McHenry County Blog

Since I do not subscribe to the Northwest Herald and the electronic edition of the paper is too much of a hassle to wade through, I missed this quarter page ad published in the Northwest Herald the Sunday before the election.

It supports all the opposed incumbents and was purchased by a pop-up committee calling itself “Citizens to Reelect Quality Leaders.” (Click to enlarge.)

The ad cost (I left the NW Herald a message requesting the amount for a quarter page ad on Friday morning; no reply so far).

Because the price paid was less than $3,000 no one the purchaser does not want to tell will ever learn know who paid for it.

It is interesting that Grafton Township Supervisor John Rossi’s favorite candidate for road commissioner, Mike Romanelli. Instead, incumbent Jack Freund is supported.

So, here’s the mystery on which you speculate.

Who supported both John Rossi and Jack Freund and all the incumbent trustees?

The ad could be said to have worked for Freund, but not for Rossi.

I would note that advertising in newspapers is not a favored route for most candidates.

But some candidates and supporters still advertise late in a campaign when they are desperate. It is a way to spend a fair amount of money at the last minute.

The problem is one can end up having one’s ad put somewhere in the paper where readership is light.

The last ad I placed in the NW Herald was in my primary election campaign in 1996. It advertised a real estate assessment appeal seminar well before the election.

It had political overtones since I successfully led the 1970 real estate assessment revolt to the Illinois State Property Tax Appeal Board. It lower 14 new homeownes’ assessments from 60% of market value to 42.6% (or whatever I proved the median average to be–might be off by a couple of tenths of a percentage point).

But the meeting, held at Martinetti’s, also was a public service.

The NW Herald put the ad on the obituary page, even though it had been running much, much smaller ads on page three for someone charging to help people appeal their property tax assessments.

I concluded that ad placement in the NW Herald had more to do with whether the paper supported a candidate than anything else.

By the placement of campaign signs, you can see that Grafton Township Supervisor wanted to replace fellow office holder Jack Freund with Mike Romanelli.

He did not succeed.

Even the early voting and absentee ballots are not yet counted, it is safe to say that the incumbent road commissioner won.

Freund received 1,020 to Romanelli’s 598.

I admit to not seeing much of a campaign from Freund, but road commissioners make lots of friends by the nature of their jobs.

The Republican primary was essentially the election because the Democrats have no candidates on the ballot and no independent is running.

Below you can see Lake in the Hills resident Mike Romanelli’s hand out.

He is challenging incumbent Road Commissioner Jack Freund and, from the placement of his signs, I would guess that he and Township Supervisor John Rossi are running something of a coordinated campaign.

Below you can see Lake in the Hills resident Mike Romanelli’s hand out.

He is challenging incumbent Road Commissioner Jack Freund and, from the placement of his signs, I would guess that he and Township Supervisor John Rossi are running something of a coordinated campaign.

Incumbent Grafton Township Supervisor John Rossi seems to be winning the sign war. It’s interesting that this Lakewood and Miller Road posting has both candidates for Township Road Commissioner beside the big Rossi sign. From the design and other joint placements I have seen, I assume that Mike Romanelli is running with Re-elect Rossi, while incumbent Jack Freund seems to be on his own.

You will note a smaller sign with Rossi’s name, along with the incumbent township trustees.

It’s not like his challenger, Linda Moore, has none.

But, it’s hard to compete with 4 by 4 foot signs with simple yard signs.

Some of Moore’s do have a theme that echoes her literature’s criticism of Rossi’s having borrowed $3.5 million without benefit of getting voters to approve it in a refernedum.

They say

on one side.

The other says,

Both sides have Linda Moore bumper stickers underneath.

Incumbent Grafton Township Supervisor John Rossi seems to be winning the sign war. It’s interesting that this Lakewood and Miller Road posting has both candidates for Township Road Commissioner beside the big Rossi sign. From the design and other joint placements I have seen, I assume that Mike Romanelli is running with Re-elect Rossi, while incumbent Jack Freund seems to be on his own.

You will note a smaller sign with Rossi’s name, along with the incumbent township trustees.

It’s not like his challenger, Linda Moore, has none.

But, it’s hard to compete with 4 by 4 foot signs with simple yard signs.

Some of Moore’s do have a theme that echoes her literature’s criticism of Rossi’s having borrowed $3.5 million without benefit of getting voters to approve it in a refernedum.

They say

on one side.

The other says,

Both sides have Linda Moore bumper stickers underneath.

McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi and McHenry County Board member Virginia Peschke have endorsed John Rossi for Grafton Township supervisor.

This despite multiple reports that Rossi, the immediate past Grafton Township Republican Central Committee Chairman endorsed pro-choice Democrat Paula Yensen over pro-life Republican John Jung for the McHenry County Board. Jensen won the election.

The two county officials, neither of whom live in Grafton Township, also endorse Mike Romanelli, who is running against incumbent Township Road Commissioner Jack Freund.

Below is the endorsement letter:

Huntley resident Linda Moore is mounting a challenge to Rossi in the February 24th GOP primary election, which, in effect, is the general election because there are no Democrats or independents running.

She is saying that Rossi should not have led the effort to put township taxpayers in debt to build new township offices for $3.5 million without asking voters permission in a referendum.

McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi and McHenry County Board member Virginia Peschke have endorsed John Rossi for Grafton Township supervisor.

This despite multiple reports that Rossi, the immediate past Grafton Township Republican Central Committee Chairman endorsed pro-choice Democrat Paula Yensen over pro-life Republican John Jung for the McHenry County Board. Jensen won the election.

The two county officials, neither of whom live in Grafton Township, also endorse Mike Romanelli, who is running against incumbent Township Road Commissioner Jack Freund.

Below is the endorsement letter:

Huntley resident Linda Moore is mounting a challenge to Rossi in the February 24th GOP primary election, which, in effect, is the general election because there are no Democrats or independents running.

She is saying that Rossi should not have led the effort to put township taxpayers in debt to build new township offices for $3.5 million without asking voters permission in a referendum.