McHenry County Blog

McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren got a headline saying he was in favor of a concealed carry law in today’s Northwest Herald, as you can see below.

Headline: "Sheriff Nygren supports concealed carry law."

I’d try to find the NW Herald article that I believe quoted a Crystal Lake Police Chief Keith Nygren as being against concealed carry in the 1990’s, but, with the NW Herald charging for its archives, that’s expecting too much. (And I didn’t buy today’s paper. I’m a second hand user.)

Beyond what I remember as a flip-flop from when I was state representative, Woodstock Advocate writer and Green Party sheriff’s candidate against Nygren, Gus Philpott, wrote in a comment about Nygren’s speech to the McHenry County Concealed Carry Association that

“Nygren was at the meeting and presented the position of the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association, which is to support concealed carry; however, at no point did Nygren ever say that HE supports concealed carry.

“What’s your position, Keith?”

It appears that question has been answered in today’s NW Herald.

But, as they say, actions speak louder than words.

Democratic Party challenger Mike Mahon points out that Nygren will not let about 230 his own trained and certified employees carry their weapons when off duty.

You know how you hear about off-duty Chicago policemen interrupting crimes while on their own time. They have guns.

Back when I was state representative, I was told of an Illinois Department of Corrections Office who was shot after he got off work by a gang banger friend of one of the inmates at either Joliet or Stateville prisons.

Illinois stupidly does not allow correctional officers to take their weapons home to defend themselves with. They have to lock them up in the prison. They can’t even have their own guns in the prison parking lot.

The result was that one correctional officer died on his way home to his Chicago neighborhood.

I introduced a bill, got it out of committee and to the House floor to rectify that situation. No help from the Illinois State Rifle Association. The legislation would have allowed correctional officers, both state and county, plus retired law enforcement officers, to carry handguns while not on the job.

My logic was that there would be that many more good guys on the street should some gang banger or crook or just plain nutcase decides to do something in their presence.

The State Rifle Association sat on its hands as a drunken Peoria area Democratic state representative took aim after a well-lubricated dinner.

The ISRA didn’t want any bill passed unless everyone was included.

And my bill lost.

Now, Mahon is calling out Nygren about allowing his own jailers and other trained and certified employees to be armed while off duty.

“Let them carry weapons while off the job,” Mahon is, in effect, saying.

“The community will be safer and you won’t be subject to the charge of being a hypocrite.”

I repeat, those were not Mahon’s words. You can read his words in his press release below:

The following statement was released Tuesday by McHenry County Sheriff candidate Mike Mahon:

Mike Mahon

“I find it interesting that Sheriff (Keith) Nygren has appeared to have gotten religion recently with respect to ‘concealed carry,’ when in fact he has had the capability to reinforce crime fighting in McHenry County for over a decade and has refused to do so.“

I am speaking of the over 230 trained McHenry County correctional and court security officers and process servers whose ability to carry firearms outside of the scope of their official duties has been denied by the same Sheriff Nygren who now states, according to a Northwest Herald article published March 2, 2010, that ‘when something happens to you or your family…the likelihood that there will be a policeman standing next to you is probably not very great’ and therefore that ‘private citizens who have guns could prove especially helpful in circumstances in which police were not instantly at the scene of an incident.’

“Now that the issue of concealed carry in Illinois might be getting some traction, Sheriff Nygren seems to be signaling some lukewarm support.

“But for years and years he could have permitted his officers, who have all completed the State of Illinois Law Enforcement mandatory firearms training course, who work for his office and whom he could keep a close eye on, to carry firearms not only as they travel to and from work but also when off-duty and in the community.

“The list of mass killings like Columbine, Virginia Tech and, closer to home, Northern Illinois University, unfortunately continues to lengthen. An off-duty officer in Utah was instrumental in halting an incident there within the last several years.

“But in McHenry County the additional cavalry are unarmed.

“I, for one, will be far more ready to believe in Sheriff Nygren’s new-found conversion to concealed carry if he immediately lifts his own restriction on the sworn, trained, and certified officers under his command.

“I will also ensure the people of McHenry County that one of my first acts as Sheriff, after a thorough review of personnel records, will be to allow the sworn and trained officers of the Sheriff’s department to carry their firearms off duty.

“This will instantly put hundreds more trained and vetted public servants on the street during their off-duty hours which will therefore bring a higher level of public safety to all citizens of the county.”

For more information contact the Mike Mahon for Sheriff Campaign at 847.515.4772.

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I will again point out that there was a woman who had Armed Forces training who was sitting in the front of the NIU auditorium when the massacre occurred.   She could have taken out the little squirrel who did the shooting from the stage, but, instead, she got killed.

NIU is what my campaign manager for governor (when I ran in 2002) called “a protection free zone.”

One more thing.  In John Lott’s “More Guns, Less Crime,” he points out the harder laws make it for people to obtain their own personal protection in the form of a gun, the less likely it is for those people really in need of such protection will be able to qualify.

So, if you want to discriminate against inner city residents, make the hurdles high.

Yesterday, you saw the joint booth for Democratic Party State Rep. Jack Franks and Republican State Senator Pam Althoff.  See

“What’s Wrong with this Picture?”

Continuing my tour of the McHenry Business Expo held at McHenry West High School concurrent with a McHenry Marlin swim meet, I found the booth of the Democratic Party challenger for McHenry County Sheriff, Mike Mahon.

McHenry County Mike Mahon's McHenry Business Expo Booth

I took this picture. “Where was the candidate?” I wondered.

Then I saw him.

Mike Mahon talking to two supporters at the Expo.

Not standing behind his booth table, but actually out campaigning, just as Franks was went I walked by.

Having not met, I introduced myself, we shook hands and he was off to shake more voters’ hands.

Mike Mahon shaking has with a potential constituent.

As I walked down the aisle, I found a booth sponsored by the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department.

McHenry County Sheriff's booth.

But, Keith Nygren was not there. in his place was a uniformed deputy.

McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren

The sheriff with $123,000 in the bank as of New Year’s Day and 13-years of name identification as an elected official on top of service as Crystal Lake’s chief of police delivered a body blow to challenger Zane Seipler in Tuesday’s election.

There is no need to wait for the early and absentee ballots to be included in the totals to see that Keith Nygren won a convincing victory.

Nygren won over twice as many votes as Seipler.

The vote count at this time is 16,942 to 7,924.

Sheriff Nygren is again King of the Hill.

It’s not that Nygren isn’t vulnerable to criticism.

Zane Seipler on election day.

Seipler took my precinct 41-32, not counting the electronic, early and absentee ballots.

It is conceivable a similar message could have worked countywide had the challenger had sufficient money and manpower to deliver it.

What it means to me is that the veteran sheriff is not on as solid ground as he and his supporters probably think they are.

Nygren has Democrat Mike Mahon and Green Party candidate Gus Philpott as opponents in the fall election.  The two opponents will split the anti-Nygren vote, giving him a better chance to win than a one on one battle would.

Even so, my guess is that fall contest will not be as one-sided as this one seemed to Nygren.

The booth of McHenry County Sheriff's candidate Mike Mahon turned up right next to the booth of McHenry County State's Attornrey Lou Bianchi's. Bianchi is a Republican. McMahon is the Democratic Party's candidate this fall.

Just a coincidence, I’m sure.

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Thanks to a friend of McHenry County Blog for having sharp eyes for irony and a camera.  Naturally, I was in my Algonquin Township Precinct 7 in Crystal Lake and Lakewood passing out literature.  There was also someone passing out Ken Koehler literature and a new Donna Kurtz door hanger.

The recent filing of potential conflict of interest information by Democratic Party candidate for sheriff Mike Mahon means all of McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren’s opponents have taken this step by transparency.

Nygren has not done so yet.

GOP primary opponent Zane Seipler was the first to file the form.  Green Party candidate Gus Philpott was the second.

The form in question was proposed as part of a county ordinance by the Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water.

Its intent is to allow the public and other public officials to know what property those filing have as well as their business relationships.

Most county officials will show they have no such potential conflicts of interest.

16 of 27 county board candidates have their replies posted on the ALAW web site here.

But only five (half) of the incumbents running for re-election have voluntarily submitted a completed form:

• Tina Hill – District 5
• Mary McCann – District 6
• Lyn Orphal – District 2
• Sandy Salgado – District 4
• Barb Wheeler – District 3

None of the three male incumbents filed:

• Ken Koehler – District 2
• Pete Merkel – District 4
• Dan Ryan – District 6

And, the two District 1 females also did not fill out the ALAW ethics questionnaire:

• Yvonne Barnes
• Anna May Miller

Although unopposed in the February 2nd Democratic Party primary election, Lake in the Hills resident Mike Mahon is holding a fund raiser in Huntley Thursday night.

It will be held at 9874 Fairfield Road in Covington Lakes and runs from 5:30-7:30. Tickets in Huntley are $25.

Another one will be held in Chicago at Billy Goat Tavern, 1535 W. Madison, from 5:30-7:30. Due to the cost of renting the facility the tickets are $50.

Questions may be directed to 847-515-4772.

Below is what the candidate has on his web site about himself:

Mike Mahon’s career in the Cook County Sheriff’s Office has been one of ever-increasing responsibility and scope which has earned him the trust of three different Sheriff’s Administrations, one Republican and two Democrat.

All three have repeatedly demonstrated their assessment of Mike as a hard-working, honest, responsible and intelligent officer in the most tangible way: by promotion.

Beginning in 1987 as a Correctional Officer inside the nation’s largest single-site jail, two years later Mike was one of a handful of pioneers tapped to form the new Electronic Monitoring Unit, where he rapidly rose in the ranks to Supervisor of the Monitoring Center.

In 1991, Mike was selected for the elite Tactical Section, later called the EM Fugitive Unit, whose mission was to locate and apprehend detainees who ran away from home monitoring and resisted recapture. The work of this unit on the streets of Chicago and suburbs is as dangerous and difficult as police work gets.

After about 12 years on the streets, and looking to learn and grow in his career, Mike requested transfer to the Internal Affairs Unit of his home department and earned new respect for his handling, as an IAD Investigator, of citizen complaints and violations of law and internal policy by sworn officers.

There he gained crucial skills in the handling of corruption and cases of officer malfeasance. Mike then applied himself to the Correctional Sergeants’ exam and was promoted to Sergeant in 2004. Currently, he serves as a Deputy Director in the Sheriff’s Office focused on issues like strategic
planning, program evaluation, personnel and productivity.

Throughout his career, Mike has sought to make the most of his talents, to see each assignment through to a successful conclusion and earn the trust of his fellow officers and the public alike. These have been the keys to a continuous rise through the ranks.

Mike lives with his wife and four children in Lake in the Hills, where they have resided for the last 14 years.

For more information on the Mike Mahon for Sheriff Campaign please visit http://mikemahon.org/ or e-mail info@mikemahon.org.

Lake in the Hills resident Mike Mahon is not only passing petitions for the Democratic Party nomination for McHenry County Sheriff, but he has an initial campaign piece that has been made available to McHenry County Blog. You see it below (click to enlarge):

The text from the Cook County Deputy Sheriff says the following:

Mike Mahon has been a Deputy Sheriff for Cook County since 1987.

The majority of Mike’s career has been in investigative and supervisory positions.

Mike’s hard work, sound judgment, integrity, and test scores have earned him numerous promotions during different administrations.

He has held positions of increasing responsibility, including:

• Department of Corrections Officer,
• Investigator,
• Supervisor,
• Fugitive Unit Investigator,
• Internal Affairs Division Investigator, and
• Sergeant.

Currently, Mike works in the Sheriff’s Administration for the Office of Integrity and Compliance where he directs efforts related to strategic planning, program evaluations, personnel and productivity studies, and policy and procedure reviews.

Mike lives with his family in Lake in the Hills, where they have resided for the last fourteen years.

For more information, contact Mike at 815-788-9540.

So, now three challengers have raised their hands as candidates to challenge three-term Republican incumbent Keith Nygren.

The first was Gus Philpott, who intends to run on the Green Party ticket.

The second was Zane Seipler. He is running against Nygren in the Republican Party’s primary election.

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.