McHenry County Blog

The pretty secret jockeying to be Chairman of the McHenry County Board for the next two years will culminate tomorrow morning in Woodstock.

After the 9 0.clock swearing in, three, perhaps four, perhaps more people will have their names entered into nomination.

“For sure” candidates are incumbent Ken Koehler, Tina Hill and Ersel Schuster.

My prediction is that none will achieve thirteen votes on the first ballot.

You can see my early guesses as to who would vote for whom for Chairman here.

Two new members, Joe Gottemoller (Crystal Lake) and Mike Skala (Huntley), apparently got earfuls of questions about whether they would support the re-election of Koehler and are schemish about voting for him on the first ballot.  Earlier, I pegged them as Koehler votes.

Others seem to be pledged to Koehler on the first ballot, but not the second.

Hill seems to have been the most aggressive at courting the votes of the eight new and one “re-tread” member (Yvonne Barnes).

Schuster was late out of the box on this treasurer trove of potential support.

A new rumor surfaced last week.

It suggests that Hill approached former County Republican Party Chairman Al Jourdan for support and, then, he and Sheriff aspirant Andy Zinke began working to bring votes to Hill.

And Sheriff Keith Nygren back in town for Shop with a Cop.

Could those who wish Zinke to replace Nygren be motivated by the wish-fulfillment that should Nygren retire that Hill would nominate Zinke to take Nygren’s place?

There will be those voting for Hill who would not vote to confirm Zinke, so such a nomination would not necessarily be a slam dunk in the game of succession.

My father used to say if a political rumor sounded like it might be true, it probably was.

Whether or not that side arrangement is in play, I believe that Hill will emerge the next Chairman of the McHenry County Board.

If she or Schuster are successful, the winner will be only the third female County Board Chairman (Chairwoman, if you prefer to use a title different from the one Kane County Chairman Karen McConnaughay used) in McHenry County history.

The first was Ann Hughes, who went on to become a State Representative. the second was Dianne Klemm.

If she does, not only will her salary increase a lot, but so will her retirement benefits under IMRF.

I shall wonder again if those on the new Board wishing citizens to be able to vote in a referendum as to whether to elect the 2014 County Board Chairman at-large in April will have as much success as those wishing to hike taxes in April did in November.

Just in case you are interested in the new faces who will serve on the McHenry County Board starting in December, here they are.  All six of McHenry County’s Districts will have newcomers.  (In the case of District 1, Yvonne Barnes is not exactly a newcomer, having served one term previously.)

District 1

District 2

District 3

District 4

District 5

District 6

Here’s something to ponder:

Who will these newcomers vote for McHenry County Board Chairman?

John Jung and Tina Hill, two of three Republican incumbents are positioned to be re-nominated in today’s primary election, but the third is in fifth place with 44% of the vote counted.

Newcomer Mike Skala holds first place.

Long-time member Virginia Peschke ran first the last primary election, even though she waited until less than two weeks before the election to put out signs.

I didn’t see any signs this year, but didn’t foray far into District 5 at the end of the campaign.

In any event newcomer, Michael Rein is leading her by 8 votes, so this is going to be a nail-biter.

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With all of the precinct of McHenry County Board District 5 reporting, but early and absentee votes not having been folded in, newcomer Michael Rein is edging out veteran Virginia Peschke by a mere 26 votes.

Saturday night’s crowd of candidates also gave opening statements.

And, as on Friday, some targeted like a laser beam on the tax hike issue. (See also Part 1 and Part 2.)

But before beginning, let me remind you of those incumbents who voted to increase the tax levy so much that the tax take from property owners will be as high as allowed by state law.

Those running for re-election are in boldface type.

• Robert Bless
• Scott Breeden
• Sue Draftcorn (a switch)
• Mary Donner
• Jim Heisler
• Tina Hill (a switch)
• John Jung
• Donna Kurtz
• Mary McCann
• Pete Merkel
• Anna May Miller (a switch)
• Marc Munaretto
• Kathy Bergan Schmidt
• Ken Koehler

Michael Stanard, running for a spot on the GOP primary ballot drew the first slot to speak and said, “I would [have]voted against an increase in the tax levy.”

District 6 incumbent Diane Evertsen of Hartland Township said, “I voted against an increase in the tax levy. This is exactly the wrong time.”

Coral Township’s Shawn Green, also running in District 6, gave the same message: “I did not support the Board’s decision to increase the tax levy.” While he suggested the levy will have to be increased from time to time, “now is not the time to do it. With no new construction, the slightest increase will lead to an increase in taxes.”

Rachel Smith of Wonder Lake, another District 6 challenger, pointed out she knew the estimates of the average homes tax increase was $8, but

“$8 can help feed my family for a week if I go to Aldi’s.

“The government needs to live within its means.”

Marengo Alderman Corey Brackmann, also running for a District 6 Republican slot, said he didn’t think raising the levy at this time was a good idea.

He pointed out that he had “voted against the proposed increase in the City of Marengo.”

District 5 aspirant Michael Rein of Woodstock added this thought [remember all of this is in the opening statements]:

I also think the tax levy should not have [been] raises. ”

He urged voters to look at how his opponents had voted the last two years, not just this year.

“People who voted against the tax levy also voted to increase their [own] salaries,” he added.

[See

McHenry County Board Votes on Salary Hikes

Voting "No" were

• Virginia Peschke
• Kathy Bergan Schmidt
• Ersel Schuster
• Paula Yensen]

“I was opposed to the increase in the tax levy,”  said David LaGue, the only farmer on the ballot in District 6.

“Workable alternatives [exist].”

He added that it wasn’t a good idea when when the economy was doing poorly.

Huntley School District 158 Board President Mike Skala agreed with everyone up to that point.

“I would not have supported the tax increase,” he said. “I led the effort to keep our levy flat.:

[Afterwards, I asked what that meant. Skala explained that his Board was abating taxes that were levied in order to keep the tax bill flat.

When I asked if that meant the school district could take a 4.5% increase for 2013, he admitted that was the case. (The 4.5% would consist of the 1% CPI increase allowed this year by the Property Tax Cap, plus the 3% allowed next year.)]

Michael Stanard, challenger in District 6, explained,

“I’m in favor actually of reducing the levy.

“The only way for the government to get smaller is to take the money away.

District 6 incumbent Ersel Schuster voted against hiking the tax levy as well. She said that there “should be an outside audit” to identify items that could be cut.

McHenry County Board incumbent Ersel Schuster voted against the tax hike.

She said there “should be an outside audit” to identify unneeded expenditures.

Missing from their forum were

• District 5 incumbent Tina Hill
• District 5 incumbent John Jung, Jr.
• District 5 incumbent Virginia Peschke
• District 6 aspirant Michele R. Aavang
• District 6 incumbent Mary McCann
• District 6 non-incumbent J. Vincent Ranzino

Those who voted for the levy hiking taxes on this year’s bills are in boldface type. The others who did so are mentioned in the articles.

The Young Republicans provided a public service Saturday night by sponsoring a candidates night for McHenry County Board candidates in District 5 and 6.

The Friday night counterpart for District 2, 3 and 4 candidates, on the other hand, had three incumbents who defended their maximization of the tax take from taxpayers.

Only $8 a household was the best defense.

Four incumbents skipping the Saturday night’s affair (tax hikers in boldface type):

• Tina Hill – District 5
• John Jung – District 5
• Virginia Peschke- District 5
• Mary McCann – District 6

There only incumbents from Districts 2, 3 and 4 who missed the Friday night meeting were County Board Chairman Ken Koehler from Crystal Lake and Wonder Lake’s Draffkorn.  Both voted for the tax hike.

I wondered if the absence of those who voted “Yes” for big levy was because the tax hike question asked of District 2, 3, and 4 candidates the night before.

To their credit two of those from District 2 who voted to maximize the tax take, Jim Heisler and Donna Kurtz attended and gave their defenses.  Koehler also voted for the one and one-half percent tax hike, the most allowed by the Property Tax Cap.

In District 3, Mary Donner, who also supported maximizing county taxes, was in attendance defending her vote.

Of the incumbents absent in District 5, Jung supported the tax hike and Hill did not.  Peschke did not cast a vote.

In District 6, incumbent Mary McCann was the only incumbent missing.  She supported the tax hike.

So, when the same question was asked of candidates in District 5 and 6 as was asked of those from District 2, 3 and 4, there was no one on the stage to defend the maximum extraction of taxes possible from us taxpayers.

Do I sense an issue that might have some traction?

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The roll calls that might interest you on the tax hike:

Who Voted to Raise Your County Taxes?

Until the end there was no primary election in the Republican Party for District 6.

But toward the end of filing, previously announced candidate Huntley School Board member Mike Skala was standing in the McHenry County Clerk’s Office near the counter where business is transacted.

And, almost at the last minute, he filed his petitions so he could be last on the ballot.

That position is definitely worth extra votes when there are a lot of people on the ballot.

Whether it makes much difference where there four people to be elected from a list of five is debatable.

In any event, here is the order that the GOP candidates will be on the ballot:

• John Jung, Jr.
• Tina Hill
• Virginia Peschke
• Michael Rein
• Michael Skala

The four who make the cut will face incumbent Democrat Paula Yensen.

In mid-May, the Huntley School Board was approached by some disappointed and frustrated parents.

At both the Finance and the board meeting, the moms of kids with special needs felt empowered to speak about the education their kids are or are NOT getting.

You see, two key special education employees jumped ship.

The parents seemed to think there no longer was light at the end of the tunnel.
How Federal economic stimulus money will be spent is at stake, too.

The Huntley School District is getting $1.5 million. The money has to be spent over a two year period.

A loophole, however, allows half of it to be drained to other than new or additional special education uses.

The administration wants to spend a rather large amount of money on a reading software that they have not piloted or know if it will be effective with special ed students.

The reading software is being used for regular students now. This makes it look like the software the district will be buying is software that would normally be bought this year to expand its use with more regular ed students.

The reasoning for diverting the money is that Federal mandates for so many years have been unfunded. Maybe “underfunded” would be a better word.

During comments the parents made a lot of interesting points. One became emotional at the board meeting and pretty much ignored Board President Shawn Green’s attempt to shut her down after a certain amount of time.

Board member Aileen Seedorf was aggressive in the discussion, even pulling out a hat and put ting it on mid-discussion, using it as a prop to make a point.

Seedorf pushed for a standing Special Ed Board committee, but the the board majority would not allow it.

In any event, signatures are being sought on the following petition: