representation is a model of a representative democracy. Constituents elect their representatives as ‘trustees’ (or ‘entrust’ them) for their constituency. These ‘trustees’ have sufficient autonomy to deliberate and act in favor of the greater common good and national interest, even if it means going against the short-term interests of their own constituencies. The model provides a solution to the problem uninformed constituents who lack the necessary knowledge on issues to take an educated position.“This model parallels the delegate model of representation, which is a model in which the representative is a tribune of the people.”

I have to admit on issues that I did not campaign on I tended toward the delegate model in my representation in the Illinois House of Representatives.

If the people of McHenry County wanted something, I would more likely than not be presenting that viewpoint in the General Assembly during my sixteen years there. I conducted mailed polls to gain a sense of the electorate in addition to putting out my listening post in public places.

On financial issues, I tended toward the trustee model, especially for those from the educational community hell bent on having me vote for a high income tax, most of the proceeds of which would end up in Chicago and Downstate. I cut my teeth doing cost-benefit analysis at the United States Budget Bureau right after grad school in public administration (probably called “policy analysis” now).

The debate on whether there should be an advisory referendum on gambling brought the various concepts of representation into focus like I have not seen them previously on the county board.

Part 3 tomorrow.

When the Illinois General Assembly was first debating legalizing casinos in 1992, Methodist Bishop R. Sheldon Duecker led the fight against them.

In Minnesota in 2005, Bishop Sally Dyck took to the airwaves  in paid ads to oppose a state-run casino in the Twin Cities.  She warned of “hidden costs.”

And in Crystal Lake the announcement you see above appeared in the weekend bulletins and in the bi-weekly newsletter.

It tells of the public hearing in the administrative center north of the McHenry County Jail on Wednesday, October 7th.

As we were on our vacation to the Intermountain West the last part of June, my family was amused at my taking photos of gambling signs and machines.

Look at the difference in the British Petroleum gas station sign in Minnesota, seen at the left, and the one just across the South Dakota border to the right. (Click to enlarge any image.)

Under the capital construction plan McHenry County’s Pam Althoff and Mike Tryon supported, there will be five slot machines (euphemistically called “video poker machines”) in all sorts of establishments that have liquor licenses.

Think your neighborhood convenience store.

No longer will people have to travel to the Elgin casino to lose their paycheck.

I found my first shot machines at a Wisconsin truck stop where we ate at the Happy Trails Roadside Dinner. (To my surprise, there was nothing about Roy Rogers.)

They were located in a little room between the gas station and convenience store and the restaurant.

One was called

My son thought it was neat.

The slot machine looked just like the video games younger kids play.

In the hall near the lottery stand was a machine I haven’t seen since the Caribbean cruise we took about seven years ago.

There, the

game was in the ship’s casino.

Clearly, it was a gambling device, luring people by showing racks of quarters which could, oh so easily, be swept into the tray for you to take home.

We found the same kind of machine, albeit jammed, at the Dixie Truckers Stop south of Bloomington on I-55.

It was called

there and can be seen sitting to the left of the other slot machines.

Governor Pat Quinn is about to break ties to his party’s liberals and sign this massive expansion of gambling bill on Monday.

I believe I have read that this expansion will make turn Illinois into the biggest gambling state in the United States of America.

Somehow, with our sordid history of corruption, that seems appropriate.

I don’t suppose calls to Quinn’s office would make any difference now that he has announced his deal with the devil, but, if you feel strongly about protecting the weakest among us, please give him a call.

Spring Valley Democrat Frank Mautino has gotten Senate Bill 349 onto the House floor.

It would put slot machines where liquor is served, fraternal organizations, veterans’ clubs and truck stops.

Incredibly, no state senator opposed the bill. The vote was 55-0.

Mautino’s LaSalle County has, of course, a vibrant history of illegal gambling.

If this bill is passed, we’ll soon look like South Dakota.

And I’m not talking carving the heads of jailed ex-governors into the cliffs of Starved Rock, which might rival Mount Rushmore with proper publicity.

Or some part of gang-controlled Chicago the Illinois Office of Tourism could market as our “Badlands.”

The Shell station you see here is in Sioux City, South Dakota.

When Penny Pullen and I visited there in September two years ago, we found a casino behind a convenience store which one could enter through the local McDonald’s.

Right past a Ronald McDonald Happy Meal sign.

Your town could be Potterville, too.

But, don’t worry.

It’s for the kids, doncha know?

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.

McHenry County has a vibrant history of gambling.

Sheriff Ed Dowd seized the slot machines in Algonquin in a very public raid while I was in college in the early 1960’s. When they were destroyed, there was no accounting for the money they held.

One summer in the mid-1060’s, the Illinois Crime Commission held hearings in the then-county board room, which was located on the big room on the eastern part of what is now Woodstock City Hall.

My mother and I were fascinated by the map of Crystal Lake showing the places people could place bets and how the bookies rented space on the second floor of the Pinemoor on the street behind the Congregational Church and Catholic Churches.

In fact, it was the arrest of Pinemoor owner Harry Schnell, our Republican precinct committeeman, for being the keeper of a gaming house that spurred my father to run for precinct committeeman against him. Dad won in 1966, the same year I became McHenry County Treasurer.

Harry was quite a likable guy and made good thin pizza. One can still buy it at the Pinemoor in the “V” of the Crystal Lake Plaza.

And then there was the guy who repaired the slot machines. His last name was Sam Smunk, I believe. Somehow my father met him. He was standing in the old driveway when I stopped by. That’s how I met him. He told Dad he delivered $1,000 a week to both judges in McHenry County.

$1,000 a week.

Pretty big money, wouldn’t you say?

And, of course, there is the story I’ve told of how the gangland victims got patched up on the top floor of the old county poor house. It’s now called Valley Hi.

So, McHenry County has a vibrant history of corruption.

More recently, during the 1990′a, the McHenry County Board voted to support a floating casino in the Chain of Lakes.

For a cut of the take.

That was all on the up and up, of course.

So, maybe people shouldn’t be surprised that McHenry County legislators voted to expansively gambling…massively.

This would be for legal gambling, of course, not illegal gambling.

So, let’s follow the voting history of the gambling expansion bill, House Bill 2651.

State Representative Mike Tryon has said he favored the capital construction bill. He never made a secret of it.

And, the only financing package on the table was more gambling.

So, it didn’t surprise me when he voted for the gambling expansion shell bill. on May 20th. (A “shell” bill is one a title and usually nothing else. Without content, it does nothing.)

The other state representative representing McHenry County, Mark Beaubien, voted in favor of the shell bill, too. He is on House Minority Leader Tom Cross’s leadership team and Cross has been favorable to expanding gambling.

State Rep. Jack Franks,voted against House Bill 2651 in its benign form.

House Bill 2651 passed 80-29-1 on May 20^th.

I never heard State Senators Pam Althoff or Bill Peterson talk about the subject, but on May 31^st, the senate passed the bill 32-18-5.

This was not a shell bill.

How did our two Republican state senators vote?

Pam Althoff – Yes

Bill Peterson – Yes

What did they vote for?

Three new casinos, slot machines at racetracks. Stuff like that.

The crunch vote came in the Illinois House on what is called “concurrence.” The changes made by the senate get an up or down vote.

But, there wasn’t such a vote.

Instead there was a motion to table the senate amendments.

Here is how McHenry County’s three state representatives voted on a motion to kill the legislation:

Mike Tryon – No

Jack Franks – Yes

Mark Beaubien – No

The bill bill was tabled on a vote of 59-52 with McHenry County’s two GOP state representatives voting to keep it alive.

So, it appears there is three “gambling men” and one “gambling woman.”

Those representing McHenry County supporting gambling expansion:

Pam Althoff, Bill Peterson, Mark Beaubien and Mike Tryon.

Democrat Jack Franks seems to be the only anti-gambling vote representing McHenry County.

When the riverboat casino bill first passed, the House had not one Republican vote for it.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.

McHenry County has a vibrant history of gambling.

Sheriff Ed Dowd seized the slot machines in Algonquin in a very public raid while I was in college in the early 1960’s. When they were destroyed, there was no accounting for the money they held.

One summer in the mid-1060’s, the Illinois Crime Commission held hearings in the then-county board room, which was located on the big room on the eastern part of what is now Woodstock City Hall.

My mother and I were fascinated by the map of Crystal Lake showing the places people could place bets and how the bookies rented space on the second floor of the Pinemoor on the street behind the Congregational Church and Catholic Churches.

In fact, it was the arrest of Pinemoor owner Harry Schnell, our Republican precinct committeeman, for being the keeper of a gaming house that spurred my father to run for precinct committeeman against him. Dad won in 1966, the same year I became McHenry County Treasurer.

Harry was quite a likable guy and made good thin pizza. One can still buy it at the Pinemoor in the “V” of the Crystal Lake Plaza.

And then there was the guy who repaired the slot machines. His last name was Sam Smunk, I believe. Somehow my father met him. He was standing in the old driveway when I stopped by. That’s how I met him. He told Dad he delivered $1,000 a week to both judges in McHenry County.

$1,000 a week.

Pretty big money, wouldn’t you say?

And, of course, there is the story I’ve told of how the gangland victims got patched up on the top floor of the old county poor house. It’s now called Valley Hi.

So, McHenry County has a vibrant history of corruption.

More recently, during the 1990′a, the McHenry County Board voted to support a floating casino in the Chain of Lakes.

For a cut of the take.

That was all on the up and up, of course.

So, maybe people shouldn’t be surprised that McHenry County legislators voted to expansively gambling…massively.

This would be for legal gambling, of course, not illegal gambling.

So, let’s follow the voting history of the gambling expansion bill, House Bill 2651.

State Representative Mike Tryon has said he favored the capital construction bill. He never made a secret of it.

And, the only financing package on the table was more gambling.

So, it didn’t surprise me when he voted for the gambling expansion shell bill. on May 20th. (A “shell” bill is one a title and usually nothing else. Without content, it does nothing.)

The other state representative representing McHenry County, Mark Beaubien, voted in favor of the shell bill, too. He is on House Minority Leader Tom Cross’s leadership team and Cross has been favorable to expanding gambling.

State Rep. Jack Franks,voted against House Bill 2651 in its benign form.

House Bill 2651 passed 80-29-1 on May 20^th.

I never heard State Senators Pam Althoff or Bill Peterson talk about the subject, but on May 31^st, the senate passed the bill 32-18-5.

This was not a shell bill.

How did our two Republican state senators vote?

Pam Althoff – Yes

Bill Peterson – Yes

What did they vote for?

Three new casinos, slot machines at racetracks. Stuff like that.

The crunch vote came in the Illinois House on what is called “concurrence.” The changes made by the senate get an up or down vote.

But, there wasn’t such a vote.

Instead there was a motion to table the senate amendments.

Here is how McHenry County’s three state representatives voted on a motion to kill the legislation:

Mike Tryon – No

Jack Franks – Yes

Mark Beaubien – No

The bill bill was tabled on a vote of 59-52 with McHenry County’s two GOP state representatives voting to keep it alive.

So, it appears there is three “gambling men” and one “gambling woman.”

Those representing McHenry County supporting gambling expansion:

Pam Althoff, Bill Peterson, Mark Beaubien and Mike Tryon.

Democrat Jack Franks seems to be the only anti-gambling vote representing McHenry County.

When the riverboat casino bill first passed, the House had not one Republican vote for it.

When I heard that statewide junior college associations were discussing a casino is Danville, the proceeds of which would go to junior colleges, I was so surprised I couldn’t print here what I thought.

Who could have such a stupid idea?

Yes, I know I tell my son not to use that word, but sometimes it fits.

Education is about meritocracy, not about luck.

Are these junior college association folks as far off mission as the McHenry County (Junior) College Board with its majority’s lust to build a minor league baseball stadium?

Well, guess what?

State Rep. Bill Black of Danville has introduced House Bill 4581.

The veteran Republican’s legislation would site a new casino is an area that sounds suspiciously like his hometown.

At least it would be competitively bid.

Thanks, former State Senator Peter Fitzgerald, for bringing back that idea from Greece.

But, it would not designate the profits to junior colleges.

It should be noted that Black is a former community college administrator, so the junior college association’s talk still might end up in Black’s bill.