McHenry County Blog

Daily Herald reporter Chuck Keeshan wrote a story on Sheriff Keith Nygren’s jail having making it more expensive to give money to inmates and ICE detainees.

McHenry County Blog broke the story last Wednesday.

Keeshan’s article about the complaint of Crystal Lake resident David Warren, who is a member of the Secular Franciscan Order of the Catholic Church has one paragraph that caught my attention:

“Deputy Corrections Chief Patrick Firman said the change was necessary for the jail to abide by state regulations governing how it handles inmates’ money.“

It is true that the Illinois Department of Corrections regulates local county jails. In my experience, this regulator has cost local taxpayers to spend money they would not otherwise have spent.

But, according to DOC Public Information Officer Januari Smith, this is not one of them.

I called her up and asked if this change by the McHenry County Jail had been required by state officials.

“We don’t oversee how they take in money,” she told me.

“We don’t oversee this particular part of a county jail.”

Maybe Firman was referring to a different state regulator.

No story from the Northwest Herald on the subject yet.

As I pointed out September 11th, former McHenry County Coroner candidate Dave Bachmann created an anti-Sheriff Keith Nygren blog. It’s called

“Dirty Keith vs. Dirty Harry”

It’s an electronic whispering campaign. At least that’s what it reminded me of when I wrote  about it September 23rd.

1,623 people had viewed it then. Now the count is up to 6,027.

I infer that one has been Democratic political campaign consultant James Carville.

Every election cycle has new tools. I remember using the outside of bags that an advertising delivery service put on mailbox posts to hype my campaign for state representative in 1972.

Phyllis Schlafly wrote a cheaply produced book about Barry Goldwater, “A Choice Not an Echo.”

That went hand-in-hand with “A Texan Looks at Lyndon” by J. Evetts Haley.

Haley’s books led to a whispering campaign about how Johnson had stolen the election that put him in the U.S. Senate.

Bachmann’s has covered various aspects of Nygren’s life about which no campaign opponent would want to take the blame.

I won’t itemize them all, but the postings do rely heavily on ridicule, something absolutely no politician can stand.

Bachmann’s blog has led the way to a story even the Northwest Herald could not ignore—the Keith Nygrens having Homestead Exemptions in both McHenry County and Florida. Such a practice is not legal in Florida.

Well, a Nygren supporter has taken up the fight on his blog, which is called

“The Diametrical Woodstock Advocate”

It apparently was started to attack Gus Philpott’s

“Woodstock Advocate”

The latest post on the anti-Woodstock Advocate blog is a flat out attack on Bachmann’s blog.

Thinking about the concept of one blog’s attacking another concept got me thinking of Mad Magazine’s Spy v. Spy.

I never could figure out whether the white or the black spy was the good guy.

Go to both of the battling blogs and make up your own mind.

An October 26th memo from Sheriff Keith Nygren’s Chief of Corrections Daniel Sedlock announces the imposition of new, higher cost requirements for those wanting to help inmates and detainees financially.

Crystal Laker Dave Warren has been a 10-year, regular visitor and helper of those behind bars. His jail ministry has regularly written checks so the Sheriff’s Department can buy such personal items as soap, shampoo, lotion, and snacks that fit their cultural diet.

“Under the contract, Sheriff Nygren receives a (portion of the purchase price-original word redacted) from the vendor for all (the approximately $15,000 of) commissary purchases…a source of income for our County Jail,” he wrote one one Crystal Lake donor.

“That revenue stream will disappear if we can’t present a lump check.”

The memo that you can see below(click to enlarge) will require such humanitarian people to pay the cost of a money order or a $5 transaction fee for each prisoner or detainee.  The typical amount given each person behind bars is $10.

“It effectively removes the humanitarian aid portion of our ministry leaving only pastoral care,” Warren wrote John Morrison, Assistant Secretary of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“It is impractical for us to buy postal money orders for each destitute refugee/detainee, then address an envelope, and pay 44 cents to mail to each of them. That would be about 1500 money orders, stamps and envelopes annually!”

“For the last 10 or 11 years, we simply list(ed) each detainee’s number and name on lined paper. After each visit, we give the lobby officer this list and our Jail Ministry check made out to McHenry County Jail, i.e., $10 for each person listed,” he wrote a donor.

“For some time now, as a courtesy, we have allowed program volunteers to being in single checks to be distributed to multiple inmate/detainees housed at the McHenry County Jail.

“Unfortunately, because of an ever increasing population as well as a growing number of organizations requesting to place funds on a detainee’s account, this practice has become administratively burdensome for our staff.

“In addition, we continue to be faced with accreditation standards and regulations requiring a strict accounting of these funds and how they are distributed.”

Sedlock announces that the new, more expensive procedures will start on November 1st, five days after the issuance of the memo.

“We surely appreciate the services and support you provide to the inmate/detainees in our custody. We apologize for the inconvenience we know that this will cause some of your, but trust that you will understand our need to make these changes,” Sedlock concludes.

The memo disturbed Crystal Laker Dave Warren, a member of a Catholic religious lay order about which you can read more here and active in the Jail Ministry of McHenry County.

Besides his letter to the Assistant Secretary of ICE, the Crystal Lake resident has written others involved in the ministry, including a Cary  pastor thaking him for “your tithe of $528.27.”

He notes, “There are no administrative costs in this ministry. Even our Home State Bank checking account is free. Be assured that your entire donation to goes directly to recently arrived, destitute detainees held in McHenry County Jail.”

It notes that McHenry County gets $90 per night to house the prisoners.

The “all of your contribution goes to the mission” part of the thank you letter seems destined to be re-written.

In the closing part of his letter, Warren points out that House Bill 4613 “was passed to secure more access time in jails that warehouse ICE detainees. As a result, access for our ministry visits to McHenry County Jail has been expanded from three people to at least five, our available visiting time has almost doubled from one shift to two shifts, and the days have been doubled from bi-monthly to bi-weekly, i.e., from two to four visits each month. We are still restricted from going into the cell blocks as we were allowed to do for many years previously.”

No local official likes being forced by the General Assembly to do something he doesn’t want to. That’s for sure.

I see the Northwest Herald has run a story today about McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren’s family having received two Homestead Exemptions, one in Florida and another Illinois.  (The Nygren home photo above comes from the web site of the Lee County Appraiser.)

The NW Herald story comes almost a week after former Democratic Party Coroner candidate Dave Bachmann’s blog, Dirty Keith vs. Dirty Harry posted the information.

The Herald’s “hook” was that Green Party candidate for sheriff, Gus Philpott, who publishes the blog Woodstock Advocate, wrote stories about the subject.

Nice to know the Herald reporters are still checking out what stories they might have missed by reading the blogs the paper refuses to identify by name.

Used to be, stories would even link to the blogs in question.

Not anymore.

The internet version of the story was posted at 1:20 AM, but revised over nine hours later at 10:58 AM, as you can see below.

The change I found quoted Sheriff Nygren. The printed version reads,

“…If I spend a couple of days there a year, that’s it.”

The current internet version reads,

“On Wednesday, Nygren clarifiied a previous statement and said he spends a few days at a time in Florida, which amounts to a few weeks overall. ”

The only new information I saw in the NW Herald article is that the Nygrens will owe “about $1,100” to Lee County, Florida, local governments because of Nygren’s McHenry County 2007 and 2008 Homestead Exemptions.

“This is one of those things that the Nygrens were caught in a situation that’s nobody’s fault,” McHenry County Supervisor of Assessments Donna Mayberry told me this morning, as I inquired about the family’s having Homestead Exemptions in both McHenry County and Lee County, Florida.

The little saga unfolded on McHenry County Blog over the weekend after the discover was reported on the blog written by 2008 Democratic Party Coroner’s candidate Dave Bachmann:

Dirty Keith vs. Dirty Harry

The existence of the Florida Homestead Exemption was reported on Friday, the Illinois State Board of Elections web site–reported voter registration of Marge Nygren on Saturday and the McHenry County Homestead Exemption on this year’s bill for the Hebron home on Sunday.

“We took it off,” Mayberry told me.

“They did not want the exemption here.”

Mayberry wrote a letter to the Lee County Appraiser on March 16th. You can see it below (click to enlarge):

“In our county, we do not have an application process to obtain the owner-occupied exemption.

“The local township assessor makes the determination of eligibility and certifies the information to the county.

“As a result, the Nygren property in Illinois received the exemption in 2007 and 2008, even though the property owner had not requested it and did not intend to have it.

“Unfortunately, we do not have a legal mechanism to remove the exemption for prior years. A Certificate of Error can only be done to lower the tax a property owner owes, and then only in the following calendar year, during which the taxes are due.

“Therefore, I am unable to remove the exemption for the two years in question.

“We are removing the exemption for 2009 and all subsequent years. There will be no Owner Occupied Exemptions applied to the property owned by the Nygren’s here in McHenry County.”

I pointed out that the $5,500 exemption appears on the Nygren tax bill this year, which is the 2008 tax year.

“You know what, it would be on 2008’s (the tax bill payable in 2009),” Mayberry explained.

“I can’t use a Certificate of Error that raises taxes because of ‘due process.’

“So by the time it came to light, it was too late for 2009.”

“When?” I asked.

“I wrote a letter down there dated March 16th.”

Inspired to look further into McHenry County Sheriff Keith and his wife Margarete Nygren’s ownership of a home in Cape Coral, Florida, by the blog

Dirty Keith vs. Dirty Harry

McHenry County Blog has been reporting the details of this Lee County residence.

Two days ago, it was reported that the home has a Florida Homestead Exemption. Yesterday, the question of the exemption holder, Margarete Nygren’s apparently being registered in both Florida and Illinois was explored.

Only “bona fide Florida residents living in the dwelling” can received such an exemption.

Apparently, one spouse can claim to be a resident of Florida, while another resides officially elsewhere.

In the Nygren family, wife Margarete applied for the Florida exemption.

In the Florida Homestead Exemption rules is the following (printed in boldface in the original):

“In addition, if you are married, your spouse cannot receive exemption, tax credit or rollback in any other jurisdiction. (Emphasis added.) Section 6 (b) Article VII, Fl Constitution states that not more than one exemption shall be allowed any individual or family unit. You will be asked to sign an affidavit stating that you have been informed and that you are responsible for removing any other exemption in order to qualify in Lee County.“

Therein lies the problem.

Look at the McHenry County tax bill for the Nygren’s Hebron home. Look on the lower right hand side.

The property received a Homestead Exemption of $5,500 this year.

There’s an old song entitled, “Love and Marriage.”

I remember dancing the cha-cha to it in a class right after we moved to Salt Lake City in 1953 from Easton, Maryland. Another line is

“You can’t have one with out the other.”

Of course, we are no longer in the moral universe of the 1950’s, but something similar seems relevant here.

If the song were entitled,

“Homestead Exemption,”

one of the lines might be

“You can have one, but not the other.”

The Cape Coral, Florida, home of McHenry County Sheriff Keith and his wife Marge Nygren has the following on the tax bill:

16-45-23-C3-04592.0520
NYGREN KEITH R + MARGARETE A
5131 SW 19TH AVE
CAPE CORAL FL
33914

It currently has a $50,000 Homestead Exemption.

Who discovered this little tidbit?

Former Democratic Party McHenry County Coroner candidate Dave Bachmann. He published it on his blog

Dirty Keith vs. Dirty Harry

Here is the history on the tax bill since the home was purchased in 2006:

What’s a Homestead Exemption in Florida?

The information below was found on the Lee County Assessor’s web site:

What Is A Homestead Exemption?

Homestead Exemption is a constitutional benefit of up to a $50,000 exemption removed from the assessed value of your property. It is granted to those applicants who timely file by March 1, possess title to real property and are bona fide Florida residents living in the dwelling and making it their permanent home on January 1 [emphasis added]. Properties granted Homestead Exemption automatically receive the “Save Our Homes” benefit. This is a constitutional benefit approved by the Florida voters in 1992. It places a limitation of 3% on annual assessment increase on Homestead properties beginning with the 1995 tax year. For properties granted Homestead Exemption in the prior years, that assessed value will be the base value for the implementation of “Save Our Homes”. Thereafter, the assessed value will not increase more than 3% or the Consumer Price Index, whichever is less. Exceptions to that limitation include new additions or construction that escaped taxation in the past. Another exception would occur when a homestead property sells: the assessed value returns to fair market value in the year following the sale. That fair market value assessment then becomes the base value for “Save Our Homes” purpose for the new owner/homestead applicant.

The Lee County, Florida, Assessor’s web site lists the following requirements for eligibility:

In addition to having legal title/ownership of the property and actually permanently occupying ( residing) at the property as of January 1 ** you must meet Florida residency requirements such as Driver’s License, Voter registration, Tag, Domicile, etc. as of the filing deadline (but no later than April 1) or you may not qualify for the current tax year.

Here’s some more information about eligibility for the Florida tax break:

Applicants must hold a valid Florida Driver’s License…(A “Valid in Florida ONLY” license is not acceptable).

Florida vehicle license plate (tag) number is required. If you own multiple vehicles, at least one vehicle must be registered in Florida.

If you ARE a U.S. Citizen – provide your Lee County Florida Voter’s Registration Number or – if you do not vote – you will be required to complete and record a Declaration of Domicile. (There is no fee for applying for homestead –however, there is fee for recording the Declaration of Domicile). If you have not already recorded the Domicile, YOU MUST APPLY IN PERSON. The domicile form is available at the Appraiser’s Office.

Social Security Number is required for all applicants and the spouse of all applicants. If married, you must provide your spouse’s Social Security number even though the spouse is not an owner of the property and is not applying for exemption.

Date of birth for applicant(s).

Proof that you (or your spouse) do not receive a residency based exemption or tax credit in another jurisdiction –You cannot claim a residency based homestead exemption, tax credit or rollback in any other state or county while receiving the homestead exemption in Lee County. In addition, if you are married, your spouse cannot receive exemption, tax credit or rollback in any other jurisdiction. Section 6 (b) Article VII, Fl Constitution states that not more than one exemption shall be allowed any individual or family unit. You will be asked to sign an affidavit stating that you have been informed and that you are responsible for removing any other exemption in order to qualify in Lee County.

More recently there appears to also be a Senior Homestead Exemption.

More tomorrow.

Lake in the Hills resident Mike Mahon is not only passing petitions for the Democratic Party nomination for McHenry County Sheriff, but he has an initial campaign piece that has been made available to McHenry County Blog. You see it below (click to enlarge):

The text from the Cook County Deputy Sheriff says the following:

Mike Mahon has been a Deputy Sheriff for Cook County since 1987.

The majority of Mike’s career has been in investigative and supervisory positions.

Mike’s hard work, sound judgment, integrity, and test scores have earned him numerous promotions during different administrations.

He has held positions of increasing responsibility, including:

• Department of Corrections Officer,
• Investigator,
• Supervisor,
• Fugitive Unit Investigator,
• Internal Affairs Division Investigator, and
• Sergeant.

Currently, Mike works in the Sheriff’s Administration for the Office of Integrity and Compliance where he directs efforts related to strategic planning, program evaluations, personnel and productivity studies, and policy and procedure reviews.

Mike lives with his family in Lake in the Hills, where they have resided for the last fourteen years.

For more information, contact Mike at 815-788-9540.

So, now three challengers have raised their hands as candidates to challenge three-term Republican incumbent Keith Nygren.

The first was Gus Philpott, who intends to run on the Green Party ticket.

The second was Zane Seipler. He is running against Nygren in the Republican Party’s primary election.

Zane Seipler, the man challenging almost 11-year incumbent Republican McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren has issues a press release challenging the incumbent’s credentials as a Republican. The statement follows:

Republican Sheriff Keith Nygren’s Support of the Democratic Party

Woodstock, IL, September 30, 2009- In the latter part of the 1970’s, Keith Nygren embarked on a political career.

Record states that Mr. Nygren was a Democratic committeeman in Algonquin Township.

At the age of 32, Keith Nygren was endorsed as the candidate for the appointment of sheriff by the McHenry County Democratic Central Committee. He did not get the appointment but his career as a politician began.

Keith Nygren was appointed Sheriff of McHenry County in 1997, this time as a Republican.

Prior to 1997, Mr. Nygren never participated in Republican Party politics.

According to recent record, Sheriff Nygren has not completely left his Democratic ideologies behind.

At a time when the Republican Party struggles to rebuild, Sheriff Nygren gives financial aid to a local Democratic leader.

Not just once but several times over the past couple of years.

When the Republican Party is in need of cohesiveness, leadership and support, Sheriff Nygren openly undermines the party that appointed him to office.

By providing campaign contributions to members of the Democratic Party, Keith Nygren turns his back on the Republican campaign donors that have helped solidify his tenure over the past 12 years.

Bi-partisan relationships are necessary in all aspects of government, including law enforcement.

Financing the other team crosses the line.

If Mr. Nygren has formed personal relationships with members of the opposing party, those relationships are to be respected.

Party unity and loyalty should also be respected.

Republican campaign contributions should not end up in Democratic coffers.

County Republican leaders should not be attending breakfast fundraisers for any member of the Democratic Party.

I am asking Republican Sheriff Keith Nygren to publically withdraw his support for any and all Democrats running for office, or to resign from the Republican Party.

= = = = =

I presume Seipler is referring to Keith Nygren’s name being listed as a member of State Rep. Jack Franks’ “Host Committee” for his October 3, 2009, fund raiser.

He is not the only Republican whose name was published–a couple of letters at a time–over the last two weeks on McHenry County Blog.

If don’t want to go down on the blog to find the article you seek, just click on the image you wish to enlarge.

Zane Seipler is the head shot on top of the article. Keith Nygren’s is just below.

We’re halfway through the alphabet listing those who are on State Rep. Jack Franks’ fall fund raiser invitation. Today we look at the N’s and the O’s:

Karen Neff
Jeanette Neumaier
Gary Niederkorn
Dave Nolan
Mayor Jay and Susan Nolan
Robert Nolan
James Nolan
Marisa Nor
Paul Nowicki
Keith Nygren
Ted and Donna Oberg
Dave and Debbie Oelert

Glenn and Bonnie Olson
Mayor Lauri Olson
Patricia O’Neill
Amanda Orlandini
Ellen O’Rouke
Steve and Dorothy Otis
Patrick Ouimet