McHenry County Blog

Woodstock’s Jonathan Farnick was passing petitions at the August 26th meeting of the McHenry County Democratic Central Committee.

“A person with her voting record doesn’t deserve re-election,” Farnick told me.

Now, Democrats are trying to kick him and 8th congressional district Green Party candidate Bill Scheurer off the ballot.

No one from the left side of the political spectrum apparently is considered eligible to run against incumbent Democrat Melissa Bean.

Two years ago, Farnick filed as a Democratic Party candidate and Scheurer’s wife Randi, who was also a candidate against Bean in the primary, filed a successful objection against his candidacy and won. It was based on Farnick’s having too few petition signatures.Gregory Ferritto, 1526 Anderson Trail in Zion, is the challenger to Bill Scheurer’s petitions.

Same with Farnick.

It appears the same Ferritto challenged Green Party candidate Iain Abernathy in 2008. At that time Ferritto sported a Winthrop Harbor address.

He works for the Post Office and has contributed to the Committee On Letter Carriers Political Education.

There were not challenges among six Republicans running in the 8th district GOP primary.

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Jonathon Farnick is seen at the top of the story; Bill Scheurer at the bottom.

That’s what State Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie) said he was going to tell McHenry County Democrats at their central committee meeting Wednesday night.

Lang is a 22-year member of the Illinois House and Mike Madigan’s floor leader.

“I’m involved in a lot of noise on the floor,” he said.

“We just got through five years of a governor who didn’t understand his job. I’m not just talking the criminal charges.”

Lang talked about the impeachment trial, observing that there had been a lot of talk about it in the back rooms for a long time.

“One who did not talk about it quietly in the back rooms was your own State Rep. Jack Franks.

“I’d prefer to have taken him out (in an election). Impeaching a governor isn’t too good for your party.

“Democrats were moving forces in cleaning up our own act, in cleaning up Springfield,” said one of the members of the House Impeachment Committee.

“While it looked like fun, it was not fun.

“This is the most important time I’ve spent in the legislature.

“Governor (Pat) Quinn takes over…at the worst possible time.

“(We are in) unprecedented fiscal crisis in the state. All fifty states (are in the same condition).”

Referring to Quinn, Lang said, “He’s been practicing for this job for a very long time. He wakes up as Lieutenant Governor and went to sleep as Governor.”

Lang praised the courage of Quinn for proposing an income tax increase.

“It took a significant amount of political courage.”

“We must do something to maintain the level of services,” was the way Lang characterized Quinn’s motivation.

Lang told how the Federal government made it impossible to use most of the stimulus money to fill the $6-11 billion budget hole. Congress wrote into the law that Medicaid payment cycles had to be lowered from Illinois’ 90-days to 30-days.

“All that was left was the human service programs.”

He pointed out that when human service agencies faced a 50% cut in subsidies that “doesn’t equal 50% of the cost because of fixed costs.”

“I voted for the income tax.”

Lang was one of 42 Democrats who voted for it.

“Jack Franks, my very good friend, didn’t vote for it. He had legitimate, thoughtful reasons.”

“Dozens who voted, ‘No,’ did so just to protect their next election.

“Jack Franks is my good friend, but at least he had a reason.

“There are so many who did not.

“We did have thirteen more people (Democrats) ready to vote for an income tax increase,” Lang added.

Doing the addition, that meant the Democrats had 55 of the needed 60 votes to pass an income tax. Lang said that those 13 saw no reason to expose themselves to political challenge, if the bill were not going to pass.

Tomorrow: “Twelve Brave Souls.”

The next day: “More About the Income Tax Fight.”

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In the photograph of the three men during the question and answer session, you see, from left to right, Mark Freund, John Darger and Jonathan Farnick

Before the McHenry County Democratic Central Committee at the Farm Bureau building in Woodstock, I met Jonathon Farnick.

He’s gathering signatures to run against 8th District Congresswoman Melissa Bean in the February Democratic primary election.

So far, he has gotten 259 signatures and needs something under 1,000 good signatures. He realizes the need to get a cushion in order to withstand a challenge from Bean supporters.

Why is he running?

“In a democracy you should have people to vote for and I don’t want to be a resident of the 8th District and see only one person running for that seat,” the Woodstock resident told me.

“Nothing’s changed since two years ago. A person with her voting record doesn’t deserve re-election.

“Removing habeas corpus protections is a deal breaker,” he said referring to either the Military Commissions Act or the John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007.

“There’s been so many, I can’t keep track.”

When introduced as a guest to the almost 30 people in the room, Farnick said,

“I’d like to see a Democrat in here because for the last couple of years we haven’t had one.”

Farnick tried to get on the ballot two years ago.

When I interviewed him, he knew that Randi Scheurer was running against Bean in the Democratic primary, but had a disagreement with what he perceived to be her stand on abortion.

Both, however, could have been characterized as anti-war or peace candidates.

Scheurer challenged Farnick’s petitions for having too few signatures. Farnick withdrew his candidacy.

Election results for Bean over the years can be found in this article about Bill Scheurer’s intention to run as the Green Party candidate for the 8th District seat in Congress.

8th congressional district United States Representative Melissa Bean had two Democratic Party primary opponents when the filing period ended.

One, Randi Scheurer, was following up on husband Bill Scheurer’s third party challenge last year in which he tallied 5% of the vote for the Moderate Party.

She, like her husband, opposes the Iraq War.

Another anti-war candidate, Jonathan Farnick of Woodstock, passed petitions and also filed, but with less than the number of signatures required by law. In 2006 he ran a write-in campaign for the office.

Having two anti-war candidates running against one being characterized as “pro-war” would have given incumbent Bean an extraordinary advantage.

Incumbents always want as many challengers as possible.

Farnick admitted he realized that and you can read why he continued running anyway here.

When Farnick’s petition signatures came up short, Scheurer herself challenged his petitions.

Most candidates, Robert Abboud being a local example this year, get a supporter to do the dirty work of eliminating an unwanted contender.

The State Board of Elections web site says Farnick withdrew on November 19th, late on the afternoon before Thanksgiving, but no one in the media noticed until yesterday, when the Daily Herald’s Russell Lisssau put up a story online at 2:06 in the afternoon.

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At the top, Randi Scheurer is on the left and Melissa Bean on the right. Jonathan Farnick is below Scheurer.

8th congressional district United States Representative Melissa Bean had two Democratic Party primary opponents when the filing period ended.

One, Randi Scheurer, was following up on husband Bill Scheurer’s third party challenge last year in which he tallied 5% of the vote for the Moderate Party.

She, like her husband, opposes the Iraq War.

Another anti-war candidate, Jonathan Farnick of Woodstock, passed petitions and also filed, but with less than the number of signatures required by law. In 2006 he ran a write-in campaign for the office.

Having two anti-war candidates running against one being characterized as “pro-war” would have given incumbent Bean an extraordinary advantage.

Incumbents always want as many challengers as possible.

Farnick admitted he realized that and you can read why he continued running anyway here.

When Farnick’s petition signatures came up short, Scheurer herself challenged his petitions.

Most candidates, Robert Abboud being a local example this year, get a supporter to do the dirty work of eliminating an unwanted contender.

The State Board of Elections web site says Farnick withdrew on November 19th, late on the afternoon before Thanksgiving, but no one in the media noticed until yesterday, when the Daily Herald’s Russell Lisssau put up a story online at 2:06 in the afternoon.

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At the top, Randi Scheurer is on the left and Melissa Bean on the right. Jonathan Farnick is below Scheurer.

I can’t improve on the headline of Randi Scheurer’s challenge of Woodstock Democratic primary rival Jonathan Farnick. Both of them filed against incumbent Melissa Bean.

Having two primary challengers is what any incumbent legislator would desire.

Scheurer claims Farnick filed 200 too few signatures.

You can find more information about Farnick here and here.

Here’s the press release:

Scheurer Challenges Farnick Petition

Democratic Party candidate Randi Scheurer (IL-8TH Congressional District) filed a legal objection on Tuesday with the State Board of Elections to disqualify Jonathan Farnick’s petition to appear on the February 5 primary ballot as a second challenger to the incumbent Melissa Bean.

“Mr. Farnick did not turn in the required number of valid signatures to qualify as a candidate,” says Scheurer. “Running for Congress is no small thing. It takes a big commitment to do it right.”

The Scheurer campaign claims that Farnick fell short by more than 200 signatures after removing names that are not registered voters at the addresses listed in his nominating petition.

Mrs. Scheurer says that she and a campaign worker met with Farnick at the beginning of the petition period, to see if they could reach agreement on which one of them should challenge Bean.

“He (Farnick) told me then, and has since repeated in public interviews, that he did not even intend to run a real campaign,” says Scheurer.

“That is completely unacceptable. We want a real candidate, to give Democrats a real alternative to a totally unacceptable Republican-Lite incumbent. Not someone who is just dabbling in it and not committed to running a real campaign.”

“What good does that do?” She asks. “That would only help the incumbent. We want Democrats to have a clear choice.”

The Scheurer campaign turned in over 2,300 signatures on her nominating petition, outstripping even the number submitted by the incumbent Melissa Bean.

I can’t improve on the headline of Randi Scheurer’s challenge of Woodstock Democratic primary rival Jonathan Farnick. Both of them filed against incumbent Melissa Bean.

Having two primary challengers is what any incumbent legislator would desire.

Scheurer claims Farnick filed 200 too few signatures.

You can find more information about Farnick here and here.

Here’s the press release:

Scheurer Challenges Farnick Petition

Democratic Party candidate Randi Scheurer (IL-8TH Congressional District) filed a legal objection on Tuesday with the State Board of Elections to disqualify Jonathan Farnick’s petition to appear on the February 5 primary ballot as a second challenger to the incumbent Melissa Bean.

“Mr. Farnick did not turn in the required number of valid signatures to qualify as a candidate,” says Scheurer. “Running for Congress is no small thing. It takes a big commitment to do it right.”

The Scheurer campaign claims that Farnick fell short by more than 200 signatures after removing names that are not registered voters at the addresses listed in his nominating petition.

Mrs. Scheurer says that she and a campaign worker met with Farnick at the beginning of the petition period, to see if they could reach agreement on which one of them should challenge Bean.

“He (Farnick) told me then, and has since repeated in public interviews, that he did not even intend to run a real campaign,” says Scheurer.

“That is completely unacceptable. We want a real candidate, to give Democrats a real alternative to a totally unacceptable Republican-Lite incumbent. Not someone who is just dabbling in it and not committed to running a real campaign.”

“What good does that do?” She asks. “That would only help the incumbent. We want Democrats to have a clear choice.”

The Scheurer campaign turned in over 2,300 signatures on her nominating petition, outstripping even the number submitted by the incumbent Melissa Bean.

Yesterday, I wrote about Jonathan Farnick, a new potential contender from Woodstock for the 8th congressional district Democratic Party nomination.

His entry into the race brings up to two the number of “peace” candidates challenging incumbent Melissa Bean.

The first was Randi Scheurer, whose husband ran unsuccessfully against Bean in the 2004 Democratic Party primary and in the 2006 general election on the Moderate Party ticket.

In 2006, Scheurer got over 5% of the vote–5.8%, to be more precise–against Bean and Republican David McSweeney, so his party has the ability to put a candidate on the ballot next year. Already, Iain Abernathy has announced he will be the candidate.

I asked Farnick why he was running. His answer follows:

“For a couple of different reasons. In 2004, her husband lost against Bean in the primary. In 2006, he lost in the general. In 2008, will things be any different?

“Another thing I was thinking, when I decided to run…I had not heard that Mr. or Mrs. Scheurer would be running in the Democratic Party. I was under the general assumption that Mr. Scheurer was going to continue with his Moderate Party candidacy.

“Around the time I announced and started to collect signatures (end of August) I has seen an article that said Scheurer was going to run against Bean in 2008. I did not read the article. I just tagged it.

“I’m continuing to collect signatures. When I went back and read the article and saw that it was Randi and not Bill, I thought of the Scheurers not having too good a track record. The other thing I immediately thought of was Illinois’ sore loser law. If you lose the primary, you can’t run in the general.

“If she loses in the primary, he can run in the general.

“That’s a back handed way to get around that.

“I knew about Mr. Scheurer’s stands on various issues and I would presume that his wife would be similar in her views. But just because someone was also running, that doesn’t mean that I should drop or that she should drop out.

“And I would rather see two or three or four or five or six people running than for us to just blindly support the incumbent Democrat just because she is a Democrat.

“One of the main reasons I could not get behind Mr. Scheurer in 2006 was his stance on abortion. He was personally opposed to it, but stated publicly that he would not try to restrict it in any way. And I was not comfortable with supporting somebody who could potentially down the road restrict a woman’s right to choose.”

“If you run, do you understand that you might split the primary vote?” I asked, pointing out the accepted political wisdom that incumbents love to have more than one challenger.

“I understand that,” he replied.

“Unfortunately most people don’t know of Bean’s vote” he continued. “I lot of people just assume she is just a Democrat who could be there to oppose the then Republican-controlled Congress and the President, and not knowing she voted with the Republicans and the President on a number of very important issues.”

A photo was not available of Farnick.

Yesterday, I wrote about Jonathan Farnick, a new potential contender from Woodstock for the 8th congressional district Democratic Party nomination.

His entry into the race brings up to two the number of “peace” candidates challenging incumbent Melissa Bean.

The first was Randi Scheurer, whose husband ran unsuccessfully against Bean in the 2004 Democratic Party primary and in the 2006 general election on the Moderate Party ticket.

In 2006, Scheurer got over 5% of the vote–5.8%, to be more precise–against Bean and Republican David McSweeney, so his party has the ability to put a candidate on the ballot next year. Already, Iain Abernathy has announced he will be the candidate.

I asked Farnick why he was running. His answer follows:

“For a couple of different reasons. In 2004, her husband lost against Bean in the primary. In 2006, he lost in the general. In 2008, will things be any different?

“Another thing I was thinking, when I decided to run…I had not heard that Mr. or Mrs. Scheurer would be running in the Democratic Party. I was under the general assumption that Mr. Scheurer was going to continue with his Moderate Party candidacy.

“Around the time I announced and started to collect signatures (end of August) I has seen an article that said Scheurer was going to run against Bean in 2008. I did not read the article. I just tagged it.

“I’m continuing to collect signatures. When I went back and read the article and saw that it was Randi and not Bill, I thought of the Scheurers not having too good a track record. The other thing I immediately thought of was Illinois’ sore loser law. If you lose the primary, you can’t run in the general.

“If she loses in the primary, he can run in the general.

“That’s a back handed way to get around that.

“I knew about Mr. Scheurer’s stands on various issues and I would presume that his wife would be similar in her views. But just because someone was also running, that doesn’t mean that I should drop or that she should drop out.

“And I would rather see two or three or four or five or six people running than for us to just blindly support the incumbent Democrat just because she is a Democrat.

“One of the main reasons I could not get behind Mr. Scheurer in 2006 was his stance on abortion. He was personally opposed to it, but stated publicly that he would not try to restrict it in any way. And I was not comfortable with supporting somebody who could potentially down the road restrict a woman’s right to choose.”

“If you run, do you understand that you might split the primary vote?” I asked, pointing out the accepted political wisdom that incumbents love to have more than one challenger.

“I understand that,” he replied.

“Unfortunately most people don’t know of Bean’s vote” he continued. “I lot of people just assume she is just a Democrat who could be there to oppose the then Republican-controlled Congress and the President, and not knowing she voted with the Republicans and the President on a number of very important issues.”

A photo was not available of Farnick.

Someone I have not heard of before is passing petitions to challenge United States Representative Melissa Bean in the 8th congressional district. He needs 869 valid signatures to get on the ballot, unless no one challenges his petition.

On the 10th of October, he wrote he had half of the signatures he needed. Last Sunday he announced he would be out collecting signatures at coffee houses in Woodstock, Palatine and Grayslake.

His name is Jonathan Farnick and he is 39 years old. He lives in Woodstock with wife Melissa and high school son Dylan in a home the couple bought their first home in 2002

In 2006, he ran a write-in campaign, calling Bean “a Republican rubber-stamp.”

“I’ve been told to hold my nose and vote for Ms. Bean because we need to keep a Democrat in office,” he wrote. “If we had one I would, but we don’t.”

Sounds a lot like Bean’s other Democratic Primary opponent, Randi Scheurer.

He doesn’t mention Scheurer’s primary challenge of Bean, but describes her husband:

“the anti-choice moderate Bill Scheurer.”

I haven’t a clue whether Bill’s wife shares his view on abortion, but Farnich maybe thinks she does.

This year, instead of running as a write-in, the 38-year old native of upstate New York in 1991 is trying to get on the ballot.

If he makes it on the ballot, Farnick surely will get more than the six write-in McHenry County votes he received in the fall, 2006, congressional race. He received 7 votes district wide.

The other 2006 write-in candidate to run for congress in a McHenry County district was Rockford’s John Borling. He ran against Don Manzullo in the 16th congressional district. He did pretty well in Rockford, which has its own competing television stations, but barely scratched in McHenry County, winning only 76 votes here.

Farnick’s 2006 information reveals he was a consultant with Spherion Corporation working in the IT departments of area companies.

“My political activity has been to vote in every mid-term since 1986,” he writes, “and presidential election since 1988.

“I’ve been to Washington, DC one cold day in 2005 to protest President Bush’s second inauguration, the last two of Chicago’s Anti-War marches, and October’s World Can’t Wait march;

• I’ve participated in various democratic and independent meet-ups and support groups in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs;
• I’ve been critical of Democrats, extremely critical of the GOP, and unfairly critical of others in various online discussions.
• I have never before run for any public office.”

Concerning his 2006 campaign, Farnick revealed,

“I will not be campaigning in the normal sense… I will not be campaigning in the normal sense, so please let your friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers know about me.”

He has a list of 2005-6 bills on which he disagreed with Bean’s votes on a 2006 post on his web site.

Recapping some and, maybe adding some new ones, he wrote last week:

“…we cannot decry the loss of habeas corpus; warrantless wiretapping; illegal, unnecessary, and treasury-draining wars, then support a democrat who has voted for these and other bills while in office.”

Tomorrow, an interview with Jonathan Farnick.