McHenry County Blog

The post of party precinct committeeman is usually not contested.

One doesn’t get compensated. If one writes a precinct letter, one has to dip into one’s own pocket to pay for it.

Look at the bottom of the sample ballots for the Republican and Democratic Parties and you’ll see precincts all over the place with no candidates.

I see no contests in the Democratic Party.

There were a couple in the Republican Party, however.

The Northwest Herald made a big deal about a three-way race between McHenry County Board member Ersel Schuster, attorney Mark Gummerson and Robert Schlenkert, a prime supporter of McHenry County Sheriff’s candidate Zane Seipler.

The results for that Seneca Township Precinct 1, in which Gummerson emerged victorious, follow

• Mark Gummerson – 112
• Ersel Schuster – 77
• Robert Schlenkert – 29

Jon Heideman and family

Schuster also lost the election for Seneca Township Supervisor last spring.

Nunda Township Precinct 19 had a two-way contest between active Young Republican Jon Heideman and William Mann.

Heideman won the face-off 88-76.

In Algonquin 35, former Crystal Lake City Council candidate Kay Stanish, having been appointed to the office, was challenged by David King.

Stanish turned back the challenge 54-44. Now she is an elected committeeman.

There was another race I Nunda 15, but when former Crystal Lake City Councilman Mike Shorten filed for the office, Joe Gottemoller, the other candidate withdrew in Shorten’s favor.

I am pleased that the campaign staff of Democratic Party candidate for U.S. Senate David Hoffman has discovered that I cover Democratic Party politics in McHenry County.

Although I am a Republican precinct committeeman, the intention of McHenry County Blog is to let candidates convey their local appearances and associated messages to readers.

So, let me share this email about Woodstock’s Left Stage Cafe “Meet and Greet” next Sunday night from 5-7 by former Chicago Inspector General. In that post, Hoffman was not a lap dog as most of Mayor Richard Daley’s appointees are.

Dear Mr. Skinner,

I just read through your blog and it looks like you cover Democratic politics in McHenry County.  I wanted to invite you to meet David Hoffman, a Democrat who is running for U.S. Senate.  I do not know if the venue for this event will have live Wi-fi access or not, but we wanted to make sure that you received an invitation.

If you need any more information on Mr. Hoffman’s bio, I would be happy to get it for you or you may contact our communications director, Thom Karmick – thom@hoffmanforillinois.com / 773.552.1712.

- – - – - – - – - McHenry County E-invite – - – - – - – - -

Please join local McHenry County Democrats at a free Meet-And-Greet Holiday Party with U.S. Senate candidate David Hoffman on Sunday, December 20.

David Hoffman is running for the U.S. Senate to take on fraud and abuse in Washington and fight the special interests and lobbyists who are who doing everything possible to stop needed reform.

David has spent 16 years in public service, fighting corruption and giving average communities and taxpayers a voice. As an Assistant U.S. Attorney, David prosecuted drug-dealing street gangs. As Inspector General for the city of Chicago, he exposed scams and corruption that cost taxpayers millions.

We invite you to join David and local supporters on Sunday, December 20 from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. at the Stage Left Cafe at the Woodstock Opera House (map).

Refreshments will be served. To RSVP, please e-mail me at
karen@hoffmanforillinois.com. We look forward to seeing you there.

Sincerely,

Karen Nystrom
Director of Volunteering

P.S. If you are interested in being a part of the hosting committee, please contact John Laesch at ohn@hoffmanforillinois.com.

–
Respectfully,
John Laesch
Labor Coordinator
Hoffman for Illinois
john@hoffmanforillinois.com
(w) 312.784.0933
(c)  630.878.7454
www.hoffmanforillinois.com

Word of the speaker at next Tuesday’s McHenry County Democratic Party Central Committee meeting has arrived. It’s the party’s challenger to incumbent Congressman Don Manzullo, George Gaulrapp.

The party press release, which points out this is the third time in a row that Manzullo has faced off against a mayor, follows:

CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE GAULRAPP TO SPEAK TO McHENRY DEMS

CRYSTAL LAKE—Freeport Mayor George Gaulrapp will be a special guest at the Democratic Party of McHenry County meeting at 7 PM on Wednesday, November 18, at the McHenry County Farm Bureau Building, 1102 McConnell Road in Woodstock. Gaulrapp has announced his candidacy for Congress in the 16th District, a seat now held by Republican Don Manzullo.

Gaulrapp is in his second term as mayor of the western Illinois city, a manufacturing hub in an agricultural region. He cites jobs as the major reason for challenging the incumbent.

“Jobs will solve the problems with unemployment, jobs will solve the reduction in good housing stock, jobs will solve problems for the social service agencies who have been drained economically,” Gaulrapp recently told a Rockford television station.

Prior to his election as mayor, Gaulrapp served as a Freeport alderman for eight years and has been a long time community leader. His business experience includes 29 years in the dental laboratory and supply industry and several years with E*Trade Solutions Group.

This is the third time in three elections that Manzullo has been challenged by Democratic mayors in his district.

In 2006 former Galena Mayor Richard Auman mounted a challenge. In 2008 Barrington Hills Mayor Robert Abboud made a run.

“It is a telling indictment when responsible municipal leaders from all corners of his congressional district challenge a powerful incumbent,” said McHenry County Democratic Chair Kathleen Bergan Schmidt.

The public is invited to attend the meeting. For further information see www.mchenrydems.org.

The candidacy of veteran Cook County Deputy Sheriff Mike Mahon for the Democratic Party nominee for McHenry County Sheriff started my thinking about how Lake in the Hills village government and politics is an incubator for Democratic Party partisan campaigns.

If you ever wonder the importance of village office, consider the upward mobility of those involved in McHenry County Democratic Party politics from Lake in the Hills.

One could consider it the powerhouse of McHenry County Democratic Party politics.

And, it’s all “non-partisan.”

First Paula Yensen ran for state representative against Republican Mike Tryon in 2004.

Then, Jim Kennedy ran for county board against Tina Hill and Perry Moy, unseating Moy.

Next, Paula Yensen ran for county board against Virginia Peschke and John Jung.  She beat Jung (or is up for a re-match this year, if he wins what could be a four-way GOP primary).

And even prospective Democratic Party sheriff’s candidate Mahon gained his electoral baptism by fire by running for village trustee.  He lost but it looks like he is running for something much bigger, where, if victorious, Democrats would be in control of one of the most powerful courthouse offices.

22-year Cook County Deputy Sheriff Michael Mahon is apparently running for McHenry County Sheriff on the Democratic ticket.

I say “apparently” because I haven’t seen his petitions, as did Woodstock Advocate’s Gus Philpott last Sunday, and I haven’t yet made contact with him.

Ironically, Philpott is an announced candidate for the Green Party candidacy for McHenry County Sheriff.  As such, he could drain votes from the Democratic Party’s choice.

Mahon must have politics in his blood.  I found he had been a candidate for Lake in the Hills trustee two times–2003 and 2005.

Both times he finished fourth.

He received 1,273 votes in 2003.  Running ahead of him were Ray Bogdanowski, James Kennedy and Joe Murawski, in that order.  Murawski beat Mahon by 58 votes.

In 2005, Mahon got 932 votes, losing to Paula Yensen, Elizabeth Wakeman and Steven Harlfinger.  Third place finisher Harlfinger bested Mahon by 278 votes.

Having more than twenty years in his pension system, Deputy Sheriff Mahon is eligible for retirement.

And here’s the press release inviting you to come:

Lt. Gov Hopeful Terry Link to Speak to Democrats

State Senator Terry Link (D-30), a candidate for Lt. Governor will be a featured guest at the September meeting of the Democratic Party of McHenry County at the McHenry County Farm Bureau, 1102 McConnell Road in Woodstock at 7 PM, Wednesday, September 16.

Senator Link has served since 1997 and is the Majority Caucus Chair. He is a recognized leader on tax and financial issues.

Link is also Chair of the Lake County Democratic Central Committee and has led a Democratic resurgence in that once reliably Republican County. He has supported the growth of the McHenry County party. In the crowded field of Lt. Governor candidates, Link is sometimes regarded as the voice of the collar counties.

The McHenry County Democratic Party will continue to invite candidates to speak through the primary. The county party does not make endorsements in the primary.

The meeting is free and open to the public.

Toot, toot.

Or is it,

“Hoonk, hoonk?”

That train speeding down the track is the one delivering authority for the Woodstock baseball stadium developer to use $15 million in Federal Stimulus Bonds to finance their proposed stadium.

The beneficiary of this largess is Equity One Development Corporation. The application form lists Mark Houser as the 100% owner of the firm.

Here are a couple of relevant sections of the proposed resolution:

Section 1. The County meets certain conditions specified in the Act required to designate the County as a Recovery Zone, those conditions being a significant increase in the unemployment rate, an increase in the rate of home foreclosures, and general distress and the County has been designated as a Recovery Zone.

Section 2. The County Board hereby approves the Project submitted by Equity One Development Corporation and designates $15,000,000 of Recovery Zone Allocation to Equity One Development Corporation for the issuance of Recovery Zone Facility Bonds to finance the Project.

Section 3. The Allocation shall be used to issue bonds to finance the Project and said Bonds must close no later than March 1, 2010. In the event the Bonds do not close by March 1, 2010, then the Allocation shall expire and revert back to the County.

Section 4. All actions of the officers, agents and employees of the County that are in conformity with the purposes and intent of this Resolution, whether taken before or after the adoption hereof, are hereby ratified, confirmed and adopted.

Here are the committee members who will meet next Tuesday at 9:30:

Chairman: Marc Munaretto

Vice Chair: Lyn Orphal
Members: Scott Breeden, John Hammerand, Tina Hill, Daniel P. Ryan, Mary Donner

Up for election this year are

• Lyn Orphal in the Crystal Lake-Lake in the Hills District 2the Woods
• Tina Hill in Woodstock-Lake in the Hills-Huntley District 5
• Dan Ryan the Huntley, Marengo, rural Woodstock, Harvard, Hebron, Alden District 6

In yesterday’s article about this pending decision, I laid out the campaign opportunities it would offer Democrats.

The light at the end of this tunnel could be what Democrats planning to run for county board are seeing.

At the McHenry County Democratic Central Committee meeting at the Farm Bureau building in Woodstock on Wednesday, Mark Freund told those gathered that he was going to run for county clerk.

“We need more Democrats in McHenry County,” he said.

Freund is Financial Secretary of Carpenters Union 2087, which has its headquarters on North Williams Street in Crystal Lake.

He lives in from Woodstock.

Kathie Schultz is the Republican incumbent McHenry County Clerk.

So far Freund has gathered about 100 signatures on his petitions. He will need 370.

In he opening remarks McHenry County Democratic Central Committee Chair Kathy Bergan Schmidt stressed the importance of the 2010 election year by pointing out that it would determine who would reapportion the General Assembly. Of course, congressional districts would also be up for grabs.

Speaker State Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie) also emphasized that importance of the coming elections.

At one point he said,

“Remap drawing is a very important process.”

Lake in the Hills McHenry County Board member Jim Kennedy asked about county board reapportionment.

“That’s going to affect me because they’re (the Republican county board members are) going to be redrawing the district.”

“The Republicans control the county board,” Lang agreed, suggesting,

“Even the most Neanderthal will recognize that the two-party system is important.”

Democrats now have two seats in county board District 5 and one in District 3.

= = = = =
State Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie) is the man in the photograph. The map of McHenry County shows the six county board districts.

At last Wednesday’s meeting of the McHenry County Democratic Central Committee State Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie) talked about “what really happened in Springfield.”

Let me skip to what he said Republicans did and didn’t do.

“Twelve brave souls said they would (vote for the income tax increase.) We only needed five of those brave souls.

“Their leader Tom Cross said, ‘No.’”

Lang said he was told there were two arguments:

• It’s against our (Republican) philosophy
• We’re not helping Democrats

“Once is was June 1st, it made it impossible to pass the income tax,” Lang explained, pointing out that passing a bill took an extraordinary majority of 71 votes and the Democrats only have 70 House members.

“The leader of the Republican Party personally killed the income tax increase,” the House Democratic Party Floor Leader said.

“There was one woman on the Republican side of the aisle that I sat beside in a meeting in the Governor’s office after the vote,” Lang elaborated.

“She’s a person who actually cares about human services.

“She was sitting there crying real tears.

“Do you recall you voted ‘No?’” Lang said he asked.

“This is the kind of hypocrisy that go4s on in Springfield on a daily basis,” he added.

“So, the reason we did not pass the income tax was the Republican Party.”

In the question and answer question, McHenry County Board member Paula Yensen asked Lang to comment on what a not-for-profit lobbyist had told her:

“The reason Republicans wouldn’t cross over was because they wanted a greater say in reapportionment and wanted $2-3 billion more cut.”

“Cross was most interested in getting to June 1st (when an extraordinary majority higher than the number of Democrats in the Illinois House took effect),” Lang said.

“The idea that the Republican Party was protecting the taxpayer is a bunch of bull.

“Mr. Cross was protecting the Republican Party.”

Other articles in the series:

• Part 1.
• Part 3.

= = = = =
From left to right, those sitting at the table are Jeff Jenkins, BJ Rendine, Bill Nowaskey, Mark Freund, John Darger and John Farnick. Standing is Carolyn Quinn.