McHenry County Blog

Thought some might be interested in the letter I have written to my Crystal Lake-Lakewood precinct. It is below:

Dear Algonquin Township Precinct 7 Voters:

You can cast early votes at the Crystal Lake City Hall or the Algonquin Township Hall on Rt. 14 if you wish, but, if you are a traditionalist, our polling place is still the Main Beach House.

Besides the Presidential election, which the media says is a walkaway for Pres. Obama in Illinois, there’s not a lot going on. (Not that I’m not voting for Romney or want you to skip voting.)

No other statewide races, no state legislative contests, no Democrats running for countywide office.

My friend Peter Roskam is running for Congress for the first time in our area. He is the 4th ranking Republican in Washington and well positioned to assist our area.

I believe the most important vote is on the Jack Franks-initiated County Executive Referendum.

Philosophically, I am opposed to concentration of power.

A County Executive form of government will put more power into one person’s hands than exists today.

A County Executive will be able to give out contracts of up to $25,000 without board approval, as well as hire and fire those who report to him. Neither is the case now.

Checks and balances are good. That exits now and was what the Federalist Papers were all about.

There is a contest for County Board members.

The four Republicans who survived this spring’s GOP primary are, in ballot order:

• Donna Kurtz
• Jim Heisler
• Ken Koehler
• Carolyn Schoefield

All have solid public service records. They are opposed by two Democrats.

Three judges are on the ballot seeking another 6 years on the bench. None merits a “No” vote.

The final item is the Mike Madigan-pension Constitutional Amendment. He’s the reason we have a pension problem. No one thinks the proposal to increase the majority needed to pass pension bills will do anything. As a 16-year State Rep., I can’t remember a pension bill vote that was even close.

More political info on my McHenry County Blog. Please call 459-3506 if you have questions.

Cal

The fall election is less than three months away and one might think the McHenry County Republican Party would have its infrastructure in place.

But it doesn’t.

Wednesday the Party will be raising money at its annual P)lay Day golf outing and dinner.

Probably too late to arrange for golf, but if want to help strengthen GOP chances of winning in November, you could come to the McHenry County Club for drinks and dinner.  The cost is $50.

Dignitaries expected are our expected new Congressman,  Peter Roskam (Algonquin Township) and Randy Hultgren (the rest of McHenry County).

In addition State Treasurer Dan Rutherford, the Romney Campaign State Chairman.  Maybe he’ll bring some Romney bumper stickers, which were in very, very short supply at the Tinley Park State GOP Convention.

If would like to volunteer to help in the headquarters operation or would like to be a Precinct Committeeman, find Party Chairman Mike Tryon and tell him.

Fifty-five precincts have no party workers.

Forty-five percent are vacant in Grafton Township and 38% in Algonquin Township.  (See bottom of article.)

Details to the fundraiser are below:

Cocktails are at 4 and dinner is at 5. Click to enlarge.

Take a look at the precincts with no one assigned to get out the vote:

Algonquin Township – 38% Vacant (26 out of 68)

ALGONQUIN 1
ALGONQUIN 11
ALGONQUIN 14
ALGONQUIN 20
ALGONQUIN 21
ALGONQUIN 24
ALGONQUIN 26
ALGONQUIN 27
ALGONQUIN 29
ALGONQUIN 31
ALGONQUIN 32
ALGONQUIN 35
ALGONQUIN 38
ALGONQUIN 39
ALGONQUIN 41
ALGONQUIN 43
ALGONQUIN 54
ALGONQUIN 58
ALGONQUIN 59
ALGONQUIN 60
ALGONQUIN 61
ALGONQUIN 62
ALGONQUIN 63
ALGONQUIN 64
ALGONQUIN 66
ALGONQUIN 68

BURTON Township – 33% Vacant (1 out of 3)

Burton 1

Chemung Township – 40% Vacant (2 out of 5)

CHEMUNG 4
CHEMUNG 5

Dorr Township – 7% Vacant (1 out of 14)

DORR 3

Grafton Township – 45% Vacant (14 out of 31)

GRAFTON 3
GRAFTON 10
GRAFTON 11
GRAFTON 12
GRAFTON 14
GRAFTON 15
GRAFTON 16
GRAFTON 17
GRAFTON 21
GRAFTON 23
GRAFTON 24
GRAFTON 27
GRAFTON 29
GRAFTON 31

Greenwood Township – 29% Vacant (2 out of 7)

GREENWOOD 1
GREENWOOD 4

Marengo Township – 25% Vacant (1 out of 4)

MARENGO 3

McHenry Township – 6% Vacant (2 out 35)

MCHENRY 4
MCHENRY 22

Nunda Township – 21% Vacant (6 out of 29)

NUNDA 4
NUNDA 6
NUNDA 8
NUNDA 25
NUNDA 27
NUNDA 28

Richmond Township – 25% Vacant (1 our of 4)

RICHMOND 2

Earlier this month, the percentages of precincts for which people filed for Republican Precinct Committeeman was published.

Republicans, you may remember filled 49% of McHenry County’s 212 precincts, while Democrats had candidates in 19%.

Today we look at how the Democrats did, township by township.

Dunham – 100% (1 of 1)
Hebron – 50% (1 of 2)
Seneca – 50% (1 of 2)
Burton – 33% (1 of 3)
Coral – 33% (1 of 3)
Grafton – 32% (10 of 31)
Nunda – 31% (9 of 29)
Dorr – 29% (4 of 14)
Greenwood – 14% (1 of 7)
McHenry – 14% (5 of 35)
Algonquin – 9% (6 of 68)
Alden – 0% (0 of 1)
Chemung – 0% (0 of 5)
Hartland – 0% (0 of 2)
Marengo – 0% (0 of 4)
Richmond – 0% (0 of 4)
Riley – 0% (0 of 1)

As with Republicans, it’s easier for a small township to have a large percentage. Indeed, none of the top five townships have more than three precincts.

Of the six townships that have absolutely no candidates for Precinct Committeeman in the Democratic Party, none has more than five precincts.

Former Democratic Party Chair Kathy Bergan Schmidt of Nunda Township.

Mike Bissett of Grafton Township, current Democratic Party Chair.

Of the largest townships, there is a close contest among Grafton, Nunda and Dorr. All three have just under one-third of their precincts with candidates on the ballot.

McHenry in times past was a Democratic Party stronghold. Only 14% of its 35 precincts are filled.

The county’s largest township, Algonquin has 68 precincts, but only 6 candidates. Not even previous candidates for township or county board are running for Precinct Committeeman.

This map shows the locations of McHenry County's townships and municipalities.

As I start formatting this information from the McHenry County Clerk’s Office about who filed for Republican Precinct Committeeman in what parts of the county, my first impression is that “No candidate filed” will control the GOP Central Committee after the March 20, 2012, primary election.

After doing the count, I see that I was correct…barely.

108 of 212 precincts have no GOP candidate.  51% empty.

Only 49% of the county’s precincts have enough people wanting to serve as precinct committeemen that they passed a petition and presumably got the required ten signatures.  Nothing must be at stake, since no petitions were challenge.   With no challenges, people could have filed a petition with just their own signature and made the ballot and, hence, membership on the Republican Central Committee.

Here’s a summary of the percentages of precincts in which Committeeman candidates filed in each Township:

McHenry County Board Districts 5 and 6. Click to enlarge.

Alden – 100% (1 of 1)

Dunham – 100% (1 of 1)

Hartland – 100% (2 of 2)

Hebron – 100% (2 of 2)

Riley – 100% (1 of 1)

Seneca – 100% (2 of 2)

Richmond – 75% (3 of 4)

Greenwood – 71% (5 of 7)

McHenry – 57% (20 of 35)

Dorr – 50% (7 of 14)

Algonquin – 43% (29 of 68)

Nunda – 41% (12 of 29)

Chemung – 40% (2 of 5)

Grafton – 34% (11 of 31)

Burton – 33% (1 of 3)

Coral – 33% (1 of 3)

Marengo – 25% (1 of 4)

There exceptions in Marengo, Coral and Chemung Townships, but the numbers are so small in each of those townships that one more candidate would have put them above the county average of 49%.

You may note that the most sparely populated townships, those in County Board District 6 generally have the highest interest in the Republican Party’s Central Committee infrastructure.

Of the four largest townships, Algonquin, McHenry, Grafton and Nunda, only McHenry Township has more than half of the precincts filled with those willing to be on the ballot.

I hadn’t memorized the number of precincts in McHenry County.

Today McHenry County Clerk told me we have 212.

So, let me do some division using the Friday noon petition filings for precinct committeeman.

The Republicans had 54. [John Landon points out below that I can't count. Don't know if that is the case or whether it's that I transposed the "5" and the "4." At any rate, I thank another citizen-editor and have made the necessary correcitons.]

54 divided by by 212 rounds up to 26%.

26% of precincts have Republican precinct committeeman candidates.

What will the percentage be after the end of filing tonight?

For Democrats with their 18 candidates, the figure is 8.5%.

What can one say about to describe the state of the parties in McHenry County?

Still time to download a petition and other needed documents from the County Clerk’s web site. (Links in this article.)

As of Friday noon, neither current party chairman had filed for precinct committeeman.

Chemung and Dunham Townships.

Yesterday we looked at Alden and Algonquin Townships. Algonquin Township has 13 precincts with no Republican Precinct Committeeman. (I’d do Democrats, too, but the McHenry County Democratic Party web site doesn’t have a handy listing.)

Burton Township

Today, we’ll look at the Burton Township (Spring Grove + Fox Lake), Chemung (Harvard), Coral (Union), Dorr (Bull Valley + Woodstock), Dunham (southern Harvard) and Grafton (Lakewood, Crystal Lake, Lake in the Hills + Huntley) Townships.

There are eleven empty precincts in these six townships.

Want to take over Republican politics in Spring Grove. Easy enough. Get two of your friends and ask Mike Tryon, the Chairman of the McHenry County Republican Party, to appoint you.

Right now, the GOP has no troops on the ground in that small, northeastern-most township.

Half of Chemung Township’s four precincts are vacant.  Also in the southern part of the Harvard area, Dunham Township has no precinct committeeman.

In Grafton Township, where township politics is a blood sport, six out of 31 precincts are vacant.

If you are interested in being appointed in any of these precincts, just drop me an email and I’ll be happy to forward it to Chairman Tryon. Or you can contact him directly.

Dorr Township has no vacancies, but for future reference the precincts are shown here.

Grafton Township’s precinct map is below:

Grafton Township precinct map.

In an email I received yesterday, there was a link to a new web site for the McHenry County Republican Party.

It seems to be a cookie cutter site developed by the Illinois Republican State Central Committee and then localized.

One of the features is a listing of those people who have a vote on the Republican Central Committee.

I was astounded at the number of precinct committeemen vacancies. (The official statutory title is “Precinct Committeeman.”)

Here we are a year after the primary election when those who wanted to run for the office could have done so by getting as few as ten signatures and there are lots of vacancies.

Today, let’s take a look at the largest township, Algonquin. Parts of Crystal Lake, Algonquin, Lake in the Hills, Oakwood Hills, Cary, Fox River Grove, Barrington Hills and Lakewood comprise Algonquin Township.

It has 13 vacant Republican precincts.

While one has to live in a precinct to run for the office of Precinct Committeeman, at this point GOP Chairman Mike Tryon can appoint anyone to serve there temporarily.

It has been a tradition here and elsewhere to appoint people to fill the post, but not necessarily for them to do anything.

That is not appropriate with the 2012 elections approaching.

So, if you would be willing to serve as a Precinct Committeeman, drop me an email and I’ll be happy to forward it to Chairman Tryon.

No experience necessary. Just enthusiasm.

Here’s who occupy the posts in Alden and Algonquin Townships now, plus the vacancies:

Click to enlarge this map of Algonquin Township precincts.