McHenry County Blog

In an interview with the Daily Herald, Sun City McHenry County Board member Dan Ryan blamed his refusal to disclose personal financial information requested by the Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water and low turnout in his retirement community.

“It infringed on individual privacy too much,” was what he told a reporter.

Regrets?

“Absolutely not,” he told the Daily Herald. “I don’t care if it cost me my office. I have principles.”

District 6 incumbent Daniel Ryan, sitting second from the right of the photo was the only candidate who either has not filed the ALAW conflict of interest form or committing to doing so. From left to right you see Richard Draper, Diane Evertsen, Victor Narusis, Dan Ryan and Mary McCann,

At the Patriots United County Board Candidates’ Forum, Ryan received decidedly tepid applause when he said he was not going to fill out the ALAW form.

Ryan was similarly resistive when the Illinois Family Institute, in conjunction with Patriots United made phone calls to him, among others, seeking people to call Ryan in favor of a ban on video gambling. When he figured out who had stimulated the 50-some calls, Ryan called IFI, telling the person who answered the phone that he would call them every time someone called him.

Ryan voted to allow video poker in rural bars and restaurants.

The conflict of interest form, which asks for property ownership and business relationships, was completed by 20 of 27 candidates in the February 2nd primary election.

Ryan was the only incumbent who lost who failed to fill out the form.

District 1′s Yvonne Barnes and District 2′s Lyn Orphal, both of whom sent ALAW the answers to the financial questions asked, also lost.

The other four Republican candidates in Ryan’s District 6 voluntarily turned in their questionnaires. (Those who did not volunteer for the financial exposure can be found here.)

With regard to the Sun City turnout question, the precinct voting returns for Ryan’s Grafton Township Precinct 15 showed these returns:

• Ryan – 107
• Evertsen – 71
• McCann – 55
• Draper – 33
• Narusis – 33

These totals are not the final precinct totals. The finals will show more votes, perhaps many more because lots of folks in Sun City are out of town this time of year and Ryan made a determined effort to solicit absentee votes.

It should be noted, however, that the McHenry County Clerk’s web site shows Ryan receiving 272 votes for precinct committeeman.

It will be interesting to see the final totals to compare his precinct committeeman total with those votes he received to retain his county board seat.

Here’s what happened to those county board candidates who did not send in a completed ALAW ethics form.

Yvonne Barnes from Cary and Dan Ryan from Huntley’s Sun City are the two McHenry County Board members who are far enough behind before the early and absentee votes are added to the totals for me to conclude have lost.

I’m having a hard time finding a common thread.

Robert Nowak sits along next to empty seats set aside for incumbent District 1 candidates Anna May Miller and Yvonne Barnes. Nowak beat both incumbents in the primary election.

In District 1, Robert Nowak is leading both Anna May Miller by almost 100 votes. Miller is leading Barnes by 200 votes.

I think it unlikely that adding the early and absentee ballots will allow Barnes to pick up almost 300 votes.

I am searching for reasons for Nowak’s victory. Can anyone help me out?

Nowak was the only District 1 candidate to come to the Patriots United County Board Candidate Forum.

But, since the paper of record in McHenry County, the Northwest Herald couldn’t spare a reporter than Friday night, the only story on the event appeared on McHenry County Blog.

Although those interested in politics certainly read this publication, I hardly think Miller’s and Barnes’ missing the event caused them to run behind the challenger who did.

In District 6, it’s time to play “The Girls Are Back in Town.”

Mary McCann led the race. She asked supporters to vote for her exclusively.

Second, running 375 votes behind before the County Clerk’s Office folded in the early and absentee ballots, is newcomer Diane Evertsen.

Fellow newcomer Victor Narusis is 436 votes behind.

Incumbent Dan Ryan trails Narusis by 63 votes at this point in the vote counting. Ryan failed to complete the Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water conflict of interest form. He was the only candidate running in District 6 who did not voluntarily fill out the ethics questionniare.

Running last is Wonder Lake’s Richard Draper.

The District 6 Patriots United panel. Incumbent Daniel Ryan, sitting second from the right of the photo is the only candidate who did not filed the ALAW conflict of interest form.

Incumbent McHenry County Board member Dan Ryan is going down to defeat, while, Mary McCann, the other incumbent up for election is running second with 13 of 31 precincts reporting.

Leading the pack is newcomer Dianne Evertsen from Hartland Township. She was encouraged to run by opponents to the county board’s Alden Road widening project.

Ryan is running third, 195 votes behind McCann.

Newcomer Vic Narusis is coming in fourth with a little under one-third of the precincts counted.

Last is Wonder Lake resident Richard Draper.

Here are the results at 9 PM:

This is a wildly diverse district, which includes the McHenry County portion of Sun City, where Ryan lives.

Before calling anyone a victor, people should wait for the electronic, early and absentee votes to be counted.

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Now (9:20) two-thirds of the votes have been counted.

The second placed woman is now 500 votes ahead. Maybe the crystal ball is becoming clearer.

Remember hearing about how forest fires sometimes jump fire breaks that are intended to contain them.

That may have happened late last week with the Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water’s conflict of interest ordinance.

Originally presented to the McHenry County Board in December, the draft ordinance was shipped off to the State’s Attorney’s Office for review.

The review came back with some good points, along with some trivial ones.

And the number of county board candidates voluntarily filing the form kept increasing. Here’s who have filed so far:

• District 1 – None
• District 2 – All but Ken Koehler, that is, Sandra DePaul, Donna Kurtz, Ellen Brady Mueller and Lyn Orphal
• District 3 – Everyone of them! Veronica Armstrong, Nick Provenzano, Craig Steagall, Barbara Wheeler and Karen Tynis
• District 4 – Sandra Salgado and Jeff Thirtyacre (Democrat)
• District 5 – Tina Hill, John Jung and Frank Wedig (Green).  Incumbent Jim Kennedy and challenger Dave Frederick have not yet filed the form.
• District 6 – All but incumbent Dan Ryan, that is, Richard Draper, Diane Evertsen, Mary McCann and Vic Narusis.

Since there is no deadline, candidates or public officials can still download the conflict of interest form, fill it out and send it in.

Indeed ALAW did not even ask candidates to fill out the ethics form; it did have a questionnaire on issued of interest, however, the results of which can be found here for the twelve county board candidates who completed it.

As you can see more candidates filled out the ethics statement than filled out the issue questionnaire.

Along the way, every candidate for sheriff has answered the conflict of interest questionnaire.

And, two incumbent county board members not up for election have completed it. One, Republican Virginia Peschke, the other, Democrat Paula Yensen.

Crystal Lake Councilwoman Carolyn Schofield

Late last week, however, the first municipal official sent in answers.

She is Crystal Lake City Councilwoman Carolyn Schofield.

What’s that all about?

She just got elected.

Does this portend an issue in the Crystal Lake city elections next spring?

Will Schofield introduce an ordinance to make completing the conflict of interest form a requirement for elected and appointed city officials, as well as city consultants?

Unlike the County of McHenry, the City of Crystal Lake is a Home Rule unit of government.

What’s that mean?

It means the Crystal Lake City Council and other Home Rule cities have more power than county government.

The standard explanation of what a Home Rule government can do is anything the General Assembly doesn’t say it can’t do.

If Schofield, the newest member of the city council, follows decides to make a variation of the ALAW ordinance mandatory in Crystal Lake, the debate could turn quite interesting.

Since city Councilwoman Ellen Brady Mueller is running for county board in District 2, she might get elected. She certainly is in the top three in the sign war.

If elected, I imagine she would resign from the council. If so, a replacement would have to be selected.

Might the council require applicants for the possible vacancy to answer the conflict of interest questions first?

Whether or not the city council passed such a requirement, any council member could let it be known that he or she would not support a candidate who did not fill out the form.

Yes, ALAW has started something that could get very, very interesting.

Zane Seipler

So far thirteen candidates for the McHenry County Board have filed the conflict of interest forms that the Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water have suggested be applied to all county officials.

Yesterday, Zane Seipler, who is challenging three-term incumbent Keith Nygren for Sheriff, filed his form.

“I have nothing to hide. Literally, nothing at all!”

he emailed me with his filled out form.

This marks the first time that the issue of ethics raised by ALAW has reached the level of offices all of us in McHenry County get to vote on.

Two additional county board members filed as well.

They are incumbent Sandy Salgado, who is running unopposed along with incumbent Pete Merkel, in District 3′s Republican primary election. Their Democratic opponent Jeff Thirtyacre was one of the first to file.

Thirtyacre sent me this email:

Jeff Thirtyace

ALAW’s request for info should be the beginning of cleaning out the people that cause harm to our County.

We need this kind of openness with all our Government the time for dishonesty and Greed has to come to an end.

And This needs to go for all government starting with Township and School Districts and their Boards,also Hospital Boards where ever there is politics it should be in place so that we don’t have another situation like the one we just had with our former Governor.

I believe we need a States Attorneys office that doesn’t work for just one party it work for the people.

And a Sheriffs Department that’s officers care about all of our County not just where they live.

Besides Salgado, District 6 Republican candidate Richard Draper of Wonder Lake has filed his questionnaire.  He is the third in this most rural district to have filed the ALAW questionnaire.  Preceding him by three days were challenger Dianne Evertson and incumbent Mary McCann.  Incumbent Dab Ryan has not yet filed the form.

Below you can click on the forms that have been filed with ALAW or get one to fill out or go here. Look at one and you can see, for most people, it’s not a tough from to fill out.  Note the dates on which the forms were filed.

Attachments (14)

• DISCLOSURE FORM FROM ORDINANCE.doc – on Jan 7, 2010 1:33 PM by A LAW (version 1)
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• Disclosure – Armstrong.pdf – on Jan 12, 2010 3:08 PM by A LAW (version 1)
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• Disclosure -Draper.pdf – on Jan 11, 2010 9:37 PM by A LAW (version 1)
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• Disclosure -Evertsen.pdf – on Jan 8, 2010 1:02 PM by A LAW (version 1)
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• Disclosure -Hill.pdf – on Jan 10, 2010 5:17 PM by A LAW (version 1)
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• Disclosure – Kurtz.pdf – on Jan 5, 2010 4:38 PM by A LAW (version 1)
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• Disclosure – McCann.pdf – on Jan 8, 2010 5:26 PM by A LAW (version 1)
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• Disclosure – Provenzo.pdf – on Jan 8, 2010 1:02 PM by A LAW (version 1)
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• Disclosure-Salgado.pdf – on Jan 12, 2010 10:20 PM by A LAW (version 1)
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• Disclosure-Seipler.PDF – on Jan 12, 2010 10:20 PM by A LAW (version 1)
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• Disclosure-Steagall.pdf – on Jan 9, 2010 10:10 PM by A LAW (version 3 / earlier versions)
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• Disclosure- Thirtyacre.PDF – on Jan 10, 2010 9:35 AM by A LAW (version 1)
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• Disclosure-Wedig.pdf – on Jan 9, 2010 10:15 PM by A LAW (version 1)
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• Disclosure -Wheeler.pdf – on Jan 9, 2010 10:14 PM by A LAW (version 1)
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One of the roles McHenry County Blog plays is alerting daily newspapers of stories they otherwise might not think of.

This might be one of those articles.

The Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water came up with an idea to help remove the suspicion that many members of the public have that county board members use their office for personal gain.

If you tell me people you have talked to haven’t brought this up, I’d suggest you are not very deeply into local citizenship.

The questionnaire idea was presented at the committee level of the McHenry County Board, received a chilly reception, and sent to the State’s Attorney’s Office for reviews, that is, to see if any or all of it would be legal for a non-Home Rule unit of local government to impose upon its officials.

Then, District 3 challenger Craig Steagall decided to fill out the form and submit it to ALAW.

District 2 challenger Donna Kurtz followed suit.

As of now, seven challengers and three incumbents have submitted such information about their personal financial situation.

Ten in all.

Considering Steagall is in District 2 and has demonstrated deep enough pockets to buy full page ads in the Northwest Herald, perhaps it is not surprising that two of his opponents—former County Board member Nick Provenzano and incumbent Barb Wheeler– have decided to make voluntary disclosure.

In District 5, incumbent Tina Hill has filed. In District 6, Mary McCann is among three candidates who have made disclosure.

So, three incumbents running for re-election are willing to stand up for reform.

Barb Wheeler

Tina Hill

Mary McCann

And, they are all women.  Does that tend to re-enforce my analysis that voters think women are less likely to be crooks than men?

Only three, it should be noted. They deserve to have their photos here, don’t you think?

And no one not up for reelection has yet to file a form.

Below is ALAW’s press release:

CANDIDATES DISCLOSURES KEEP COMING

Ten candidates for County Board in the upcoming primary have now voluntarily sent ALAW statements pursuant to the ALAW conflicts disclosure ordinance. Disclosure have been received from

• Donna Kurtz (R), District 2;
• Craig Steagall (R), District 3;
• Nick Provenzano (R), District 3;
• Barb Wheeler (R), District 3;
• Jeff Thirtyacre (D), District 4;
• Tina Hill (R), District 5;
• Frank Wedig (Green Party), District 5;
• Diane Evertsen (R), District 6;
• Mary McCann (R), District 6;
• Richard Draper (R), District 6.

(Incumbents are shown in bold face type; party identification has been added.)

The disclosures and the ordinance are both posted on the ALAW web site here.

ALAW expects to receive more disclosures over the next few days and challenges all candidates file statements.

There is no deadline for filing statements, but it is hoped that all candidates will file prior to the February 2 primary election.

ALAW presented the draft ordinance to the County Board on December 1, 2009.

It is currently under review by the McHenry County States Attorney’s office. If passed, the ordinance will require up front disclosure of elected and appointed county official’s real estate holdings and business relationships with the county.

“Our intent is to dispel the perception that our county officials sometimes place personal interest over their duty to their constituents. That idea has been an undercurrent in our county for a long time, and has recently become more widely expressed by the general public,”

said ALAW Director Emily Berendt. “With “transparency in government’ being such a key issue statewide right now, and the primary election approaching, the timing was right to present this ordinance.”

ALAW President Patricia Kennedy said,

“This was certainly unexpected but is a wonderful affirmation of our belief that full disclosure is as welcome by these candidates as it is by the public.”

Alliance for Land Agriculture and Water
PO Box 1021, Woodstock
Contact: Patricia Kennedy
815-943-7223

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Come to think of it, this voluntary disclosure idea probably has as it precedent the voluntary release of income tax forms by Illinois Democratic Party politician Paul Simon.  I remember reading his Atlantic Monthly article in my Aunt Louise Stevens copy while visiting my grandparents in Maryland several years before moving to Illinois in 1958.  His article about the blatant crookedness in Springfield was my introduction to Illinois politics.