McHenry County Blog

With Jim Harrison deciding that he is going to run as an Independent in the McHenry County Sheriff’s race next year, it’s time to look at what has happened in the recent past when Independents ran against Republicans.

The most prominent was when State Rep. Mark Beaubien’s widow Dee.

In that contest, Republican David McSweeney was the Republican.

Each spent heavily to demonize the other.

Coming off a contentious three-way GOP primary, McSweeney won 58% to 41%.

Grafton Township’s most recent election had a well-publicized slate of Independents running for election against winners of the Republican Party primary election.

On the top of the ticket was Huntley Village Trustee Pam Fender facing off against Independent Jim Kearns.

Republican Fender, who won a hotly-contested three-way primary election with 39% of the vote, spent about $2,500 in the first quarter of the year. This does not include the week before the election, so more may have been spent.

Independent Kearns won by just under three-quarters of one percent (1944-1877). Kearns has not filed a report with the State Board of Elections. Such reports are required if one raises or spends over $3,000 in an election.

The third recent example also occurred in Grafton Township.

In a two-way race, Al Zielinski beat incumbent Bill Ottley 55% to 45% in the Republican Primary Election.

Zielinski spent a bit over $6,200, filing his report after the required deadline. I can find no campaign disclosure report for Ottley. [Looked again after a commenter said he could find it. The only way I could find it was by using the search word "Huntley" in the name of the town. He spent spent $2,461.21, but reports a negative balance of $461.21, something I believe the State Board does not allow. All the money came from Ottley and his wife.] No report has been filed by Jensen either, but as mentioned earlier, one is only required if the $3,000 threshold has been exceeded.

In the general election, Republican Zielinski edged out Independent Terra Jensen by 5.8 percentage points (1,998-1,774).

There was also a race against Republican nominee for Grafton Township Road Commissioner Tom Poznanski. He won the GOP Primary against Richard Dvorak by 63% to 37%. Poznanski is the Chairman of the Grafton Township Republican Central Committee.

In the April General Election, Poznanski was challenged by Independent Tim Hoeft. Poznanski won by 54-46.

Over in Nunda Township Independent Leda Drain ran against Republican Lee Jennings.

Jennings had a hot primary with three people running. One withdrew her candidacy, but too late for her name to be taken off the ballot.

Jennings barely beat Bridgette Provenzano, but Provenzano endorsed his candidacy in the General Election.

The result was that Jennings got over 57% of the vote. It was Jennings 2,614 and Drain 1,937.

So in the five most recent examples, those on the Republican Party ticket four out of five contests.

If I were Harrison, I would be hoping that the GOP Primary would be so heated that the backers of Bill Prim, if Andy Zinke won the primary, would back me.

Conversely, if Prim emerged victorious, I would be hoping that Zinki’s supporters would rally around my candidacy.

That did not happen, however, in the cases of

• McSweeney
• Zielinski
• Poznanski

It apparently did occur in the case of Jim Kearns victory over Pam Fender.

This is too small a sample from which to draw a conclusion, but it does indicate that when a primary contest in contentious, supporters of those who lose can rally to the campaign of an Independent.

In the case of Independent Jim Kearns’ victory, however, his Republican opponent Pam Fender was opposed by over 60% of the Republican Primary voters.

Despite a challenge from Nunda Township Supervisor employee Leda Drain, Republican nominee Lee Jennings handily won election.

The lead was almost 700 votes.

In contrast with Grafton Township, Nunda Township Republicans put on a unified campaign, as can been seen by the Northwest Herald sticker from last Saturday.

Three votes behind was where Rob Parrish found himself after all the absentee and early ballots were counted.

And, after a Discovery Recount he requested and paid for, the results were the same.

He was still behind “Iron Mike” Lesperance by three votes.

No changes were discovered in the count for Nunda Township Supervisor either.

Lee Jennings won 945-934, a eleven vote margin over Bridgett Provenzano.

I got this email from Mary McClellan, the Secretary of the Nunda Township Republican Central Committee:

Dan Rutherford

“We have a opportunity to talk with Dan Rutherford and meet Lee Jeenings who is running in a contested race against an independent.

“We are trying to raise enough money to support a republican candidate mailing.

“If you can’t make it you can mail a check to support Lee Jennings to jennings4nunda 730 Area Dr. McHenry, IL 60051.

“We will also have tickets available you can respond and I will get you your tickets before the date.

“Thank you for your help in getting good people elected to unite Nunda Township and get us on the right track.”

Illinois State Treasurer Rutherford, of course, is an all-but-announced candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor.  He has said that he does not wish to announce before the April 9th local elections.

The invitation below says that the fundraiser is to support the candidacy of Lee Jennings for Township Supervisor. Jennings won a narrow eleven vote margin. Yesterday his primary opponent Bridgett Provenzano endorsed his candidacy.

He beat her in a close race to see who would be the GOP candidate for Nunda Township Supervisor, but Bridgett Provenzano has endorsed her opponent Lee Jennings in his attempt to gain the office over Independent Leda Drain.

The recommendation came in the form of a comment on the story about Drain.

Provenzano’s comment follows:

“I am recommending Lee Jennings.

“He is after all the Republican candidate.

“Leda has already deceived the people by pulling a republican ballot in the primary and running as an Independent. (An Action that would be illegal in any other election, other than odd years.)

“Running against Lee I spoke with he and his wife and they seem to be good people who are active in their community and he will be a fiscal conservative

“He and I spoke on the phone and I think he will be a great Supervisor for Nunda.

“He has a lot of great revenue neutral ideas that will benefit the residents.

“I have offered him my full support to volunteer for any help he needs.

“I don’t believe I have ever heard him be rude to anyone, which I can not say about Mrs. Drain or Mrs. Kopsell.

“I am afraid if Mrs. Drain is elected and hires Mrs. Kopsell, nothing will change and the misspending of tax dollars will continue.

“I will vote for Lee Jennings and recommend others to do the same.”

A press release from Independent Nunda Township Supervisor candidate Leda Drain:

Nunda Township: The GOP Primary is over and Leda Drain, candidate for Nunda Township Supervisor, has shifted her campaign into high gear.

“I am very excited to have this opportunity to bring change to Nunda Township.” Leda announced at a recent gathering. “I am honored to be your candidate and, if elected, I will work hard every day for our community.”

Leda is a 22 year resident of Nunda, where she and husband Steve raised their four children.

Sense of community has long been a hallmark of the Drain family. Their children attended Nunda schools, where Leda developed her deep roots in community service, founded on her strong support of children and community.

Leda has 11 years of service as a board member of the Cary Jr. Trojans Football and is a co-founder and board members of the Jr. Wolves Football and Cheerleading organization.

As Supervisor, Leda will bring her leadership experience, strong organizational skills and strong sense of community to serve all residents of Nunda.

Leda is the candidate with the necessary qualifications for Supervisor.

She has two years of experience as Supervisor’s Office Coordinator and possesses the necessary accounting expertise to handle the job:

• 11 years of experience working in the commercial finance industry
• Successful small business owner (with her husband, Steve)
• Full-charge bookkeeper, including payroll
• Employee benefits administration
• Workers compensation matters, including claims

As Supervisor, Leda will carefully steward your precious tax dollars.

This will be her full-time job as she develops a collaborative relationship with and works to support the Assessor and Road Commissioner to better serve our community.

She will explore ways to pool resources with neighboring townships and will work hard to ensure that everyone in Nunda is part of our community.

For more information on Leda’s campaign please visit www.LedaDrain.com, call Leda at 815-404-0800 or email Leda at ledadrain@gmail.com.

= = = = =

Drain is running against GOP nominee Lee Jennings.

The score for those challenging incumbent township supervisors was 50-50.

Algonquin Township Supervisor Dianne Klemm fended off the strong challenge of Clerk Marc Munaretto.

But Grafton Township Supervisor Linda Moore could not withstand the four years of relentless pounding by winner Pam Fender and her allies.

Pam Fender’s fight to become Grafton Township Supervisor could be blocked by Independent Jim Kearns.

“While I’m disappointed with the results of today’s election,” Moore said, “I truly appreciate the volunteers and supporters across the township that made my grassroots campaign possible.

“Together we reformed the Grafton Township Supervisor’s Office.

“We ended patronage and eliminated waste.

“I’ll always be grateful to the voters for entrusting me with the job of reforming the Township Supervisor’s Office four years ago,” she continued. “I want to put the rhetoric aside and move forward. I wish my successor well.”

In Nunda Township only twelve votes separate leading vote getting Lee Jennings and Bridgett Provenzano. Don’t expect a concession from Provenzano. She will wait until the canvass, if not request a discover recount.

And the winner in Nunda will face an Independent candidate in April.

Look what I found distributed by the Crystal Lake Tea Party:

REMINDER OF TOWNSHIP ELECTIONS ON TUESDAY. THIS IS THE CLOSEST GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATION WE HAVE. BE SURE TO VOTE!

For what it is worth here are my personal recommendations for Nunda Township (of which I am a resident)

• Road Commissioner: Rob Parrish
• Supervisor: Bridgett Provenzano
• Clerk: Angela Koscavage

Township Polling places:
http://mchenry-il.connect.clarityelections.com/ElectionPollingPlaces.aspx

Letter from Irene Napier in support of Pro-life candidates in Algonquin Township:

Dear Pro-Life Supporter,

I was going to sit this election out, but two Pro-Lifers running for Algonquin Township Trustee are being slandered.

One is Melissa Sanchez, a 22-year old recent college grad (who has a job already!). Melissa, from Lake in the Hills, took a bus to the Pro-Life Washington demonstration three years ago and ended up meeting the young man she is going to marry. She is running with Larry Emery of Crystal Lake.

The key issue is pay raises voted for by three incumbent Trustees—Dan Shea and Lowell Cutsforth, plus Linda Lance, running for Township Clerk.

Both Melissa and Larry are being accused of voting to raise their own salaries.

The absurdity of the falsehood being spread is obvious when you think about it.

How could two candidates who are not in office have voted to raise their own salaries?

Such a “Big Lie” approach has been used successfully in politics before.

Shame on us if we let it work next Tuesday, when the Republican primary election is held.

What kind of a world do we live in when supporters of politicians spread outright lies about a recent retiree and a young woman inspired to try to improve things by entering public service?

Shouldn’t we be encouraging people like her and her friend Larry Emery, another Pro-Lifer, to stay involved in a political process that most of us would rather ignore because it is so often so dirty?

To summarize, there are three people on the ballot who voted to raise township salaries:

•         Dan Shea running for Trustee
•         Lowell Cutsforth running for Trustee
•         Linda Lance running for Clerk

There is one candidate, a current Trustee, running for re-election who led the fight to cut salaries

•         a Pro-Lifer named Russ Cardelli.

And there are the two candidates opposed to higher salaries who are being lied about

•         Melissa Sanchez
•         Larry Emery

Finally, a well-known Pro-Lifer named

•         Chuck Lutzow

is running for Township Clerk against a woman who voted to raise salaries.

Vote as you please, but please vote.

Irene Napier

First there was a sticker on the masthead of the Northwest Herald paid for by Grafton Township Supervisor Linda Moore. It was published on the first day of early voting and urged people to do so.

Sunday, the team of Nunda Township Supervisor candidate Lee Jennings and Nunda Township Road Commissioner candidate “Iron Mike” Lesperance had the sticker.

Monday, it was Nunda Township Road Commissioner candidate Rob Parrish’s turn.

The question I have now is whether any candidate will buy a sticker on Tuesday.