McHenry County Blog

Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass has some fun today explaining how numerous Democratic Party State Representatives and candidates for State Rep. refused to tell him if they would vote for Mike Madigan for House Speaker.

Among offices called was that of Dee Beaubien (Ind.-Madigan).

The part of the John Kass Chicago Tribune column on Dee Beaubien can probably be seen without clicking to enlarge the image.

The call was not returned.

In Friday’s Chicago Tribune John Kass column, the Dee Beaubien (Ind.-Madigan) campaign was referenced.

It was in a tongue-in-check piece about fines that should be levied against politicians.

Consider the Chicken Tax: Aimed at former State Senator Barack Obama, who voted present many, many times. $100,000 for each offense.

Consider the Double Dipper Tax: For those politicians receiving two pensions from two governments. Fine would be $1 million.

Or the Boomerang Tax: “If they raise salaries by 2%, then their salaries shrink by 2%. And, if they increase income taxes by 67%, they lose two-thirds of their salaries. Kind of makes you think before you vote, right?”

And, then there’s the In-Kind Tax:

John Kass’ seeming reference to Mike Madigan’s massive contributions to “Independent” Dee Beaubien’s campaign against David McSweeney.

“Any campaign donation made by a politician to another politicians must be matched with an in-kind contribution to the state debt.

“So, if, say, House Speaker Michael Madigan, the boss, slips an ‘independent’ candidate $250,000 for a campaign, he must pay an equal amount into the general revenue stream, to deal with all the problems Madigan has ignored while he’s been busy raising case and bossing governors and mayors around.”

Actually, the last time I checked, direct contributions from Madigan’s Political Action Committees was $306,000.

That’s what I heard Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady say on WBBM radio the Monday after the State Convention in Tinley Park.

I went searching for the exact words on Chicago News 780, but couldn’t find it.

Even so, that message is consistent that given last Saturday by Brady. See “Auditioning at the State Convention to be Illinois’ Scott Walker.”

Brady pointed out that 5,000 more votes placed strategically in districts Republican House members barely lost would have flipped control of the Illinois House to the GOP.

Instead of Mike Madigan’s being House Speaker for the umpty-umpth time, Tom Cross would have presumably have been elected.

Cross is six seats short and surely has targeted them in 2014.

Madigan, of course, knows this and knows that he might lose some.

Reports that his people are helping Dee Beaubien gather signatures for her announced Independent candidacy surfaced on Jon Zahm’s “Dee Beaubien is too Liberal for the 52nd District. Don’t elect Dee Liberal” blog.

In an article entitled, “Dee Beaubien- Auditioning for Madigan’s Caucus,” Zahm reports the Madigan assistance.

Obviously still disturbing me is the McHenry County Republican Party’s deliberate abdication of its responsibility to field a candidate against Democrat Jack Franks.

The McHenry County Republican Party has foregone the long shot opportunity to provide another vote for Tom Cross in his effort to unseat Democrat Mike Madigan.

Three times out of the last four elections.

The 63rd District is a Republican district for all candidates except Jack Franks.

He has worked is assiduously, co-opting many Republicans.

In fact, he makes it a practice to call any new Republican face to make “nice-nice.”

Franks has numerous Republicans on the “Host Committee” of his McHenry County (as opposed to Chicago).

However slim the odds might be to take out Franks, however, having a Republican candidate on the fall ballot is better than putting up no one.

Two Republican County Chairman in a row–Bill LeFew and Mike Tryon–have adopted the same white flag approach.

One even attended a Jack Franks’ fund raiser!

When asked if he wanted to say a few words, took the opportunity to say some nice things about Franks.

Perhaps my idea of what a party is supposed to do is skewed.

Maybe the Chicago Tribune’s John Kass has it right when he writes of “The Combine,” a bi-partisan group of politicians and their supporters who cooperate in order to enrich themselves.

I had thought Kass limited his labeling to the Party in Chicago, Cook County and Illinois.

To the best of my knowledge, Kass has never applied the concept to McHenry County politics.

But, then again, he has never written an article about McHenry County political arena.

The Chicago Tribune’s John Kass offers a factoid about Michelle Obama miraculous 2.6-fold increase in income after her husband won his U.S. Senate seat in his column Sunday.

“There are two kinds of politicians:

• those without personal wealth, and those with personal wealth.
• Those with money don’t need politics to make more.

Michelle Obama

“Those without money need friends as they climb the ladder of public service.

“Michelle Obama had such friends.

“She was making $121,910 a year in 2004 as a lobbyist for the University of Chicago hospitals.

“But two months after her husband took office as a U.S. senator, she was promoted.

“Her income zoomed to $316,962 a year.Michelle Obama had such friends.

“She was making $121,910 a year in 2004 as a lobbyist for the University of Chicago hospitals.

“But two months after her husband took office as a U.S. senator, she was promoted.

“Her income zoomed to $316,962 a year.”

John Kass writes about Bill Cellini's laugh.

In Friday’s Chicago Tribune column, John Kass wrote about Bill Cellini’s laugh.

I sensed Kass believed that when Cellini laughed incriminated him. Read the piece and draw your own conclusion.

And, if you want to hear Cellini’s laugh listen to the YouTube video of Cellini interaction with Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley.

I note that the Northwest Herald ran a front page story about Cellini’s trail Friday, but did not mention he and colleagues won the Vulcan Lakes Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District development bid. I find that a bit strange because the NW Herald broke the story.

In any event, take a listen below:

Here’s a longer version that puts the snippet above in context:

The Daily Herald asked the question, but won’t print the story.

It took the Chicago Tribune’s John Kass to reveal that McHenry County State Rep. Jack Franks won’t answer the question.

“What’s the question?” you ask impatiently.

Jack Franks will talk to any reporter anytime, won’t he?  About anything?

He talked to the Windy City Times about the heroism of an out of county gay young man who rescued a drowning swimmer, even posed in Chicago for a photo with him.

You can undoubtedly think of many other subjects Franks is willing to talk about, for example, the sham Recall Amendment on the ballot this fall.

Here’s the question that was on the still hidden Daily Herald legislative questionnaire (compliments of Franks’ Republican opponent John O’Neill, who allowed McHenry County Blog to publish his answers):

Will you vote for your current caucus leader?

In his Wednesday column was on a similar mission to find out whether any of Madigan’s minions would dare admit they would not vote for the Illinois House’s boss for 25 of the last 27 years.

Yes or no: if elected,

will you vote to keep

him as House speaker?

That’s what Kass asked twelve “suddenly quiet,” as the headline says, Democrats.

Kass points out this is the most important race on the ballot.

Jack Franks

Electing a Democrat as your state representative means that Mike Madigan remains House Speaker.

Even electing Jack Franks means that.

Even though we don’t have access to Franks’ reply to his answer to the Daily Herald’s brilliant question (which was not on the Tribune questionnaire, unfortunately), the Marengo legislator’s silence speaks volumes.

“He (Madigan) controls them like obedient puppies, and they wag their tails and make him speaker and try not to wet the carpet,” Kass explains.

“A few have even said they intend to stand up to Madigan. But once in office, he snaps his fingers and they’re puppies again.”

And, Jack Franks has a really good motive to be an “obedient puppy.”

He wants Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton him a congressional seat he can win in 2012.

Franks wants out.

“Once word got around that I was asking the Madigan question in the former state of Illinois now known as Madiganistan, a strange thing happened: Candidates who normally seek publicity before an election were suddenly indisposed for days.”

The dodge and duck responses are detailed for a number of the candidates before Kass gets to Jack Franks.

When he does, here’s what he says,

“State Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo, called to leave a message. ‘I’m returning John Karr’s call,’ Franks said. ‘Sorry I missed you. Please call me.’ He left a cell phone number.

“When we called to tell him it wasn’t John Karr, but actually some other guy named John Kass who wanted to ask about Boss Madigan, Franks didn’t call back.”

The folks he labels as the Madigan 12 aren’t “terrible people. But either they’re owned by Madigan or they’re afraid of him.

“Their silence tells you everything you need to know.

“So, if you vote for any of the Madigan 12, please understand that you’re actually voting for Boss Madigan to run the state…

“And you might want to remember than on Tuesday.”

McHenry County Blog reported on Republican McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren’s involvement with Democrat State Representative Jack Franks’ fund raiser.

Apparently the relationship is reciprocal.

Over the transom, so to speak, comes the silent auction sign-up sheet below:

The Jack Franks' "Page for a Day" bid sheet at a Keith Nygren fund raiser.

It is the donation of a “Page for a Day” with Franks in Springfield.

It’s not that it has to cost the legislator making the donation anything. He just provides the opportunity for the purchaser to run errands for state reps for a day.

But, given the inclusion of Nygren’s name on a list of supporters that Franks mailed far and wide, it does make one wonder.

Perhaps as interesting is the name of Nygren’s candidate for State’s Attorney against incumbent Republican Lou Bianchi, Dan Regna, as the only bidder when this photo was taken.

If I were Tribune columnist John Kass, I might be tempted to suggest there is a Bi-partisan Combine in McHenry County.

= = = =

I first ran into the term “over the transom” in connection with a currency exchange scandal uncovered by Chicago Daily News reporter Jack Mabley.  He said that legislators in Springfield left the the transoms of the window above the door in their hotel room open if they were amenable to accepting bribes.  This was before the days of air conditioning and an open hotel room and transom windows could provide cross-ventilation.

Looks like the two daily newspaper political columnists in Chicago may be in for a feud.

I looked at Sun-Times columnist Carol Marin’s Sunday column first.  You can tell from the title,

I’m assuming the former Rod Blagojevich fund raiser killed himself, but I guess it’s possible that someone forced enough aspirin down his throat to kill him.

Then I read the Chicago Tribune column by John Kass.

And, having read Marin’s column first, the following leaped off the page:

“In the next few days, some mouthpiece, perhaps even a politician, will start spinning that if the feds hadn’t pressure him to talk, Kelly would be alive.”

Obviously, Kass had not read Marin’s column before he wrote his, so it wasn’t really aimed at Marin.

But the point was made.

Today Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass had a field day Wednesday suggesting Chicago-based TV shows for former Governor Rod Blagojevich.

More clever, however, is one suggested by Northwest Herald cartoonist Wallace.

He conceives of

He shows a beefy inmate dancing with Rod saying,

“Your hair
smells nice.”

The cutline is

“The Rod Blagojevich
reality show we’d all like to see.”

It’s clever, but in poor taste, in my opinion.

The reason is that men really do get raped in prison.

I just don’t think joking about rape, whether of women or men is in good taste.

Perhaps someone at the Northwest Herald had second thoughts, because this April 20, 2009, cartoon is not shown on the editorial cartoon page.

New Year’s Day I suggested that President-Elect Barack Obama should quietly pass the word to the U.S. Senate Democratic Party leaders that they should seat Roland Burris before his Inauguration.

I figured that Black leaders would threaten demonstrations during the swearing in ceremony, if Burris had not yet taken office.

I was wrong.

On two counts.

As you can see from the front page column by John Kass in the Chicago Tribune today, there was nothing quiet about Obama’s advice.

And the meeting with Burris and Dick Durbin in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s Office was anything but secret.

And the influence of African-Americans within the Democratic Party no longer needs to rely on street demonstrations.