McHenry County Blog

Probably no one but those on a state or teachers’ pension know or even care about the details, but House Speaker Mike Madigan finally stepped up to the plate Thursday and hit his ball out of the park.

Of course, those who have watched Madigan over the years know that the pension problem is only a problem because he agreed to pension sweeteners and diversions over the years he has been in the House of Representatives.

In any event, the legislation is billed as the way to put the State of Illinois house in order, so let’s see who voted how.

The House roll call on Mike Madigan’s pension reform bill.

Representatives with a part of McHenry County voting in favor of the bill were

• Jack Franks
• Dave McSweeney
• Tim Schmitz
• Barb Wheeler

The lone vote “No” was cast by

• Mike Tryon

State Rep. David McSweeney is on a roll.

The Chicago Tribune article today about State Rep. Dave McSweeney’s bill to give more rights to taxpayers when local governments try to issue non-referendum bonds. The bill was co-sponsored by Democratic Party State Rep. Jack Franks.

Yesterday he passed a bill stimulated by McHenry County College’s potential of borrowing over $40 million to almost double the size of the campus, plus build a health and fitness club that would compete with Centegra’s Health Bridge, the Sage YMCA and numerous storefront fitness clubs.

Today, he has passed a Constitutional Amendment that would abolish the office of Lieutenant Governor.

His press release is below:

IL House Members Approve Eliminating the Office of Lieutenant Governor

David McSweeney

Springfield –State Representative David McSweeney (R-Barrington Hills) passed House Joint Resolution by Constitutional Amendment (HJRCA 18) as chief sponsor, a measure that would eliminate the job of Lieutenant Governor and be placed on the 2014 ballot for voters to approve. McSweeney garnered bipartisan support by citing that the measure will save the State money and eliminate redundancies.

HJRCA 18 passed the Illinois House today by a vote of 81-30.

“I applaud my colleagues who joined me today and had the courage to call for greater government efficiency,” said McSweeney. “I’m glad this comes during the same week that Illinois House members also approved a bill to reduce our own compensation.”

The bill will have a positive fiscal impact on the state’s budget as it would eliminate the salary and operating costs of the Office of the Lt. Governor. For fiscal year 2013, the Lieutenant Governor’s salary was $135,900 and total office appropriations were approximately $2 million.

“We are in a fiscal crisis and we must continue to take more steps like this to get back on track,” added McSweeney.

HJRCA 18 accompanies other cost reduction legislation filed by McSweeney. To date, McSweeney has declined a legislative pension, proposed to end all legislative pensions and has voluntarily cut his own pay and district office expenses by 10%.

Under the legislation, the Attorney General would be next in line to assume the duties of Governor if necessary. The legislation would be effective for the term beginning in 2019.

Arizona, Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wyoming all do not have the office of Lt. Governor.

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As noted in the press release, the Attorney General would become Governor should a Governor step down.  House Speaker Mike Madigan’s daughter Lisa Madigan is currently Attorney General.

On his web site Walsh Freedom, former Congressman, now talk show host Joe Walsh outlines steps to save Illinois. I have to admit that he is more optimistic than I.

I think Mike Madigan, while a consummate politician, must take blame for the downward spiral of Illinois during his decades-long rule.

The front page of Joe Walsh’s web site, Walsh Freedom, on April 8, 2013.

In any event, here’s Joe Walsh’s prescription:

How To Save Illinois in Eight Simple Steps

1. Eliminate the individual state income tax and the state corporate tax.
2. Give every parent in the state a school voucher to send their children to whatever school they want to send them to — public, private, religious, or home.
3. Place every government employee on a defined contribution, 401(k) style retirement plan.
4. Begin immediately tapping into our natural gas and oil reserves.
5. Eliminate township governments.
6. Give every law-abiding adult the right to carry a concealed weapon.
7. Have a federal prosecutor investigate how Michael Madigan and his legal clients have benefited financially at taxpayer expense from his role as Speaker.
8. Tell Judy Barr Topinka to retire.

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In his Quincy Tea Party appearance, Walsh says, “We have lost Illinois.”

After the Republican Party’s State Convention this summer I wrote an article entitled,

Auditioning at the State GOP Convention to be Illinois’ Scott Walker

It was about how Joe Walsh energized the crowd by trashing the way Democrat House Speaker Mike Madigan has allowed State government to hit the skids while he has been in control. You can read the article here.
Among other things, Walsh said,

“No one person should run a state.

“He is a king.

“He is a dictator.

“He is corrupt.

“He symbolizes everything that is wrong in Illinois.

“Shame on us for not having the courage and the fortitude to say that.”

Others auditioned, too, including Party Chairman Pat Brady, who also had harsh words about Madigan.

You can hear Walsh’s entire speech on Warner Tood Houston’s Prairie State Report video below:

Now Capitol Fax Blog has posted a new Facebook account from Joe Walsh, which you see, along with Walsh’s first post below:

Joe Walsh’s new Facebook page.

“Speaking to people all over Illinois. They are engaged, excited and ready to take this state back from the Madigan Empire. #Freedom #Liberty”

Can you imagine Walsh taking on Mike Madigan on concentration of power, especially if Lisa Madigan is running for Governor?

Illinois State Capitol

Chicago Sun-Times reporter Dave McKinney was following statewide legislative results while I was looking at the McHenry County Board.

The short of it is that the legislative maps worked as well or better than did the Congressional maps.

Losing Joe Walsh, Bob Dold, Bobby Shilling and Judy Biggert and keeping Jerry Costello’s seat Democrat was pretty much all that Mike Madigan could have wished for. 9Not to mention having Don Manzullo lose to Adam Kinzinger in the GOP primary.)

But United States House of Representatives will still be in Republican hands, so there is something of a brake there.

Not so in Springfield.

Dave McKinney reports that Mike Madigan will have a veto-proof majority.

So will John Cullerton.

Madigan is getting a net gain of seven seats by his calculations.

71-47.

In the Senate the edge will be 40-19.

Can everyone spell “minority?”

For certain our local school taxes will go up as the Democrats shift the pension burden that state legislators in years past spent on increasing teacher salaries (at the urging of the teacher unions, of course), rather than putting the money into the Downstate Teachers Retirement Fund, as it was budgeted by Governors.

That practice delivered a two-fer to the taxpayers.

Obvious is the money could not go both places.

By putting the money budgeted for pensions into higher State Aid to Education, which allowed higher teacher salaries, future pensions, in turn, were increased.

What else will Madigan want to do to us?

Don’t dismiss the possibility that the state income tax may be further increased.

And remember, we haven’t felt it yet because of the Feds having cut the Social Security tax by the exact same amount that the Democrats raised income taxes–two percentage points.

And, as taxes go up on the taxpayers of Illinois, more and more of them will decide to move.

And the downward spiral will continue.

David McSweeney

When Democratic Party Chairman and House Speaker Mike Madigan spends almost a half a million dollars in Republican territory in the far Northwest suburbs you know something out of the ordinary is taking place.

Observers think that Madigan was trying to establish a beachhead.

The money was not well spent because David McSweeney wiped the floor with Madigan’s “Independent.”

From adding the results (not yet final) for the four-county district, David McSweeney wiped out Dee Beaubien 26,572 to 18,331.

That’s over 59% of the vote, a landslide by anyone’s definition.

Below are the county by county results. Not all have early and absentee votes folded in so they are not final, but certainly are definitive.

In McHenry County the vote was 15,724 to 11,676. McSweeney got over 57%.

The McHenry County election results in the Dave McSweeney v. Dee Beaubien slug fest.

The Lake County’s tally shows McSweeney leading by 3,998 to 2,593.  That’s almost 61%.

The Lake County portion of the Dee Beaubien challenge to David McSweeney is above.

Cook County’s votes turned out 4,627 to 2,775.  Percentage-wise the margin was almost 63% to 37%.

Cook County results can be seen here.

Finally, the smallest part of the district is in Kane County.  McSweeney got 57% of the vote.  He led Beaubien by 2,223 to 1,676.

Kane County results for the Dee Beaubien-David McSweeney race are above.

That’s what The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform reports of expenditures in the State Rep. race between Republican David McSweeney and Independent Dee Beaubien.

The chart shows Dee Beaubien raising  $996,991, but that doesn’t include $11,324 more  reported this weekend.  Dave McSweeney’ total is $652,549.

Have we come to to point the first qualification of being a State Representative is being a millionaire?

Dee Beaubien

Here’s what was reported received by Dee Beaubien from the Democratic Party of Illinois Sunday:

• $2,669.26 – postage
• $5,662.66 – printing

Beaubien is running as an Independent against Republican primary winner Dave McSweeney.

Five, count them.

Five mailings arrived in the David McSweeney (R-Barrington Hills) vs. Dee Beaubien (Ind.-Madigan) campaign on Thursday and Friday.

You can see them below:

Beaubien has a piece from Personal PAC, the pro-abortion organization.  It emphasizes something McSweeney told a now-defunct internet publication.

The address side of what is presumably the last mailing from Personal PAC.

A lie detector plays a role in this Personal PAC mailing.

Personal PAC again cites a quote about rape that David McSweeney make when he was running for Congress in 2006. McSweeney’s stand on abortion is that he is opposed to it except for rape, incest and to save the life of the mother.

The final panel of the Personal PAC mailing.

Let’s look at a Friday piece from McSweeney:

This black and white “Warning” piece from Dave McSweeney might stand out from the other four color pieces invading people’s mail boxes.  It stressing property taxes.

Details are supplied on the back of the “Warning” piece about how Dee Beaubien is linked to Democratic Party Chairman and House Speaker Mike Madigan.

Let’s take a look at another Beaubien end-of-week mailing.  This one asks to be able to carry on her husband Mark’s legacy.

Knitting yarn and needles are featured on the first page of the message.

“Together, we can carry on,” Dee Beaubien writes.

Dee Beaubien writes about her husband Mark’s legacy on this panel.

“I want to make a difference,” Dee Beaubien writes.

Back to one of McSweeney’s pieces.

Dave McSweeney puts his photo in a metal bending factory on the front of this last-minute post card that features endorsements.

Endorsements of David McSweeney from area newspapers are featured on the back of the mailing.

McSweeney has a third mailing delivered on Friday liking Beaubien to Mike Madigan and his plan to raise local school property taxes to pay for teacher pension shortfalls.

School property taxes that House Speaker and Democratic Party Chairman Mike Madigan wants to raise are featured on this mailing.

Independent Dee Beaubien is linked to Democrat Mike Madigan on this side of the mailing.

A line of people waiting to vote early at the Crystal Lake City Hall.

Crystal Lake Estates comprises a precinct east of Pingree Road and west of Route 31.

It is a precinct in the state representative district in which Dave McSweeney is fighting a pitched battle with Dee Beaubien-Mike Madigan combine.

It has an active Republican Precinct Committeeman, Chuck Lutzow.

He is keeping track of those who are voting early.  The totals, in percentages, are found below:

• 67% Republican
• 10% Independent
• 22% Democratic

That represents 69 voters.

Four years ago, 701 people voted, so about 10% of those expect to vote have done so.

In my precinct, Algonquin 7, 73 people have voted.  350 voted in the 2008 Presidential Election.

That’s 21% of those who voted four years ago.

I have not analyzed the partisan make-up.