It’s probably because Bob Kjellander and Paul Caprio go back to Young Republican days.
That’s where I first met Caprio.
I was talking the National Republican Party folks about a mock convention manual I had written, based on my experience of being chairman of Oberlin College’ Mock Convention.
In any event, I was still surprised to see Illinois’ Republican National Committeeman on the boat.
I took a picture of him and Tom Roeser and, then, Kjellander got Libertyville’s Jack Martin to take one of Bob and me.
Kjellander was one of Jim Thompson’s campaign managers when I ran for state comptroller in 1982.
But, I’m ahead of my story.
We left Algonquin at 4 in the afternoon, knowing that traffic had been bad the year before.
Everything was fine until we got to the toll booths. 
Gene Brown, who almost never goes to Chicago didn’t have an I-Pass transponder, so we got into the cash section. It was rush hour, of course, but all of the booths were not manned.
It took us one hour and fifteen minutes to get through the Rod Blagojevich bottleneck.
And the congestion continued until past the merge.
I wonder if Blagojevich will switch the express lanes so Chicagoans returning home from their jobs at night will be able to get home faster. Of course, that would begin a movement 
by Chicago executives who want to get to work faster, rather than slower, and vice versa, would start moving their headquarters closer to home.
We noticed that Blagojevich didn’t have one of those expensive signs over the cash lanes.
We made is to close to when the cruise was supposed to start that we vowed to leave at 3:30 next summer.
But, Sandy Rios came to the rescue. Her broadcast on WYLL-FM does end until 5 PM and since she was doing announcing duties, Caprio decided to wait.
And we waited.
Finally, he asked for a show of hands of who wanted to sail right away and who was willing to wait some more.
Rios, who heads the Culture Campaign, won a further reprieve. 
I got this great wind-swept Sandy shot once we got out on Lake Michigan.
The first candidate I discovered was Michael Younan, who is running against 9th district Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky. This photo is of him and Joe Hedrick, Niles Township Republican Committeeman.
Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica made the rounds before the boat left dock. This was the day before Democratic Party Cook County State’s Attorney Dick Devine decided to announce his retirement.
Jim Nalepa was onboard. He wants to run for U.S. Senate and later was given the microphone to make his pitch.
I got a picture of Nalepa in discussion with Terry Kennedy.
Vernon Township Republican Committeeman Don Castella was talking with Paul Sengpiehf. I knew Paul from his days with the 
Department of Local Governmental Affairs. Governor Richard B. Ogilvie created the department and Paul was the lawyer I often death with on property tax assessment matters.
Americans for Truth head Peter 
LaBarbera was caught talking to Kane County’s Chad Koppie and Elder John Tyler, who runs the African American Family Association.
I talked for a while with Rod Drobinski, as assistant state’s attorney in Lake County, who is thinking about running for the State Senate to replace retiring Senator Bill Peterson.
Fortunately, they did not develop into rain. Otherwise, the lower deck would have been quite crowded.
Besides Nalepa, Steve Greenberg, one of the two candidates announced for the Republican nomination to run against Melissa Bean, the woman who knocked off Phil Crane, spoke.
He used his Jewish religion to present his pro-life views as no Christian could.
Greenberg pointed out that he had relatives who had been killed in the Holocaust, so had a different approach to the issue. I can’t remember his word—only that they worked quite well.
He also came up with a term I have not heard before to describe bureaucrats. He talked about the “idiocracy.”
Expect to hear more about that.
Cook County Commissioner and Republican Party Chairman Liz Gorman was seated near our table, so I was able to get this shot of her before the cruise ended.
Earlier, below decks, David McAloon, his wife and I also had a conversation.
One of the last pictures I got before we disembarked was of Pro-Life Action League’s Joe Schidler’s bright red cap. You can see it here. I should have taken his picture, too, but you know my fixation is on messages.
Of course, there were many others on the cruise, Mary Ann Hackett and her husband, Jim Finnegan, who serves on the Illinois Family Institute Board and who is spearheading the Choose Life license plates, and Dave Smith, Executive Director of IFI.
But, missing, with a broken toe, was my friend Penny Pullen.
Her friend Lisa Smith, a regular McHenry County Blog reader from the Wheeling Township Republican Organization, was there to explain why.
The sun set was stark behind the Chicago skyline.
While we were on Lake Michigan, storm clouds threatened the city big time.
= = = = =
Tom Roeser poses with Illinois Republican National Committeeman Bob Kjellander.
Below is Gene and Nancy Brown, my wife, Barrington Township Supervisor Gene Dawson and his wife.
The congestion shot comes after the toll booths, but before the final lane of merging traffic. The congestion continued to where the Edens merges with the Kennedy.
Sandy Rios’ photograph appears above that of Tony Peraica.
Michael Younan, who is running against 9th district Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky can be seen to the left of Rios. He is posing with Joe Hedrick, Niles Township Republican Committeeman.
To Peraica’s left one can see Jim Nalepa, a possible U.S. Senate challenger for Dick Durbin, talking with Terry Kennedy.
Immediately below, one can see Vernon Township Republican Committeeman Don Castella with Paul Sengpiehf.
Below to the right is Peter LaBarbera in discussion with Chad Koppie and Elder John Tyler.
The head shot down a bit to the left is Rod Drobinski, a potential candidate to replace retiring State Senator Bill Peterson.
With arm extended to make a point is 8th congressional district candidate for the Republican nomination Jeff Greenberg to challenge Melissa Bean.
Liz Gorman, Cook County Republican Party Chairman and Cook County Commissioner, can be seen to the right of a standing David McAloon. McAloon is planning to challenge Democratic State Rep. Careen Gordon. He unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination last year. This year he is alone in the race to challenge the incumbent Democrat.
Finally, the sunset and storm clouds along the Chicago skyline.
So far, McHenry County Blog has published four articles on Paul Caprio’s August Family PAC cruise.
As I continued wondering around the boat, I found Peter Breen and Chris Sullivan near the bow on the upper deck. Sullivan is one of Kathleen Sullivan’s sons. Breen is one aspirant to replace State Rep. Bob Biggins. Breen is Executive Director & Legal Counsel of the Thomas Moore Society, which bills itself as the “Pro-Life Law Center.” He is currently working on the Aurora Planned Parenthood case. Breen has a good button/sticker on his web site, but he wasn’t wearing it. I always preferred to have a really large button announcing to the world that I was a candidate.
The last time I saw my former and now deceased colleague’s twin sons was in San Diego at an ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) conference. That was at the Hotel del Coronado beach over ten years ago when my son was mainly interested in looking at the turtles and fish on the first floor of our hotel. My Matthew has grown. I never met former Cook County Board of Review Murphy’s oldest son, but he was on the cruise, too. 29-year old Shaun, on the right, is running for the post his mother held. They were talking to Chris Sullivan.
I didn’t get a great shot of Cook County Commissioner Liz Gorman talking to Peter Breen, but I guarantee she would like this one better than the one I took on the lower deck, which included her mother.
Politicians I have come in contact with almost always want to pose for a picture. I tell them I don’t do posed pictures. David McAloon gave me so much grief about the photo I published of him last year, though, I relented and took this one. Note the corn cob architecture on the Chicago River in the background. It’s pretty obviously designed by the same architect who did Marina Towers.
As I was wondering downstairs to get some food, catered by Harry Carey’s, I got this shot of State Senator and gubernatorial candidate Kirk Dillard and State Senator Chris Lauzen.
