For those who think McHenry County College Board members Donna Kurtz (now a candidate for McHenry County Board) and Scott Summers (now running for State Treasurer on the Green Party ticket) were wrong to help kill the minor league baseball stadium on MCC property, take a look at what has happened to a much better situated stadium on I-90.
To put it in pre-teen talk:
Stadium Fail!
In Tuesday’s Chicago Tribune article about statewide Democratic Party candidates, State Rep. Jack Franks was again not mentioned.
Senior political writer Rick Pearson, who covered McHenry County before Franks burst onto the political scene, apparently doesn’t like Franks.
The article was about the U.S. Senate and the State Treasurer openings.
When I saw this Tribune article on Saturday, it was clear that the gubernatorial ambitions expressed by McHenry County Democratic Party State Representative Jack Franks were not being taken seriously by Tribune political writer Rick Pearson.
Franks’ name does not appear in the story, despite Franks’ having been mentioned on Friday morning television shows, including on WGN, owned by the Chicago Tribune.
It was Governor Pat Quinn attacking State Comptroller Dan Hynes.
No mention of Franks.
His family may have enough money to finance a gubernatorial campaign, but it is necessary to have people think you have a chance to garner political support.
Meeting with the close-mouthed mayor is not enough.
So, I reiterate that Franks would be better served to concentrate on one of the two financial offices, neither of which will have an incumbent with Hynes running for governor and Alexi Giannoulias having just announced for the U.S. Senate, or lieutenant governor.
And Republicans in his district who want to take back the seat are undoubtedly already getting ready to pass petitions at the McHenry County Fair, the same way Democrat Robert Kaempfe is in his quest to give State Rep. Mike Tryon competition.
So far, only Woodstock Mayor Brian Sager, recently retired from McHenry County College, has done anything I’ve noticed. (If you know others who are interested, please drop me an email. The address is down to the right.)
= = = = =
The Tribune’s ignoring of Jack Franks‘ potential candidacy for governor continued on Monday, July 27, 2009.
In their 1993 out of print biography of former Governor “Dan Walker, the Glory and the Tragedy,” Taylor Pensoneau and Bob Ellis, not only write of the role of Pat Quinn in the 1972 campaign and the early years of the Walker administration, they trace his actions through the publication date of the book.
On page 357, the book tells of the decade and a half after Quinn left the Walker administration until 1992, when he was elected State Treasurer.
He “became an incredible thorn in the side of the establishment” using a group called the Coalition of Political Honesty.
He “spearheaded a drive to create the Citizens Utility Board, “to the horror of utilities.”
And, he led the petiiton effort to amend the state constitution to cut back the Illinois House from 176 to 108 members.
And in winning the State Treasurer’s post, Quinn
“predictably…had to circumvent the regulars in his own Democratic Party, which made him a chip off the old block in respect to the person who had brought Quinn onto the state political scene.”
= = = = =
A pensive Lt. Governor Pat Quinn makes a scheduled appearance about a week after his running mate, Governor Rod Blagojevich, was arrested by the FBI. Impeachment was in the air and those regulars and their successors who didn’t want to see him elected State Treasurer were preparing to install him as governor.
It looks as if Governor Rod Blagojevich (D-Chicago) decided not to take his dislike of State Rep. Jack Franks on a bill favored by newly-elected State Treasurer Alexi Gianoullisa (D-Chicago).
And the bill will cost Illinois state government tax revenues. It allows income tax deductions for parental investments for college education, even if they are not made in Illinois’ Bright Start program.
Franks (D-Bull Valley) sent the following press release about a recent bill signing:
Governor Signs Franks’ and Gianoullias’ Bill to Give Illinois Families More College Savings OptionsIllinois Bright Start College Savings Program will now be competitive with other states
WOODSTOCK, IL- Illinois families will have more flexibility to invest in college savings programs for their children now that legislation authored by State Rep. Jack Franks and State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias was signed into law.
“Illinois provides parents with excellent opportunities to help them save for their children’s college costs, but state investment programs were not functioning as efficiently as possible,” Franks said.
“The State Treasurer and I designed House Bill 376 to make Illinois’ college savings programs competitive with other state’s. Now that the Governor has signed our bill into law, Illinois will lead the nation in helping our families invest in saving for their children’s futures.”
The cost of tuition has tripled in the last 20 years and it now costs an average of $13,000 per year to send a child to a public university and $30,000 for a student to attend a private college. House Bill 376 increases the contribution limit to the state’s Bright Start savings and investment program and makes out-of-state college savings plan distributions eligible for an income tax deduction in Illinois.
Formerly, Illinoisans did not receive an income tax deduction for investments they made in other state’s college savings programs.
Now, families may take advantage of other state’s college savings programs with an income tax deduction for their investment. The change will force the Illinois Bright Start College Savings Program to compete with other states in offering competitive rates and incentives for investing in college savings.
The new law is effective immediately and will have a great impact on the State Treasurer’s Office who administers the program.
For more information on the legislation, please contact Franks’ constituent service office at 815-334-0063, or visit the General Assembly’s website at www.ilga.gov.
It looks as if Governor Rod Blagojevich (D-Chicago) decided not to take his dislike of State Rep. Jack Franks on a bill favored by newly-elected State Treasurer Alexi Gianoullisa (D-Chicago).
And the bill will cost Illinois state government tax revenues. It allows income tax deductions for parental investments for college education, even if they are not made in Illinois’ Bright Start program.
Franks (D-Bull Valley) sent the following press release about a recent bill signing:
Governor Signs Franks’ and Gianoullias’ Bill to Give Illinois Families More College Savings OptionsIllinois Bright Start College Savings Program will now be competitive with other states
WOODSTOCK, IL- Illinois families will have more flexibility to invest in college savings programs for their children now that legislation authored by State Rep. Jack Franks and State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias was signed into law.
“The State Treasurer and I designed House Bill 376 to make Illinois’ college savings programs competitive with other state’s. Now that the Governor has signed our bill into law, Illinois will lead the nation in helping our families invest in saving for their children’s futures.”
The cost of tuition has tripled in the last 20 years and it now costs an average of $13,000 per year to send a child to a public university and $30,000 for a student to attend a private college. House Bill 376 increases the contribution limit to the state’s Bright Start savings and investment program and makes out-of-state college savings plan distributions eligible for an income tax deduction in Illinois.
Formerly, Illinoisans did not receive an income tax deduction for investments they made in other state’s college savings programs.
Now, families may take advantage of other state’s college savings programs with an income tax deduction for their investment. The change will force the Illinois Bright Start College Savings Program to compete with other states in offering competitive rates and incentives for investing in college savings.
The new law is effective immediately and will have a great impact on the State Treasurer’s Office who administers the program.
For more information on the legislation, please contact Franks’ constituent service office at 815-334-0063, or visit the General Assembly’s website at www.ilga.gov.
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