McHenry County Blog

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the State of Ohio has offered Sears $400 million in benefits to pull up the moving vans and take the tollways east.

That will put one lakefront home in my neighborhood (originally owed by a Schwinn bicycle family) on the for sale block and displace hundreds, if not thousands of area residents, if Sears decides to relocate.

District 300 will get its wish that the TIF-like Economic Development District expire after its original 23 years, but will probably not benefit to the extent that it hopes.

That’s because office buildings can be assessed based on income received. Empty office buildings don’t produce much rental income (or equivalent value).

The Tribune points out that the “bribe” (my word, not the Tribune’s) offered by Ohio is four time what Illinois was planning to offer.

When I was attending Oberlin College in the Ohio town named for it, a carload of Young Republicans drove to Columbus to hear U.S. Senator Mark Hatfield and state Republican Party Chairman Ray Bliss.

Both were impressive.

Hatfield was a former college professor who appealed to the student in us.

Bliss was the down-in-the-trenches politician who had led the party back from a 1954 debacle involving unions.

The GOP decided to put a referendum on the ballot to repeal union shops. Under such laws, employees of a company had to join the union representing its employees or not have a job.

Naturally, having 100% of a firm’s employees in the union meant a steady flow of dues to finance union officials’ salaries and union activities.

I learned about union shops nine months after I started working for the National Tea store where the empty lot now exists at the intersection of Route 14 and McHenry Avenue.

Mr. Svensen, the store manager, came to talk to me outside his office where the time cards were racked. The gentle man told me he was going to have to let me go if I didn’t join the Retail Clerks union. Basically, that was a condition of employment.

I told him no one had ever asked me to join the union. He seemed a bit surprised and inquired if the shop steward hadn’t talked to me.

I didn’t even know who the shop steward was. I was busy stocking laundry products (the first Mister Clean bottles), pet food, bagging groceries and burning cardboard.

The upshot of the conversation was that I joined the union and kept my part-time job.

Ohio Republicans decided that they were going to establish Right-To-Work laws in Ohio through a vote of the people.

Needless to say, that energized the unions.

They were so energized that they swept every statewide Republican official out of office except the Lt. Governor, whom I sensed had been in office so long that no one could defeat him. One of the losers was James A. Rhodes. He ran for governor.

Bliss led the team that turned the tables, but it took several election cycles. Republican Jim Rhodes was elected governor with the help of the Oberlin College Young Republicans in 1962.

So what was Bliss’ takeaway from the 1954 debacle?

First, don’t stir the union hornet next.

Give them a reason to protect their turf and Republicans are in trouble.

Secondly, don’t allow the money men to set public policy. After 1954, Rhodes allowed the financiers to raise cash for the party, but not to force referendums on the ballot that might hurt party chances.
Is a parallel to what happened in 1954 in Ohio about to be replayed in Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio?

Will Governor Scott Walker’s insistence that the union shop be abolished for government workers (including teachers) activate them enough to work hard for the defeat of Republican state representatives and senators in Wisconsin?

I think the answer is an undeniable “YES!!”

If so, will Republicans, Tea Party activists and other supporters of people like Walker, Indiana Govenor Mitch Daniels and Ohio Governor John Kasich be able to mount as disciplined a campaign to keep their legislators in office?

Based on what I have leaved of the lack of integration of Tea Party volunteers with regular party activists in Illinois, I frankly doubt it.

Sometimes GOP leaders do know what they are talking about.

They do know what should go in the door-to-door bags and what shouldn’t.

Is the 1954 Ohio Republican debacle foreordained in 2012?

Knowing what happened in the past could change what occurs then.

Or history could repeat itself?

Chagrin Falls, Ohio, World War II veteran Charles McHenry came all the way to Crystal Lake for a Library of Congress Veteran History Project interview.

John Blanchard, Executive Director of Crystal Lake-based NASA Education, flew his private plane to pick McHenry and his son Charles, Jr., on Thursday.

The reason for the trip was to document Mr. McHenry’s account of his service during WWII.

The Veteran History Project collects first-person accounts of military service in WWI, WWII, the wars in Korea, Vietnam and the Persian Gulf, and the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Veteran History Project honors American war veterans and civilian workers who supported them by preserving stories of their service to our country.

In October, 2000, the U.S. Congress unanimously voted to create program, which will be housed at the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress in Washington.

The contents of the archives and its collections are made available to researchers and the public.

In additional to compiling a unique archive for scholars, the Veterans History Project hopes to inspire future generations with these stories of service to our country.

Mr. McHenry served in the United State Navy during WWII on the USS Finback SS230 as a submariner, with his main specialty as an electrician.

He served from June, 1943 – December, 1945 and then was called back to duty and served during the Korea conflict between September, 1950 and March 1951.

“His stories were amazing and so clearly stated,” Blanchard explained.

During his visit to Crystal Lake, McHenry attended Carpentersville VFW Post 5915’s community night, appearing with Jim Shea. Shea and Mr. McHenry’s son Charles, Jr. have been boyhood buddies since the 4th grade and that is how Mr. Blanchard learned of him.

“It was a fun filled trip,” Blanchard explained, “one he said he would remember for the rest of his life. They headed back to Cleveland early this afternoon.

“Everyone at NASA Education was left with heartfelt memories of our blessed WWII Navy veteran named Charles,” Blanchard said.

This is the 11th recording that NASA Education has done for the Veteran History Project.

“We are seeking individuals that have either served or know of someone that may be interested in sharing their stories of the past,” Blanchard explained. “Please contact Amy Johnson, Program Director at 800-724-9692 for additional information or to schedule an interview.”