McHenry County Blog

Mayor Aaron Shepley beat former supporter turned challenged Lori Phelps by a 2 2/3 to one margin.

The vote was 3,156 to 1,181.

Shepley raised 4.8 times as much money as Phelps, showing the power of incumbency.

Shepley reported raising $24,000, while Phelps loaned her campaign $5,000.

The city council put in place after it was enlarged from five to seven members will be missing one of the members who predated the change when newly elected councilmen are sworn in.

That is, if the narrow 14 vote loss stands up.

The two incumbent city councilwomen, Cathy Ferguson and Ellen Brady Mueller, who joined together to solicit campaign funds, ran first and second.

Newcomer to electoral politics Brent Hopkins, a member of the Planning and Zoning Commission, edged out incumbent Howie Christensen by 14 votes. Hopkins reported $3,000 the last time I checked. I didn’t see a report from Christensen.

With a countywide average of just under 10 votes per precinct cast in early and absentee voting, the two will probably be biting their nails until the canvass is completed a couple of weeks from now.

The council vote totals follows:

Kathy Ferguson – 2,404
Ellen Brady Mueller – 2,265
Brent Hopkins – 2,149
Howie Christensen – 2,135
Jim Batastini – 1,817
Carolyn Schofield – 1,533

= = = = =
The top picture of Mayor Aaron Shepley and mayoral challenger Lori Phelps was taken at the Crystal Lake Chamber of Commerce candidates’ luncheon. The two councilwomen who were re-elected come next. Ellen Brady Mueller is on the left and Cathy Ferguson is on the right. At the lower right is presumptive third place winner Brett Hopkins. Incumbent councilman Howie Christensen, who is 14 votes behind Hopkins has his picture at the bottom left.

Mayor Aaron Shepley beat former supporter turned challenged Lori Phelps by a 2 2/3 to one margin.

The vote was 3,156 to 1,181.

Shepley raised 4.8 times as much money as Phelps, showing the power of incumbency.

Shepley reported raising $24,000, while Phelps loaned her campaign $5,000.

The city council put in place after it was enlarged from five to seven members will be missing one of the members who predated the change when newly elected councilmen are sworn in.

That is, if the narrow 14 vote loss stands up.

The two incumbent city councilwomen, Cathy Ferguson and Ellen Brady Mueller, who joined together to solicit campaign funds, ran first and second.

Newcomer to electoral politics Brent Hopkins, a member of the Planning and Zoning Commission, edged out incumbent Howie Christensen by 14 votes. Hopkins reported $3,000 the last time I checked. I didn’t see a report from Christensen.

With a countywide average of just under 10 votes per precinct cast in early and absentee voting, the two will probably be biting their nails until the canvass is completed a couple of weeks from now.

The council vote totals follows:

Kathy Ferguson – 2,404
Ellen Brady Mueller – 2,265
Brent Hopkins – 2,149
Howie Christensen – 2,135
Jim Batastini – 1,817
Carolyn Schofield – 1,533

= = = = =
The top picture of Mayor Aaron Shepley and mayoral challenger Lori Phelps was taken at the Crystal Lake Chamber of Commerce candidates’ luncheon. The two councilwomen who were re-elected come next. Ellen Brady Mueller is on the left and Cathy Ferguson is on the right. At the lower right is presumptive third place winner Brett Hopkins. Incumbent councilman Howie Christensen, who is 14 votes behind Hopkins has his picture at the bottom left.

When Crystal Lake mayoral challenger Lori Phelps sent out her first press release, my reaction was that it focused too much on getting a hospital for Crystal Lake.

Being an anti-tax guy, I would have put more emphasis on how Mayor Aaron Shepley had led the charge to put lots and lots of valuable commercial into Tax Increment Financing districts.

Had it been my campaign, I would have continued to tag him with the “TIF Tax Hiker” label, because most assuredly all of our taxes will increase as the school, park and other tax districts shift the burden of what they lose in the three TIF districts to the rest of us.

If you doubt that, here’s what District 47 School Superintendent Ron Miller told the Crystal Lake City Council in answer to a question from Ellen Brady Mueller:

“District 47 is going to get its tax money,” he answered. He said that freezing any part of the tax base would lead to a higher tax rate to raise the real estate tax component of the $72 million budget.

“It’s a tax shift. Our job is to point that out.”

He predicted a $9 million shift over the 23-year lives of the three TIF districts.

I would have been critical of Shepley’s welcoming of the Gay Games’ takeover of Crystal Lake on a premier mid-July weekend day.

But Phelps had a different agenda.

Her primary goal is bringing a hospital to Crystal Lake.

She truly believes that Crystal Lake needs a hospital and that her former favorite for mayor, Aaron Shepley did less (much less, maybe) than he should to bring Mercy Hospital to Crystal Lake.

Then, Mercy announces it will try again.

By then, Shepley it’s right before the election and Shepley expresses his support, but says it’s not an issue.

No matter that he continues to be a vice president of Centegra, which would see much of it business drawn off should a hospital be approved for Crystal Lake.

So, knowing how important the “framing of the issues” part of the campaign, I am pretty amazed that Phelps won that part of the campaign.

How do I know?

The first indication was the headline on the Chicago Tribune article about the race.

Take a look at the front page of the Northwest Herald today.

And, remember that the Northwest Herald endorsed Shepley.

The summary of the Crystal Lake mayor’s campaign reads,

Big Mayor’s Race

In Crystal Lake, McHenry County’s biggest town, Mayor Aaron Shepley is being challenged by Lori Phelps, a former Shepley supporter who has criticized Shepley because of his job with Centegra Health System. Phelps said she believed Shepley would stand in the way of renewed interest by Mercy Health System to build a hospital in Crystal Lake.

Without doubt Shepley has won the sign war part of the campaign, especially with developers.

He is the favorite.

He’ll probably win unless Phelps has identified her supporters and has enough volunteers to get them to the polls. (Differential turnout is the name of the game in elections.)

But, what happens four years from now if Shepley wins and Crystal Lake doesn’t have a hospital and, say, Centegra has built a hospital in Huntley.

Might Shepley be vulnerable to the same issue?

I’m sure he will be hoping the issue goes away.

When Crystal Lake mayoral challenger Lori Phelps sent out her first press release, my reaction was that it focused too much on getting a hospital for Crystal Lake.

Being an anti-tax guy, I would have put more emphasis on how Mayor Aaron Shepley had led the charge to put lots and lots of valuable commercial into Tax Increment Financing districts.

Had it been my campaign, I would have continued to tag him with the “TIF Tax Hiker” label, because most assuredly all of our taxes will increase as the school, park and other tax districts shift the burden of what they lose in the three TIF districts to the rest of us.

If you doubt that, here’s what District 47 School Superintendent Ron Miller told the Crystal Lake City Council in answer to a question from Ellen Brady Mueller:

“District 47 is going to get its tax money,” he answered. He said that freezing any part of the tax base would lead to a higher tax rate to raise the real estate tax component of the $72 million budget.

“It’s a tax shift. Our job is to point that out.”

He predicted a $9 million shift over the 23-year lives of the three TIF districts.

I would have been critical of Shepley’s welcoming of the Gay Games’ takeover of Crystal Lake on a premier mid-July weekend day.

But Phelps had a different agenda.

Her primary goal is bringing a hospital to Crystal Lake.

She truly believes that Crystal Lake needs a hospital and that her former favorite for mayor, Aaron Shepley did less (much less, maybe) than he should to bring Mercy Hospital to Crystal Lake.

Then, Mercy announces it will try again.

By then, Shepley it’s right before the election and Shepley expresses his support, but says it’s not an issue.

No matter that he continues to be a vice president of Centegra, which would see much of it business drawn off should a hospital be approved for Crystal Lake.

So, knowing how important the “framing of the issues” part of the campaign, I am pretty amazed that Phelps won that part of the campaign.

How do I know?

The first indication was the headline on the Chicago Tribune article about the race.

Take a look at the front page of the Northwest Herald today.

And, remember that the Northwest Herald endorsed Shepley.

The summary of the Crystal Lake mayor’s campaign reads,

Big Mayor’s Race

In Crystal Lake, McHenry County’s biggest town, Mayor Aaron Shepley is being challenged by Lori Phelps, a former Shepley supporter who has criticized Shepley because of his job with Centegra Health System. Phelps said she believed Shepley would stand in the way of renewed interest by Mercy Health System to build a hospital in Crystal Lake.

Without doubt Shepley has won the sign war part of the campaign, especially with developers.

He is the favorite.

He’ll probably win unless Phelps has identified her supporters and has enough volunteers to get them to the polls. (Differential turnout is the name of the game in elections.)

But, what happens four years from now if Shepley wins and Crystal Lake doesn’t have a hospital and, say, Centegra has built a hospital in Huntley.

Might Shepley be vulnerable to the same issue?

I’m sure he will be hoping the issue goes away.

It didn’t hit me that I was missing a big part of local campaigns until I saw the front page of the Sunday Northwest Herald this afternoon.

There, small, but obnoxiously colored black on day glow orange, was a

Now, by “obnoxiously colored,” I don’t mean to level an insult.

Campaign literature and signs are meant to be seen.

It they are not seen, it is wasted money.

This Shepley ad was not wasted money.

That led me to wonder what else had been slapped onto or slipped into the Northwest Herald.

I haven’t seen any articles.

Maybe the NW Herald doesn’t think candidates’ use of its profit making side is newsworthy.

I tracked down what mayoral challenger Lori Phelps inserted into the NW Herald last Tuesday and today.

I have reproduced it here.

If other candidate would like to scan and send their inserts, I would be happy to post them.

Remember, candidates, the campaign is not over until the polls close.

If you would like to read the text, clicking on the image will bring larger letters.

It didn’t hit me that I was missing a big part of local campaigns until I saw the front page of the Sunday Northwest Herald this afternoon.

There, small, but obnoxiously colored black on day glow orange, was a

Now, by “obnoxiously colored,” I don’t mean to level an insult.

Campaign literature and signs are meant to be seen.

It they are not seen, it is wasted money.

This Shepley ad was not wasted money.

That led me to wonder what else had been slapped onto or slipped into the Northwest Herald.

I haven’t seen any articles.

Maybe the NW Herald doesn’t think candidates’ use of its profit making side is newsworthy.

I tracked down what mayoral challenger Lori Phelps inserted into the NW Herald last Tuesday and today.

I have reproduced it here.

If other candidate would like to scan and send their inserts, I would be happy to post them.

Remember, candidates, the campaign is not over until the polls close.

If you would like to read the text, clicking on the image will bring larger letters.