McHenry County Blog

Seen on the bottom row from left to right, are John and Sheri Haselgruber, Paulette Wainberg, Chairman Nunda Republicans Central Committee Brent Smith and Chris Halloway. On the back row, from left to right, are Jim Batastini, Scott Brown, Nunda Trustee Joni Smith, Brian Prather, Patti Pauley, Adam "Moose" Pringle, Nunda Trustee Tom Palmer, Karen Tynis, Wally Tynis, Nick Provenzano, Chairman Republican Party McHenry County Mike Tryon, Dave Gervais, Jake Justen, YR Chairman Bryan Javor, Adam Wallen. Missing from the picture, but attending, are Zachary Smith, Chelsi Smith, Bob Halloway, Mark Daniel, James Jirasek, organization Vice Chairman Jon Heideman.

Under Brent Smith’s leadership, the Nunda Township Republican Central Committee has held the first of its monthly meetings.

There was even a commemorative cake.

Now, Nunda Township Republicans are rolling out a fund raising raffle, the prize for which will be a politician to cook dinner for the winner in his or her home.

I bought my ticket in between getting signatures for the “Fair Map” reapportionment constitutional amendment petition at the Crystal Lake Business Expo.

Workers posing at the Republican Party booth at the Crystal Lake Chamber of Commerce Business Expo. From left to right are Rebecca Lee, Bob Miller, Anna May Miller, Tom McDermott, Brent Smith, Cal Skinner, Bill Miller, Mike Shorten and Jon Heideman.

I figured the only woman on the list, Barb Wheeler probably would provide the best meal, so she’s going to learn where the Lakewood home with the tree house is, if I win.

Below is the flyer for the fundraiser:

Ticket contact email is coonpy@att.net.

Craig Steagall

District 3 county board candidate Craig Steagall has filed his final report for his county board campaign that fell 232 votes short of beating incumbent Barb Wheeler.

Steagall came in fourth 32 votes behind Karen Tynis.

Joliet’s Merc Strategy Group was the place that Steagall’s money went. It received $16,700.

That entire amount was supplied by the candidate.

Winning a GOP nomination besides Wheeler was Nick Provenzano, who polled first.

With almost all of District 3 precincts reporting (30 out of 37), it appears that incumbent Barb Wheeler and former member Nick Provenzano will win the two spots on the fall GOP ballot.

Provenzano is running first, which means that the proponents of video gambling have picked up one vote. Two pick-ups are needed to switch the vote from a ban to allowing video poker at bars and restaurants in unincorporated areas.

Here you see conservative challenger Tom Morrison campaigning against Palatine's liberal State Rep. Suzie Bassi. Any local candidates hoofing it? Send me a photo, but don't look at the camera and be at a door with a potential constitute.I thought you might want to see the mail that candidates or those being courted for their vote have sent out in District 3. (If I have missed any, I ask the candidates to email it me.)

Candidates for the District 3 McHenry County Board seats are starting to send out mailings.

I thought you might want to see the ones that I have found.

Any candidate in any district who would like to have a bit wider coverage of their direct mail campaign is welcome to email me what is sent out. And, if you as a reader receive a mailing and will be so kind as to scan it for me, I’ll be appreciative and try to get it up.

With the Chicago Democrats having set the primary election in one of the coldest times of the year to protect incumbents from challengers, the postman really is the precinct committeeman.

Not many voters will see a candidate knocking on doors like the challenger to Republican State Rep. Suzie Bassi of Palatine, two districts away from most of us.

So, let’s take a look at some District 3 mailings for county board.

Here’s a mailing from District 2 challenger Craig Steagall.  It arrived last week.

This post card from District 3 challenger Craig Steagall appears to be an introduction of the candidate and theme of the campaign--"Fresh Leadership." It also includes the campaign web site www.craigsteagall.com

Here’s the other side.

It contains biographical information. I'm guessing the yellow patch is where the address and bulk mail permit goes. Steagall discloses his successful business background, his family's service to the agriculture community, a bit about his role in building the Prairie Ridge High School soccer fields and his role in the Continental Little League.

The piece from District 3 challenger Karen Tynis is next.

This is the address side of a Karen Tynis mailing. The highlight, of course, is the photo of her family. She talks of her business background and being a community volunteer.

This is the only post card I have seen so far that has to be rotated to be read. I don't whether that is good or bad, but tend to think it is good because it is different from the others.

On this postcard, the volunteer work mentioned on the address side is fleshed out, including volunteering for Prairie Ridge High School and Club Fusion volley ball, the Salvation Army, the Prairie Grove Parks Dept.  and the Shepherd of the Hills Church.

Tynis lists her goals as

• Establish new business relationships for the county that encourages growth without hurting the taxpayers
• Help keep existing businesses in McHenry County
• Lowering taxes
• Reduce government spending
• Establish an open door policy for residents
• Community safety

Tynis also lists her business experience with Tynis Concrete and KT Leasing, two property owners associations and ten years of real estate closings.

Barb Wheeler, the only incumbent running, is the only one to have sent out a letter.

Click to enlarge any image.

It includes her web site www.BarbaraWheeler2010.com and gives her phone number–815-245-4556.

She tells of her endorsement by the Northwest Herald and being described as an “INDEPENDENT” three times.

“I am a proud member of the Republican Party; however, in local government that doesn’t always mean I will vote in lock step with the party leaders.”

Here’s her closing pitch:

“The economy is the number one issue facing the county, state and country. Because of McHenry County’s fiscal discipline, our county has consistently passed a balanced budget.

“In the last five years, we have actually seen our county’s portion of the tax bill go down.

“Further, I have proposed initiatives not only to attract and to retain businesses, but also to help McHenry County businesses expand and grow. These efforts will improve business and employment opportunities.

“Obviously, the county can’t act alone; we will need the collaboration of the Economic Development Council, the McHenry County Community College, as well as other industry leaders.

“My consensus building experience will help to bring these groups to the table for the betterment of McHenry County.”

Finally, here is a mailing from former county board member Nick Provenzano, who is seeking a return to the county board.

It is a piece aimed at Pro-Lifers. It is the most professional looking piece I have seen aimed at that important segment of Republican primary voters. I wonder what the distribution was.

Clearly, District 3 county board candidate Nick Provenzano is positioning himself to be "THE" Pro-Life candidate.

Nick Provenzano touts his endorsement by the Illinois Citizens for Life, Irene Napier, Chairman of McHenry County Right to Life and Bonnie Quirke, Chairman of the Lake County Right to Life, plus the Northwest Herald. He includes his web site address.

Remember hearing about how forest fires sometimes jump fire breaks that are intended to contain them.

That may have happened late last week with the Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water’s conflict of interest ordinance.

Originally presented to the McHenry County Board in December, the draft ordinance was shipped off to the State’s Attorney’s Office for review.

The review came back with some good points, along with some trivial ones.

And the number of county board candidates voluntarily filing the form kept increasing. Here’s who have filed so far:

• District 1 – None
• District 2 – All but Ken Koehler, that is, Sandra DePaul, Donna Kurtz, Ellen Brady Mueller and Lyn Orphal
• District 3 – Everyone of them! Veronica Armstrong, Nick Provenzano, Craig Steagall, Barbara Wheeler and Karen Tynis
• District 4 – Sandra Salgado and Jeff Thirtyacre (Democrat)
• District 5 – Tina Hill, John Jung and Frank Wedig (Green).  Incumbent Jim Kennedy and challenger Dave Frederick have not yet filed the form.
• District 6 – All but incumbent Dan Ryan, that is, Richard Draper, Diane Evertsen, Mary McCann and Vic Narusis.

Since there is no deadline, candidates or public officials can still download the conflict of interest form, fill it out and send it in.

Indeed ALAW did not even ask candidates to fill out the ethics form; it did have a questionnaire on issued of interest, however, the results of which can be found here for the twelve county board candidates who completed it.

As you can see more candidates filled out the ethics statement than filled out the issue questionnaire.

Along the way, every candidate for sheriff has answered the conflict of interest questionnaire.

And, two incumbent county board members not up for election have completed it. One, Republican Virginia Peschke, the other, Democrat Paula Yensen.

Crystal Lake Councilwoman Carolyn Schofield

Late last week, however, the first municipal official sent in answers.

She is Crystal Lake City Councilwoman Carolyn Schofield.

What’s that all about?

She just got elected.

Does this portend an issue in the Crystal Lake city elections next spring?

Will Schofield introduce an ordinance to make completing the conflict of interest form a requirement for elected and appointed city officials, as well as city consultants?

Unlike the County of McHenry, the City of Crystal Lake is a Home Rule unit of government.

What’s that mean?

It means the Crystal Lake City Council and other Home Rule cities have more power than county government.

The standard explanation of what a Home Rule government can do is anything the General Assembly doesn’t say it can’t do.

If Schofield, the newest member of the city council, follows decides to make a variation of the ALAW ordinance mandatory in Crystal Lake, the debate could turn quite interesting.

Since city Councilwoman Ellen Brady Mueller is running for county board in District 2, she might get elected. She certainly is in the top three in the sign war.

If elected, I imagine she would resign from the council. If so, a replacement would have to be selected.

Might the council require applicants for the possible vacancy to answer the conflict of interest questions first?

Whether or not the city council passed such a requirement, any council member could let it be known that he or she would not support a candidate who did not fill out the form.

Yes, ALAW has started something that could get very, very interesting.

Paula Yensen

First there was District 5′s Republican Virginia Peschke filling out the Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water’s conflict of interest form.

Now her District 2 colleague Democrat Paula Yensen has done so, too.

Neither had to do so anymore than the 17 of 27 county board candidates who have done so.

Both women are incumbents who are not on the ballot.

Revealing such potential conflicts of interest to the Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water for posting on its web site is strictly voluntary…unless the county board passes an ordinance to make it mandatory.

But there’s something in the political air this year that convinced this overwhelming majority of county board candidates to lay out more of their political finances than in past years.  ALAW has capitalized on it.

It’s probably the stench of political corruption coming out of Springfield and Chicago.

Certainly, no indictments have popped up in McHenry County.

My theory is that the level of corruption out here is so small compared to that in Chicago and Springfield that it doesn’t make the cut at the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

And, yes, I have verified that Federal agents have interviewed people in McHenry County.

Even I got interviewed by a Postal Inspector concerning a House Republican Campaign Committee—financed mailing put out by the HRCC’s mail house owner Roger Stanley. He wanted a copy of a mailing from an obscure political action committee created just to attack my candidacy.

I didn’t remember the committee, but when he described the mailing, I did remember it, found a copy and faxed it to him.

It is my understanding that one of the mail fraud counts Stanley pled to concerned that mailing. Certainly, the Chicago Tribune reporter who called me the afternoon of the plea agreement thought so.

Even though the wrong doing in McHenry County doesn’t reach the indictment stage, the reporting of the indictments and convictions in Chicago does reach McHenry County, angering that part of the electorate who think government ought to be “on the square.”

That includes me. My 1990′s legislative seat mate Tom Johnson once told me, probably after some outraged speech,

“The problem with you, Skinner, is that you think this is on the square.”

So, let me list below the candidates for McHenry County Board who are willing to take ALAW’s step toward convincing local voters that county government is “on the square.” I’ll list them alphabetically by district. All the candidates are Republican, unless indicated otherwise.

• District 1 – None
• District 2 – All but Ken Koehler, that is, Sandra DePaul, Donna Kurtz, Ellen Brady Mueller and Lyn Orphal
• District 3 – Everyone of them! Veronica Armstrong, Nick Provenzano, Craig Steagall, Barbara Wheeler and Karen Tynis
• District 4 – Sandra Salgado and Jeff Thirtyacre (Democrat)
• District 5 – Tina Hill, John Jung and Frank Wedig (Green).  Incumbent Jim Kennedy and challenger Dave Frederick have not yet filed the form.
• District 6 – All but incumbent Dan Ryan, that is, Richard Draper, Diane Evertsen, Mary McCann, Vic Narusis.

Victor Narusis

Karen Tynis

Tynis and Narusis have filed most recently.

In addition, all the candidates for sheriff, except incumbent Keith Nygren, have voluntarily submitted their conflict of interest forms.

The three willing to “bare all” are (in order of filing)

• Zane Seipler
• Gus Philpott
• Mike Mahon

Here is where you can find the statements.

With the submission of the ALAW conflict of interest form, the total now stands at eleven of those county board members who have opened up financial aspects of their personal lives.

McHenry County Board member Barbara Wheeler, on the left, mugs with one of her District 3 challengers, Veronica Armstrong, who is holding a rubber jar opener that says, "Get a grip on your future. Get rid of the screw offs." The two were at the literature distribution last for Republican precinct committeemen last Friday night.

Republican Veronica Armstrong, who is running for a District 3 seat, has just submitted her information.

She is a challenger running against

• Incumbent Barb Wheeler
• Former Board member Nick Provenzano
• Challenger Craig Steagall and
• Challenger Karen Tynis

Tynis is now the only District 3 candidate who has not filled out the questionnaire whose completion the Alliance of Land, Agriculture and Water wants the county board to make mandatory.

Steagall started the domino effect, being the first in the county to file.

Others who have filled out the form are in this article.

McHenry County Board candidate Karen Tynis' 4X4 foot sign appeared, along with one for Sheriff Keith Nygren, at the Northwest corner of Bull Valley and Walkup Roads late last week.

First there was a four by four foot sign for 8th congressional candidate Joe Walsh on the small billboard skeleton in the field at the Northwest corner of Bull Valley Road and what Crystal Lakers call the McHenry Blacktop.

Then it disappeared.

Last week, when I took my son to swim practice at McHenry West High School, there was a sign for county board candidate Karen Tynis where the Walsh sign had been

I must admit to have not heard of Tynis prior to her filing for the McHenry County Board in the Republican primary in District 3.

I did pick up her campaign piece at the Republican precinct committeeman’s literature distribution last Friday night.

It shows a smiling family on the address side with the message:

HELP ME, TO HELP YOU!
Let’s Bring Business Back
to McHenry County!

Karen Tynis, is an experienced businesswoman, wife, mother, grandmother and community volunteer. Whe will work for what the residents of McHenry County need and want.

On the back side is a

Vote

Vote
Karen J.
Tynis
County Board

Personal Background:

• Married with 3 children
• Resident of County for 19 years
• BS Degree Eastern Illinois University

Business Experience:

• Manages the family business, Tynis Concrete, with an avg. of 20 employees, for the last 12 years.
• Owner of KT Leasing, Inc.
• 10 exp. with Real Estate Closings and New Construction
• Treasurer of 2 Property Owners Associations

Community Service:

• Prairie Ridge Volleyball Volunteered
• Club Fusion Volleyball Volunteer
• Salvation Army Volunteered
• Shepherd of the Hills Church Volunteered
• Prairie Grove Parks Dept. Volunteer

Objectives:

• Establish New Business Relationships for the County that encourages growth without hurting taxpayers
• Help Keep Existing Business in McHenry County
• Lowering Taxes
• Reduce Government Spending
• Establish Open Door Policy for Residents
• Community Safety

At the bottom is a notice that reminds people that early voting stats today.

Tynis answered the questionnaire for the Northwest Herald.

While not mention on the mailing, of possible interest is that she supports video poker and the two District 3 board members whose terms are up voted to ban it. One, Ed Dvorak, is retiring. The other, Barbara Wheeler was a leader in the fight to ban this gambling in the unincorporated areas of McHenry County.

The cop board vote on the ban was 13-10-1,  so the District 3 elections could tilt the balance in favor of video slot machines. If two pro-gambling members were elected—and no other changes occurred—the vote would be 12-11-1 in favor of video gambling.

One other observation:

I can’t remember the last time anyone campaigned in favor of growth. Past pro-growth candidates have usually said they were for “controlled growth.”

Illinois Citizens for Life, a statewide pro-life group, has endorsed Zane Seipler for McHenry County Sheriff.

Seipler is challenging incumbent Sheriff Keith Nygren in the February 2nd Republican primary election.

The organization is also endorsing candidates for county board.

In District 1, ICF is endorsing the only man and only non-incumbent running for one of the two spots. His name is Robert Nowak. He is a Cary resident, as are the two incumbents he is challenging—Anna May Miller and Yvonne Barnes.

In District 2, McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler and challenger Sandra DePaul are the two getting the group’s nod. Both are from Crystal Lake. Other candidates are incumbent Lyn Orphal and challengers Donna Kurtz, a McHenry County College board member and Crystal Lake City Councilwoman Ellen Brady Mueller.

In District 3 the only incumbent running for re-election, Barbara Wheeler is endorsed. Former county board member Nick Provenzano also won the group’s support. The opponents are Karen J Tynis, Veronica Armstrong and Craig Steagall.

In District 5, newcomer Dave Frederick and former county board member John Jung received the pro-life endorsement. Also running is incumbent Tina Hill.

There is no endorsement in District 4, where there is no GOP primary election, or in District 6, where five candidates are vying for the two places on the fall ballot.

State legislative candidates are ranked as well.

Mike Tryon (R-Crystsl Lake) is deemed to be “Fully Pro-Life.” His Democratic Part opponent Bob Kaempfe merited an “Unknown (Did not answer or complete survey).” State Reps. Jack Franks (D-Marengo) and Mark Beaubien (R-Barrington Hills) are rated the same as Kaempfe.

Franks’ Republican opponent, on the other hand, was characterized as “Fully Pro-Life.”

The only other state candidate endorsed is for the 2nd Appellate Court. Mary S. Schostok is endorsed for the Barbara Gilleran-Johnson vacancy.