McHenry County Blog

Jack Franks had two contests in which he invested political capita:

his County Executive referendum

the District 6 County Board candidacy of Ryan Heuser

In both efforts Franks fell short.

Franks’ County Executive push is failing

With 44% of the precincts counted, Jack Franks’ County Executive idea is losing big time.

Two-thirds of the electorate is voting against the County Executive referendum.

Jack Franks strongly endorsed fellow Democrat Ryan Heuser. With 52% of the precincts counted, Heuser is running sixth behind the four Republicans, plus Independent Larry Smith.

Franks used a lot of political capital this year and seems not to have purchased anything.

Donna Kurtz

Donna Kurtz goes to the defense of conservative McHenry County Board members Ersel Schuster and Diane Evertsen against the attacks of Jack Franks’ union-backed Democrat Ryan Heuser in an open letter below:

OPEN LETTER

The recent attack hit pieces directed toward County Board members Diane Evertsen and Ersel Schuster was filled with so many absurd fabrications that I felt it needed to be addressed.

With that in mind I would like to provide my perspective of what I have observed of Mrs. Schuster and Mrs. Evertsen over the last two years that I have worked with them on the County Board.

They work hard, and do their homework. If that homework involves meeting and hearing out constituent concerns, or conducting research, or going to additional county board committee meetings, then that is what is done.

Diane Evertsen listens to arguments at a County Board meeting.

They have been tax fighters from the first moment they respectively stepped out on the board floor.

Their commitment to lower taxes stems from the principled approach that I have seen them take with every vote that they make as County Board members.

Ersel Schuster chairing the Management Services Committee, which pushed the County Board into providing more transparency.

Mrs. Schuster’s leadership on greater accountability for Board Members has been well documented. She advocated both a per diem per meeting and an attendance tracking system as a means to ensure that board members were being held accountable for doing their job.

Mrs. Schuster has actively engaged in ensuring funds for human services are appropriately spent for those with the greatest need.

Both ladies have led the fight for their constituents on issues such as Alden Road, Fleming Road, and open space.

There is no question that these ladies have demonstrated a commitment to serve our County without self-interest in the work they conduct, the votes they cast, and the people of McHenry County who they serve.

In closing, although we may not always agree on all the issues and votes, Mrs. Schuster and Mrs. Evertsen have established well-deserved reputations as

• hard working,
• straight talking, and
• honest public servants

who have served District 6 well, and deserve to be re-elected.

If you know of voters in District 6 please pass this letter on to them.

Sincerely,

Donna Kurtz
County Board Member – District 2

Labeling himself a “tax fighter,” Jack Franks-backed Democrat Ryan Heuser has launched a second attack on two of the most conservative Republicans on the McHenry County Board.

Ryan Heuser labels himself a “tax fighter,” but offers no tax hike that he has fought.

Hueser again uses a mailing to push for passage of Jack Franks’ County Executive referendum. He is one of very few candidates to support this concentration of power in the hands of one person. He makes no mention that a County Executive will be able to spend up to $25,000 without prior County Board approval.

The address side of Ryan Heuser’s attack piece on Ersel Schuster and Diane Evertsen does not use as attractive photos as did his first mailing.

On his web site, Heuser lists eleven unions and Jack Franks as endorsing him.

Ersel Schuster released this rebuttal to the two Heuser hit pieces:

Ersel Schuster, Member/Candidate McHenry County Board
408 S. Shannon Drive, Woodstock, IL 60098‐9474
815‐338‐2207 or ersel@sbcglobal.net

Dear Friends & Neighbors,

Ersel Schuster

It is with deep disappointment that I feel a need to get this message out to you at this time. However, to those of you who have received copies of the Ryan Heuser campaign pieces, I cannot allow his personal attacks on Diane and myself to go unchallenged.

Diane has responded and her e‐mail has gone out to everyone we could reach. In the event this transmission reaches someone new, Diane’s comments parallel those below.

My response to the deliberate untruths is as follows:

1.  “Work 10 hours a week,”

I would challenge this person and anyone who believes this statement to follow us around for just one week. My thought is that they may not run for the position once they see the effort it takes to do the job. His statement of a 10‐hour work week can be multiplied many times over.

We often field calls late at night or early, early in the morning. I cherish each and every opportunity to speak with and help anyone who contacts me. That is just who I am.

2.  “Raised their salaries three times, increased their pension and receive health care benefits”

• No. I did not vote to raise county board salaries “three” times… I have consistently worked to change the pay structure to a “per diem.” In essences, that would reduce pay as a members would only be paid for meetings they actually attended;
• No. I did not vote to “increase” board members pensions; and,
• No. I have never taken county health insurance.

3. “Raised our property taxes over the past 10 years to be one of the highest in Illinois”

While I have served on this board on prior occasions, this man states that “over the past 10 years” I have voted to increase taxes. I am just completing a “four” year term and Diane is completing a 2 year term on the county board. Had he done his own campaign piece and bothered to check the record, he would know his statement to be false.

4.  “Do NOT support a publically elected County Executive”

The one true statement is that I DO NOT support the County Executive form of government. Among other things, it is adding another level of government and can only raise the cost of doing the county’s business.

5.  “Give themselves hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of benefits.”

I would challenge this person to identify all these benefits! I’ve certainly not seen them.

While I know that folks running for these positions may not have all their facts, it does tell us something about the person when they would publish such outlandish statements without verifying them.

I want to thank you for your past support and encouragement. It is my hope that Diane and I will be able to continue the work we’ve begun in advocating for less county government.

An email from District 6 McHenry County Board member and candidate Diane Evertsen:

New funny mailer!

Ryan Heuser, the Democrat whose mailing is critiqued.

Hi! Just when you begin to think elections and candidates can’t possibly get any dumber, hold on to your hat because they sure can!

I thought I’d give all of you a heads up on this episode of “Cook County comes to McHenry County” and hope you’ll pass this email along to your friends and neighbors here in District 6.

Case in point is the mailer from a County Board candidate in District 6 who has been kind enough to target me and Ersel Schuster in his last minute hit piece.

It’s always much more fun to send these types of mailings out at the eleventh hour so that your target can’t have an opportunity to disprove your information, or in this case misinformation.

These are the same folks who want to talk about integrity in government; all the rest of us have to do is explain to them what that means.

And it is curious, isn’t it, that Ersel and I are the only targets?

The two candidates who have an actual RECORD of voting for lower tax rates and stopping salary increases!

This sleazy piece of campaign ‘literature’ is so full of fantasy it should qualify for time on Grimm.

At least Ryan Heuser used decent photos of Ersel Schuster and Diane Evertsen.

Endorsed by Jack Franks, this poor soul can’t spell my name but accuses me of being a “career politician” after serving on the County Board for 23 months; I guess he’s a believer in very short careers.

Other funny fallacies include

• “Work 10 hours a week” (don’t I wish!),
• “raised their salaries three times, increased their pensions and receive health care benefits” (sorry, but I haven’t been on the board long enough to do anything three times and I certainly don’t take their health insurance as most of you already know),
• “Raised our property taxes over the past 10 years. . .” (earth to candidate: I haven’t even been there for 10 years!),
• “Give themselves (I’m assuming he refers to me and Ersel Schuster) hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of benefits” (Really? Seriously? And this is coming from an adult man who we should trust to make decisions on our behalf? “Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of benefits” PUH-LEESE!! Now he’s just being silly. Let’s get real!)

Jack Franks

Jack states in his endorsement the candidate will work to balance the budget.

NEWSFLASH!!

McHenry County has a balanced budget!!

Maybe Jack will vote against Madigan as speaker of the House and work to balance the State budget!

I’m voting for write-in Joe Rosner, a valid write-in running against Jack in this election.

The only honest statement on this fine example of falsehoods is that I oppose the Executive form of government, the pet project du jour of this candidate’s mentor.

Is there any connection between those dots and this hit piece?

Does give one pause to consider, doesn’t it?

As always, I invite you to contact me if you have any comments or questions.

Of course, if you can help me out and let me know what those “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in benefits are, that would be nice, too! In case you have not yet seen the piece, you can view it here

Thanks for your time and keep the Faith!

I hate to tell you, “I told you so,” but the McHenry County Republican Party’s failure to allow Tonya Franklin to try to get on the ballot to oppose Jack Franks has indeed allowed him to play around more than he probably would have been able to do otherwise.

We all know about his efforts to change the form of county government from a weak County Board Chairman to a strong County Executive.

Now, he is found endorsing union-financed Ryan Heuser’s campaign for District 6 County Board member.

The address side of Ryan Heuser’s mailing

And, in an intriguing similarity to District 4′s Mary Margaret Maule’s attack on incumbent John Hammerand, Heuser’s oversized post card attacks the two incumbent Republicans most likely to be able to mount a challenge to Franks in the future–Ersel Schuster and Diane Evertsen.

There are so many misstatements above that perhaps pointing out the Diane Evertsen’s name is spelled wrong might indicate the quality of the effort that went into preparing it.

The bottom of the back of the post card is dedicated to promoting Jack Franks’ County Executive referendum.

Ersel Schuster and Diane Evertsen are attacked by Jack Franks’ endorsed Ryan Heuser on this side of the mailing.

There’s a pitch for Franks’ County Executive referendum, too.

The issues used are similar in Maule’s and Heuser’s hit pieces.

Contributors to Heuser’s campaign with donations large enough to be identified by name follow:

Ryan Heuser posting on FaceBook in favor of video gaming.

• 2-12-12 International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, Countryside – $2,500
• 2-14-12 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 117, Crystal Lake – $200
• 2-24-12 Laborers International Union Local 1035, Marengo – $300
• 3-2-12 Plote Construction, Hoffman Estates – $250
• 3-16-12 Northeastern Illinois Federation of Labor, Gurnee – $500
• 3-20-12 International Union of Operating Engineers Local 339, Chicago – $500
• 3-20-12 International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, Countryside – $800 (20 4 by 8 pieces of plywood)
• 7-27-12 McHenry County Building Trades Council, Crystal Lake -$1,000
• 7-27-12 IronworkersLocal 498, Rockford – $250
• 7-27-12 Carey Electric, McHenry – $250
• 8-1-12 International Union of Operating Engineers, Countryside – $1,365.62
• 8-7-12 Bricklayers Local 21, Elgin – $200
• 8-10-12 Plote Construction, Hoffman Estates – $250
• 10-22-12 International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, Countryside – $5,178.85
• 10-30-12 Cecily Heuser, Marengo – $5,500

That’s $9,844.47 from Local 150, whose primary interest in what the County Board does has had to do with legalizing slot machines in unincorporated areas.  In the 13-10-1 County Board vote to ban video slot machines the first of December, 2009,  Schuster and Hammerand voted against gambling.  Evertsen had not yet been sworn in for the two-year term she won in November.

The involvement of Local 150 in both lobbying for the legalization of video poker and support of County Board candidates (see Mary McClellan’s sign at the Lakemoor Banquet Hall, and got $300 on Sept. 26th, which, strangely, is reported by the union, but not by McClellan).

Mary Margaret Maule got $2,000 from Local 150 on October 27th and $250 on August 25th, a quarter in which there were five other union locals making contributions.

One of the problems that State Rep. Jack Franks has with passing his pet referendum is that he does not have a unified Democratic Party behind him.

Take, for example, Paula Yensen, the wife of the McHenry County Democratic Party Chairman, Mike Bissett.

Or Cathy Bergan Schmidt, the other incumbent Democratic Party County Board member.

At the County Board debates, the only Democrats I remember endorsing the proposal were District 4 candidate Mary Margaret Maule and District 6 candidate Ryan Heuser.

And after the debate, I saw this woman with a bunch of “Vote No” signs under her arm.

After the debate Wednesday, this Democrat had “Vote No” signs under one arm.

As she turned around, I saw “Anderson for Congress” signs under the other arm.

Under the Cary woman’s other arm were signs in support of Democratic Party candidate for Congress Dennis Anderson. I guess she lives in Nunda Township, because the Algonquin Township part of Cary does not have Anderson on its ballot. Note that she is wearing an Obama button on her lapel.

I asked where she lived and discovered it was rural Cary.

Still thinking about the implications of the McHenry County GOP interview committee’s decision to reject Tonya Franklin’s offer to run a high energy campaign against 7-term incumbent Democrat Jack Franks.

"Chainsaw Jack" Franks is singing "Hakuna Matata" today after learning the McHenry County Republican Party will give him his third free ride in four elections.

Today Jack Franks is sighing a big “Whew.”

The reason?

The gift given freely by the McHenry County Republican Central Committee for the third time in four elections.

Once by then-Chairman and County Treasurer Bill LeFew and twice now by Chairman and State Rep. Mike Tryon.

Until this morning I was just focusing on the potential impact of legislative campaigns elsewhere in Illinois.

That’s not quite right.

I did point out that the manpower-starved Central Committee with Precinct Committeeman vacancies all over McHenry County would benefit from an infusion of Tea Party supporters for Tonya Franklin.

Tonya Franklin

Rather than all of those energetic folks going to Wisconsin to support a cause not yet espoused by Republicans in Illinois, some of them might be working Tonya Franklin, if she were running for state rep.  (This is so reminiscent of how Illinois Republicans, led by Governor Jim Thompson, missed the Reagan Revolution.)

But most of my thoughts had been focused on Jack Franks’ traveling all over the state trying to ingratiate himself to Democrats running for state rep and state senate.

You know, trying to make sure Mike Madigan remains House Speaker and John Cullerton Senate President.

But that’s no problem for the Republican-dominated McHenry County.

“Hakuna Matata.”

And, along the way Franks would picking up chits for whatever statewide office he wants to spend his $450,000 war chest on.

Are Republicans willing to wait for Franks to make such an exit from the 63rd District?

“Hakuna Matata.”

Another thought popped into my head this morning.

The leaders of the Republican Party probably don’t know it, but Jack Franks has gone to go door-to-door for candidates other than himself.

Four years ago, for instance, he campaigned actively for Mary Margaret Maule in the McHenry-dominated District 4.  Franks had no opponent then.

Jack Franks

Maule is coming back for a second try this year.

“Hakuna Matata.”

Franks has already contributed to the campaign fund of District 6 Operating Engineers’ member Ryan Heuse, so he has a stake in his winning.

“Hakuna Matata.”

Six years ago, Franks campaigned actively in McHenry County for Melissa Bean against David McSweeney. We know how that turned out.

No opponent then.

What did it take to turn Melissa Bean out of office?

Tea Party candidate Joe Walsh.

We wouldn’t want to try that approach again, though, would we?

“Hakuna Matata.”

If Franks is really interested in running for County Board Chairman (look for article about his robo-call survey on the subject later today), he might take the freedom of having no worries and campaign for Nick Chirkos in District 1.

Goodness knows that Republican incumbent Bob Bless has about as many problems as he can juggle.

“Hakuna Matata.”

Or, heaven forbid, even get involved in District 2 County Board races, where the Democrats will be trying to knock of County Board Chairman Ken Koehler using alleged conflict of interest charges.

Already Jim Roden, who fought Metra‘s attempt to buy property in Ridgefield that Koehler half-owned

And, Roden went to the C0unty Board meeting last week to call out Koehler for his son’s being head of a housing entity that could benefit from County action.

But McHenry County Republicans have little or no interest in making sure Jack Franks stays in his district.

“Hakuna Matata.”

In discussing what I consider an abrogation of Republican Party responsibility to make sure that Franks has an opponent, one person pointed out that Republican Barb Wheeler has no opponent and maybe a deal has been cut to reciprocate.

While possible, I don’t think that’s the reason for making Jack Franks happy for the rest of his life, to paraphrase the Disney song.

Signaling that the McHenry County Board's vote against video poker (slot machines) in bars in unincorporated McHenry County may be an issue is this FaceBook post by Local 150. Click to enlarge.

The article about the 13-10-1 on video poker vote by the McHenry County Board can be found here.
Fueled by labor union contributions, District 6 McHenry County Board Democratic Party candidate Ryan Heuser has a good start toward a decent campaign.

The candidate, who, to the best of my knowledge, has not surfaced publicly, has a Marengo address.

That part of District 6 was left out of the Republican Party primary sweepstakes when Marengo Alderman Corey Brackmann and former Huntley School Board President Shawn Green didn’t make the cut.

Here’s the union support:

• 

  Ryan Heuser

  $2,500 – International Operating Engineers Local 150, Countryside

• $800 – International Operating Engineers Local 150, Countryside, ( 20 4 by 8 foot sheets of plywood)
• $500 – International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 399, Chicago
• $500 – Northeastern Illinois Federation of Labor, Gurnee
• $300 – Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA) Local 1035, Marengo
• $200 – International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 177, Crystal Lake

In addition, Plote Construction donated $250.

The campaign got serious with the Local 150 contributions during the third week of February.

Heuser ran second to former McHenry County College Board President Scott Summers.

Here are the final Democratic Party McHenry County Board Primary Election results for District 6

Jay Kadakia, who served as Huntley Village Trustee ran third.

However, all of the Democrats ran worse than the man who placed last in the spring GOP primary election.

The final Republican County Board results in the Republican Primary Election.

You can find the article about the 13-10-1 vote on video [slot machines] in rural taverns here.

Heuser’s web site can be found here.

Jim Kennedy wears a cap from the company where his daughter is a manager.

At least one candidate in each McHenry County Board district.

The rumor mill was right.

An article has already been run on District 1′s Nick Chirikos.

In District 2 there are two challengers, Jim Roden and Jim Kennedy.

District 3 will have incumbent Kathy Bergan Schmidt joined by Prairie Grove School Board member Lori McConville. The latter lost her previous race for County Board.

A re-run will occur in District 4. Mary Margaret Maule will be on the ballot. In 2006, Maule came within 652 votes of beating Sandy Salgado.

In the firth district, only incumbent Democrat Paula Yensen will represent the Democratic Party.

Scott Summers

The biggest effort will be made in District 6, where former McHenry County College Board President Scott Summers had deserted the Green Party to run for County Board as a Democrat. Summers ran for State Treasurer and Congress on the Green Party ticket. On the MCC Board, he and Crystal Lake’s Donna Kurtz publicly opposed the building of a minor league baseball stadium before the Crystal Lake City Council, which led their being censured by their fellow Trustees.

He will be joined by Ryan Heuser of Marengo and former Huntley Village Board member Jayant Kadakia. Kadakia ran out of the money in his re-election bid in Huntley and his recent effort to gain appointment to that Board lost on a 3-3 tie.