McHenry County Blog

The unions decided to keep their benefits. That was more important than letting the commuters ride the CTA.

The grief of Scott Lee Cohen's 11-year old son at his father's fall from grace was more important to the Chicago Sun-Times than the "doomsday" for CTA riders trumpeted on page 5.

And the personal grief of Democratic Party Lieutenant Governor Scott Lee Cohen’s son was more important that the doomsday for CTA strap holders who read the Sun-Times.

There was a  CTA bailout in the spinrg of 2008.  It probably cost State Senator Kirk Dillard the Republican gubernatorial nomination.

You remember.

The tripling of our RTA sales tax the week before the Crystal Lake City Council decided to play pile on by hiking its city sales tax by 75%.

Dillard voted for it and Andy McKenna blasted away on radio, TV and in direct mail about Kirk Dillard having voted for a regional states tax as evidence that he was not rock solid on opposing an income tax hike.

That doomsday was on the front page of the Chicago Tribune right before the vote.

But, today, another so-called “doomsday,” the Chicago Tribune and the Sun-Times featured Democratic Party Lt. Gov. nominee Scott Lee Cohen announcing he will not accept the nomination. Cohen, by the way, carried the Democratic Party primary in McHenry County.

Take a look:

40% of McHenry County Democrats voted for Scott Lee Cohen for lieutenant governor.

State Senator Terry Link, chairman of the turnaround Democratic Party in Lake County, came to Woodstock to ask for support of McHenry County Democrats, but that doesn’t seem to have done him much good, as he placed fourth behind State Representatives Art Turner (Chicago) and Mike Boland (East Moline).

Making a pitch to the Young Democrats of McHenry County was Thomas Castillo.
= = = = =

Turned over the Tribune that was delivered to my driveway and discovered it did have something about the CTA cuts…below the fold. The snippet directing people to pages 6-8 had a photo of a family who had to wait 30 minutes for a bus while on the way to a party.

And, inside–wouldn’t you know it?–the word “Doomsday” turns up in a headline:

Not today.

Today I heard this ever-so-positive ad on radio driving to pick up my son from school.

But Friday night’s and Saturday’s phone calls were something else.

A woman’s voice comes on the answering machine:

The Jason Plummer campaign for lieutenant governor was calling, but Jason wasn't on the phone. It was a woman criticizing rival Matt Murphy.

“Hello. I’m calling with an important election alert about Matt Murphy’s campaign for lieutenant governor.“Matt Murphy would like you to believe that he’s opposed to taxes when in fact the opposite is true.

“According to the National Taxpayers United of Illinois, last year Matt Murphy voted to raise taxes four times.

“What was he thinking about?

“Tell Matt Murphy we can no longer afford his bad judgment and tax increases by telling his campaign for lieutenant governor, ‘No thanks!’

“Paid for by Plummer for Illinois.”

Who paid for the phone call was barely audible.

First of all, the phone call means that Murphy is the only candidate for lieutenant governor who has a chance of beating Plummer.

Or, maybe it means Murphy was running ahead of Plummer in Plummer’s polling.

You don’t take the chance of alienating voters, as this phone call did my wife, by going negative… unless you think that’s the only way to win.

Both candidates are attractive, but obviously Murphy, who has served on the Harper College Board and in the state senate has more experience. Even I, at the same age as Plummer, had more experience when I ran for state representative. (I had worked for the better part of a year in the United States Budget Bureau—now the Office of Management and Budget—and four years as McHenry County Treasurer.)

My guess is that Plummer’s polling showed Murphy ahead.

I decided to do some research on the NTU scorecard mentioned in the robo-call.

Here are the four times Murphy voted “wrong,” according to NTU President Jim Tobin:

• House Bill 405 – allows the government of a park district to increase the property tax for aquarium, park and museum maintenance by 600%, if voters passed a referendum.
• Senate Bill 345 – allows county governments to raise local sales taxes for the purpose of public safety and road construction/maintenance, if voters passed a referendum.
• House Bill 1921 – imposed a 25 cent charge to every disposable cigarette lighter.
• Senate Bill 837 – doubles the tax surcharge for 911 calls place in Chicago from $1.25 ro $2.50. This $8 million increase will be used to “fund non-Chicago infrastructure and vague, wasteful ‘anti-terror’ project,” Tobin write.

You can decide their importance.

Plummer, it should be noted, has the advantage first-time candidates always have; they have not had to take any votes on any issue.

But, Friday night’s negative call was not enough.  There was another one Saturday while I was out passing out my recommendations and literature for every candidate I could find.

It came after a Matt Murphy phone call:

“Hi. Matt Murphy here again asking for your help in electing Andy McKenna as our governor. Andy and I worked together to fight Governor Quinn’s enormous tax increase and showed how we could balance the budget without raising taxes.“Meanwhile, Jim Ryan and Kirk Dillard have no trouble raising taxes.

“Ryan supported a $5½ billion tax increase and Dillard, like Todd Stroeger, voted for a $500 million suburban sales tax increase. And when asked about raising taxes in the past said, quote, ‘What’s the big deal? It’s not that tough,’ unquote.

“I know Andy McKenna can balance the budget and not raise taxes.

“So, please join me in supporting Andy McKenna for governor and, of course, Mike Murphy for lieutenant governor.

“Thank you for your time.

“Paid for by McKenna for Illinois.”

Next came another negative call from Jason Plummer Saturday from the same woman:

“Hello. I’m calling with an important election alert about the Matt Murphy campaign for lieutenant governor.“Matt Murphy would like you believe he is for real ethics reform when, in fact, he continues to display bad judgment by taking questionable contributions directly or indirectly from state contractors.

“What was he thinking?

“Tell Matt Murphy we want to clean up the corruption in Springfield by telling his campaign for lieutenant governor ‘No thanks’ on election day.

“Paid for by Plummer for Illinois.”

This time the “paid for” tag line was easier to understand.

While I was out knocking on doors in my precinct Sunday, my wife answered a positive call about Plummer.  No details, just the tone.

And, today, I received my first phone call from Molly Murphy.

Apparently the tax hike charge from Plummer merited a response.

Molly wanted me to know that her Dad Mike Murphy “cares about my future.”

She said he had never voted to raise taxes.

“It’s not easy to be a kid,” she said, “but he’s always’ been there for me.”

If you looked at the front page of the Chicago Tribune Sunday, you saw five candidates on top of the page.

They are ones that the Tribune’s poll found leading in both the Democratic and Republican Party primaries.

It was Pat Quinn and Dan Hynes for the Democrats. In that race, the Tribune endorsed no one.

In the GOP contest, the heads of Andy McKenna, Jim Ryan and Kirk Dillard appear. The Tribune has endorsed McKenna.

Maybe the supporters of a GOP candidate not in the top three (and who found less than 10% support in the Tribune poll) can surpass the three front-runners.

But, I don’t think it will happen.

If my analysis is correct, people who want to play a role in the decision-making process regarding who the Republicans put up in November have to select among McKenna, Ryan and Dillard.

Having run against Ryan (and Rod Blagojevich) as the Libertarian Party candidate for governor in 2002, I have seen him cozy up to Blagojevich to make sure I was not allowed to be any of the debates.

(If you are interested in the details, here they are.  The Illinois League of Women Voters had sponsored debates for each statewide race for decades.  in 2002, the League said everyone would be include who received at least 5% in an independent poll.  The Daily Southtown, a newspaper, showed me slightly above 5% prior to the League’s deadline.  Ryan and Blagojevich decided not to participate in that debate.  For that reason, I know that Ryan is capable of cutting deals with Democrats when it is in his personal self-interest.)

Then, there is Stuart Levin, Ryan’s law school study partner, long-time supporter and largest lifetime contributor.  To say that that relationship is a problem strikes me as something of an understatement.

It’s not that I think Jim Ryan is dishonest.  It’s not that I think he knew his friend was a crook.

It’s that I know how large contributors often get rewarded.

If Levine had asked Governor Jim Ryan to appoint him to the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board, I think Ryan would have appointed him.  (Levine was involved in the licensing scandal involving the Mercy Health System hospital application in Crystal Lake.)

If Levine had asked Governor Jim Ryan to appoint him to the Downstate Teachers’ Retirement System board, I think Ryan would have appointed him.

After all, Levine contributed over $800,000 over Ryan’s career and he trusted Levine.

Therein is the problem.  Levine would have been right where he was when he committed felonious acts during the Blagojevich administration.

So, here’s the question I ask of Jim Ryan supporters:

If Jim Ryan had been elected in 2002, how much less corrupt would his administration have been than Rod Blagojevich’s?

Certainly somewhat less corrupt.  As I said before, no one thinks Jim Ryan is a dishonest man.

But his level of discernment about the motives of this man he had known all of his adult live was subpar, to put it as mildly as possible.

And, that doesn’t get into substantive issues like gun control.  Ryan would never win the support of fans of the movie “Red Dawn.”  I know.  He wouldn’t appear on the DeKalb radio station in a forum about gun control when he learned I was in the studio.

That leaves two candidates:

• Kirk Dillard
• Andy McKenna

I can enthusiastically support whichever one wins the primary.

However, Dillard has one vote that is just horrible, in my opinion.

It is his vote to triple suburban collar county RTA sales taxes.

To solve DuPage County budget problem, DuPage County Board President Bob Schillerstrom and State’s Attorney Joe Birkett successfully prevailed upon Dillard and two other DuPage County state senators to vote for what National Taxpayers United of Illinois’ Jim Tobin calls the “CTA bailout.”

Kirk Dillard

It was that, but it was also a bailout of DuPage County because, contrary to the first suburban “bribe” plan–allowing the collar county boards to spend one-quarter of one percent of the three-quarters of one percentage point increase on roads–after the DuPage County officials got involved, it could be spent on transportation or law enforcement. DuPage County had a referendum on the ballot at the time to raise the sales tax of law enforcement purposes, but, hey, if you can get your state senators to take the heat, why bother the voters.

Not only did Dillard’s vote raise our taxes, it rendered asunder the suburban bipartisan coalition on the Regional Transportation Authority put together in 1974. I can only remember a couple suburban legislators who voted for RTA who got re-elected. (Both the Republican Senate and House bill sponsors were defeated.) I guess I take that a bit personally.

Other than that, I find his and McKenna’s positions fairly similar, except that Dillard has not taken a no tax increase pledge and McKenna has. (I have to admit that having the Illinois Education Association, surely an income tax hike organization, endorse Dillard raises my eyebrows.)

Andy McKenna

One more thing about McKenna.  At the GOP convention in Decatur, he heatedly criticized DuPage County Board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom, who just withdrew his name from consideration as a candidate for governor (but who will still be on the ballot) about his lobbying DuPage County state senators to triple the RTA sales tax.

Only State Senators Carol Pankau (now a candidate for DuPage County Board President) and Randy Hultgren (now running for Congress in Kane County and more) voted against the 300% increase in the RTA sales tax.

How hot was the criticism?

Most of the DuPage County delegation walked off the convention floor.

In addition, taking on Thompson’s continuing show of support of incarcerated former Republican Governor George Ryan, McKenna said,

“It disappoints me with a former governor lobbies the president to pardon a former governor.”

So, which of the top three are you leaning toward?

As U.S. House Democratic Party Speaker Tip O’Neill said,

“All politics is local.”

So, I guess that puts McHenry County Blog in the right place for those who want to know about “local.”

That’s what McLean County Pundit reminds readers on its masthead.

State Senator Pam Althoff

Today my mailbox was graced with a large envelope from State Senator Pam Althoff (R-McHenry).

I figured it was an invitation to a fundraiser. A fancy fund raiser. It was about that size. It had a stamp, although now that I look at it closely, it’s probably a bulk mail stamp. (Did you know people are more likely to open a letter, if you put a commemorative stamp on it?)

Anyway the letter wasn’t personalized. It was to

“Dear Republican Neighbor”

That seems to be stretching it a bit since I don’t even know where Pam lives, but politicians take liberties with words like “neighbor.”

People skim letters like this. At least I do.

There’s bold face type to help skimmers figure out what is important.

State Senator Pam Althoff's correspondence supporting State Senator Kirk Dillard for governor.

I see former Governor Jim Edgar’s name first.

Befitting a letter endorsing Kirk Dillard, Edgar’s name shows up twice.

But looking at it again, I see this paragraph:

“The people of Illinois deserve nothing less than a Governor who will put taxpayers first…”

Had to stop there, because my one big beef with Kirk, which I talked to him about at his reception held at his wife’s great-great-great something grandfather and former (first elected in 1865) Governor Richard J. Ogelsby’s and grandmother’s home in Decatur during the last GOP state convention and, more recently, when he came to talk to the ladies at 1776 in Crystal Lake, was his vote to triple the RTA sales tax.  It ill cost McHenry County taxpayers on the order of $9 million a year times three.  And we are the smallest collar county

And, now I see he has the endorsement of the IEA, the Illinois Education Association, for those of you who don’t follow state politics. That the biggest teachers’ union and one does not have to watch state politics too closely to know what they want—higher income taxes.

Anyway, the letter arrived yesterday.

As the smallest of Chicago’s collar counties, I guess we McHenry Countians should be used to being left out.

When the RTA referendum was taking in place, for instance, I had a lot of radio debates with proponents, even a pre-Speaker Mike Madigan one on WBBM and one with Milt Rosenberg with Gene Schlickman on WGN. I tried, but couldn’t get any other state legislator to do them. Most of the debates were broadcast at really weird times of day.

The last one was recorded the Friday before the 1974 primary election. I was debating George Ranney, whose name still appears on “good government” mastheads and was quoted on issues like campaign finance reform most recently.

After the debate, George and I were standing waiting for the elevator in the ornate older high rise where the small station was located.

“If we had know you people in McHenry County were going to put up such a fight, we would have left you out,” he said.

“Now you tell me,” I replied.

Little casino next to Wisconsin's Happy Trails Restaurant

And left out was what happened to McHenry County in today’s Chicago Tribune editorial entitled,

“Video poker? Not here.”

We got left out of the list of governments that had opted out of video slot machines.

The first commenter made the correction:

As reported by the Tribune itself on December 6th, the McHenry County Board voted to ban video gambling by a vote of 13-10 at its meeting on December 1st.
norski (12/14/2009, 9:16 AM )

“norski?”

The Norge Ski Jump is what’s on top of this blog.

Every time we go to Milwaukee via the four-lane highway that connects with Illinois’ U.S. 12, I see the park and ride site on the Wisconsin side of the state line.

The article you see having the RTA announce a $100,000 study ($80,000 from the RTA) of the feasibility of a transit center in East Dundee at the intersection of Route 25 and 72 reminds me of a similar suggestion for the corner of Randall Road where CVS pharmacy now sits.

It probably would have been about where the McHenry County Conservation District is planning to build a parking lot for those wishing to enter the Lake in the Hills Fed from Crystal Lake.

It was going to be a bus station and a parking lot where commuters could begin carpools.

That plan was right up there in fantasy land with the first RTA (former CTA) Chairman Milton Pikarsky’s stood near the then-Crystal Lake Herald office (near the current location of Nick’s Pizzera) and announced that eventually train service would run from Crystal Lake to Gary, Indiana.

The bike path was then a railroad right-of-way. Every time we go to Milwaukee via the four-lane highway that connects with Illinois’ U.S. 12, I see the park and ride site on the Wisconsin side of the state line.

The article you see having the RTA announce a $100,000 study ($80,000 from the RTA) of the feasibility of a transit center in East Dundee at the intersection of Routes 25 and 72 reminds me of a similar suggestion for the corner of Randall Road where CVS pharmacy now sits.

It probably would have been about where the McHenry County Conservation District is planning to build a parking lot for those wishing to enter the Lake in the Hills Fed from Crystal Lake.

It was going to be a bus station and a parking lot where commuters could begin carpools.

That plan was right up there in fantasy land with the first RTA (former CTA) Chairman Milton Pikarsky’s stood near the then-Crystal Lake Herald office (near the current location of Nick’s Pizzera) and announced that eventually train service would run from Crystal Lake to Gary, Indiana.

The bike path was then a railroad right-of-way.

when I saw the Chicago Tribune editorial on McHenry County’s former Democratic State Representative Tom Hanahan, I sent his and my former State Senator Jack Schaffer an email asking for his memories. It gave me two of the five belly laughs that everyone should have every day to keep healthy. It follows:

Sorry Cal, I don’t check my emails as often as I should.

I did have an opportunity to talk to Tommy about a week before he died. While you could tell the disease was getting to him, you could also tell that the old Tommy was still there. You are right, I do have a lot of memories of Tommy.

In 1974 when the RTA was being created, I was a little curious as to what Tom was going to do about it because the labor unions were very much for the new unit of government and Tom was first and foremost a labor guy.

He must have convinced his leaders that he had to oppose it or he wouldn’t be back (a very accurate perception), which led to a very unusual election in that primary with the four of us; Tommy, you, Bruce and I out stomping against the RTA.

I recall one meeting in Crystal Lake (at the Nature Center) at which all 4 of us took different approaches as to why the RTA was evil – Tommy said it was bad for working men and women. As the meeting broke up a proponent for the RTA, who I knew, thought the four of us had covered every negative angle he could think of against the RTA.

The crowd was so hostile, I felt the need to walk the proponent back to his car. And as you know, 90%+ of the voters voted no with the largest primary turnout in history.

Another time, Tom and I were working on a piece of legislation to give homeowners property tax breaks if they improve their homes, or put an addition on.

I got wind, through a friend in the Dept. of Rev., that the Dept. was about to adopt rules that would require three inspections to qualify for the exemption.

I got hold of Tommy and we both went to see the Director of the Dept of Rev. I don’t recall that I got 5 words in during the meeting but Tom did such a war dance on his desk and threatened him and his descendents…the rule came out with a simple procedure.

During the RTA fights, we came up with the idea to send Gov. Walker petitions signed by people in the area opposing the RTA.

The problem was Tom got along with the democratic Governor Walker no doubt about as well as Jack Franks did with democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich…probably for some of the same reasons.

Governor Walker indicated he’d be happy to meet with me but refused to meet with Tom.

So we issued press release saying that opposition in McHenry County was bipartisan and if the Governor wouldn’t meet with Tommy then I wouldn’t meet with him either.

You’ve already talked about Tommy’s famous/infamous (choose your own word) opposition to the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment), but one of the things that I do definitely remember the time during candidates nights when the speeches and Q & A were over;

• you would be in the corner talking about property tax assessment,
• Bruce in another corner discussing creeping socialism,
• I would be talking with a group about Mental Health and the state budget, and
• Tommy would be in the front of the room talking to every good looking woman there about the ERA with a huge grin on his face.

It’s almost impossible today to explain the cumulative voting system that allowed for a minority party member in every district, and while the system certainly had its flaws, we did see some incredible individuals elected because of it.

And Tommy Hanahan was one of those.

About the only thing Tommy and I had in common was the same constituency and because of that we worked together fairly well.

I doubt we’ll see his likes again.

Thanks for letting me share some of my thoughts with you (it’s more than the local paper did!!!!!)!

The pamphlet printed on my father’s offset printing machines–180,000, maybe more–can be seen interspersed throughout the article. The little kNOw RTA clip-on button, front and back, is also shown.

Other stories about Tom Hanahan:

Johnsburg Democratic Party State Rep. Tom Hanahan Dies – Part 1

Johnsburg Democratic Party State Rep. Tom Hanahan Dies – Part 2

More Memories on McHenry County’s State Rep. Tom Hanahan

Jeff Ladd Calls for RTA Tax Hike

The Wiring of Rep. Pete Pappas

The McHenry County Republican Central Committee has moved.

Right into my father’s and my old office space in the tip of the “V” at the Crystal Lake Plaza.

In the early 1970’s, Dad has his Barley and Malt Institute office there before he moved it across from the train station at the corner of Woodstock and Brink Streets.

That’s where he and his allies brought forth the slate of 8 “Responsible Republicans” to challenge the candidates put up by the local GOP Establishment in District 1 after a Federal court decision required that county board districts be re-apportioned on a one-man, one-vote basis.

No longer would every township supervisor be automatically on the county board, with larger townships having extra representation, but not in proportion to population.

The days of the Alden, Burton, Coral, Dunham, Hartland, Seneca and other small townships automatically having representation on the county board were over.

The Algonquin-Grafton Township slate of “(John) Bick to (Brad) Burns” slate lost, with Dad coming in 9th. He got more votes than any candidate in Districts 2 or 3, however, and was elected two years later.

After that special 1972 primary election was over in late January, No. 8 in the Plaza was headquarters for my first campaign for state representative.

Perhaps noteworthy was that this office was the headquarters for the kNOw RTA campaign in the spring of 1974. Dad’s hobby was printing and he had two offset machines in the back.

Working as much as 24-hours a day, people like my father and Forrest Hare ran presses to print the anti-RTA pamphlets that were distributed all of the six-county area.

During that campaign, I picked up the phone once and heard my father’s name. I apologized for interrupting the conversation and went into his office to do so in person.

To my surprise he was not and had not been on the phone.

I concluded that someone had tapped the phone line.

That led to our realizing how important that little back room was to someone other than ourselves.

There was a lot of money at stake in this referendum.

The Crystal Lake Police Department was kind enough to send a car past the back door once an hour.

The paper ballot referendum officially to bail out the Chicago Transit Authority passed by less that 13,000 votes. That night about nine I heard the first Mayor Daley being asked about his side of the referendum not winning.

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” he replied. “We have stopped casting the ballots.”

Now, Mayor Daley was known for his malopropisms, but, in this case, I think Daley was telling what was happening in Chicago precincts as “No” votes were being turned into spoiled ballots by having judges put X’s into the “Yes” boxes so two votes were cast.

And, if you think I am kidding, let me tell you about one precinct that State Representative and Schaumburg Township Republican Chairman Don Totten’s people discovered while color coding the results of every precinct in Chicago.

There was one precinct that went 100% for the Regional Transportation Authority referendum.

There were about 80 “Yes” votes, no “No” votes and 60 spoiled ballots.

The ward was going about 60% for the referendum.

No recount was allowed by the newly-created Illinois State Board of Elections—not exactly a profile in courage, but, considering the Establishment in both the Republican and Democratic Parties favored creation of the RTA, not much of a surprise.

So, the new location of the McHenry County Republican Party is one from which large projects can be run.

Instead of having a friendly hairdresser between the office and H.C. Stamp and Coin Company (probably the oldest tenant in the Plaza) the GOP will have the friendly owner of Moseley Plumbing. I served with his daughter Vickie Moseley in the Illinois General Assembly in the 1990’s until Raymond (“Think Poe”) Poe beat her.

Hours at the new GOP office will initially be Tuesday and Thursday, 11AM – 5PM, and Saturday from 10-2.

= = = = =
The kNOw RTA pamphlet was used by opponents of the 1974 referendum to create the Regional Transportation Authority. If there were ever a grass roots campaign, this was it. Opposition snowballed as election day approached. Most active opponents were freshmen state representatives elected after the 1970 re-apportionment.

The “kNOw” combination was resurrected by Chicago Sun-Times graphic artist and long-time reporter Tom Frisbie for the Iraq election.

The lapel button was given me by former State Rep. Gene Hoffman. He found as he was cleaning out his stuff after he retired. Hoffman is the one who put House Republican Leader Lee Daniels in office.

The McHenry County Republican Central Committee has moved.

Right into my father’s and my old office space in the tip of the “V” at the Crystal Lake Plaza.

In the early 1970’s, Dad has his Barley and Malt Institute office there before he moved it across from the train station at the corner of Woodstock and Brink Streets.

That’s where he and his allies brought forth the slate of 8 “Responsible Republicans” to challenge the candidates put up by the local GOP Establishment in District 1 after a Federal court decision required that county board districts be re-apportioned on a one-man, one-vote basis.

No longer would every township supervisor be automatically on the county board, with larger townships having extra representation, but not in proportion to population.

The days of the Alden, Burton, Coral, Dunham, Hartland, Seneca and other small townships automatically having representation on the county board were over.

The Algonquin-Grafton Township slate of “(John) Bick to (Brad) Burns” slate lost, with Dad coming in 9th. He got more votes than any candidate in Districts 2 or 3, however, and was elected two years later.

After that special 1972 primary election was over in late January, No. 8 in the Plaza was headquarters for my first campaign for state representative.

Perhaps noteworthy was that this office was the headquarters for the kNOw RTA campaign in the spring of 1974. Dad’s hobby was printing and he had two offset machines in the back.

Working as much as 24-hours a day, people like my father and Forrest Hare ran presses to print the anti-RTA pamphlets that were distributed all of the six-county area.

During that campaign, I picked up the phone once and heard my father’s name. I apologized for interrupting the conversation and went into his office to do so in person.

To my surprise he was not and had not been on the phone.

I concluded that someone had tapped the phone line.

That led to our realizing how important that little back room was to someone other than ourselves.

There was a lot of money at stake in this referendum.

The Crystal Lake Police Department was kind enough to send a car past the back door once an hour.

The paper ballot referendum officially to bail out the Chicago Transit Authority passed by less that 13,000 votes. That night about nine I heard the first Mayor Daley being asked about his side of the referendum not winning.

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” he replied. “We have stopped casting the ballots.”

Now, Mayor Daley was known for his malopropisms, but, in this case, I think Daley was telling what was happening in Chicago precincts as “No” votes were being turned into spoiled ballots by having judges put X’s into the “Yes” boxes so two votes were cast.

And, if you think I am kidding, let me tell you about one precinct that State Representative and Schaumburg Township Republican Chairman Don Totten’s people discovered while color coding the results of every precinct in Chicago.

There was one precinct that went 100% for the Regional Transportation Authority referendum.

There were about 80 “Yes” votes, no “No” votes and 60 spoiled ballots.

The ward was going about 60% for the referendum.

No recount was allowed by the newly-created Illinois State Board of Elections—not exactly a profile in courage, but, considering the Establishment in both the Republican and Democratic Parties favored creation of the RTA, not much of a surprise.

So, the new location of the McHenry County Republican Party is one from which large projects can be run.

Instead of having a friendly hairdresser between the office and H.C. Stamp and Coin Company (probably the oldest tenant in the Plaza) the GOP will have the friendly owner of Moseley Plumbing. I served with his daughter Vickie Moseley in the Illinois General Assembly in the 1990’s until Raymond (“Think Poe”) Poe beat her.

Hours at the new GOP office will initially be Tuesday and Thursday, 11AM – 5PM, and Saturday from 10-2.

= = = = =
The kNOw RTA pamphlet was used by opponents of the 1974 referendum to create the Regional Transportation Authority. If there were ever a grass roots campaign, this was it. Opposition snowballed as election day approached. Most active opponents were freshmen state representatives elected after the 1970 re-apportionment.

The “kNOw” combination was resurrected by Chicago Sun-Times graphic artist and long-time reporter Tom Frisbie for the Iraq election.

The lapel button was given me by former State Rep. Gene Hoffman. He found as he was cleaning out his stuff after he retired. Hoffman is the one who put House Republican Leader Lee Daniels in office.