McHenry County Blog

After the Republican Party’s State Convention this summer I wrote an article entitled,

Auditioning at the State GOP Convention to be Illinois’ Scott Walker

It was about how Joe Walsh energized the crowd by trashing the way Democrat House Speaker Mike Madigan has allowed State government to hit the skids while he has been in control. You can read the article here.
Among other things, Walsh said,

“No one person should run a state.

“He is a king.

“He is a dictator.

“He is corrupt.

“He symbolizes everything that is wrong in Illinois.

“Shame on us for not having the courage and the fortitude to say that.”

Others auditioned, too, including Party Chairman Pat Brady, who also had harsh words about Madigan.

You can hear Walsh’s entire speech on Warner Tood Houston’s Prairie State Report video below:

Now Capitol Fax Blog has posted a new Facebook account from Joe Walsh, which you see, along with Walsh’s first post below:

Joe Walsh’s new Facebook page.

“Speaking to people all over Illinois. They are engaged, excited and ready to take this state back from the Madigan Empire. #Freedom #Liberty”

Can you imagine Walsh taking on Mike Madigan on concentration of power, especially if Lisa Madigan is running for Governor?

New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez

That brought howls from me as New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez said them on TV tonight at the Republican National Convention.

She told of uttering those lines to her husband after two Republicans took her and her husband to a lunch in which she knew they were going to ask her to change parties.

The Republicans talked about issues.

After the luncheon, when the two got in the car, she said,

“I’ll be damned. We’re Republicans!”

You don’t have to play this YouTube video to see the photo I took of the Green Party’s candidate for Governor Rich Whitney, 8th Congressional District candidate Bill Scheurer and Stew Cohen of Star 105 FM Radio.  I found it on Capitol Fax Blog.

It’s from this article.  I’ll show it to you below:

Did Whitney’s people ask for permission?

Well, no.

I don’t think they even linked to the original article:

“Vote the Recumbent, Not the Incumbent”

Don;t you think they should?

= = = = =
Only 228 views of the ad when I wrote this article about 11 PM Wednesday.

Yesterday, a fancy mailing arrived from Independent candidate for Governor Scott Lee Cohen.

The best side is one with the headline

There is a Better Choice…

Above the headline are six stick figures holding signs saying,

CAREER
POLITICIAN

On the address side, one can see why it arrived so early:

Early voting is emphasized on the address side of the mailing.

Early Voting Begins October 11, 2010!

“New Leadership for a New Direction” appears above the address.

On the left are all sorts of ways to contact the candidate.

Inside the candidate’s name is in the largest print, right at the top.

Beneath is “NOT a Career Politician.”

You can click on any of the images to make them large enough to read.

Below is what is inside:

Here’s what the CNN-Time poll is saying about the Governor’s race:

Jim Tobin, the 1998 Libertarian Party candidate for Governor, whom Secretary of State George Ryan sent government employees on state time to keep off the ballot, has endorsed Scott Lee Cohen for Governor. Cohen won the Democratic Party nomination for Lieutenant Governor, but party leaders forced him off the ballot.

In a letter to his Tax Accountability mailing list, Tobin writes that Cohen has “signed our Taxpayer Protection Pledge” in which he promises to “oppose any and all efforts to increase state or local taxes.”

Tobin points out that Democrat Pat Quinn and Republican Bill Brady “have refused to sign.”

Tobin goes on to describe Quinn and Brady as “the tax-raising twins.”

Tobin was also the Libertarian Party candidate for Lt. Gov. when I ran for Governor in 2002.

A phone number of 312-441-0300 is listed in the letter for those who would like Cohen to speak in their communities.

Click to enlarge the images.

This cartoon is the Rod Blagojevich side of JimRod, the Two-Headed Chicken. A new message--"I'm guilty?"-- has been put in the balloon above this hapless creature's head.

Rod Blagojevich doesn’t understand how he could have been found guilty on any count, of course.

Ex-Governor Rod Blagojevich has won the Corruption Championship Blue Ribbon at this summer's Crook County Fair.

He is clueless.

But the governor who increased the state budget by $1 billion a year–with the complete cooperation of Democrats who control the General Assembly–instead of working the state out of the $5 billion deficit he said he found when he took office now faces jail time.

He has helped his county maintain the blue ribbon in corruption.

Of course, Rod will say,

“They found me guilty,”

rather than

“I’m guilty.”

= = = = =
Apologies to Crook County, Wyoming, the location of Devil’s Tower.

When we were getting our 1880′s pictures taken next to the KOA Campgound restaurant that served buffalo-shaped burgers, I saw the blue ribbon shown above. There was a sign in the trailer advising that photos were not allowed.

I asked if I could take a photo of the ribbon and was given permission.

The wife of the team asked,

“Don’t you have a Crook County in Illinois?”

I told her the official name was “Cook County,” but that I referred to it as “Crook County.”

House Speaker Mike Madigan

So many ideas to share, so little time.

When I heard that House Speaker Mike Madigan was proposing doing away with the office of lieutenant governor, my first thought was the he was setting up his daughter Lisa, now Attorney General to be first in line to become governor, if anything happened to a governor.

I wanted to check the Illinois Constitution before writing a story and didn’t get around to doing that until just now.

In the meantime, others have made the point.

Here’s what the State Constitution says about succession:

SECTION 6. GUBERNATORIAL SUCCESSION

(a) In the event of a vacancy, the order of succession to the office of Governor or to the position of Acting Governor shall be the Lieutenant Governor, the elected
Attorney General, the elected Secretary of State, and then as provided by law.

State Rep. Jack Franks

And, you will note how quickly State Rep. Jack Franks (D-Marengo) took the same position.

Franks, justifiably, is tired of being just a state representative and he wants House Speaker Madigan to draw him a congressional district he can win.

And, in his heart of hearts, he’d love to by attorney general.

There is that little matter, however, of Lisa Madigan’s finding being attorney general not a bad gig to have while raising small kids.

Who?

Mary Pat.

Didn’t sound like the Mary Pat I know.

Turned out it was a robo-call in support of Andy McKenna for governor.

It talked about Jim Ryan’s having supported a $5.5 billion tax hike. I presume this was when he was on the board of the union-financed not-for-profit tax hike advocacy organization run by Ralph Matire.

Mary Pat told me how Kirk Dillard had raised taxes millions of dollars, presumably by being one of the three DuPage County defectors who supported the tripling of the RTA sales tax rate in the collar counties.

This quote was attributed to Dillard about some tax matter, but I didn’t catch which one:

“What’s the big deal?”

So, what’s the message of this little bit of campaigning.

First, it interrupted a call I was having with a Crystal Lake number on a different exchange.

Second, when talking to an acquaintance in southern Kane County, he had gotten the call, too.

Andy McKenna

Kirk Dillard

So, it’s probably going to Republicans throughout the suburbs.

But there’s something more importantly.

It signals that McKenna’s polling shows the governor’s race in the Republican primary has narrowed down to three people:

• Kirk Dillard
• Andy McKenna
• Jim Ryan

In December, the Chicago Tribune poll said Ryan was leading by over 2-1, but still in the middle 20 percentage range.

So, if you think Jim Ryan can’t win in November and you want a Republican elected, the choice pretty much narrows down to McKenna or Dillard.

I had previously thought that Bill Brady might be one that  could catch up with Ryan, but this robo-call does not indicate that is the case.

Should he or shouldn’t he?

Run for governor or some other statewide office, that is.

That will be the question this Labor Day Weekend among State Representative Jack Franks’ family and friends.

My guess is that he runs for re-election, but I don’t have $1 million of family money in my campaign fund.

But being state representative having to drive that really horrible trip to and from Springfield has to get old after ten years.

Of course, when McHenry County Republicans keep giving you a pass, you can relax every other fall.

As long as Bill LeFew was GOP county chairman, you could understand how he, as a Jack Franks’ campaign contributor who has even said a few words at a fund raiser, wouldn’t recruit an opponent.

It’s more difficult to understand now that State Rep. Mike Tryon is county chairman…especially with his having Crystal Lake’s Robert Kaempfe challenge him for two elections in a row while Franks has gone challenger-free.

I suppose Franks could keep the money in his fund, hoping to use it four years from now when rich friends and family may not be able to contribute such large amounts.

That assumes that campaign contribution limits are enacted.