McHenry County Blog

The building that looks like a glass ski slope or a huge hot dog stand located across from Chicago’s City Hall was named for Governor James R. Thompson.

People call it the Thompson Center.

Land on which it sits used to be occupied by the Civic Center Bank and the Sherman House.

Both had interesting political connections.

Civic Center Bank stock was involved in financial shenanigans (read the political names in this court motion for more about the Civic Center Bank) uncovered by the late Sherman Skolnick. What he found resulted in two Illinois Supreme Court Justices (Associate Roy J. Solfisburg, Jr. and Chief Justice Ray Klingbiel) resigning. (A third resigned for “health” reasons, as I remember.)

The Sherman House was owned by the Teamsters Pension Fund.

And the State of Illinois bought both properties.

And built a new headquarters across the street from the old State of Illinois Building.

A labor and business leader are promoting use of the Thompson Center as a quick way to get a casino up and running in Chicago.  Perhaps a casino’s owners would remove the atrocious black and white Gumby-like statue on the corner.

Now comes the head of the Chicago Federation of Labor, Jorge Ramirez, agreeing to a suggestion by Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce President Jerry Roper that the Thompson Center should be turned into a casino.

A friend of mind describes government as a way those in control can reward friends and campaign contributors.

If the Thompson Center is turned into a casino, more friends and campaign contributors will be rewarded, of course, but some small number to taxpayers will become winners, too.

Unfortunately, it will not have a 20-foot sign on its facade warning, “Losers.”

The Sun-Times article notes that the building is 28-years old and needs renovating.

When it was built, a crucial element was cut to save money. The windows were supposed to be double-paned, but the second, energy-saving layer of glass was eliminated in one of the worst false economies in Illinois governmental construction history.

State Senate candidate Karen McConnaughay talks to McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler and Jim Thompson, long-time Republican Precinct Committeeman and one of the intitators of the first Tea Party Demostration in Crystal Lake. In the background are Precinct Committeemen Bryon Javor and Jake Justen.

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

Chatting near the entrance was State. Rep. Mike Tryon with District 2 County Board candidate Tom Wilbeck and Precinct Committeeman Tom McDermott.

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

State Rep. Mike Tryon chows down on Lou Manati's deep dish pizza. Also at the table, from left to right, are Republican Precinct Committeeman Rita Heuel, John O'Neill's wife Basia and Bo Strom, CEO of OnTarget, the shooting range going up north of Route 176.

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.

Karen McConnaughay addresses the crowd.

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

Lots of folks from Grafton Township at this table. I see Randy Hutlgren's top campaign guy, Joe Calomino, front right, sitting across from his neighbor Dave Broxterman. To his right is Sue Russell. At the back left is Grafton Township Supervisor Linda Moore and Township GOP Chairman Tom Paznaski. At the head of the table is Anthony Paladino, co-captain to Precinct Committeeman Sam Paglini, who is sitting at his left.

Lots of talk about politics, of course.

County Board member Donna Kurtz was working the other back table, shaking hands with District 3 County Board candidate Joe Gottemoller here.. At the end is Precinct Committeeman and campaign consultant Cheryl Meyer. Local businesswoman Terry Greeno is front right, NRA leader Rich Young front left. To his left is Don Drzal, Huntley School Board member and write-in candidate for Precinct Committeeman

People looking for yard sign sites.

Campaign assistant Becky Kress can be seen to the left of Karen McConnaughay's back. John McGuire, his two daughters and a friend round out the group.

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.

McHenry County Republican Central Committee Treasurer Fred Wickham was discussing things with Karen McConnaughay. Wickham Interiors' Lynn Wickham was present, too.

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

Grafton Township Republican Central Committee Tom Poznanski held up one of the McConnaughy tee shirts for me.

Candidate for State Senator in southern Crystal Lake and points south to the St. Charles area Karen McConnaughay has sent out her first mailer.  About the same time the first mailing from opponent Cliff Surges was put in the post office.

This is the address side of her biographical piece. Click to enlarge.

The theme of photos with explanatory notes is continued on the inside of the mailing.

Click to enlarge the photos and explanations.

One of these motorcyclists riding past our house on Lake Avenue doesn't seem to be wearing a helmet. His choice.

I see that the mandatory motorcycle helmet folks are back.

The Chicago Sun-Times editorialized about passage last November and I saved the piece to remind me to write this article.

Back in 1975, James “Bud” Washburn of Morris was Republican leader of a very diminished post-Watergate election Republican minority.

I was in my second term and pretty everyone left standing–76 out of 177–was named a Republican Committee Spokesman. I rated the Motor Vehicles Committee.

Motorcyclist leaving Skinner driveway wearing a helmet. His choice.

I had served on it before when Pete Papas of Rock Island.  He was indicted by then U.S. Attorney Jim Thompson along with maybe four others.

They were members of the Motor Vehicle Laws Commission.

I learned about that entity when the committee held an industry-paid for dinner in the lower level of the Mansion View Inn.

That was the motel across from the Executive Mansion that Paul Powell is reputed to have owned while he was Secretary of State and in which his employees were told to stay if they came to Springfield.

In any event, Committee Chairman Pappas used the event to tell the newcomers how his committee was run.

He said that if the Motor Vehicles Laws Commission reviewed bills and if that group recommended a bill it was OK to vote for it.

Freshman Skinner raised his hand and told him I had agreed to co-sponsor a bill that would come to our committee to eliminate the need to have a driver’s license application notarized.

“I don’t want to tell you how to vote, but if the Motor Vehicle Laws Commission has recommended the bill, it’s OK to vote for it,” Pappas said.

Glencoe Democratic Party reformer Harold Katz had already put me on as a co-sponsor the bill.   I told Pappas that.

“I don’t want to tell you how to vote, but if the Motor Vehicle Laws Commission has recommended the bill, it’s OK to vote for it,” Pappas repeated.

Seemed strange.

That first year in the General Assembly I had a lot of bills and was often running from committee to committee presenting them, while trying to attend the meetings of committees on which I served.

The Motor Vehicle Committee met in the Capitol where the press room now is located.

I remember rushing in one day while a committee vote was in progress.  I asked McHenry
County’s Democrat Tom Hanahan, first elected on the bed sheet ballot in 1964, what the bill was about.  He told me and I voted for it.

To the dismay of Chairman Pappas.

If looks could kill, I would have been a one-termer.

Katz and I also managed to get the bill out of committee.

Without opposition I see from the Digest listing below.

Even though the Motor Vehicle Laws Commission had not pre-approved it.

The stupid requirement that one find a notary to pay on car license applications is no longer law.  What sense could it make to accept hundreds of dollars to pay income taxes without a notarization, but make people find a notary to pay maybe ten bucks to get a new license plate?

The bill to repeal the requirement to notarize one car license plate payments was repealedi 1973.

Turns out everyone who served on the Motor Vehicle Laws Commission got indicted, except Henderson County self-made man Clarence Neff.  Here are the details.  They are by Mike Lawrence, who was later Governor Jim Edgar’s press secretary, not to mention a policy adviser.  If you want to read about corruption when I was starting my legislative career, this is the story to read.

During Thanksgiving week in 2010 this editorial ran in the Chicago Sun-Times.

But, back to motorcycle helmets.

I was approached by Ed Armstrong of Fox River Grove.  He was a member of ABATE, a motorcycle lobbying group.  He was also an engineer and proud owner of an old Triumph.  (Later, he served on the FRG village board.)

He filled a helmet with plaster and dropped it from head height.  The plaster shattered.

His argument was two-fold

1. that the helmet provided precious protection and
2. that people ought to be able to decide whether or not to wear a helmet without state law mandating it

But Secretary of State Alan Dixon and Governor Dan Walker’s Department of Transportation wanted the helmet bill out of committee.

We defeated the bill in committee, despite its being sponsored by State Rep. Gerry Shea, Mayor Richard J. Daley’s man in the House, despite his being from Riverside.

I had an intern from McHenry that year whose name escapes me right now.

His job every day was to look for bills on the calendar onto which a helmet amendment might be attached.

This was back in the days when legislators didn’t have to play “Mother, may I?” with the Speaker.

The parking lot from which this photo was taken was filled with motorcyles attending an anti-helmet rally. State reps. looked at them through the windows on their chamber on the third floor of the south wing of the Capitol.

Bill Redmond, a Democrat from DuPage County, beat Clyde Choate, a Democrat from Paul Powell “I can smell the mean a-cookin’” country in Southern Illinois, on the 93rd ballot.

Amendments didn’t have to be approved by a Speaker Mike Madigan and sent to committee for consideration.  Any amendment could be filed and had to be considered before the bill could be moved from Second Reading (the amendment stage of the legislative process) to Third Reading (the stage when passage was voted upon).

No amendment ever popped up, but we knew any day it could.

ABATE members continued to contact legislators, as the group became more and more organized.

They planned a rally in Springfield on the Sunday after session was supposed to adjourn.  Adjournment date was traditionally June 30th, because that was the day before which bills had to be passed in order to take effect immediately upon signature or, if an immediate effective date clause were not in a bill, on January 1st of the next year.

The General Assembly went into overtime that year.  We saw the 4th of July Fireworks from the House windows, if memory serves me correctly.

Then the first Sunday of July, motorcycles filled the parking lot south of the Stratton Building.  Little did they know, no one would have noticed had the legislature adjourned on time.

Of course, House members could see them.

From the comments made to me on the House floor, I knew a powerhouse lobby had been reached maturity.

Lakewood Village Board candidate Gary Sexton II wearing his campaign button.

It’s that time of year again.

There are not a lot of contested races on the ballot, but signs are beginning to pop up and, glory be, what did I see the Sunday before last coming out of my Firsts United Methodist Church service by an anachronism.

It was a real button.

Not a sticker, but a metal button.

Gary Sexton II, a candidate for Lakewood Village Trustee was wearing it.

The irony is that he is running unopposed for one of the four-year terms.  There was another candidate in the race, Blake Hobson, but he withdrew.

There is a contest for the two-year vacancy.  Appointed incumbent and former Village President Julie Richardson is being challenged by Cargo Equipment Corporation President Jeff Iden.

I was an avid collector during the 1970′s when there were a lot of them.

I created a joint button to promote the candidacy of former U.S. Attorney Jim Thompson. When he first saw it at the Kane County Fair he was taken aback. It’s not that he because an outstanding campaigner right off the bat.

It was almost an “How dare you?” use my name on a campaign button.

Of course, Thompson was very well known in the Chicago media market. My district, however, went into the Rockford media market, covering parts of Boone, DeKalb and Winnebago Counties.

That’s what I told him.

He still seemed to think I was taking advantage of him.

Go figure.

I was the second state representative to endorse him. Rockford’s Tim Simms was first.

Jim Tobin’s National Taxpayers United of Illinois has revealed the top 50 pensions for the General Assembly Retirement Fund.

It doesn’t have many pensioners, but the legislative retirement fund has some big payouts.

Part of the reason is that statewide elected officials can opt in.

While he was in office, for instance, Governor Jim Thompson announced that he would be in the same pension fund that regular state employees paid into.  Right before leaving office that changed.  He transferred his pension credits to the GA Retirement System.

Indeed many of the largest pensions you see below are the result of an ex-legislator getting a well-paying job for a while and transferring in the pension credits in their new public pension fund back to the more lucrative legislative system.

Tobin’s press release follows:

TOP 50 GA PENSIONS REVEAL MILLION DOLLAR PAYOUTS AS TAX INCREASE LOOMS

CHICAGO–Jim Tobin, President of National Taxpayers United of Illinois (NTUI), today released the latest pension study of pension researcher Bill Zettler: the Top Fifty pensions received by former members of the Illinois General Assembly.

“Governor Quinn and the lame duck General Assembly are desperate to increase tax revenues any way they can to ensure that these outrageous, lavish pensions are available to themselves when they retire.

“Under the current pension program, General Assembly members are guaranteed to be millionaires if they can collect for only eight to ten years.  Protecting this rite of passage has become their highest priority, despite the terrible financial situation in which most Illinoisans find themselves.

“Under the guise of securing the financial future of the Illinois general fund, Quinn and his conspirators are trying to push any tax increases that they can.”

“If Quinn can’t get HB 174 with the 67% income tax increase through the house, he will push to get a 33% income tax increase passed.

“At the same time, there are efforts to increase the gasoline tax by an unknown amount, the cigarette tax by $1 per pack, and a new 7-10% sales tax on 39 services.

“The primary objective is to pump 15 billion taxpayer dollars out of taxpayer pockets and into the pension and payroll funds of the robber barons that are bankrupting the great state of Illinois, not to secure the financial future as they would have us believe.”

“Do you recognize any of these pension millionaires? Figures are as of 10/1/2010.  A complete list can be viewed at www.ntui.org.
Mo. Pension         Yearly Pension         Total Pension Paid So Far
Arthur Berman                     $16,459               $197,503           $1,449,640
Judy Barr Topinka              $12,144                 $145,727            $402,229
Jim Edgar                           $10,910                 $130,925             $1,106,372
James R. Thompson           $10,601                 $127,215             $1,547,836
James “Pate” Philip             $10,551                 $126,615             $713,029
Dawn Clark Netsch             $10,143                 $121,720             $1,476,711
Walter Dudycz                     $7,661                 $91,937                $449,128

“Jim Edgar and James R. Thompson engineered the largest tax increases ever passed in Illinois. Arthur Berman was the author of the Berman Tax Increase Amendment. Dawn Clark Netsch never met a tax she didn’t like.”

“I urge members of the Illinois General Assembly to vote in the interest of the constituents they serve and not their own best interest.”

How do legislators manage to hike their pensions so much?

Some get a short-term position paying a lot more than they received in their last year as a state legislator. Former State Senator John Friedland, for example, was hired as a lobbyist by the Elgin Sanitary District for a couple of months as a hefty salary. That boosted his base salary.

Add three percent extra each year, which all on public pensions in Illinois receive and it mounts up over time.

Others like Terry Stezco lose an election and get a well-paying local governmental job. In his case, Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan hired him.

Others get appointed to head state departments. Chuck Hartke, for instance, was appointed Director of the Department of Agriculture.

All can transfer pension credits from the new pension system and their final salaries–upon which their pension is based–back into the General Assembly Retirement System.

Today, the Illinois Republican Party is holding its day at the State Fair. Busloads are people are heading that way as I write this article.

When I went, it was called Governor’s Day. That was back in Jim Thompson’s time.

We would go to the lawn of the State Fair Superintendent’s on-site home and eat lunch before the Governor would speak.

I remember one year when I ate with State Rep. Harlan Rigney’s family. The Red Oak farmer had been a 1970 Con-Con delegate before being elected state representative in 1972, the same year I first won.

One of the highlights was to be Thompson’s signature of a bill that would eliminate the sales tax on farm machinery. The argument this northwestern Illinois Republican offered was that business was going to Iowa, where no sales tax was charged.

“Cal, this is tax relief I can see on my kitchen table,” he told me as we chowed down. Harlan had such an engaging grin.

Reminding me of this is an email I received from the Illinois GOP rolling out its Dismiss Quinn web site.

Dismiss Quinn promotion on the Illinois GOP email.

I am amused that the actual web site has something missing on the promotion in the email.

Top of the page of the Dismiss Quinn web site.

Notice the difference?

“Donate Now.”

And, of course, those wishing change in state and local government could help their cause by sending a check to the candidate whom they most wish to be victorious.  It doesn’t have to be a big one.

I remember the $15 check I received from a woman in Wonder Lake in 1972.

McHenry County State’s Attorney Bill Cowlin had commented to the Elgin Courier-Review in an article written by Algonquin’s Marion Gallery that electing me would be like “putting a fox in the chicken coop.”

She had received my first mailing, which, of course, asked for contributions.  On the part she returned was a drawing of a fox.

Receiving it certainly made my day.

Every one-on-one race in which there is an incumbent boils down to a referendum on the incumbent.  The challenger is essentially irrelevant.

Notice that there is no mention of Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady on what I have reproduced above.

It’s all about the suitability of appointed incumbent Pat Quinn’s service.  Some of us remember when he used to be a reformer, listing the names annually of the Double Dippers of Illinois.

The Coalition for Political Honesty.

That’s what he called his organization.

Now he takes the Double Dippers’ money to get elected.

If you looked at the front page of the Chicago Tribune Sunday, you saw five candidates on top of the page.

They are ones that the Tribune’s poll found leading in both the Democratic and Republican Party primaries.

It was Pat Quinn and Dan Hynes for the Democrats. In that race, the Tribune endorsed no one.

In the GOP contest, the heads of Andy McKenna, Jim Ryan and Kirk Dillard appear. The Tribune has endorsed McKenna.

Maybe the supporters of a GOP candidate not in the top three (and who found less than 10% support in the Tribune poll) can surpass the three front-runners.

But, I don’t think it will happen.

If my analysis is correct, people who want to play a role in the decision-making process regarding who the Republicans put up in November have to select among McKenna, Ryan and Dillard.

Having run against Ryan (and Rod Blagojevich) as the Libertarian Party candidate for governor in 2002, I have seen him cozy up to Blagojevich to make sure I was not allowed to be any of the debates.

(If you are interested in the details, here they are.  The Illinois League of Women Voters had sponsored debates for each statewide race for decades.  in 2002, the League said everyone would be include who received at least 5% in an independent poll.  The Daily Southtown, a newspaper, showed me slightly above 5% prior to the League’s deadline.  Ryan and Blagojevich decided not to participate in that debate.  For that reason, I know that Ryan is capable of cutting deals with Democrats when it is in his personal self-interest.)

Then, there is Stuart Levin, Ryan’s law school study partner, long-time supporter and largest lifetime contributor.  To say that that relationship is a problem strikes me as something of an understatement.

It’s not that I think Jim Ryan is dishonest.  It’s not that I think he knew his friend was a crook.

It’s that I know how large contributors often get rewarded.

If Levine had asked Governor Jim Ryan to appoint him to the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board, I think Ryan would have appointed him.  (Levine was involved in the licensing scandal involving the Mercy Health System hospital application in Crystal Lake.)

If Levine had asked Governor Jim Ryan to appoint him to the Downstate Teachers’ Retirement System board, I think Ryan would have appointed him.

After all, Levine contributed over $800,000 over Ryan’s career and he trusted Levine.

Therein is the problem.  Levine would have been right where he was when he committed felonious acts during the Blagojevich administration.

So, here’s the question I ask of Jim Ryan supporters:

If Jim Ryan had been elected in 2002, how much less corrupt would his administration have been than Rod Blagojevich’s?

Certainly somewhat less corrupt.  As I said before, no one thinks Jim Ryan is a dishonest man.

But his level of discernment about the motives of this man he had known all of his adult live was subpar, to put it as mildly as possible.

And, that doesn’t get into substantive issues like gun control.  Ryan would never win the support of fans of the movie “Red Dawn.”  I know.  He wouldn’t appear on the DeKalb radio station in a forum about gun control when he learned I was in the studio.

That leaves two candidates:

• Kirk Dillard
• Andy McKenna

I can enthusiastically support whichever one wins the primary.

However, Dillard has one vote that is just horrible, in my opinion.

It is his vote to triple suburban collar county RTA sales taxes.

To solve DuPage County budget problem, DuPage County Board President Bob Schillerstrom and State’s Attorney Joe Birkett successfully prevailed upon Dillard and two other DuPage County state senators to vote for what National Taxpayers United of Illinois’ Jim Tobin calls the “CTA bailout.”

Kirk Dillard

It was that, but it was also a bailout of DuPage County because, contrary to the first suburban “bribe” plan–allowing the collar county boards to spend one-quarter of one percent of the three-quarters of one percentage point increase on roads–after the DuPage County officials got involved, it could be spent on transportation or law enforcement. DuPage County had a referendum on the ballot at the time to raise the sales tax of law enforcement purposes, but, hey, if you can get your state senators to take the heat, why bother the voters.

Not only did Dillard’s vote raise our taxes, it rendered asunder the suburban bipartisan coalition on the Regional Transportation Authority put together in 1974. I can only remember a couple suburban legislators who voted for RTA who got re-elected. (Both the Republican Senate and House bill sponsors were defeated.) I guess I take that a bit personally.

Other than that, I find his and McKenna’s positions fairly similar, except that Dillard has not taken a no tax increase pledge and McKenna has. (I have to admit that having the Illinois Education Association, surely an income tax hike organization, endorse Dillard raises my eyebrows.)

Andy McKenna

One more thing about McKenna.  At the GOP convention in Decatur, he heatedly criticized DuPage County Board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom, who just withdrew his name from consideration as a candidate for governor (but who will still be on the ballot) about his lobbying DuPage County state senators to triple the RTA sales tax.

Only State Senators Carol Pankau (now a candidate for DuPage County Board President) and Randy Hultgren (now running for Congress in Kane County and more) voted against the 300% increase in the RTA sales tax.

How hot was the criticism?

Most of the DuPage County delegation walked off the convention floor.

In addition, taking on Thompson’s continuing show of support of incarcerated former Republican Governor George Ryan, McKenna said,

“It disappoints me with a former governor lobbies the president to pardon a former governor.”

So, which of the top three are you leaning toward?

Back in the 1970′s I put in a request to the Legislative Council (the General Assembly’s non-partisan research agency) to develop a way to compare corruption among the states.

That was when United States Attorney Jim Thompson was convicting lots of Democrats and Republicans or assorted nastinesses.

Thompson was my last candidate for political hero. I didn’t get disillusioned until after the election. I was sitting in my car on the senate driveway listening to the radio.

Thompson was asked if he were going to keep Governor Dan Walker’s Ford. His reply was,

“No. What do you think this job is all about?”

Later, he came up with something that sounded a bit more reasonable. He needed a limo because of his long legs.

Under pressure, he finally settled for a Checker Cab…painted black, of course.

Anyway, my request was considered for a while and then Gerry Gherardini called to tell me they didn’t think that was an appropriate research topic.

I remember going to my fifth reunion at Oberlin College In 1970 and asking a new government profession about research in corruption.

He pretty much pooh-poohed my question, telling me that corruption was the grease that allowed government to operation.

Since then, I’ve seen a fair amount of research on the topic. Then, it was pretty much a virgin topic.

In any event, a month ago I happened upon this in the Rockford Register:

Most corrupt state? Illinois a leader in the competition

It’s not something that compares corruption, but at least its headline is asking the right question.

Last night at Crystal Lake’s 1776 restaurant will be a night that Jason Plummer, an aggressive Downstate candidate for lieutenant governor, will remember forever.

How do I know?

Lientenant governor candidate Jason Plummer begins speaking after being introduced by McHenry County Young Republican President Bryan Javor.

Because I’ve been on the same route he took twice, once in 1982 when I ran for State Comptroller against Roland Burris and twenty years later when I ran for governor in 2002 against Rod Blagojevich and Jim Ryan.

A statewide candidate doesn’t remember all the stops on the campaign trail, but some are memorable.

Like the night at some big meeting hall in Carbondale when all the candidates on the ticket were standing under a big photo of us all and Jim Thompson was commenting on the St. Louis Globe’s endorsement that day.

“Even Skinner got endorsed,”

he exclaimed.

Of course, I thought and still think I was more qualified than incumbent Burris to be State Comptroller, but even I was surprised I had received the endorsement.

Last night the McHenry County Young Republicans held a candidates’ night for county board candidates.

Thank goodness, the YR’s were not as hidebound as the DeKalb League of Women Voters in 1982, when I was not allowed to speak because I wasn’t a legislative candidate.

In any event, the tallest Republican candidate I have seen since Thompson walked to the podium and was told, as the other candidates had been told, that he had five minutes and that when he was at the four minute mark, he would be told.

He started by pointing out the Illinois lieutenant governor had “no constitutional duties.”

He cited the three statutes giving the office some things to do—probably all enacted while Neil Hartigan was serving under Governor Dan Walker—and said,

“Clearly it’s not an overwhelming workload.”

Plummer talked about his having created jobs in companies he had started, as well as his role in the family lumber business, RP Lumber, with 43 yards in Illinois and two in Missouri.

He told of how he was in intelligence in the Navy Reserve, had worked at the Heritage Foundation and for U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald.

And, how he had returned from Washington to run for Madison County Republican Party Chairman.

He talked about fighting corruption in Madison County, something that no knowledgeable person would deny exits.

“I battled corrupt legislators, a corrupt county board and a corrupt judiciary.”

Plummer said,

“The state needs someone who knows how to sign the bottom of a check, not just the back of a check.”

Great line, don’t you think?

While at a trade convention in Indiana, he told a woman he was running for lieutenant governor.

“In Indiana?” the woman asked.

“No, Illinois.”

The New Jersey resident reacted with dismay, wondering why anyone would want to run for office in our corrupt state.

“When the people of New Jersey are questioning the ethics of Illinois, (we’re in trouble).”

Then, a very bright light put up by YR President Bryan Javor went out.

Jason Plummer's expression after the bright light went out at 1776, plunging the room into relative darkness.

Then came the best quip of the night:

“Is that what you do at one minute?”

I’m still chuckling.

Tell me that Plummer won’t remember last night for the rest of his life.

In that last minute, Plummer listed some endorsements. I caught the Illinois State Rifle Association and the Illinois Federation of Right to Life.

Lientenant governor candidate Jason Plummer posing at 1776 in Crystal Lake with his campaign manager, Ray Marchiori.

Afterward I got a photo of Plummer with his campaign manager, Ray Marachiori. Marachiori staffed my Privatization Committee during the 1995-96 legislative session.

Plummer stayed until the end of the meeting. I guess he figured everybody in the room would vote in the GOP primary election.

I noticed 6th District county board candidate carrying one of Plummer’s signs out of the restaurant.

= = = = =
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