McHenry County Blog

Second-term State Senator Dan Duffy, whose district reaches all the way into the middle of Crystal Lake as a result of the Democrat’s redistricting plan and includes a fair amount of southeastern McHenry County, has endorsed Bill Prim as the Republican candidate for Sheriff.

This is the second major endorsement from a political figure that Prim has received.

The first was from McHenry County’s first resident congressman, now-WIND talk show host, Joe Walsh.

It apparently wasn’t considered important by the Northwest Herald, because I didn’t see an article.

We’ll see if a sitting elected official’s endorsement is worthy of conveying to the 30,000+ readers of the NWH.

STATE SEN. DAN DUFFY ENDORSES BILL PRIM FOR SHERIFF

A powerful voice has been added to the chorus of those backing Bill Prim for McHenry County Sheriff. Popular Illinois State Sen. Dan Duffy (R-26th) announced Monday that he is endorsing Prim in the Republican primary election next year.

The landslide winner in his contest for reelection last November, Duffy said he recently concluded his review of the candidates for Sheriff and wanted to make his endorsement early to add to the growing momentum behind Prim’s campaign.

“There is absolutely no doubt Bill Prim is the most qualified candidate we have for this critical post.

“His 27 years of ever-increasing responsibility in police work are a great fit for McHenry County.”

Duffy added, “There is more to being Sheriff than catching bad guys. The Sheriff must also be able to work with county wide officeholders and, at the same time, be accountable to taxpayers for how he spends their hard-earned money.”

Duffy continued, “In all of these areas, Bill Prim is the right choice. I urge all of McHenry voters to join me in supporting Bill Prim for Sheriff.”

Prim said he was pleased and grateful for Duffy’s endorsement.

“Anyone who lives in McHenry County knows that Sen. Duffy is a man of integrity and courage.

“His efforts on behalf of small business owners, who are the backbone of our economy, and his concern that taxpayers be listened to at all levels of government, may have not made him the most popular man in Springfield, but they have certainly earned him a great deal of respect in McHenry County.”

Prim added, “The hard-working people who support Dan Duffy will find themselves right at home with the message I am sending in my campaign.”

Congressman Joe Walsh and Walsh Freedom has a town hall scheduled.

On Saturday April 27th we are having a Townhall in Wauconda at the Wauconda Township Hall, 505 West Bonner Rd from 1:00-3:00.

“Everyone is welcomed,” according to the email.

On his web site Walsh Freedom, former Congressman, now talk show host Joe Walsh outlines steps to save Illinois. I have to admit that he is more optimistic than I.

I think Mike Madigan, while a consummate politician, must take blame for the downward spiral of Illinois during his decades-long rule.

In any event, here’s Joe Walsh’s prescription:

How To Save Illinois in Eight Simple Steps

1. Eliminate the individual state income tax and the state corporate tax.
2. Give every parent in the state a school voucher to send their children to whatever school they want to send them to — public, private, religious, or home.
3. Place every government employee on a defined contribution, 401(k) style retirement plan.
4. Begin immediately tapping into our natural gas and oil reserves.
5. Eliminate township governments.
6. Give every law-abiding adult the right to carry a concealed weapon.
7. Have a federal prosecutor investigate how Michael Madigan and his legal clients have benefited financially at taxpayer expense from his role as Speaker.
8. Tell Judy Barr Topinka to retire.

= = = = =
In his Quincy Tea Party appearance, Walsh says, “We have lost Illinois.”

A column from former Congressman Joe Walsh:

Barack Obama, John Boehner, and Paul Ryan Are Dead Wrong

Last week, President Obama said on national TV that we don’t have a debt crisis. Sunday morning on national TV, House Speaker John Boehner was asked if he agreed with Obama, and he said yes, the country does not have an immediate debt crisis. Incredibly, Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan agreed with Boehner and Obama and said, “We do not have a debt issue right now, but we see it coming.”

What in God’s name are these three thinking?

We are CURRENTLY borrowing over $3 million every minute, almost $200 million every hour, and over $4.5 billion every day.

That’s borrowing … not spending!

Forty-two cents of every dollar we spend is borrowed.

This year will see our fifth straight year of an annual deficit of a $1 trillion or more. Our CURRENT debt is approaching $17 trillion, and when you add our CURRENT Medicare and Social Security liabilities, our real CURRENT debt is well over $100 trillion — that’s over $200,000 for every man, woman, and child in this country.

If our federal government were a family, for each of the past five years, the family’s annual credit card debt exceeded the family’s annual income by a whole lot … and Obama, Ryan, and Boehner don’t believe we have a debt crisis right now?

I know that pollsters tell us the American people don’t understand debt and the deficits as an issue. Well, our political leaders better explain debt in a way that can be understood because our debt is impacting our way of life. It’s severely hurting our economic growth and job creation, and, unless we address our debt, future generations will be robbed of any opportunity and prosperity.

Unless we take care of our CURRENT debt crisis, our kids and our grandkids will be indentured servants.

I don’t expect President Obama to understand this, but I can’t believe Paul Ryan and John Boehner don’t get this or are too afraid to level with the American people about how serious a problem living beyond our means year after year really is.

The following just popped into my inbox:

Beginning Monday, March 25, former Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh will join the line-up of AM 560 The Answer in Chicago, hosting a show each weekday from 7-9pm.

“There are few politicians in Illinois or anywhere in the country that garner as much attention as Joe Walsh,” said Jeff Reisman, general manager of AM 560 The Answer.

“Joe is an outspoken defender of freedom, and because of his firsthand experience in Congress, he brings a unique perspective to the national conversation as our country searches for answers during these challenging times.”

“People kept asking me what my next step was going to be after I left office in January,” said Joe Walsh.

“We’re at a crucial point in this country, and I’m excited to take the debate right to listeners throughout Chicagoland via the airwaves.

“The radio program will be a great platform to help grow a freedom movement which is already gaining momentum right here in Illinois.

“I intend to do with this program what I did as a U.S. Congressman —

• speak plainly
• speak directly
• not worry about political correctness
• engage in respectful, engaging debate with all viewpoints.

This is just too important of a time for all of us to do anything less.”

The Daily Herald’s Kerry Lester is reporting

today that former Republican Congressman Joe Walsh will have a microphone on WIND-AM radio starting March 18th.

She reports,

“Walsh said he plans to use the radio program to ‘grow a movement of people who are prepared to tell their government, “I want to grow up and I want to be free.’”

A column from former Congressman Joe Walsh:

Obama is Lying

During the debt ceiling fight in 2011, when President Obama came up with the stupid sequester idea — which Congress went along with and I voted against — Obama went on TV and said that if the debt ceiling was not raised, he wouldn’t be able to make Social Security and Medicare payments.

I went on TV and said “The president is lying,” because he knew darn well that even if the debt ceiling wasn’t raised, there was plenty of money to take care of our Social Security and Medicare obligations.

He’s doing the same thing now, and we Republicans are afraid to call him on it.

He’s traveling the country trying to scare the American people by saying that if the sequester goes through, flights will be endangered, food safety will be impaired, parents won’t be able to send their kids to day care, and a terrorist attack is more likely to happen.

The latest was yesterday when he sent his Education Secretary out to say that because of the sequester,

“Teachers all over the country were already getting pink slips.”

When asked to give an example, he could only give one, in West Virginia, and those dismissals had nothing to do with the sequester.

Arne Duncan was lying.

We Republicans are too nice.

The Democrats bring real knives to a knife fight.

We bring Power Point presentations.

This has to change.

The president isn’t being flexible.

He’s not being silly.

He and his cabinet are LYING to the American people.

We need to say it.

He is saying untruths to scare the American people over to his side.

He never, ever wants to cut government spending. That’s not who he is.

Call it what it is: The president of the United States is lying.

= = = = =
See “Where’s Joe Walsh When We Need Him?”

See YouTube “Walsh to Obama: Quit Lying“

A column by former Congressman Joe Walsh:

What a Bunch of Media Hypocrites!

Over six weeks ago, I asked Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady to step down after his public comments on same-sex marriage.

My request had nothing to do with Pat Brady — who’s a good guy — and it had nothing to do with the issue of same-sex marriage.

There are plenty of Republicans who support traditional marriage, and there are plenty of Republicans who support same-sex marriage.

Brady needs to resign not because of where he stands on marriage, but because, as the party chairman, he needs to publicly support the party platform which he helped draft last year or keep quiet.

Pat, not once, not twice, but three times, publicly rebuked the party platform and publicly rubbed Republican noses in it.

That’s not right for the party chairman to do, no matter what the issue is.

The Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Daily Herald and others know this, but they continue to use this dispute as a way of claiming that it’s all about same-sex marriage.

They try to portray Republicans as intolerant on the issue of same-sex marriage.

They are practically giddy about this.

Again, this isn’t about same-sex marriage.

It’s about a party chairman publicly giving his middle finger to his own party platform.

The reaction from the party would be the same if Brady publicly demanded that the Illinois legislature raise the state income tax.

The Chicago media are a bunch of hypocrites.

Think about this for a moment:

What would Illinois Democrats do if their party chairman came out and publicly supported traditional marriage and publicly demanded the Democrat Party vote against same-sex marriage?

Can you imagine how upset Democrats would be?

Does anyone doubt that the Chicago media would be calling for that Democratic Party chairman to step down?

Liberal, media hypocrites.

From former Congressman Joe Walsh:

End the Combine or Lose Illinois Forever

I entered the United States Congress in 2011 as its poorest member, and I left Congress this past January still its poorest member.

But if I had a dollar for every time during these past two years that someone told me that there, “really is no Republican Party in Illinois,” I would have left Congress a much wealthier man.

For too long, the Republican Party in Illinois has been missing in action — afraid to stand for our core principles of

• freedom
• limited government
• individual responsibility

It’s been unwilling to find and develop a farm team of quality candidates.

It’s been unable to invest the time and resources into taking its message into every community in the state.

It’s been incapable of getting its hands dirty in the messy game of politics that the Democrats play so well, and most tragically, it’s scared to death to ever challenge Michael Madigan and the Chicago Democrat Machine.

It has been written about before, but it’s almost as if there has been a tacit agreement all these years between the Republican bosses in this state to let the Democrats control Illinois, as long as those same Republican bosses hang on to enough power to hang around.

Some have called this arrangement the “combine”:

Democrats rule Illinois, and in exchange, the Republican Party “leaders” over the years acquire power but agree never to make waves and never, ever to stand for policies of freedom and limited government.

What has this combine brought us?

A demoralized Republican base.

No functioning party organization.

A fat and corrupt Democratic Party.

The most broke, most corrupt state in the union, with taxpayers and companies fleeing permanently every day.

The Republican Party in Illinois must start over immediately, or this will remain a one-party state forever.

I think Illinois GOP Chairman Pat Brady is a good guy, but I’ve said repeatedly since mid-January that he has to step down immediately as party chairman.

We can have Republicans who support traditional marriage, we can have Republicans who support same sex marriage.

However, we cannot have a party chairman who publicly gives his backhand to the party platform and supports same sex marriage.

We must start there, Republicans.

We must have a party chairman who supports the party platform.

We must have party leadership which proudly and enthusiastically stands for our principles of a free and limited government society.

We must excite our base and not be afraid to do so.

We are a conservative party and must not be afraid to say so.

There are more Republican leaning and conservative voters in this state than we realize, but for years we have not given them a reason to get involved, get excited, and vote.

If not now — with the almost criminal mess Democrats have gotten this great State into — then when?

Come on Illinois Republican Party — end your cowardly arrangement to cede control of this state to the Democrats.

Fight to be a real principled political party, and fight like hell to save this state.

If we refuse, than say goodbye to Illinois forever.

Here’s a photo of former Congressman Joe Walsh talking to a crowd of Huntley Area Tea Party members at the Huntley Park District building.