McHenry County Blog

One of the most politically active unions in McHenry County is Local 150 of the Operating Engineers.

I guess most people wouldn’t be surprised that its members are supporting the re-election of Barack Obama.

The Local 150 Operating Engineers Banquet Hall on route 120 in Lakemoor has a sign supporting the re-election of Barack Obama.

There are other signs as well:

Local and state legislative signs show that Local 150 of the Operating Engineers makes choices in both parties.

The local and legislative candidates with signs near the Local 150 Banquet Hall are the following candidates, all Republican:

• Bonnie Thompson Carter, Lake County Board
• JoAnne Osmond, State Representative
• Linda Petersen, Lake County Board
• Mary McClellan, McHenry County Board
• Mike Nerheim, Lake County State’s Attorney

There’s a “Women for McSweeney” rally being held Saturday in Crystal Lake at D’Andreas Banquets at 10.

On the Host Committee are

• Mary Alger
• Geri Davis
• Jean Marie Kapp
• Rebecca Kress
• Cara Kretz
• Rebecca Lee
• Lu Ann LeFew
• Anne Majewski
• Lou Ann Majewski
• Anna May Miller
• Irene Napier
• Linda Post
• Lucy Prouty
• Bonnie Quirke
• Kathy Salvi
• Sue Sedar
• Joyce Story
• Nina Stephenson
• Phyllis Walters
• Barbara Wheeler
• Monica Young

The invitation to Saturday’s “Women for McSweeney” rally.

State Senator Pam Althoff, State Rep. JoAnne Osmund and Kane County Board Chairman and unopposed State Senate candidate Karen McConnaughay will speak.
McSweeney is running against Dee Beaubien (Ind.-Madigan).

JoAnn Osmond at work on the House floor.

When Illinois Democrats sliced up McHenry County, giving Crystal Lake parts of three state representative and senate districts, State Rep. Mike Tryon’s home was put in the 66th District.

Osmond served as head of Lake County Republican Central Committee, so she has contacts through the new 61st District.

Antioch State Rep. JoAnn Osmond’s home was assigned to the 64th District. She was the only resident incumbent.

The district is comprised of about 51% Lake County voters and 49% McHenry County.

Osmond had to decide where to run.

Today I received the following answer to my question of where:

I have and I will be running in the 61st which means that I will have to move, but that will be two years off and only subject to my winning again.

She is going to try to retrain the district which she now represents, the 61st.  If she wins, the state constitution says she will have to move into the new district in order to run in 2014.

The 61st District is seen below.  Click to enlarge.

The 61st Illinois state rep. dist. Map prepared by Elgin-based political consultant Drew Veeneman.

That leaves the 64th district without an incumbent.  You see the boundaries below:

The 64 state rep. district. Click to enlarge. Prepared by Elgin-based political consultant Drew Veeneman.

With Mike Madigan having split McHenry County into four state rep. and three state senate districts, expect to see lots of candidates for the seats at this event.

For the last several years the Skinner family has been on vacation the weekend pro-lifers gather at Irene Napier’s farm on Valley Hill Road between Route 176 and East Crystal Lake Avenue.

Not this year.  Two weeks from today, I’ll be trying to get photos of all the candidates from the 52nd and 64th House districts, plus the 33nd State Senate district.  Incumbents without known opponents will probably also come to burnish their pro-life credentials.

Candidates who have never ventured into McHenry County Republican politics will be in abundance. Look for new faces from Lake, Cook and Kane Counties.

The farm is located in the district which has no announced incumbent running. The state representative that Mike Madigan put in the district is JoAnn Osmond, who lives in Antioch. There is no indication that she will run in the newly-carved district which goes as far south, but no farther, that my Algonquin 7 precinct in Crystal Lake and Lakewood.

Certainly if the pro-life Osmond does not attend, that will be strong evidence that she is running elsewhere, probably in the 51st District.

Candidates seeking the support of pro-life voters will be out in abundance at the June 26th Pig Roast. The 64th District, which you see above is almost evenly split between Lake and McHenry County voters, with Lake County having a slight edge.

You can register online for the event here.

A press release from State Rep. Mike Tryon. announcing that he will run for re-election in the southernmost of the three districts into which Crystal Lake was divided.

Rep. Mike Tryon to Seek Re-Election to House of Representatives

Crystal Lake Republican will run in District 66 in 2012

CRYSTAL LAKE….. State Representative Michael W. Tryon (R-Crystal Lake) has announced that he will seek re-election to the Illinois General Assembly in 2012 in the newly-drawn district where he currently resides.

This map of the 66th state representative district was created by Drew Veeneman, a political consultant based in Elgin.

Tryon, who has served as the State Representative for District 64 since 2005, will seek the seat in District 66 since he will no longer be a resident of District 64 when the new legislative map takes effect.

The new District 66 encompasses the southwestern portion of Crystal Lake, and portions of Lakewood, Algonquin, Lake in the Hills and Huntley.

About 30% of the new District 66 area extends into Kane County and includes portions of East and West Dundee, Carpentersville, Sleepy Hollow, Gilberts, rural Pingree Grove and Elgin.

Mike Tryon

“It appears that the new map will allow me to keep between 65% and 70% of my current constituents,” said Tryon. “While I am disappointed to be losing most of Crystal Lake, the Sun City portion of Huntley, the older section of Lakewood and a few other parts of my current district, I look forward to working hard on new issues with my new constituents in Kane County.”

When the new map takes effect, District 64 will include most of Crystal Lake, the northeastern edge of McHenry County and a significant section of Lake County up to the state line. Representative JoAnn Osmond (R-Antioch) currently residents in what will become District 64.

Tryon’s announcement ends speculation that he will seek a new state Senate seat that is being created through the new map.

“While the Senate seat was tempting, I’m quite content in the House of Representatives,” said Tryon. “I believe that through the relationships I have built and the knowledge I have gained since becoming a legislator, I will best be able to serve residents of McHenry and Kane Counties by remaining in the House of Representatives.”

In addition to maintaining his work on behalf of current District 64 constituents, Tryon will spend the next several months learning about the issues that affect Kane County and developing relationships with the stakeholders and elected officials there.

Huntley School Board President certainly has an interest in the legislative process.

Just look at the agenda for the District 158 Committee of the Whole meeting coming up June 9th:

Skala is the Chairman of the Legislative Committee and giving a report on June 9th.

Of course, the newly-reconfigured 66th District in which he lives has an incumbent–Mike Tryon.

Tryon’s political base has been split by the Illinois Democrats’ reapportionment map. He lives in the northernmost precinct in the district, just south of my precinct, which abuts the South Shore of Crystal Lake (the lake).

Mike Skala

While the 66th District has 67% of Republican primary voters, the rest are in Kane County.

The district in which my Algonquin 7 precinct is the southernmost precinct, on the other hand, has almost all of its residents in McHenry County. It does dip enough into Lake County to reach JoAnn Osmond’s home in Antioch, however.

Osmond has not decided whether she will run in the district whose number she now represents or the McHenry County-dominated one.

Tryon is considering whether he and his wife should downsize from their Four Colonies home into something smaller located in the district in which Osmond lives.

If Tryon does decide to move, that would leave the 66th House District empty.

Being an elected official in the governmental body that probably has more constituents than any other located in that part of McHenry County, Skala would seem to be well-positioned to run for State Representative.

After being narrowly defeated for school board when he was last President by Aileen Seedorf and his ally Jim Carlin, Skala was reappointed to the board when Carlin resigned about six months into his term.

In the next election, Skala then matched himself against arch-foe Larry Snow and beat Snow. The campaign saw Tryon endorse Skala and was akin to a state rep. campaign in intensity. He even had the same campaign manager that Tryon used.

Skala has been a large contributor to Tryon’s campaign war chest and participates in a now annual fish boil fund raiser for Tryon in Huntley.

So, if Tryon decided to run in the northern district, his blessing would undoubtedly be bestowed upon Skala.

No other possible candidates for the lower House have been brought to my attention should Tryon abdicate the seat, but, if one should arise, Tryon’s school board leadership could cut both ways.

Skala was one of those who pushed for the school district tax rate hike and, while apparently legal, I’m told he voted for the teachers’ contract before the current one, even though his wife teaches French at Huntley High School.

His wife is a former Co-President of the Huntley Education Association. That would mean to me that teachers would be favorably inclined to support Skala throughout the district, a nice geographically spread base.

When he was Minority Leader, Lee Daniels was known for recruiting those with school board or school administration backgrounds.   They were called “IEA Republicans.”

While political thoughts of who from McHenry County might replace State Rep. Mark Beaubien (R-Barrington Hills) after the 2012 election first occupied my mind, someone has to fill the seat until the next legislator is elected.  That is from soon until the 2012 victor takes office.

The person selected to fill out State Rep. Mark Beaubien's term must live in his current 52nd district.

He or she will have to live in the Beaubien’s current district, the one going out of existence when the 2012 state representatives and senators take office.

Mark Beaubien's unopposed primary election results in 2010.

2010 general election results when Mark Beaubien ran unopposed.

I can’t remember whether the weighted vote among Downstate county chairman (read Lake and McHenry Counties) and the Barrington Township Republican Committeeman is from the primary election or the general election.  [Since I posted this article, I have verified with the State Board of Elections that the primary votes are the ones used.]

But, it turns out, that makes no difference in Beaubien’s  52nd District.

Lake County had the most votes for both the 2010 primary and general elections, out polling McHenry County by less than 1,000 votes.

But, McHenry County, plus Barrington Township, had more votes.  If combined, they could outvote Lake County.

Of course, the county chairmen might pick a consensus candidate, someone like 8th Congressional District State Central and Barrington Township Committeeman Gene Dawson, assuming he currently lives in the 52nd District.  He could be a place holder or run for a full term in the new district.  When Winnebago County GOP Chairman Jim Kelly appointed himself, however, there was an uproar and he lost the next primary election.  The future 52nd District map is below:

The 2012 52nd state representative district.

In addition, it occurs to me that when Tim Osmond, the last Lake County state rep. died, was JoAnne Osmond. Beaubien’s wife Dee is quite interested in the political process.

Another woman on the opposite side of social issues is retiring McHenry County Board member Barb Wheeler. She lives in the 52nd District now, but, if she ran for the office and won, would have to move to become a resident of the new district. Wheeler is former State Rep. Al Salvi’s sister. Salvi was the state representative whom Beaubien replaced when he ran for U.S. Senate against Dick Durbin.

A blogger from Lake County who posts under the name of “Barney Baxter” likes to make fun of McHenry County Blog, but he doesn’t stop there.

His “Lake County Eye” claims to view his county “from the center,” but I’d label him a “liberal.”

From his post today, I think it would be fair to label him an “elitist liberal.”

You see, we folk in McHenry County are inferior to those in Lake County.

He does concede, “There are many people who manage to pursue what could pass as normal lives over in McHenry County.”

Barney gives advice to candidates like JoAnn Osmond, who has been put into a McHenry County-dominated legislative district. It’s the one that runs from Antioch to my Algonquin 7 precinct south of Crystal Lake, the lake.

Osmond has not decided whether she will run in the district where she and her husband, the deceased Tim Osmond, lived for over thirty years or whether she will move a short distance to the district bearing her current district’s number.

One of her children does have a suitable summer home in the other district where she could live.

For that matter, Crystal Lake’s State Rep. Mike Tryon, whose Four Colonies precinct is just south of my own, is undecided whether he will run in the new district into which he has been gerrymandered or move to the North side of Crystal Lake and run in the district where Osmond lives.

But, back to the derision. You can read Barney’s advice to Lake County candidates who are brave enough to venture into McHenry County below:

McHenry County Blog is featured in the advice given by the Lake County Eye Bloger.

Some of his advice is witty; some shows that he has not driven through much of McHenry County.

What has happened in Crystal Lake is pretty incredible.

The lines the Democrats have drawn will give Crystal Lake three state representatives and three state senators.

Four state representatives, if you want to count the one Dorr Township precinct on Crystal Lake’s far northwest side, which will continue to be represented by State Rep. Jack Franks, the local Democrat who had his district least affected by the remap.  That is, unless he decides to run for Congress.

The new lines drawn by the Democrats do not follow township lines.

Here are the inexplicable lines the Democrats are using to divide Crystal Lake into three of four districts.

Pam Althoff’s district, for instance, coming in from the north, dips below the east-west northern line where Algonquin and Grafton Townships meet Nunda and Dorr Townships to pick up the Algonquin and Grafton Township precincts which surround Crystal Lake. Mine is one of those.

Look at the northern senate and house district line, which is Franklin Street, right in front of Crystal Lake Central High School. It splits Algonquin Township Precinct 10. Both Mayor Aaron Shepley and County Board member Donna Kurtz live north of Franklin Street.

But, even more curious, Shepley and Kurtz both live on South Walkup Avenue, but on opposite sides of the street.

Shepley ended up in Althoff’s state senate district, while Kurtz will reside in State Senator Dan Duffy’s district.  State Rep. Mark Beaubien will also represent that eastern part of Crystal Lake.

At least the legislative district line which separates my precinct just south of the Crystal Lake follows State Rep. Mike Tryon’s and my precinct boundary.

Below is the district State Rep. Mike Tryon lives in now. He could decided to more a couple of blocks north into a district dominated by McHenry County voters.

The Democrats reapportionment map for District 66. Mike Tryon lives on its northern edge. Click to enlarge.

It dips into northern Kane County into precincts I found friendly when I represented them in the 1970′s.

The district that runs north from Crystal Lake also includes part of Antioch.  The state representative for Antioch is JoAnn Osmund.

There is a gerrymandered district that runs from Zion to Round Lake around central Lake County numbered 61.  I don’t know enough about Lake County politics to know what Democratic Party Chairman Terry Link is trying to do there.

That district running north from Crystal Lake, numbered 64, looks like this:

This district that runs from Crystal Lake north to Antioch bears the number 64. That's what Mike Tryon's district is numbered now, but he doesn't live in it.

There’s another state representative district besides the four mentioned above (Jack Franks’, the two splitting Crystal Lake Mike Tryon might run in and the one where Mark Beaubien lives).

It takes the heavily-voting Sun City part of Huntley, plus some more, and runs south around the 65th District in which Tryon lives to St. Charles.  I figured this was a natural for Tim Schmitz.  He represents the Kane County part of Sun City now.

Where the Democrats drew the lines in the Huntley area.

The 65th District’s lines can be seen below:

No one would accuse the 65th District on being compact. It goes from Huntley around Elgin all the way to Route 59 in DuPage County.

This story would not be complete without showing the other two state representative districts. The one where Mark Beaubien lives is numbered 52. It looks like this:

Bafrrington Hills' Mark Beaubien lives in this District 52.

Finally, let’s look at Democrat Jack Franks’ district:

State Rep. Jack Franks didn't do as well in Spring Grove as he hoped, so he cut the area out of his new 63rd District.

The Daily Herald is reporting that young folks (including a candidate’s son) campaigning door-to-door for Democratic Party State Rep. candidate Don Pollak were impeded by an Antioch policeman.

One would think a policeman would know that a solicitor’s permit is not required when one is exercising political speech, the highest right granted by First Amendment.

Pollak’s opponent, incumbent JoAnn Osmond, is from Antioch. That may explain the inappropriate behavior by the policeman.

The article explains that a confrontation between the candidate and Police Chief James Foerster has led to the chief’s suspension (paid administrative leave) and an investigation.