McHenry County Blog

The McHenry County Board meeting debate Tuesday was extraordinary in its lack of focus on the gambling issue.

Algonquin’s Marc Munaretto put it best, asking why two resolutions, one to hold an advisory referendum on the issue and the other to ban video slot machines in unincorporated areas had gotten out of the License and Liquor Committee.

I wasn’t at the committee meeting when that happened, but someone who was told me that Barb Wheeler had made a motion to recommend a resolution banning video gambling and it almost failed for lack of a second.

The majority of the committee pretty obviously wanted a vote on the referendum resolution first, although Mary McCann may have changed her mind, because she voted against holding an advisory referendum.

The committee being a collegial group, however, both resolutions were forwarded to the county board.

A vote on the referendum question was scheduled for Tuesday; the one on the outright ban at a later meeting.

This did not please Wheeler, who tried to change the agenda so the ban could be voted upon Tuesday.

Clearly Wheeler is against this extension of gambling and was satisfied that her vote would represent her constituency.

It is much less clear how her colleagues would have voted today or will vote in a month.

If any of the opponents have taken the kind of tallies I used to take on the House floor in Springfield before one of my important bills, they have not shared that with me.

With many of the members up for re-election, going to a referendum could be considered a cop-out, that is, a way to avoid making a potentially dangerous political decision before the Feb. 2nd primary election.

Others believe with Mary Donner:

“I truly believe in my heart this belongs on a referendum first.

“I want to know what the voters in McHenry County feel about this.”

More tomorrow.

Maybe it was the $20,000 salary, plus full and generous health coverage, but whatever the motivation, all the incumbents but District 4 incumbents Sandy Salgado and Pete Merkel, both from McHenry, drew challengers.

Twenty-three people are vying for twelve spots on the fall ballot.

Thirteen are women; ten men.

In District 1, incumbents Anna May Miller and Yvonne Barnes are being challenged by Cary’s Bob Nowak.

In District 2, incumbents Ken Koehler and Lyn Orphal will face not only MCC Board member Donna Kurtz, but Crystal Lake City Councilwoman Ellen Brady Mueller, but also Sandra DePaul.

Mueller likes to be last on the ballot, but she didn’t wait long enough this afternoon. DePaul gets the coveted spot, worth an extra 5% in a six-person race, probably less in this five-person race.

In District 3, newly energized entrepreneur Craig Steagall, who lives just north of Crystal Lake will take on incumbent Barb Wheeler, former county board member Nick Provenzano and newcomers Veronica Armstrong and Karen Tynis.

Steagall is known for his full-page ads in the Northwest Herald in opposition to Metra’s purchase of 17 acres next to the old 84 Lumber (new Alexander’s Lumber) on Country Club Road.

Those ads have attacked McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler. Less well known is that he put together the people who built Prairie Ridge High School’s soccer field.

In District 5, Dave Frederick filed his nominating papers. The veterinarian will be running against incumbent Tina Hill and former county board member John Jung. The announced candidacy of John Vrett did not materialize.

In District 6, incumbent Mary McCann filed her petitions Monday. She joins incumbent Dan Ryan and challengers Richard Draper of Wonder Lake, Dianne Evertsen of Hartland Township and Victor Naursis of Woodstock.

John Hammerand, Chairman of the McHenry County Board’s Liquor and License Committee has informed McHenry County Blog that the question of whether an advisory referendum will be put on the February 2nd primary election ballot will be voted upon November 3rd.

About a month later, the question of whether to ban video poker, as it is euphemistically called by proponents, will be discussed December 1st.

= = = = =
From left to right are McHenry County Board members Bob Bless, Mary McCann, License and Liquor Committee Chairman John Hammerand, Assistant State’s Attorney’s Sara Jansen and Cynthia Schaupp and County Board member Barb Wheeler.

We are almost halfway through the alphabet of those featured on the invitation to State Rep. Jack Franks’ fund raiser. Today we look at the L’s and M’s:

Dr. Philip and Helene Lambruschi
Ronald J. Lapinski
Veronica Lapinski
Maureen Larson
Chief Laufer
Fred Learman
Cody LeBaron
Susan Leckie
Mike and Vicki Lee
Ann Legg
Sandy Leone

Bob Levin and Debs Wallner
Ken and Denise Linde
Gene and Sandy Lindow
Eileen Liston
Joseph Loch
Mayor Don Lockhart
Marcia Lockwood
Scott Logan
Chief Anthony Loporchio
Carol Louise
Mayor Sue Low
Robert Ludwig
Ed and Kay Lutz
Ed and Marlene MacDonald
Scott and Carla Mackey
Bob and Judy Martens
Kene and Mary Ellen Marunde
Chuck and Wanda Marzahl
Nancy Mattesius
John and Mary Margaret Maule
Roger and Sandy May
Brian and Jeanna McCafferty
Mary McCann
Cheryl McCauley
Shirley McDonald
Brian McSherry
Tom McTavish
Dick Menzel
Adam Metz
Paul and Cindy Meyer
Brian Meyers
Dick and Ellen Meyers
John and Barb Miceli
Joe and Judi Miceli
Steve Mitchell
Gall Modetz
Mimi Moy
Dan Murphy
Dennis and Sue Murphy
Lorraine Murphy
Michael Murphy
Lee Muto

If those who got petitions from the McHenry County Clerk’s office follow through by getting signatures and filing for the GOP nomination for the McHenry County Board in the most rural district, there will be a four-way race.

It’s a pretty good gig, although nothing like as good as in DuPage County:

• FY 07 $48,620 (0%)
• FY 08 $50,079 (3%)
• FY 09 $51,581 (3%)
• FY 10 $53,645 (4%)

with $3,000 more for each committee chairman and a $1,000 bonus for vice chairmen.  (Undoubtedly, the DuPage County Board chairman uses the extra money to build the strength of his coalition.)

Lake County Board members will take home $44,074 by 2012.

In McHenry County, the salary is approaching $20,000, plus full health insurance, if a member wants it.

The exact figure this year is $19,327.10.  And unlike DuPage County, the McHenry County Board members will see salary increases proportional to the increase in the Consumer Price Index.

Assuming the CPI increases 1/10 of 1%, members will receive a $19.33 raise next term.

Anyway, you can see why folks might want to run for the office.

As I have written previously, Ray Humphreys, a wise Republican campaign school elder (former West Virginia state representative and congressional candidate) outlined three motives for seeking office way back in 1967:

• Power
• Prestige
• Pecuniary

Now, I’m not saying that people don’t run because they want to “make a difference,” etc.  But I would observe that one can make more of a difference if one gains the power of public office.  And the money isn’t bad for a very part-time job.

The two incumbents are running for re-election.

They are Dan Ryan and Mary McCann.

Joining the fray are Mark Shepherd and Nick Carroccia.

Shepherd ran in 2006, coming in fourth of seven candidates.  That’s the election that

• Mary McCann received 2,189 votes
• Dan Ryan – 1,718
• Ersel Schuster – 1,706
• Harry Alten, Jr. – 1,555
• Mark Shepherd  – 1,512
• Former Regional Supt. of School Don Englert – 1,512
• Michael Cederlund – 807

Schuster was elected to the board in 2008.

Shepherd is a Hebron village trustee and a Republican precinct committeeman.  I saw him at McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi’s fund raiser.  Too bad I didn’t take a photo I could share with you.

I understand Carroccia is close to former McHenry County Circuit Clerk Bill Kays, whose sister Mary Lou Zeier retired last year.  Carroccia is identified as Integrated Justice Project Manager in the April 6, 2009, minutes of the Joint Law and Justice Committee and Finance and Audit Committee.

It conceivable that the McHenry County Board may allow citizens to vote whether they want slot machines and video poker in McHenry County.

It would be an advisory referendum, because the legislature only allowed binding referendums that are initiated by 25% of the voters in a county or municipality. 

“Why would we decide what’s best for them?” county board member Bob Bless asked.  “I think we should let them (the voters) decide.”

Committee Chairman John Hammerand agreed:

“If we’re all aflutter and can’t be a representative government, as we’re supposed to be, we could still put an advisory referendum on the ballot.

The minimum that will happen is that the county board’s License and Liquor Committee will hold a hearing on the evening of October 6th [since changed to the 7th; meeting starts at 6] to allow public input.  It may be in conjunction with the Finance and Audit Committee and the Law and Justice Committee, if they wish.  The full county board would consider the issue on October 20th.

County Administrator Pete Austin said chairmen of both committees “just want to see the whole board is considering the issue.  They’re glad the issue is coming up today.”

The committee members also want to give gambling expansion opponent State Rep. Jack Franks (D-Marengo), and gambling expansion proponents

• State Senator Pam Althoff (R-McHenry)
• State Rep. Mark Beaubien (R-Barrington Hills) and
• State Rep. Mike Tryon (R-Crystal Lake)

to give their views on the issue and answer questions.

The name of State Senator Dan Duffy (R-Lake Barrington) was not mentioned.  The newly-elected state senator voted against the slot machine bill.

Then, on October 20th, the county board could vote whether to ban slot machines in the unincorporated part of McHenry County having an effect on 44 bars, taverns and restaurants, plus 7 golf clubs, according to research that McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler passed out.  Koehler wanted the legislators at that meeting.

Under the slot machine legislation, county government would lose the just under $10,000 from licenses for coin operated amusement machines it now gets and pick up 5% of the amount gambled on a maximum of 225 slot machines.  The county’s share is estimated to be about $241,500.

“What we’re talking about on the county side is very small,” Koehler said.  He suggested it could go for gambling addiction treatment.

“If this is such a terrible thing, then maybe we ought to use it (for counseling).”

“It may have very large ramifications beyond revenues,” Wheeler replied.

Koehler pointed out,

“I’m told there is some gambling going on in McHenry County even as we speak.”

He spoke of some of its being stopped for a while only to spring up again.

Later, sardonically, Wheeler suggested legalizing and taxing marijuana.

“Apparently it grows pretty well in the county. (See 2008-1, 2008-2 and 2009 McHenry County Conservation District stories.)  Maybe we should legalize it and regulate it.”

Democrat Jim Kennedy wanted to make sure that the Chicago Crime Commission testified at the meeting, as well as the State Police, who, along with the state Gaming Commission are charged with with policing the slot machines under the legislation.

Committee Chairman Hammerand made an impassioned argument in favor of banning the slots, evoking how New Yorkers turned Coney Island from a sin city to a family-friendly location.

“Vice does not pay as well as decency,” he quoted those who turned its reputation around.

Hammerand pointed out that McHenry County has the highest percentage of families (adults married) in the state.

“If that’s something we want to continue selling, maybe we shouldn’t have video games here.

 ”If we want to be a bedroom community and attract families, I think we should (forego it).

“I feel revenue does not trump principles,” the Wonder Lake resident said.

In expressing her opposition to slot machines before the meeting Republican Precinct Committeeman Joyce Story of McHenry pointed out something I had not realized before.

Every liquor license holder will not be eligible to have five slot machines.

Only those who hold a license to pour liquor can have the gambling machines.

“That concerns me more,” she said.

“They will stay longer and gamble more.”

Also appearing in opposition was Republican Algonquin Township Precinct 51 Committeeman Eileen Marhoefer.

“I think this is a horse you just don’t want to let out of the barn,” she said.

“I think it’s going to be a huge problem for law enforcement.

“It’s hard enough to enforce cigarette sales (to minors),” Marhoefer concluded.

Bill Parrot, whom I first met at the huge Patriots United meeting on health care at the Crystal Lake Holiday Inn, also spoke against the proposal.

He asked if the retail businesses favored the proposal.

“Do we have a consensus among the (merchants) of the county?” the McHenry resident asked.

Leading off the meeting was Libertarian Dave Brady.

He had found a mistake in the resolution, which he pointed out to the committee.

After Brady’s presentation, Hammerand said that he “stole it (the resolution) from DuPage County. Just get rid of that (whereas clause).”

Hammerand asked the State’s Attorneys office to review the resolution.

On a philosophical level, Brady argued that the ban was another  example  of “the nanny state.”

“We’re going to protect you from yourself.”

He wondered how McHenry County could “accept money from gambling, but not allow it in the county.”

Brady asked whether that was being “family friendly” or “being hypocritical.”

McHenry County Board member Mary McCann was worried about the competitive disadvantage taverns near village boundaries might face if slot machines were banned for them but not for bars within a nearby municipality.

= = = = =
McHenry County Board member Bob Bless is in the top photo.

Below is a picture of the whole committee, plus staff from the State’s Attorney and Sheriff’s Office.

The three Republican state legislators representing McHenry County who voted for the gambling expansion bill are next in the article.

County Board member Barb Wheeler listens to County Board Chairman Ken Koehler in the next image.

Committee Chairman John Hammerand is next.

Below are public commenters Joyce Story, Bill Parrot and Dave Brady.

County Board member Mary McCann appears bottom right.

As reported the day it happened, Crystal Lake businessman Jim Heisler (R-Crystal Lake) defeated McHenry board member Sandy Salgado (R-McHenry) 15-9.

All three Democrats supported Salgado, along with four of her female colleagues.

Let me give you an idea of what led up to the vote—at least the county board part.

Cary’s Yvonne Barnes nominated Salgado. Mary McCann (R-Woodstock) put Heisler’s name in nomination.

Then, Randy Donley (R-Union) nominated Barb Wheeler (R-Crystal Lake), who had just lost her chairmanship race to Ken Koehler.

Wheeler declined Donley’s nomination.

Just as he did with the county board chairman candidates, Democrat Jim Kennedy asked the candidates to tell why they were running for the office.

Anna Miller (R-Cary) read a prepared statement in support of Heisler, arguing it is the “vice chairman’s role to support the chairman.”

She also cited Heisler’s “strong personal skills.”

Barnes described Salgado’s “long history of working hard for the good of the people.”

She pointed out that her candidate had “no personal motivations,” was “goal oriented, results driven and a person of compassion.”

Salgado herself rose to Kennedy’s request saying,
“This was an opportunity I did not see presenting itself…but when it did, I welcome it.”

Perhaps Salgado was thinking of outgoing vice chairman John Jung’s loss to Lake in the Hills Trustee Paula Yensen.

Heisler received the support of the following 15 Republicans:

Bob Bless – District 1
Scott Breeden – District 2
Randy Donley – District 6
Mary Donner – District 3
Ed Dvorak – District 3
John Hammerand – District 4
Jim Heisler – District 2
Tina Hill – District 5
Ken Koehler – District 2
Mary McCann – District 6
Marc Munaretto – District 1
Anna Miller – District 1
Lyn Orphal – District 2
Dan Ryan – District 6
Ersel Schuster – District 6

Republicans for Salgado follow:

Yvonne Barnes – District 1
Sue Draffkorn – District 4
Virginia Peschke – District 6
Sandra Salgado – District 4
Barb Wheeler – District 3

= = = = =
McHenry County Board member Sandra Salgado is seen in the top photo; Jim Heisler in the one at the bottom.

As reported the day it happened, Crystal Lake businessman Jim Heisler (R-Crystal Lake) defeated McHenry board member Sandy Salgado (R-McHenry) 15-9.

All three Democrats supported Salgado, along with four of her female colleagues.

Let me give you an idea of what led up to the vote—at least the county board part.

Cary’s Yvonne Barnes nominated Salgado. Mary McCann (R-Woodstock) put Heisler’s name in nomination.

Then, Randy Donley (R-Union) nominated Barb Wheeler (R-Crystal Lake), who had just lost her chairmanship race to Ken Koehler.

Wheeler declined Donley’s nomination.

Just as he did with the county board chairman candidates, Democrat Jim Kennedy asked the candidates to tell why they were running for the office.

Anna Miller (R-Cary) read a prepared statement in support of Heisler, arguing it is the “vice chairman’s role to support the chairman.”

She also cited Heisler’s “strong personal skills.”

Barnes described Salgado’s “long history of working hard for the good of the people.”

She pointed out that her candidate had “no personal motivations,” was “goal oriented, results driven and a person of compassion.”

Salgado herself rose to Kennedy’s request saying,
“This was an opportunity I did not see presenting itself…but when it did, I welcome it.”

Perhaps Salgado was thinking of outgoing vice chairman John Jung’s loss to Lake in the Hills Trustee Paula Yensen.

Heisler received the support of the following 15 Republicans:

Bob Bless – District 1
Scott Breeden – District 2
Randy Donley – District 6
Mary Donner – District 3
Ed Dvorak – District 3
John Hammerand – District 4
Jim Heisler – District 2
Tina Hill – District 5
Ken Koehler – District 2
Mary McCann – District 6
Marc Munaretto – District 1
Anna Miller – District 1
Lyn Orphal – District 2
Dan Ryan – District 6
Ersel Schuster – District 6

Republicans for Salgado follow:

Yvonne Barnes – District 1
Sue Draffkorn – District 4
Virginia Peschke – District 6
Sandra Salgado – District 4
Barb Wheeler – District 3

= = = = =
McHenry County Board member Sandra Salgado is seen in the top photo; Jim Heisler in the one at the bottom.

In 2006 McHenry County Democrats took up the expensive relocation of the McHenry County Animal Shelter to Crystal Lake as a county board issue.

It is safe to predict that one 2008 issue will be incompetent management of Valley Hi, the county nursing home. Of course, the animal shelter may come back as a sequel.

Somehow looking at articles on the internet does not have the same impact as seeing them in the Northwest Herald. Placement and size on the printed page can make a big difference.

I know that reading Reagan Foster’s words,

”The audit stated that there was no sign that funding had been managed in any way, nor were there any indications that managers working to change the increasing reliance on taxpayer support,”

gave me a sense of the enormity of the management failure by the McHenry County Board.

Instead of tossing old NW Herald’s my in-laws save them for me. So, last Sunday, I looked through a pile.

The NW Herald put its

article on its front page last Friday.

You can expect to see that front page of July 27th edition of the NW Herald in Democratic Party literature next year, if county Democrats have good designers.

And, how incompetent was county management?

Not knowing the county was spending almost $184 a day caring for patients, while taking in about $131, shows about as few management controls as one could imagine.

To get an idea how significant blowing through $2 million can be, take a look at the Chicago Tribune’s main article last Sunday. It and others were on Governor Rod Blagojevich’s $2.6 million commitment to purchase flu vaccines which were never used.

That rated the front page on Sunday’s Tribune and all of the editorial page of the Chicago Sun-Times on Wednesday.

State government has over a $50 billion budget. So, $2 million is a very small proportion of the total. Yet it is important because Blagojevich was in his “Let’s create a national image, so I can run for President” mode when he got the flu vaccine.

$2 million to McHenry County is real money. The total 2006 county budget was $180 million. Valley Hi’s share was about $12.5 million. $2 million is 16% of 12.5 million, a bit over 1% of the total county budget.

Just as the governor was trying to get publicity with his vaccine ploy, the county board was in the process of completing a new county nursing home.

Big opportunity for brownie points, wouldn’t you agree?

Blown by mismanagement.

Two NW Herald articles, plus an editorial, to drive home the point:

July 26th – Valley Hi audit says home $2 million in red in ‘06

July 27th – Valley Hi ran in red in ’06

July 28th – Valley Hi’s budget woes

The Valley Hi Administrator did resign, but I’m thinking the Democrats may be looking for some county board member scalps.

Members of the Valley Hi Committee, according to the McHenry County web site, are

Chairman: Mary Lou Zierer
Vice Chair: Ed Dvorak
Members: James Heisler, James P. Kennedy, Mary McCann, Pete Merkel, Dan Shea

= = = = =

I wrote last year of Valley Hi Administrator Howard Nehlig’s having told me a story when I was McHenry County Treasurer in the late 1960’s about the pigs raised at the old county poor farm not having hams. He told me the story three times and I still didn’t get his point. He finally had to tell me that the hams went home in the county board committee members’ trunks.

In the same article, I wrote of a farmer who told me at the County Fair in 2000 of how a long ago poor farm committee chairman tried to shake down a farmer who lived, what was it, 8 miles west of Woodstock on Kishwaukee Valley Road. The farmer was hired to dig a well and did so. Afterwards, the county board member showed up, asking, “Where’s my cut?”

The farmer told him he had worked hard and he wasn’t going to pay him anything.

The county board member told the farmer that he would make sure he never got another county contract. The crooked county board member delivered on his pledge.

Maybe McHenry County taxpayers would be better off with the petty corruption of years past than the massive mismanagement of today.

My article on county home corruption also has a McHenry County syndicate section that might be of interest.

In 2006 McHenry County Democrats took up the expensive relocation of the McHenry County Animal Shelter to Crystal Lake as a county board issue.

It is safe to predict that one 2008 issue will be incompetent management of Valley Hi, the county nursing home. Of course, the animal shelter may come back as a sequel.

Somehow looking at articles on the internet does not have the same impact as seeing them in the Northwest Herald. Placement and size on the printed page can make a big difference.

I know that reading Reagan Foster’s words,

”The audit stated that there was no sign that funding had been managed in any way, nor were there any indications that managers working to change the increasing reliance on taxpayer support,”

gave me a sense of the enormity of the management failure by the McHenry County Board.

Instead of tossing old NW Herald’s my in-laws save them for me. So, last Sunday, I looked through a pile.

The NW Herald put its

article on its front page last Friday.

You can expect to see that front page of July 27th edition of the NW Herald in Democratic Party literature next year, if county Democrats have good designers.

And, how incompetent was county management?

Not knowing the county was spending almost $184 a day caring for patients, while taking in about $131, shows about as few management controls as one could imagine.

To get an idea how significant blowing through $2 million can be, take a look at the Chicago Tribune’s main article last Sunday. It and others were on Governor Rod Blagojevich’s $2.6 million commitment to purchase flu vaccines which were never used.

That rated the front page on Sunday’s Tribune and all of the editorial page of the Chicago Sun-Times on Wednesday.

State government has over a $50 billion budget. So, $2 million is a very small proportion of the total. Yet it is important because Blagojevich was in his “Let’s create a national image, so I can run for President” mode when he got the flu vaccine.

$2 million to McHenry County is real money. The total 2006 county budget was $180 million. Valley Hi’s share was about $12.5 million. $2 million is 16% of 12.5 million, a bit over 1% of the total county budget.

Just as the governor was trying to get publicity with his vaccine ploy, the county board was in the process of completing a new county nursing home.

Big opportunity for brownie points, wouldn’t you agree?

Blown by mismanagement.

Two NW Herald articles, plus an editorial, to drive home the point:

July 26th – Valley Hi audit says home $2 million in red in ‘06

July 27th – Valley Hi ran in red in ’06

July 28th – Valley Hi’s budget woes

The Valley Hi Administrator did resign, but I’m thinking the Democrats may be looking for some county board member scalps.

Members of the Valley Hi Committee, according to the McHenry County web site, are

Chairman: Mary Lou Zierer
Vice Chair: Ed Dvorak
Members: James Heisler, James P. Kennedy, Mary McCann, Pete Merkel, Dan Shea

= = = = =

I wrote last year of Valley Hi Administrator Howard Nehlig’s having told me a story when I was McHenry County Treasurer in the late 1960’s about the pigs raised at the old county poor farm not having hams. He told me the story three times and I still didn’t get his point. He finally had to tell me that the hams went home in the county board committee members’ trunks.

In the same article, I wrote of a farmer who told me at the County Fair in 2000 of how a long ago poor farm committee chairman tried to shake down a farmer who lived, what was it, 8 miles west of Woodstock on Kishwaukee Valley Road. The farmer was hired to dig a well and did so. Afterwards, the county board member showed up, asking, “Where’s my cut?”

The farmer told him he had worked hard and he wasn’t going to pay him anything.

The county board member told the farmer that he would make sure he never got another county contract. The crooked county board member delivered on his pledge.

Maybe McHenry County taxpayers would be better off with the petty corruption of years past than the massive mismanagement of today.

My article on county home corruption also has a McHenry County syndicate section that might be of interest.