McHenry County Blog

I missed the Northwest Herald article about newly-elected McHenry County Board member Mike Skala deciding to stay on the Huntley District 158 School Board until after a suit with contractors is settled.

And, it seems that former McHenry County College Board member Scott Summers thinks Skala missed a 1993 Attorney General’s opinion from Roland Burris saying that serving on both a school board and a county board at the same time is “incompatible, and one person may not serve simultaneously in both offices.”

The NWH notes that McHenry County citizens voted 9-1 against people holding more than one office at the same time.

There is also a political impact to Skala’s not resigning until February.

The current school board would not have to worry about someone running for the vacancy.

Its members could just appoint someone with whom they felt comfortable.

You can see the results here.

The five-page opinion that Summers found can be seen below. Click to enlarge any page.

Back in 1982 I tested the hypothesis that one could not run for any office higher than state senator without selling one’s soul by accepting Governor Jim Thompson’s invitation to run for State Comptroller against incumbent Roland Burris.

My loss to Burris gave him bragging rights to having carried the State of Illinois by over a million votes.

Vernon Jarrett, a black columnist in Chicago, repeated the extent of that victory about a half a dozen times in promoting Burris for higher office.

But, his victory over me did not impress Democratic Party primary voters enough to propel him to first place in any subsequent try to statewide office.

Running against an incumbent is never easy.

But I was ignorant of one advantage until a joint appearance in Peoria.

Before agreeing to make the race, I told Thompson one of the things that I would need was a car.

Driving all over Illinois adds thousands of miles to the odometer.

Thompson made arrangements for a Highland Park auto dealer who was on the Illinois Tollway Board to provide one. I got a relatively new one which was switched out when they reached a certain mileage.

I was driving to Peoria from Springfield and arrived just in time.

That was the day I discovered that my (and your) tax dollars were paying for not only a state car, but a State Policeman as Burris’ driver.

Somehow, that seemed to be an unfair advantage.

Especially, when a set of straight plates are applied over the official State Comptroller plates in order to keep the fact that taxpayer resources were being used to promote the political ambitions of an incumbent.

I wonder if statewide officials still use the excuse of needing protection from the public to justify use of State Police-driven state cars for political purposes.

This came to mind when McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Investigator Mike McCleary was indicted by Special Prosecutor Henry Tonigan in what seems more and more to be a vendetta against Bianchi and his employees.

McCleary was charged with a felony with regard to his use of a county-owned car for personal use. Judge Joseph McGraw dismissed those charges June 29th.

There wasn’t any evidence I saw that McCleary helped Bianchi in his campaigns, by the way.

However, contemporaneously, no objection has been made with regard to any McHenry County elected official having used his county car to drive to political events.

But back to the hypothesis.

I didn’t disprove it.

Jim Tobin’s National Taxpayers United of Illinois has revealed the top 50 pensions for the General Assembly Retirement Fund.

It doesn’t have many pensioners, but the legislative retirement fund has some big payouts.

Part of the reason is that statewide elected officials can opt in.

While he was in office, for instance, Governor Jim Thompson announced that he would be in the same pension fund that regular state employees paid into.  Right before leaving office that changed.  He transferred his pension credits to the GA Retirement System.

Indeed many of the largest pensions you see below are the result of an ex-legislator getting a well-paying job for a while and transferring in the pension credits in their new public pension fund back to the more lucrative legislative system.

Tobin’s press release follows:

TOP 50 GA PENSIONS REVEAL MILLION DOLLAR PAYOUTS AS TAX INCREASE LOOMS

CHICAGO–Jim Tobin, President of National Taxpayers United of Illinois (NTUI), today released the latest pension study of pension researcher Bill Zettler: the Top Fifty pensions received by former members of the Illinois General Assembly.

“Governor Quinn and the lame duck General Assembly are desperate to increase tax revenues any way they can to ensure that these outrageous, lavish pensions are available to themselves when they retire.

“Under the current pension program, General Assembly members are guaranteed to be millionaires if they can collect for only eight to ten years.  Protecting this rite of passage has become their highest priority, despite the terrible financial situation in which most Illinoisans find themselves.

“Under the guise of securing the financial future of the Illinois general fund, Quinn and his conspirators are trying to push any tax increases that they can.”

“If Quinn can’t get HB 174 with the 67% income tax increase through the house, he will push to get a 33% income tax increase passed.

“At the same time, there are efforts to increase the gasoline tax by an unknown amount, the cigarette tax by $1 per pack, and a new 7-10% sales tax on 39 services.

“The primary objective is to pump 15 billion taxpayer dollars out of taxpayer pockets and into the pension and payroll funds of the robber barons that are bankrupting the great state of Illinois, not to secure the financial future as they would have us believe.”

“Do you recognize any of these pension millionaires? Figures are as of 10/1/2010.  A complete list can be viewed at www.ntui.org.
Mo. Pension         Yearly Pension         Total Pension Paid So Far
Arthur Berman                     $16,459               $197,503           $1,449,640
Judy Barr Topinka              $12,144                 $145,727            $402,229
Jim Edgar                           $10,910                 $130,925             $1,106,372
James R. Thompson           $10,601                 $127,215             $1,547,836
James “Pate” Philip             $10,551                 $126,615             $713,029
Dawn Clark Netsch             $10,143                 $121,720             $1,476,711
Walter Dudycz                     $7,661                 $91,937                $449,128

“Jim Edgar and James R. Thompson engineered the largest tax increases ever passed in Illinois. Arthur Berman was the author of the Berman Tax Increase Amendment. Dawn Clark Netsch never met a tax she didn’t like.”

“I urge members of the Illinois General Assembly to vote in the interest of the constituents they serve and not their own best interest.”

Top 50 General Assembly Pensions as of 10/1/2010
	NAME	Mo. Pension	Yearly Pension	Years Credit		NAME	Mo. Pension	Yearly Pension	Years Credit
	BERMAN, ARTHUR	16,459	197,503	31		KEANE, JAMES	8,596	103,157	20
	TOPINKA, JUDY	12,144	145,727	26		STECZO, TERRY	8,357	100,284	18
	ERWIN, JUDITH	11,790	141,476	20		PARCELLS, MARGARET	8,317	99,809	19
	FRIEDLAND, JOHN	11,379	136,553	25		WOJCIK, KATHLEEN	8,080	96,959	31
	EDGAR, JAMES	10,910	130,925	20		SCHAFFER, JACK	8,011	96,126	24
	THOMPSON, JAMES	10,601	127,215	20		NOVAK, JOHN	7,983	95,795	20
	PETKA, EDWARD	10,583	126,992	30		WINCHESTER, ROBERT	7,899	94,783	20
	PHILIP, JAMES	10,551	126,615	36		BRESLIN, PEG	7,869	94,430	16
	BURRIS, ROLAND	10,450	125,400	20		WEAVER, MICHAEL	7,816	93,792	19
	JONES JR, EMIL	10,195	122,334	36		HALLOCK, JOHN	7,801	93,615	20
	NETSCH, DAWN	10,143	121,720	22		DUDYCZ, WALTER	7,661	91,937	25
	HOMER, THOMAS	10,002	120,021	19		JACOBS, DENNIS	7,617	91,404	28
	HAWKINSON, CARL	9,447	113,367	26		PETERSON, WILLIAM	7,584	91,007	26
	DEGNAN, TIMOTHY	9,346	112,152	20		FAWELL, BEVERLY	7,543	90,521	19
	BOWMAN, H	9,340	112,085	20		MAITLAND JR, JOHN	7,530	90,355	23
	GRANBERG, KURT	9,310	111,716	22		MAROVITZ, WILLIAM	7,419	89,029	18
	KARPIEL, DORIS	9,242	110,906	23		SMITH, IRVIN	7,381	88,568	20
	MCGREW, SAMUEL	9,201	110,407	20		MEYER, JOHN	7,365	88,381	16
	MOLARO, ROBERT	9,067	108,810	16		MOORE, DON	7,354	88,249	18
	DANIELS, LEE	8,944	107,333	32		WOOLARD, LARRY	7,309	87,703	19
	RYDER, WILLIAM	8,909	106,903	20		KUBIK, JACK	7,288	87,450	14
	HARTKE, CHARLES	8,873	106,474	20		RONEN, CAROL	7,276	87,316	15
	KUSTRA, ROBERT	8,824	105,893	18		HARTIGAN, NEIL	7,275	87,295	12
	WATSON, FRANK	8,777	105,321	30		SIEBEN, TODD	7,152	85,828	23
	CAPPARELLI, RALPH	8,604	103,247	34		ODANIEL, WILLIAM	7,079	84,948	24
	Compiled by Bill Zettler    Published by Illinois Taxpayers Education Foundation    (312)427-0087    www.ntui.org

How do legislators manage to hike their pensions so much?

Some get a short-term position paying a lot more than they received in their last year as a state legislator. Former State Senator John Friedland, for example, was hired as a lobbyist by the Elgin Sanitary District for a couple of months as a hefty salary. That boosted his base salary.

Add three percent extra each year, which all on public pensions in Illinois receive and it mounts up over time.

Others like Terry Stezco lose an election and get a well-paying local governmental job. In his case, Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan hired him.

Others get appointed to head state departments. Chuck Hartke, for instance, was appointed Director of the Department of Agriculture.

All can transfer pension credits from the new pension system and their final salaries–upon which their pension is based–back into the General Assembly Retirement System.

Anyone who doesn’t think stimulus money is continuing to flow to the public sector and not the private sector for jobs should take note of a CBS-TV story about this August 2nd announcement:

Two Chicago groups are getting more than $16 million in federal stimulus money for projects aimed at expanding access to broadband Internet services.

The announcement was from whom Rod Blagojevich appointed to the U.S. Senate:

Roland I-would-have-liked-to-tell-the-truth-but-forgot-to Burris

The press release is not on the Burris web site.

8th District Congresswoman Melissa Bean didn’t object to Burris’ appointment and lack of open truth-telling about connections to Rod.

And, although she has actually won election to Congress, she has made no similar announcement of broadband expansion in her 8th district.

It would be nice if it was going to create real, sustainable jobs in the private sector.

That’s something that Bean has failed to do in any meaningful way for her past six years in office. Bean is a liberal Democrat who voted for the public option for health care.

It’s fair for residents to ask Bean:

Where are the new private sector jobs she campaigned for, six years ago?

It looks like Bean is for a huge tax increase that will go into effect on January 1st.

Most of us would start chuckling or laughing if someone told us a current Illinois politician was lecturing people about ethics.

Illinois is synonymous with corruption.  On average a Chicago alderman gets convicted about every year (literally).

So while there was widespread unemployment and a gnawing need for jobs in McHenry County and Illinois, what was one of our local legislators doing last December?

First, you should probably be thinking of a warmer climate, as it was December.

Second, you probably have to think of something that by doing it, wouldn’t help Illinois.

Not with jobs, or anything.

Third you have to think in terms of hobnobbing with other politicians and government officials in an effort to promote oneself outside of Illinois.

You might think it’s part of a Comedy Central routine being an Illinois politician and lecturing on political ethics.

Or Saturday Night Live.   After all, Rod and Patti Blagojevich and Roland Burris have made that show.

The issue of the White House offering jobs directly and through Bill Clinton if candidates drop out of Senate campaigns made the national news.

So while foreclosures are way too high in McHenry County and economic hardship and job loss is prevalent, State Rep. Jack Franks was giving a lecture on December 7, 2009 in Scottsdale, Arizona.

With rampant corruption in Illinois, Franks lectured the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws.

Okay, you can stop laughing now.

More tomorrow.

Here is a summary of the changes in the government’s indictment changes in its case against impeached Governor Rod Blagojevich. They were presented to Judge James Zagel today.

Discussion.

At the status hearing held on December 16, 2009, the Court requested that, should the grand jury return a Second Superseding Indictment, the government file a brief on the Second Superseding Indictment and attach the briefs filed in the Supreme Court related to Weyhrauch v. United States.

On February 4, 2010, the grand jury returned a Second Superseding Indictment in the instant case. The Second Superseding Indictment maintains all of the original charges against defendant Rod Blagojevich and defendant Robert Blagojevich. [FN 1]

The new charges in the Second Superseding Indictment are based on the same underlying criminal conduct that supported the charges in the superseding indictment. However, because the defendants’ illegal conduct violated multiple criminal statues, additional statutes are charged in the Second Superseding Indictment.The Second Superseding Indictment presents the following eight new charges against various defendants.

• Count One charges defendant Rod Blagojevich with substantive racketeering in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1962(c).
• Count Fourteen charges defendant Rod Blagojevich with attempted extortion of United States Congressman A and United States Congressman A’s brother, in violation of Title 18, United State Code, Section 1951.
• Count Sixteen charges defendant Rod Blagojevich with bribery in relation to the Chief Executive Officer of Children’s Memorial Hospital, and Children’s Memorial Hospital, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 666.
• Count Eighteen charges defendant Rod Blagojevich and defendant Alonzo Monk with conspiracy to commit bribery in relation to Racetrack Executive, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371.
• Count Twenty charges defendant Rod Blagojevich with bribery in relation to Construction Executive, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 666.
• Count Twenty-One charges defendant Rod Blagojevich and defendant Robert Blagojevich with conspiracy to commit extortion in relation to the appointment of a United States Senator, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1951.
• Count Twenty-Two charges defendant Rod Blagojevich and defendant Robert Blagojevich with attempted extortion in relation to the appointment of a United States Senator, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1951.
• Count Twenty-Three charges defendant Rod Blagojevich, defendant Robert Blagojevich, and defendant John Harris with conspiracy to commit bribery in relation to the appointment of a United States Senator, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371.

Regarding Weyhrauch, per the Court’s request, the Weyhrauch briefing is attached to this filing as Government Exhibits A, B, and C.

The Second Superseding Indictment is fashioned in such a way that, should the Supreme Court rule Title 18, United States Code, Section 1346 unconstitutional, the charges, or section of charges, of the Second Superseding Indictment related to Section 1346 can be easily dismissed. Such dismissal would do little to effect the trial in the instant case as the underlying illegal conduct charged in the Section 1346 counts is alleged in other counts of the Second Superseding Indictment. [FN3]]

Accordingly, other than effecting the number of counts under consideration by the jury, the Weyhrauch decision should have minimal effect on the instantcase.

Respectfully submitted,
PATRICK J. FITZGERALD
United States Attorney
By:
REID J. SCHAR
CHRISTOPHER S. NIEWOEHNER
CARRIE E. HAMILTON
Assistant United States Attorneys
219 S. Dearborn Street, 5th Floor
Chicago, Illinois

= = = = =
FN 1 The Second Superseding Indictment does not name William F. Cellini, Sr. as a defendant and it is the government’s current intention to proceed to trial against defendant Cellini based on the previously returned indictments.

FN 2 Certain counts have been renumbered from the superseding indictment to the Second Superseding Indictment:

• Count One of the superseding indictment (racketeering conspiracy) is now Count Two of the Second Superseding Indictment.
• Counts Two through Twelve of the superseding indictment (wire fraud) are now counts Count Three through Thirteen of the Second Superseding Indictment. Count Sixteen of the superseding indictment (attempted extortion of Chief Executive Officer of Children’s Memorial Hospital and Children’s Memorial Hospital) is now Count Fifteen of the Second Superseding Indictment. Count Seventeen of the superseding indictment (extortion conspiracy related to Racetrack Executive) remains
• Count Seventeen in the Second Superseding Indictment.
• Count Eighteen of the superseding indictment (attempted extortion of Construction Executive) is now Count Nineteen in the Second Superseding Indictment.
• Count Nineteen of the superseding indictment (false statements to the FBI) is now Count Twenty-Four in the Second Superseding Indictment.

FN 3 Defendants Harris and Monk have been charged with violating statutes that will be unaffected by the Weyhrauch decision and are not dependent on the validity of Section 1346. Neither defendant Harris nor defendant Monk are expected to proceed to trial on the new charges.

Last night at Crystal Lake’s 1776 restaurant will be a night that Jason Plummer, an aggressive Downstate candidate for lieutenant governor, will remember forever.

How do I know?

Because I’ve been on the same route he took twice, once in 1982 when I ran for State Comptroller against Roland Burris and twenty years later when I ran for governor in 2002 against Rod Blagojevich and Jim Ryan.

A statewide candidate doesn’t remember all the stops on the campaign trail, but some are memorable.

Like the night at some big meeting hall in Carbondale when all the candidates on the ticket were standing under a big photo of us all and Jim Thompson was commenting on the St. Louis Globe’s endorsement that day.

“Even Skinner got endorsed,”

he exclaimed.

Of course, I thought and still think I was more qualified than incumbent Burris to be State Comptroller, but even I was surprised I had received the endorsement.

Last night the McHenry County Young Republicans held a candidates’ night for county board candidates.

Thank goodness, the YR’s were not as hidebound as the DeKalb League of Women Voters in 1982, when I was not allowed to speak because I wasn’t a legislative candidate.

In any event, the tallest Republican candidate I have seen since Thompson walked to the podium and was told, as the other candidates had been told, that he had five minutes and that when he was at the four minute mark, he would be told.

He started by pointing out the Illinois lieutenant governor had “no constitutional duties.”

He cited the three statutes giving the office some things to do—probably all enacted while Neil Hartigan was serving under Governor Dan Walker—and said,

“Clearly it’s not an overwhelming workload.”

Plummer talked about his having created jobs in companies he had started, as well as his role in the family lumber business, RP Lumber, with 43 yards in Illinois and two in Missouri.

He told of how he was in intelligence in the Navy Reserve, had worked at the Heritage Foundation and for U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald.

And, how he had returned from Washington to run for Madison County Republican Party Chairman.

He talked about fighting corruption in Madison County, something that no knowledgeable person would deny exits.

“I battled corrupt legislators, a corrupt county board and a corrupt judiciary.”

Plummer said,

“The state needs someone who knows how to sign the bottom of a check, not just the back of a check.”

Great line, don’t you think?

While at a trade convention in Indiana, he told a woman he was running for lieutenant governor.

“In Indiana?” the woman asked.

“No, Illinois.”

The New Jersey resident reacted with dismay, wondering why anyone would want to run for office in our corrupt state.

“When the people of New Jersey are questioning the ethics of Illinois, (we’re in trouble).”

Then, a very bright light put up by YR President Bryan Javor went out.

Then came the best quip of the night:

“Is that what you do at one minute?”

I’m still chuckling.

Tell me that Plummer won’t remember last night for the rest of his life.

In that last minute, Plummer listed some endorsements. I caught the Illinois State Rifle Association and the Illinois Federation of Right to Life.

Afterward I got a photo of Plummer with his campaign manager, Ray Marachiori. Marachiori staffed my Privatization Committee during the 1995-96 legislative session.

Plummer stayed until the end of the meeting. I guess he figured everybody in the room would vote in the GOP primary election.

I noticed 6th District county board candidate carrying one of Plummer’s signs out of the restaurant.

= = = = =
If this story interested you, this might, too:

“Jason Plummer calling“

I read the Chicago Tribune pretty thoroughly. This week after the Fox News expose on community organizing group ACORN Friday, a week ago, I was watching for stories.

The TEA Party folks had ACORN’s number. You can see that from the sign at the July 4th TEA Party demonstration in Crystal Lake.

So did a Liberty Trail TEA Party demonstrator last Saturday on Randall Road.  The sign read,

That was on the south side of Algonquin Road.  On the north side, there was a sign, too.  It said,

The Chicago Tribune didn’t notice that demonstration. Neither did the Northwest Herald.

But on Thursday–six days after this hilarious story broke on Fox News–the Chicago Tribune did notice.

It came to pretty much the same conclusion I did.  I was laughing out loud the Friday before last as Fox News blanketed its commentary shows with James O’Keefe’s and Hannah Gile’s undercover (well, not much cover on Giles) investigation.

Their videos showed ACORN’s willingness to help a “pimp” and a “prostitute” set up their own shop, complete with underage Salvadorian girls, whom, as ACORN helpfully suggested, could be claimed as dependents for income tax purposes.

On Thursday the Tribune’s first article appeared.  But it didn’t emphasize what the videos revealed.  It focused on ACORN’s response.

A little sidebar next to the Thursday article explained what the Tribune had ignored since the Friday before.  The sidebar does not tell what happened the Baltimore video that was on Fox News six days before.

So, six days after the story surfaced, the Chicago Tribune noticed.

On the seventh day of the story, Friday, the Tribune ran an article about the “backlash” in Washington.  That backlash started Monday with a U.S. Senate vote, by the way.

The Tribune also wrote an editorial. It even pointed out that Illinois Democrats Dick Durbin and Roland Burris were 2 of 7 U.S. Senators who voted against prohibiting Federal grants to ACORN.

Friday, the Tribune reported, as early as possible this time, that the House of Representatives had followed suit.  But, strangely, the story does not emphasize the names of the four congress folks who voted on ACORN’s side.

They were, just in case you’re interested,

McHenry County’s State Rep. Jack Franks has been granted permission to post an opinion piece on liberal blog Huffington Post.

His topic?

Franks talks about “the embarrassment and shame” of having fellow Democrat Roland Burris in the U.S. Senate, but he wasn’t willing to put the office of U.S. Senate in his recall legislation.

Franks does not mention that in the post.

The issue of not including his office was even mentioned by U.S. Senator Dick Durbin while the measure was being debated.

That’s what former Illinois State Representative Roscoe Cunningham says in a front page letter to United States Senator Roland Burris in his Sumner Press.

Cunningham, with whom I served in the 1970′s before he, like I, caught congressional fever, continually pleads the case for the poverty of his Southeastern part of Illinois. He seeks additional prisoners for the Lawrenceville state prison.

“RE: Transfer of Guantanamo Releasees to Lawrence Correctional Facility

“Dear Friend of 40 Years:

“We implore you to inform Attorney General Eric Holder today that the Press’ suggested transfer has the overwhelming support of this poverty stricken area.

“We are authorized by the Mayors of Sumner, Bridgeport, Lawrencville and Olney to add their names to our plea. We are assured by the state legislative leaders that designation of a portion of the facility ‘Federally controlled,’ is a formality.

“The community wants this transfer because it is our civic duty to accept the burden of the releases’ further care and the economic boost such relocation will bring. Unlike Leavenworth’s ‘Jayhawk’ Rich, our area needs the business.

“If the Attorney General wishes to make a personal inspection of this facility, remembering that he went to Guantanamo, we’ll appeal to Warden Ryker to unfurl the red carpet any day chosen.

“Lawrenceville Correctional Facilty is located 15 minutes from Mid-American Air Central, the state’s fourth largest, one mild runways.

“We need your help.

“Best wishes,

“Sincerely,

“The Sumner Press”