McHenry County Blog

Jack Franks was interviewed on Chicago's Fox News yesterday.

Jack Franks was interviewed on Chicago Fox News yesterday.

He said that ever line of the budget should be examined.

When Franks was first in office, he was on the same appropriations committee on which I served as Republican Spokesman (primarily transportation, and public safety, that is, prisons and State Police).

Franks does not serve on an appropriations committee now.

His committees follow:

• State Government Administration (Chairperson);
• Committee of the Whole (which, by definition, everyone is on);
• Aging;
• International Trade & Commerce (Vice-Chairperson);
• Electric Utility Oversight;
• Special License Plates, Subcommitte (Sub-Chairperson);
• Govt. Accountability and Streamlining (Sub-Chairperson).

Credit my Google search for “Jack Franks” name for this story.

How ironic is this January press release headline when compared to the cutting of last year's property tax relief benefits in half.

I wrote how the Illinois Department of Aging, now in charge of the Senior Citizen and Disabled Person Property Tax Relief program, was cutting benefits in half.

The cutback takes total benefits back to the level distributed in the early 1970’s, when I was closely watching the program in my first eight year stint in Springfield.

Today, a story in the Murphysboro American reports on a meeting of State Rep. Jack Franks’ House Government Administration Committee.

It seems that having taken control of the Circuit Breaker program from the Revenue Department that Aging Department officials have decided that they have to have those 38 ex-Revenue folks sitting right next to the other 140 employees.

The solution?

Take them out of the two state-owned buildings and put them in rented office space that will cost over $3 million over five years.

But, not to worry, the landlord, Springfield’s Charles Robbins (who was around when I was campaign manager for failed mayoral candidate Denny Kelley in 1971), will cut the price from $662,000 a year to $532,000 a year the first twelve months.

Well, we can certainly see the priorities of the Department of Aging:

Jack Franks

Employees first; seniors later…if we don’t spend it all on the employees first.

Almost forgot.

Since Jack Franks’ name in the article led me to this story, it’s appropriate for me to tell you what he thinks of the idea.

As he put it succinctly,

“Absolutely ridiculous.”

Buffao feeding at a state park in South Dakota.

The U.S. Attorney has released the following press release about the indictment of Bill Dugan, long-time president of Local 150 of the Operating Engineers.

The Operating Engineers are the only Chicago-area union that tends to side with the Republican Party (see local GOP contributions), although they also contribute to Democrats like State Rep. Jack Franks (D-Marengo).

Locally union members have lobbied vigorously in favor of video gambling as a way to finance public works projects.

The charge, as I read it, amounts to a South Elgin extortion of $900 worth of concrete buffalo feeders from company whose workers were represented by his union local.

The charge is a misdemeanor under Federal labor law.

RETIRED HEAD OF OPERATING ENGINEERS LOCAL 150 CHARGED WITH
ILLEGALLY OBTAINING FEEDER FOR HIS MARYLAND BUFFALO FARM

CHICAGO — The retired leader of a regional labor union local was charged today with violating federal labor law by allegedly demanding and accepting livestock feeders from a company that employed the union local’s workers for his buffalo farm in Maryland.

The defendant, William E. Dugan, was charged in a single-count criminal information filed in U.S. District Court, announced Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; James Vanderberg, Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General in Chicago; and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Dugan, 76, of Hancock, Md., and formerly of Mt. Prospect, was president and business manager of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, headquartered in Countryside.  The 23,000-member local represents workers in construction and a variety of other industries in Indiana, Illinois and Iowa.

Dugan will be ordered to appear for arraignment on the misdemeanor charge, which is violation of the U.S. Labor-Management Relations Act, at a later date in U.S. District Court.

According to the charges, in April 2005, Dugan demanded and accepted concrete buffalo feeders valued at more than $900 from Company A, whose workers were  represented by Local 150.

The government is being represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick King.  Other Labor Department branches that participated in the investigation are the Employee Benefits Security Administration and the Office of Labor Management Standards.

The labor law violation carries a maximum penalty of a year in prison and a $100,000 fine.  If convicted, the Court would determine a reasonable sentence to be imposed under the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.

The public is reminded that an information contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt.  The defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

In his latest press release, State Rep. Jack Franks (D-Marengo) called on colleagues to withdraw all bills that would add to state spending.

State Senator Pam Altoff disagrees with St. Rep. Jack Franks that this is not the time to be introducing bills to increase spending. She introduced House Bill 3583 to provide low interest loans to waterfront property owners to move from sea walls to riprapping or bioengineered shorelines. "There's not necessaily a better time to introduce a new program," she told the North West Herald in a front page story today,

Presumably that would include the Senate Bill 3583, the bill that his McHenry Expo mate and State Senator Pam Althoff introduced that would provide low interest loans to riverfront property owners wanting to repair the sea walls.

Here is the Franks press release:

Springfield, IL – State Representative Jack D. Franks (D-Woodstock) Wednesday released the following statement:

“Illinois continues to face the worst financial crisis in the state’s history. Our budget deficit has reached an unfathomable $13 billion. Yet, we have scarcely uttered the word ‘budget’ since returning to Springfield this year. In effect, we are failing those who elected us. It is time to put an end to the partisan games and stop hesitating at the thought of November’s general election. It is time we demonstrate some leadership from the trenches of state government.

Jack Franks

“I call on each member of the General Assembly to start by withdrawing any bill they have introduced this session that will add to the state’s expenses going forward. This action will not just save the state future monies, it will demonstrate a real willingness to focus on the most basic problem in our state…our fiscal crisis.

“From now until we adjourn in May, or sooner depending on our progress, I propose we focus solely on how to fix the budget.

“Rather than continue delaying this inevitable battle, we should save taxpayers the added expense and frustration of an overtime session and start working on it now. We need fundamental change to business as usual in Springfield and the only way for change to occur is to actively work toward it.

“Tough budget talks were delayed in the recent past because of the February primary.

“Elected members remain afraid to take a difficult stand on the budget because of November’s general election. The people of Illinois want action – brave, precedent-shattering results for the good of our state. Leadership demands this action and the criticism that may come will be nothing like the criticism we will receive by inaction.

“Governor Pat Quinn has returned to his campaign for an income tax increase to help close the budget deficit.

“To that I say, ‘Governor, why not first try a more novel idea than placing the burden on those you have been elected to serve.

“When we produce the FY2011 budget, require it to be zero-based. Force your offices and agencies to justify every line item expense. Allow the budget to be examined with a fine-tooth comb. Exhaust every other potential option to help solve this financial crisis. Only then we can discuss boosting revenue.’”

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When I first noticed the Althoff bill, I figured it was something she would point to as having brought back to McHenry County, should she decide to vote for an income tax increase.

Jack Franks

John O'Neill

Since his first campaign in 1998, Jack Franks has said that he was “pro-choice.”

But he has largely voted pro-life with a couple of exceptions.

The biggest one was his cow-towing to the Planned Parenthoods and Personal PACs of the world by bottling up the bill that would have allowed Illinois residents to buy “Choose Life” license plates.  The proceeds, beyond the regular cost that would go to state coffers, would be for

“Non-governmental, not-for-profit agencies not involved in abortion services in any way who offer free counseling and services to women who are committed to making an adoption plan for their child, including homes for unwed mothers, pregnancy help centers, adoption agencies, and organizations that provide help for foster and special needs children,”

according to Choose Life Illinois.

Choose Life license plate on which Jack Franks blocked a floor vote.

It never got out of his committee to the House floor. That prevented an up or down vote.

Franks did disturb local pro-lifers and 2nd Amendment supporters enough to get them to picket his Route 47 office about a year ago.

The disturbed pro-lifers focused in on his co-sponsorship of House Bill 2354. One cold Saturday, picketers converged on his Route 47 office for a demonstration.  There was even a full-page ad in the Northwest Herald.

One of the organizers, McHenry Grade School and Library Board member John O’Neill, is challenging Franks in the fall election. He’s holding a corn beef and cabbage fund raiser from 6-8 at the Bull Valley Country Club on Monday, March 15h.

At the time I observed,

A cold spring day demonstrator at Jack Frank's office on Route 47 last year.

“House Bill 2354 was introduced on Feb. 18th. Jack Franks signed on as a co-sponsor three weeks later on March 12th one day after it was voted onto the House floor on a 5-2 vote by the House Human Services Committee. Perhaps I will be excused for thinking that Franks is positioning himself for a statewide run for attorney general. With his colleague Julie Hamos also jockeying for the attorney general position and having become a co-sponsor the day the bill was introduced, perhaps I will be excused for suggesting Franks has figured out that a Democrat who is not acceptable to the pro-abortion Personal PAC will have a difficult time winning a Democratic Party primary election. Personal PAC has not traditionally been friendly to Franks.

“HB 2354 basically puts into state law the ability to have an abortion any time during pregnancy.”

Shawn Green

After the demonstration both Franks and Republican State Rep. Mark Beaubien, against whom the demonstration was also aimed, took their names off the bill. So far, it has not come to a vote. Aborted, so to speak.

The Huntley School Board, at the instigation of its soon-to-be retiring President Shawn Green, passed a resolution opposing the bill.

Unnoticed in Franks’ unopposed primary election was his endorsement by the radical pro-abortion group Personal PAC.

When he first ran, Franks apparently refused to respond to the Personal PAC questionnaire. His Democratic Party opponent was endorsed.

Now, Franks has the group’s endorsement, along with House Republican leader Tom Cross.

"At least parental notification," the picket sign at last year's demonstration reads.

To give you a flavor of how radical Personal PAC’s positions are, consider the following questions that must be answered satisfactorily to receive the group’s endorsement:

• Will you SUPPORT legislation to repeal Illinois’ 1995 Parental Notice of Abortion law?
• Do you SUPPORT Personal PAC’s position that the Illinois Parental Notification of Abortion Act of 1995 violates Illinois Constitutional rights to equal protection and privacy?


This is the first part of the list of Personal PAC endorsements in the 2010 primary.

• Will you OPPOSE legislation that places bans on abortion procedures but does not include an exception to protect the woman’s health?
• Will you SUPPORT legislation restoring abortion coverage under the state Medicaid plan?
• Will you SUPPORT legislation to restore state employee’s health insurance coverage for abortion?
• Will you OPPOSE legislation banning embryonic stem-cell research?
• Will you OPPOSE legislation that would require a woman to view an ultrasound before she could have an abortion?
• Will you SUPPORT legislation requiring medical supervisions when an ultrasound is performed on a pregnant woman?
• Will you SUPPORT legislation guaranteeing access to FDA-approved drugs, including ED and other birth control medications?
• Will you OPPOSE legislation mandating that a physician who performs an abortion be required to first show a patient materials about fetal development, at various stages during pregnancy, and other state mandated information designed to dissuade a woman from having an abortion?
• Will you SUPPORT the availability and accessibility of family planning services for everyone in Illinois regardless of age?
• Will you OPPOSE legislation which mandates parental consent or notification before a minor can receive contraceptive care?
• If elected do you plan to act in a manner CONSISTENT with your answers to the above questions?

This is the second part of the Personal PAC endorsement list. Note Jack Franks' name is on it, as is Mike Tryon challenger Robert Kaemfpe's

Moving into the Personal PAC orbit, I see Jack Franks positioning himself for a campaign to make him McHenry County’s congressman in 2012 after reapportionment.

From what he is telling people in Springfield, that’s his goal.

= = = = =
By the way, two questions above are in bold face type. I did so, because they related directly to a controversy in McHenry County.

Remember the William Saturday scandal of the late 1990’s?

The McHenry County Health Department was dispensing three-month contraceptives to minors without their patent’s knowledge, let alone consent.

At issue was a Federal rule written by the bureaucrats that forced those accepting Title X money to provide birth control devices, information and drugs to everyone, regardless of age.

Saturday was apparently too cheap to buy condoms, so he took his junior high school age “girl friend,” whom he met at North Junior High School in Crystal Lake, to Woodstock on Saturday, when bus transportation was unavailable for shots of Depo-Provera. There’s a story about it here. It looks like the cover story from World Magazine.

In any event, when the affair came to light, there was a big, many month fuss in which county board members decided it was best for them to prohibit minors from obtaining birth control drugs and devices without parental permission.

The McHenry County Board vote mandated not accepting Federal Title X money.

This is the rest of the list of candidates endorsed by Personal PAC in the 2010 primary election. Click to enlarge any image.

There may have been other instances in the country where Title X money has been rejected because its use requires no discrimination based on age, but I can’t find them.

The furor in McHenry County even worked its way into Congress with 16th District Don Manzullo carrying the torch.

This is the middle of the 2008 list of endorsed candidates who won. You will notice that Jack Franks is on it.

= = = = =

Finally, as I was looking at the Personal PAC web site researching this article, I discovered that Jack Franks was also endorsed by Personal PAC in 2008.

That probably explains his co-sponsorship of the Freedom of Choice bill, House Bill 2354.

The Personal PAC folks are strident task masters.

I should have caught that endorsement two years ago.

And, finally, the first comment below points out that the Illinois FOCA bill has been reintroduced and is under active consideration this year:

“Excellent post, Cal, but I’m surprised you don’t mention that the Human Services committee is taking up that same bill again that Franks co-sponsored last year, now designated HB 6205, but still titled the “Reproductive Health and Access Act,” and known to its opponents as the ‘Illinois FOCA’ bill.”

Those wishing to contact their legislators will find contact information here.

John O’Neill, the Republican bold enough to take on incumbent State Rep. Jack Franks, is holding a $50 corn beef and cabbage fund raiser at the Bull Valley Country Club from 6-8 on Monday, March 15th.

Below is the invitation:

When I saw this, I remember thinking, “It worked for Democratic Party candidate for lieutenant governor Scott Lee Cohen, why not for John O’Neill?”

O’Neill is running against veteran Democratic Party State Rep. Jack Franks.

So, if you are looking for a job, The Bell Tower Place at the Church of Holy Apostles is the place to be from 10 to 3.

Here is O’Neill’s press release:

With 1 in 10 McHenry County residents unemployed we are reminded of President Reagan’s words,

“A recession is when your neighbor loses his job, a depression is when you lose your job.”

Government bureaucrats spend a whole lot of time paying lip service to the plight of the unemployed but one area resident is actually doing something about it.

John O’Neill is running for State Representative, however, he is not waiting until he is elected to start working for the people of McHenry County. John has organized a Job Fair to help match local residents with local jobs.

“After having been unemployed for several months during 2009, I know what people are going through.” John says, “McHenry County has offered so much to my family and me, it is a pleasure to give something back and I can’t think of a better way to help people right now.”

The job fair will feature numerous businesses and entrepreneurs that can help local residents who are unemployed or under-employed replace the incomes lost during this time of economic troubles.

If you or someone you care about is out-of-work or struggling to pay their bills, please plan to attend the Job Fair sponsored by the John O’Neill for State Representative campaign.

McHenry County Chamber of Commerce Expo Jack Franks' booth.

Alert and astute observers will tell you in the comment section.

This was seen at McHenry West High School at the Chamber of Commerce’s Expo.

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.

With Democratic Party State Representative Jack Franks’s support, State Comptroller is edging out Governor Pat Quinn in McHenry County.

Caution is urged in viewing these numbers because the early and absentee votes have not yet been added.