McHenry County Blog

McHenry County Board members Nick Provenzano and John Jung lost their seats two years ago in District 3 and District 5.

Joint sign for Mary Donner and Nick Provenzano for county board showed up for the first time the night before the election around polling places. Provenzano lost the election to Democratic Party challenger, now central committee chair, Kathy Bergan Schmidt.

It wasn’t that Provenzano and Jung didn’t have signs up supporting their re-election.

In retrospect, I believe it was because they did not run joint campaigns with their Republican running mates.

There was nothing but being next to each other on the Republican Party ballot to encourage supporters of their running mates to vote for them as well.

This causation factor hit me the night before the election when I saw this joint yard sign for Mary Donner and Provenzano.

It turned out to be too little, too late,

Provenzano lost to Kathy Bergan Schmidt and Paula Yensen beat Jung.

Yard signs for John Jung running mate Virginia Peschke began showing up two weekends before the election in which Democrat Paula Yensen picked off Jung. Peschke ran first.

Jung’s running mate, Virginia Peschke, put on no discernible campaign until yard signs appeared about two weekends before the fall election.

So, here’s my unsolicited advice to Republican county board candidates.

Convince your running mates to have joint yard signs.

Even if you don’t like them and they don’t like you.

Consider it a self-preservation move.

Right now, most GOP candidates don’t have Democratic Party opponents.

It is legal for the Democratic Party to slate candidates. They’ve done it before.

Certainly, it is difficult to find candidates like Yensen and Schmidt, people who will put shoe leather into a campaign.

Campaigning is boring work.

But, there are personal benefits. Candidates who are serious tend to miss meals and, because of that and the energy required going door-to-door, lose weight.

Nevertheless, odds are good that the Democrats won’t find vigorous candidates and, without “fire in the belly” opponents, Republican ballot holders probably aren’t in much trouble in this year of the backlash to corruption so evident among the Democrats’ high profile politicians.

But, it’s always better to do more, rather than less, in an election campaign.

If I were running for county board, I’d want a joint sign campaign.

And joint literature.

Especially, if I came in second in the primary election.

Pete Merkel

Yesterday I weighed in with my thoughts on McHenry County Board member Pete Merkel’s apparently harsh criticism of the Alliance for Lake, Agriculture and Water’s proposal for a conflict of interest ordinance.

The group asked county board candidates whether they would support such an ordinance, but didn’t ask that they fill out the questionnaire in the ordinance.

Northwest Herald ad concerning McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler's real estate holdings the Sunday before the primary election.

Nevertheless, 20 out of 27 candidates, some from all three parties on the ballot, did so.

After the election, county board member Dan Ryan explicitly blamed his defeat on his unwillingness to volunteer to fill out the ALAW questionnaire.

And the Sunday before the election, McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler ran a half-page ad concerning his property holdings.

Clearly the issue has traction.

Today the Northwest Herald editorial adds its support for part, but not all of what ALAW wants in a new ethics requirement.

But, first the editorial dismisses Merkel’s objection that ALAW’s advocacy of the property revelation requirement for elected and appointed officials, plus consultants is political by saying,

“So what?”

Indeed,

“So what?”

Merkel’s opposition is political, too.

The Herald notes and I agree that it does not matter where good ideas come from?

The NW Herald does demur on a requested requirement where I wouldn’t.

It says that those who volunteer their time, that is, county officials who are not paid, should not be subjected to as strict conflict of interest scrutiny as those getting a salary.

It is my experience that people who think they are not getting paid what they are worth are most likely to take something that is not theirs. That’s why we pay police well. We don’t want them to think they are underpaid when they are enforcing, say, drug enforcement laws.

Think of how stores watch for shoplifting among lowly paid clerks.

I am sure you can come up with other examples.

So, do I think those who plan and zone property should be required to reveal any conflicts of interest?

You bet!

Tomorrow, another property-related reform that is ready for prime time in McHenry County.

Yesterday, McHenry County Blog showed you the letter from the Chicagoland Foreign Investment Group saying that it would raise $27 million “for construction and operation of the (McHenry County SportsPlex” sports facility complex to be constructed in McHenry County.”

That was dated December 1st, but just given to county officials on January 28th.

Today, take a look at a February 5th letter from Stern Brothers & Company.

Click to enlarge.

It says the firm will find “sophisticated investors…in tandem with a sophistical investment letter…”

Then, there are two “if’s.”

• The operating LLC raises $8 million in equity, and
• The project is located in a Targeted Employment Area and CFIG (Chicagoland Foreign Investment Group) commits $27 million in long-term take out financing.

Miyun Cho, Managing Director, signs the letter.

“Hostile” would be fair in characterization of McHenry County Board member Pete Merkel’s reaction to the ALAW conflict of interest proposal, as reported by Kevin Craver of the Northwest Herald

Merkel, running unopposed in the Republican primary election, did not volunteer to reveal his property ownership outside of his home or other potential conflicts of interest.

No opponent. No political need to do so.

Nevertheless, his running mate Sandy Salgado was one of the 20 people running for the county board who did fill out the Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water ethics questionnaire.

And, so did Jeff Thirtyacre, so far, the only Democratic Party challenger in the fall election.

Merkel ran first in the primary election.

Looking at the almost final primary election results, Merkel would seem to have no reelection problems.   The Democrat received 1,800 fewer votes than Merkel.

So, he would be the perfect person to lead the charge against ALAW.

The questionnaire was politically motivate, he charges.

No question about that.

It was designed to influence the February 2nd primary election.

Truth.

But, then Merkel charged that the conflict of interest form had nothing to do with “transparency and openness.”

He really should have come to the Patriots United County Board Candidates’ Forum and heard the tepid applause after incumbent Dan Ryan (R-Huntley) made known that he was not going to fill out the ALAW form.  Subsequently, Ryan blamed his loss on the questionnaire.

There he swerves from the truth and threatens to lead the Republican Party, as exemplified by its county board members, into an abyss.

No matter how insulated McHenry County’s Republican board members are from the public, even they, if they will just let their emotions subside, are capable of figuring out that Illinois voters are fed up with politics as usual.

Those who don’t think so aren’t paying attention.

Will it be the sea change that I noticed in 1969?

Before that date, the fact that Crystal Lake’s mayor worked for the biggest developer in town was no big deal.

Everybody had to work somewhere.

Then the Crystal Lake Jaycees, many of whom lived in Coventry, the development built by that developer, did a fire safety project. They discovered that in the back section of Coventry fire trucks could not get through if cars were parked on the streets.

Then, it became important where the mayor worked.

Tony Wujcik beat incumbent Mayor Lou Goosens handily in the 1971 election. (More about that change in ethical standards here.)

To mix metaphors, are we at a similar fault line now?

I think so.

McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler was one of three re-nominated incumbents who has so far not completed the ALAW conflict of interest form.

Twenty of twenty-seven candidates for county board voluntarily completed ALAW’s questionnaire.

Of those who won nomination in the Republican Party, incumbents

• Anna May Miller,
• Ken Koehler,
• Pete Merkel, plus
• newcomer Robert Nowak

are a minority of 4 out of 12 GOP county board candidates on the ballot this fall who did not do so.

Democrat incumbent Jim Kennedy is the only Democrat who did not fill one out.

Maybe these four incumbents know something that the rest of the people (sans District 1 newcomer Robert Nowak) running for county board don’t know.

Eight of twelve people on the Republican Part ballot this fall have filled out the form are:

• Donna Kurtz
• Nick Provenzano
• Barb Wheeler
• Sandy Salgado
• Tina Hill
• John Jung
• Diane Evertsen
• Mary McCann

Among the Democrats, two-thirds answered ALAW’s questions:

• Jeff Thirtyacre
• Lori McConville

So did the only Green Party candidate:

• Frank Wedig

So, maybe those out of step with the times are those who have not yet sent in the questionnaire.

= = = = =

I’ll have some more comments a bit later.

The December 1, 2009, letter you see below was given to McHenry County officials on January 29, 2010, according to the date stamped on it.

Click to enlarge.

The Chicagoland Foreign Investment Group, known for short as the EB-5 company, pledges to provide funding up to $27 million to McHenry County SportsPlex ”for construction and operation of the sports facility complex to be constructed in McHenry County.”

“The funding is contingent,” the letter from Taher Karneli says, “ upon the $8 million in equity to be raised by the equity group as well as several factors relating the the EB-5 Program and the requirements of various Federal laws that govern the program.”

The letter goes on to point out that the money supplied is intended to repay the financing provided by bonds issued through McHenry County.

One of the factors alluded to might be a necessity to broaden the investment mission of the EB-5 entity. This was discovered by Pete Gonigam of the First Electric Newspaper.

The letter with the candidates endorsed by the Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water was too late for the Northwest Herald’s deadline for letters.

The paper of record also would not use the information as the basis for a story.

It was published on McHenry County Blog, however.

So, who were those candidates who answered the questions below to ALAW’s satisfaction?

Barbara Wheeler

Diane Evertson

Donna Kurtz

John Jung

Mary McCann

• Donna Kurtz (R) District Two
• Barb Wheeler (R) District 3
• John Jung, Jr. (R) District 5
• Frank Wedig, (Green Party) District 5
• Diane Evertsen (R) District 6
• Mary McCann (R) District 6

Frank Wedig

“Each of these candidates has pledged to work for preservation of our natural resources, our fresh water supply and our prime farmland,” the ALAW press release said.

“These goals are critical to maintaining our quality of life and economic viability in the county.”

Survey results are available here.

You read what the Woodstock Independent, the Northwest Herald and the Daily Herald want to know about and from candidates. Here’s what the Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water are interested in learning about those running for the McHenry County Board:

ALAW County Board Candidates Survey: 2010 Primary Election

Please, indicate yes or no in the box to the right of the question.

A. Land Use

1. Have you personally attended any of the Regional Planning Commission meetings or subcommittee meetings on the 2030 Comprehensive Land Use Plan?

2. Have you read the proposed 2030 Land Use Plan?

3. Do you think the makeup of the 2030 Regional Planning Commission was a
balanced representation of the residents of the county?

4. Do you agree that new development should be located where infrastructure
exists, to minimize the extension of new roads, utilities and services, and protect
farmland and water recharge areas?

5. If elected, will you support funding permanent protection of agricultural land
and the agricultural industry in the County?

6. Do you understand that new rural development costs more for the extension of
infrastructure (roads, water, sewer and services) than it brings to the County in
taxes and that those extra costs are passed on to the existing taxpayers?

7. Do you support creation of the Hac-Ma-Tac National Wildlife Refuge in the
county?

B. Water Resources

1. Would you oppose any land use change that would exceed a locally recharged
aquifer’s capacity?

2. If elected will you enforce use of the SARA – Sensitive Aquifer Recharge
Areas map developed by the County Water Resources Department, as a
determining factor in every land use change decision?

3. Do you support redistributing groundwater from water-rich areas to areas that have over drawn their groundwater?

4. Do you think that McHenry County will be able to get water from Lake
Michigan?

C. Transparency in Government

1. Would you support a requirement that all elected or appointed county officials
make up-front disclosures of any financial or other interest in any real property
in the County?

2. Do you support a requirement that all elected or appointed county officials
make up-front disclosures of their interest in any business entity doing business
with the county?

3. Do you believe that public officials should disclose whether they provide
professional services to any unit of government to which they are elected or
appointed?

4. Do you agree that all scheduled meetings agendas and minutes, including
committee and sub-committee, should be posted on the County web site?

5. Do you agree that all McHenry County Board meetings should be video
recorded and posted on the County web site?

D. Short Answer. Only the number of words indicated will be published in the response report. (please add a page if you need more room, but remember that we can only print the number of words indicated. Thank you.)

1. What role do you think the County should play in planning for growth? (50 words)

2. By protecting agricultural lands and soil resources, groundwater and its natural recharge can also be protected. What will you do to provide that protection? (50 words)

3. What does the County get from its annual contract with the McHenry County
Economic Development Corporation and is it a good investment of taxpayer money? (50 words)

4. Who do you consider to be your constituents and how do you intend to communicate with them to ensure your positions honestly represent them? (50 words)

5. Please provide a personal statement about what you intend to accomplish, if elected to the County Board, and/or provide additional information regarding any of the “ / no” yes answers given above. (100 words)

Answers are due January 11th.

In an interview with the Daily Herald, Sun City McHenry County Board member Dan Ryan blamed his refusal to disclose personal financial information requested by the Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water and low turnout in his retirement community.

“It infringed on individual privacy too much,” was what he told a reporter.

Regrets?

“Absolutely not,” he told the Daily Herald. “I don’t care if it cost me my office. I have principles.”

District 6 incumbent Daniel Ryan, sitting second from the right of the photo was the only candidate who either has not filed the ALAW conflict of interest form or committing to doing so. From left to right you see Richard Draper, Diane Evertsen, Victor Narusis, Dan Ryan and Mary McCann,

At the Patriots United County Board Candidates’ Forum, Ryan received decidedly tepid applause when he said he was not going to fill out the ALAW form.

Ryan was similarly resistive when the Illinois Family Institute, in conjunction with Patriots United made phone calls to him, among others, seeking people to call Ryan in favor of a ban on video gambling. When he figured out who had stimulated the 50-some calls, Ryan called IFI, telling the person who answered the phone that he would call them every time someone called him.

Ryan voted to allow video poker in rural bars and restaurants.

The conflict of interest form, which asks for property ownership and business relationships, was completed by 20 of 27 candidates in the February 2nd primary election.

Ryan was the only incumbent who lost who failed to fill out the form.

District 1’s Yvonne Barnes and District 2’s Lyn Orphal, both of whom sent ALAW the answers to the financial questions asked, also lost.

The other four Republican candidates in Ryan’s District 6 voluntarily turned in their questionnaires. (Those who did not volunteer for the financial exposure can be found here.)

With regard to the Sun City turnout question, the precinct voting returns for Ryan’s Grafton Township Precinct 15 showed these returns:

• Ryan – 107
• Evertsen – 71
• McCann – 55
• Draper – 33
• Narusis – 33

These totals are not the final precinct totals. The finals will show more votes, perhaps many more because lots of folks in Sun City are out of town this time of year and Ryan made a determined effort to solicit absentee votes.

It should be noted, however, that the McHenry County Clerk’s web site shows Ryan receiving 272 votes for precinct committeeman.

It will be interesting to see the final totals to compare his precinct committeeman total with those votes he received to retain his county board seat.

Here’s what happened to those county board candidates who did not send in a completed ALAW ethics form.

There were only seven McHenry County Board candidates who did not complete the ethics questionnaire proposed by the Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water.

Leading up the list is

• District 2’s representative and McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler, who published a defensive half-page ad in the Northwest Herald Sunday entitled,

“This is the worst possible time to sell property, but…”

Ken Koehler's half-page Sunday Northwest Herald ad.

Someone called it the “starving orphan” ad. I didn’t understand when I heard the characterization. I was told it meant that Koehler was selling the land to feed starving orphans.

He said he was selling the land to settle the estate of his deceased partner Gary Seigmeier, who “left behind a wife, three children and several grandkids.”

In the ad, Koehler mentions the desire by Metra to purchase land he partially owns. (The documents say he owns half interest.)

Below are the lesser known county board members who did not complete the form:

• District 1’s Anna May Miller
• District 4’s Pete Merkel
• District 5’s Jim Kennedy
• District 6’s Dan Ryan

Miller was opposed by challenger Robert Nowak, who also did not reveal his potential conflicts of interest.  To the best of my knowledge, Nowak made no mailing.  His two female, incumbent opponents did.

Merkel and Kennedy were unopposed in their primaries, so will be on the ballot this fall.

Ryan LOST

Running in District 5 was challenger Dave Frederick, who did not fill out the form.

The First Electric Newspaper has some comments from a couple of those who did not file ALAW’s form.

Yvonne Barnes from Cary and Dan Ryan from Huntley’s Sun City are the two McHenry County Board members who are far enough behind before the early and absentee votes are added to the totals for me to conclude have lost.

I’m having a hard time finding a common thread.

Robert Nowak sits along next to empty seats set aside for incumbent District 1 candidates Anna May Miller and Yvonne Barnes. Nowak beat both incumbents in the primary election.

In District 1, Robert Nowak is leading both Anna May Miller by almost 100 votes. Miller is leading Barnes by 200 votes.

I think it unlikely that adding the early and absentee ballots will allow Barnes to pick up almost 300 votes.

I am searching for reasons for Nowak’s victory. Can anyone help me out?

Nowak was the only District 1 candidate to come to the Patriots United County Board Candidate Forum.

But, since the paper of record in McHenry County, the Northwest Herald couldn’t spare a reporter than Friday night, the only story on the event appeared on McHenry County Blog.

Although those interested in politics certainly read this publication, I hardly think Miller’s and Barnes’ missing the event caused them to run behind the challenger who did.

In District 6, it’s time to play “The Girls Are Back in Town.”

Mary McCann led the race. She asked supporters to vote for her exclusively.

Second, running 375 votes behind before the County Clerk’s Office folded in the early and absentee ballots, is newcomer Diane Evertsen.

Fellow newcomer Victor Narusis is 436 votes behind.

Incumbent Dan Ryan trails Narusis by 63 votes at this point in the vote counting. Ryan failed to complete the Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water conflict of interest form. He was the only candidate running in District 6 who did not voluntarily fill out the ethics questionniare.

Running last is Wonder Lake’s Richard Draper.

McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler

McHenry County College Board Trustee Donna Kurtz

McHenry County Board Chairman is running a solid second place with only four precincts not reporting.

Leading him by about 150 votes is McHenry County College Board member Donna Kurtz.

Running last is incumbent Lyn Orphal.

Neither of the other woman challengers, Crystal Lake City Councilwoman Ellen Brady Mueller and Sandra DePaul are close enough to overtake Koehler, who has a 500-vote lead over Mueller

Here the results reported at 9:20: