McHenry County Blog

Chicago Sun-Times political writer pointed out that the John McCain forces

“wants her (Alaska Governor Sarah Palin) to poke at Barack Obama’s bragging about being a reformer by calling on him to cite when and where he took on the corruption that comes out of Chicago’s City Hall or in Springfield when he was a state senator.”

And, the night before Palin gave her acceptance speech, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, the convention’s key note speaker, being interviewed on Fox News’ Hannity and Combs, pressed the question?

Here’s the interchange with Alan Combs compliments of Real Clear Politics:

GIULIANI: She found out what was going on, and she found out what was at stake and she stood up to Republicans. It’s exactly what you don’t have on your side.

Barack Obama was in Chicago for how many years? When did he ever expose any corruption? Ever?

COLMES: First of all, he passed one of the strongest ethics bills in the Senate.

[Guiliani breaks out in laughter (even Colmes couldn't stop himself from breaking out in a smile)]

GIULIANI: What did he ever.

COLMES: And he — wait a minute. He was acknowledged.

GIULIANI: Alan, Alan.

COLMES: . in one of his big accomplishments as a legislator is — was one of the ethics legislation.

GIULIANI: He never exposed any corruption in the Democratic Party in Chicago which, I imagine, is because he’s just not observing. [sarcasm well seen here]

COLMES: Oh he’s not, I’m sure of it.

GIULIANI: Or there is none. [heavy sarcasm]

(Emphasis added.) I have to admit that my notes show Giuliani saying, “Never,” not “Ever,” as in the above transcript.

Either works.

= = = = =
Editorial comments found on the Hillary Clinton forum. Posted by WasGOPnowInd.

Chicago Sun-Times political writer pointed out that the John McCain forces

“wants her (Alaska Governor Sarah Palin) to poke at Barack Obama’s bragging about being a reformer by calling on him to cite when and where he took on the corruption that comes out of Chicago’s City Hall or in Springfield when he was a state senator.”

And, the night before Palin gave her acceptance speech, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, the convention’s key note speaker, being interviewed on Fox News’ Hannity and Combs, pressed the question?

Here’s the interchange with Alan Combs compliments of Real Clear Politics:

GIULIANI: She found out what was going on, and she found out what was at stake and she stood up to Republicans. It’s exactly what you don’t have on your side.

Barack Obama was in Chicago for how many years? When did he ever expose any corruption? Ever?

COLMES: First of all, he passed one of the strongest ethics bills in the Senate.

[Guiliani breaks out in laughter (even Colmes couldn't stop himself from breaking out in a smile)]

GIULIANI: What did he ever.

COLMES: And he — wait a minute. He was acknowledged.

GIULIANI: Alan, Alan.

COLMES: . in one of his big accomplishments as a legislator is — was one of the ethics legislation.

GIULIANI: He never exposed any corruption in the Democratic Party in Chicago which, I imagine, is because he’s just not observing. [sarcasm well seen here]

COLMES: Oh he’s not, I’m sure of it.

GIULIANI: Or there is none. [heavy sarcasm]

(Emphasis added.) I have to admit that my notes show Giuliani saying, “Never,” not “Ever,” as in the above transcript.

Either works.

= = = = =
Editorial comments found on the Hillary Clinton forum. Posted by WasGOPnowInd.

McHenry County Republican Party Chairman is listed as the McHenry County Chairman for the Guiliani presidential campaign.

That’s what I read on Illinois Review yesterday.

LeFew has an interesting history of primary endorsements.

I remember in 2000, he first endorsed Lt. Governor Corrine Wood for Governor, then, later, switched to Jim Ryan.

McHenry County Republican Party Chairman is listed as the McHenry County Chairman for the Guiliani presidential campaign.

That’s what I read on Illinois Review yesterday.

LeFew has an interesting history of primary endorsements.

I remember in 2000, he first endorsed Lt. Governor Corrine Wood for Governor, then, later, switched to Jim Ryan.

While 16 Crystal Lakers have pulled out their check books to make contributions to presidential candidates, only 11 from Woodstock and 3 from McHenry have made the plunge.

Maybe the population of the two areas are similar, so the percentage of residents making contributions might be roughly comparable.

Some of you may know that I’m not too deeply into presidential politics. That’s because I know that making the same contribution to a local or legislative candidate or volunteering one’s time to local candidates has a much greater chance of making an impact in the direction one wants than participating in presidential politics can ever yield.

Nevertheless, I’ll readily admit it is not as exciting.

I decided to go to Oberlin College in 1960 because it was a good school and had the first mock political convention in the country.

When I was at Oberlin College, my goal was to bring the Republican message to that liberal bastion for at least one year and we Young Republicans did gain enough control of the student council to designate the 1964 Mock Convention a Republican one. I became its chairman.

Before that 1963-64 convention experience, I was the 1962 student campaign manager of the Oberlin College YR’s (now called College Republicans). We marshaled 2,700 student hours of campaigning for the re-election effort of Congressman Charles Mosher, an Oberlin grad and local newspaper publisher. That convinced me an individual could make a difference in a congressional campaign.

But I learned that the lower on the political totem pole, the more impact one can have. We worked in 1961 and 1963 for Woody Mathna’s mayoral campaigns in Lorain, Ohio. He was a Republican running in a Democratic Party steel town. He won in ‘61 and was re-elected in ‘63. The YR’s door knocking helped fill holes in Mathna’s campaign organization.

In my only local foray into presidential politics, I did have my name on the ballot as a convention delegate for Jack Kemp in 1988. He folded after the Iowa caucus, a week before the Illinois primary. Not much impact. Point made, perhaps.

But, when Bill Baar pointed out the ease of using the Chicago Tribune campaign contribution data base, I started looking at those in McHenry County who are involved in the national campaign in a pocketbook way.

(If local folks are involved beyond writing a check, I would be interested in learning how to contact them. Party is irrelevant.)

Unlike a couple of the Crystal Lakers, no one from zip code 60050 gave the maximum amount allowed by law–$2,300.

However, two people—Steven and Mary Jacobs–who live on Madison Street in Woodstock, the same street where I used to live, gave that maximum to Rudy Giulianni.

In Woodstock, 5 people gave $2,255.05 to Barack Obama. Four were men, one a woman.

Besides the couple who contributed $4,600 to Giuliani in Woodstock, 2 men contributed a total of $600 to John McCain.

In McHenry, three men donated money. McCain and Giuliani got $500 and Obama received $250.

Woodstock contributors (zip code 60098):

• Borelli, Nelson, 1347 Galloway Dr, Woodstock, IL 60098, Not Employed, $100.00, May. 14th – Obama; $100.00, Jun. 29th – Obama
• Jacobs, Steven A, .348 S. Madison Street, Woodstock, IL 60098, Really Great Meetings, Inc., Meeting/event Planner, $2,300.00, Jun. 29th – Giuliani
• Jacobs, Mary B., 348 S. Madison Street, Woodstock, IL 60098, College Of Lake County, R.d.h./instructor, $2,300.00, Jun. 30th – Giuliani
• Metiver, Donald, 413 N Cold Springs Rd, Woodstock, IL 60098, Sportdecals, President, $1,000.00, Apr. 26th – Obama
• Pitsch, James L., 8108 Crystal Springs Rd, Bull Valley, IL 60098, Staffordshire Associates, Inc., Executive, $100.00, Apr. 24th – McCain
• Schlosberg, Leo, 370 Lincoln Ave, Woodstock, IL 60098, Cary Concrete Products, Inc., Contractor, $25.00, Jun. 6th – Obama; $30.05, Apr. 1st – Obama
• Smith, Marschall I, 344 Fremont St, Woodstock, IL 60098, Brunswick Corp, Attorney, $500.00, Apr. 23rd – Obama
• Sterling, Betty, 423 Marawood Dr, Woodstock, IL 60098, Not Employed, Homemaker, $500.00, Mar. 5th – Obama
• Zimmer, Donald C., 11128 Berltsum Ln, Woodstock, IL 60098S, Self, Engineer, $500.00, Mar. 31st – McCain

McHenry (60050) contributors:

• Fleming, Henry J, 4123 W Shamrock Ln, McHenry, IL 60050, Self, Accountant, $500.00, Mar. 21st – McCain
• Nowland, Jeffrey D, 4006 Boone Creek Circle, McHenry, IL 60050, Citadel Investment Group, L.l.c.Software, Development Manager, $500.00, Jun. 13th – Giuliani
• Skiba, Thomas J, 3712 W Lee St, McHenry, IL 60050, $250.00, Apr. 12th – Obama

= = = = =
The picture of Barack Obama comes from his web site. I took the photo of John McCain at an event at the Union League Club.

While 16 Crystal Lakers have pulled out their check books to make contributions to presidential candidates, only 11 from Woodstock and 3 from McHenry have made the plunge.

Maybe the population of the two areas are similar, so the percentage of residents making contributions might be roughly comparable.

Some of you may know that I’m not too deeply into presidential politics. That’s because I know that making the same contribution to a local or legislative candidate or volunteering one’s time to local candidates has a much greater chance of making an impact in the direction one wants than participating in presidential politics can ever yield.

Nevertheless, I’ll readily admit it is not as exciting.

I decided to go to Oberlin College in 1960 because it was a good school and had the first mock political convention in the country.

When I was at Oberlin College, my goal was to bring the Republican message to that liberal bastion for at least one year and we Young Republicans did gain enough control of the student council to designate the 1964 Mock Convention a Republican one. I became its chairman.

Before that 1963-64 convention experience, I was the 1962 student campaign manager of the Oberlin College YR’s (now called College Republicans). We marshaled 2,700 student hours of campaigning for the re-election effort of Congressman Charles Mosher, an Oberlin grad and local newspaper publisher. That convinced me an individual could make a difference in a congressional campaign.

But I learned that the lower on the political totem pole, the more impact one can have. We worked in 1961 and 1963 for Woody Mathna’s mayoral campaigns in Lorain, Ohio. He was a Republican running in a Democratic Party steel town. He won in ‘61 and was re-elected in ‘63. The YR’s door knocking helped fill holes in Mathna’s campaign organization.

In my only local foray into presidential politics, I did have my name on the ballot as a convention delegate for Jack Kemp in 1988. He folded after the Iowa caucus, a week before the Illinois primary. Not much impact. Point made, perhaps.

But, when Bill Baar pointed out the ease of using the Chicago Tribune campaign contribution data base, I started looking at those in McHenry County who are involved in the national campaign in a pocketbook way.

(If local folks are involved beyond writing a check, I would be interested in learning how to contact them. Party is irrelevant.)

Unlike a couple of the Crystal Lakers, no one from zip code 60050 gave the maximum amount allowed by law–$2,300.

However, two people—Steven and Mary Jacobs–who live on Madison Street in Woodstock, the same street where I used to live, gave that maximum to Rudy Giulianni.

In Woodstock, 5 people gave $2,255.05 to Barack Obama. Four were men, one a woman.

Besides the couple who contributed $4,600 to Giuliani in Woodstock, 2 men contributed a total of $600 to John McCain.

In McHenry, three men donated money. McCain and Giuliani got $500 and Obama received $250.

Woodstock contributors (zip code 60098):

• Borelli, Nelson, 1347 Galloway Dr, Woodstock, IL 60098, Not Employed, $100.00, May. 14th – Obama; $100.00, Jun. 29th – Obama
• Jacobs, Steven A, .348 S. Madison Street, Woodstock, IL 60098, Really Great Meetings, Inc., Meeting/event Planner, $2,300.00, Jun. 29th – Giuliani
• Jacobs, Mary B., 348 S. Madison Street, Woodstock, IL 60098, College Of Lake County, R.d.h./instructor, $2,300.00, Jun. 30th – Giuliani
• Metiver, Donald, 413 N Cold Springs Rd, Woodstock, IL 60098, Sportdecals, President, $1,000.00, Apr. 26th – Obama
• Pitsch, James L., 8108 Crystal Springs Rd, Bull Valley, IL 60098, Staffordshire Associates, Inc., Executive, $100.00, Apr. 24th – McCain
• Schlosberg, Leo, 370 Lincoln Ave, Woodstock, IL 60098, Cary Concrete Products, Inc., Contractor, $25.00, Jun. 6th – Obama; $30.05, Apr. 1st – Obama
• Smith, Marschall I, 344 Fremont St, Woodstock, IL 60098, Brunswick Corp, Attorney, $500.00, Apr. 23rd – Obama
• Sterling, Betty, 423 Marawood Dr, Woodstock, IL 60098, Not Employed, Homemaker, $500.00, Mar. 5th – Obama
• Zimmer, Donald C., 11128 Berltsum Ln, Woodstock, IL 60098S, Self, Engineer, $500.00, Mar. 31st – McCain

McHenry (60050) contributors:

• Fleming, Henry J, 4123 W Shamrock Ln, McHenry, IL 60050, Self, Accountant, $500.00, Mar. 21st – McCain
• Nowland, Jeffrey D, 4006 Boone Creek Circle, McHenry, IL 60050, Citadel Investment Group, L.l.c.Software, Development Manager, $500.00, Jun. 13th – Giuliani
• Skiba, Thomas J, 3712 W Lee St, McHenry, IL 60050, $250.00, Apr. 12th – Obama

= = = = =
The picture of Barack Obama comes from his web site. I took the photo of John McCain at an event at the Union League Club.

Not in person, of course, but I did receive a [phone call from a boiler room today.

The guy wanted me to pledge to give from $100 to $250 in the next six weeks.

I was asked if I would endorse Guiliani.

I answered that I was not ready to endorse a candidate for president.

At dinner, I discovered that a friend from Naperville had just gotten a mailing from Guiliani.

Anyone else getting any contacts from Republican or Democratic Party presidential candidates?

Not in person, of course, but I did receive a [phone call from a boiler room today.

The guy wanted me to pledge to give from $100 to $250 in the next six weeks.

I was asked if I would endorse Guiliani.

I answered that I was not ready to endorse a candidate for president.

At dinner, I discovered that a friend from Naperville had just gotten a mailing from Guiliani.

Anyone else getting any contacts from Republican or Democratic Party presidential candidates?