McHenry County Blog

The annual Pro-Life Pig Roast was held again at Irene Napier’s farm on Valley View Road.

There was a goodly crowd of supporters of the Pro-Life position.

Old friends renewed acquaintances.

Candidates from Lake courted voters.

Lake County Republican Bob Bedar advanced his candidacy for Recorder of Deeds.

30th District GOP State Senate candidate Don Castella was there, too.

I even sat at his table briefly talking to Barrington’s Jim Finnegan about how Democrat State Rep. Jack Franks of Marengo had stymied Chose Life license plates by putting authorization bills in subcommittees to die.

There were at least three McHenry County Board members and candidates in attendance.

I saw Board members Nick Provenzano and John Hammerand.  Cheryl Hammerand, a Wonder Lake Fire Protection District Board member was there, too.

Mary McClelland, a GOP McHenry County Board candidate in District 3, spoke to the crowd.

State Senator Dan Duffy also spoke to the crowed.

He told of how Illinois Senate President John Cullerton changed his parking space when he would not use an offered Point of Personal Privilege to apologize to his fellow members for having insulted them when he spoke during Governor Rod Blagojevich’s impeachment trial.

Duffy had said that he didn’t understand how Blagojevich has been allowed to do all the things that had been presented in evidence at the trial by those who had served in the legislature at the same time.

Duffy told Cullerton that if he were granted the floor again, he had more to say in the same vein.

Shortly thereafter Cullerton announced the change in parking space.

Duffy said he thought he was back “in junior high.”

The highest ranking official to address the crowd was Congressman Randy Hultgren.

Illinois Democrats redistricted congressional districts so that all of McHenry County but Algonquin Township will be represented by Randy Hultgren…unless Democrat Dennis Anderson of Gurnee pulls off a bigger upset than Joe Walsh did when he beat Melissa Bean.

Hultgren praised Walsh for not doing what the Democrats hoped would occur–a face-off between Hultgren and Walsh.

He urge the crowd to help Walsh beat Tammy Duckworth.

Peter Roskam will represent the rest of McHenry County, that is, Algonquin Township, unless there is a Democratic landslide of enormous proportions.

Joe Edwards talked of the progress being made to bring an ultrasound machine to McHenry County.

I think I heard that the Lutheran Life League had recently pledged $10,000.

The Thomas More Law Society‘s Peter Breen told of his groups defense of Pro-Life video makers and other Pro-Life causes.

He also told of the role that his organization is taking in defending the Defense of Marriage Act, which liberal Cook County officials are refusing to defend.

Below are photos of the two other County Board members I noticed.

There was lots of networking.

Although Congressman Peter Roskam was absent, campaign worker David Rivera and his fiancee Kelly Baumgart were there to carry the flag…or at least wear the tee shirt.

And, how could I pass up Woodstock’s Jim Klocek’s tee shirt of “Umbert?”

A new Political Action Committee organized by Nunda Township Republican Central Committee Chairman and Waste Management employee Brent Smith held its second meeting Wednesday night at American Community Bank in McHenry.

Registered with the State Board of Elections on November 30, 2011, the committee’s listed officers are Smith as Chairman and Mark Daniel as Treasurer.

The declared purpose of the McHenry County Business Committee is “to support local, state and federal pro-business political candidates, ballot initiatives and initiatives that supports economic growth throughout McHenry County and Illinois.”  It’s party affiliation, according to the filing is the Republican Party.

Such statements in filings are pretty boiler plate stuff.  The mission statement and by-laws are still works in progress, Smith explained to those gathered.

“We’re sensing anecdotally that there’s an anti-business climate. We really need to educate ourselves first,” Attorney Dan Regna explained.

Interests ranged widely among the attendees.

There were complaints about Crystal Lake’s continuing to be difficult for people wanting to open business to deal with.

“Go the Crystal Lake officials,” said attorney Jim Bishop.  “They don’t want to believe you.

“And there’s no businessman willing to stand up,” he added.

Attorney and District 3 County Board candidate Joe Gottemoller, for instance, told of being only one of two people (the other being archetect Mark Elmore) at the Crystal Lake City Council meeting when a new fire code was passed.

Anything with more than one square foot with walls requires a sprinkler system now. He contended a post box fell under the requirement.

He also took off on the unfriendliness of County zoning rules for home businesses.

“You cannot actually run a home occupation,” he contended, citing three unworkable restrictions:

1. You can have more than one outside employee, even it if they are outside salesmen
2. You can’t use any building on your property but your resident, not even a machine shed
3. If you have a room with an exterior door, you can’t use it.

“If you use a basement and don’t have an outside entrance, you’ve violated the building code,” he added.

“There’s dozens and dozens and dozens of restraints in this wonderful Republican County we live in,” Bishop added.

Gottemoller remembered getting a call from the head of construction for McDonald’s about the restaurant being built at the corner of Routes 14 and 176.

“The worst one to work with is McHenry County,” he remembered the man telling him.  “The worst in the world.”

Later McHenry County Board member and former Lakewood Village President Scott Breeden, who was the main speaker and about whose speech another article will be written, observed, “Crystal Lake is well known as the worst place to build a building.”

Some in the room had less parochial concerns.

JA Frate President Joe Alger’s 108-employee business is located in Lake in the Hills north of Rakow Road right next to the Crystal Lake city boundary on Pyott Road.

While discussing his plan to buy the property next door he said besides having to “build a berm and plant a forest” between the property and Coventry, his dealings with the city had been fine.

He was more interested in how Obamacare was going to affect his company’s $500,000+ health care coverage.  He certainly did not want government taking it over and he was livid at Obama’s recent attack on the Catholic Church.

Alger also questioned the connection of Smith to Local 150 of the Operating Engineers, citing the union’s activity in Indiana against the recently enacted Right-to-Work law.

“You’re not a 150 BA (Business Agent)?  You’re an operator with Waste Management. I don’t know why you started it (the PAC).

“Unions are a major issue,” Alger said.

“This has nothing to do with 150,” Smith replied.

The group set the next meeting for March 14th at The Living Room, which is located where Porter’s Oyster Bar used to be.  Social hour from 6:30-7 with a meeting to follow.

It’s not like some Republican state representative campaigns have seen, but over $35,000 coming into a campaign where his opponent millionaire Jack Franks spent more on White Sox tickets than Republican John O’Neill raised during the first half of the year is big news to the challenger.

The most interesting is from Two Party System, Inc. $22,353,66 in all, all in-kind donations:

• $18,480.78 – Pro Rata share of Staff Time for Telephone Services and Supporting Technology Two Party System, Inc.
• $2,316.88 – Telephone Services and Supporting Technology Callfire.com
• $1,515 – Campaign Database Software Trail Blazer Campaign Services, Inc.
• $41 – Mileage for Kristina Keats

And $5,653.52 from the House Republican Organization. The $653.52 was a poll, the rest in cash.

$5,000 came last week from Jack Roeser’s Republican Renaissance PAC.

Transferred from the McHenry Township Republican Team Fund was $1,500, plus $500 from McHenry County Republican Chairman and State Representative Mike Tryon and $200 from State Senator Dan Duffy.

Other sources giving more that $150 are

• $450 – Kathleen Kuchta
• $200 – Joe and Mary Alger
• $200 – Maureen and Daniel Stephan

$33,452.18 in all.

Plus a lot of sweat equity on O’Neill’s and his volunteers’ part.

O’Neill is the first Republican in six years to challenge incumbent Democrat Jack Franks.

And Franks is so concerned about the Democratic Party label that his first mail piece made him out to be an independent, not a guy who asked Rod Blagojevich to appoint his friends and family to jobs and commissions.

Although I was unable to attend the Right Nation Rally in Rosemont Saturday, other McHenry County residents carried the local flag.

Among them were McHenry County Board candidate Nick Provenzano and Joe Alger, a leader in Patriots United.

It appears that the demonstrators irritated Alger.

At least that’s what I conclude from the photo above.

All photos were taken by Ryan Provenzano.