McHenry County Blog

Grafton Township precinct map. Click to enlarge.

Continuing a series of Republican turnout in the February 2nd primary election, we now turn to Grafton Township. Previously, precinct results for Algonquin Township have been previously  published.

As in Algonquin and Nunda Townships, all Grafton Township precincts had contests for county board.

Part of the Crystal Lake July 4th TEA Party demonstration. My favorite is "If you're not outranged, you're not informed."

What you see below are the thirty-one Grafton Township precincts. Next to the precinct number is the percentage of Republican Party turnout. If there was a person on the ballot for precinct committeeman, his or her name is seen in parentheses.

If you live in a precinct with no elected committeeman, you could volunteer to fill that slot. If you are interested—and maybe some TEA Party demonstrators may wish to make their citizenship more intense—just send me a email and I’ll pass your name along.

• Grafton 1 – 11.0% (Mike Skala)
• Grafton 2 – 19.3% (Scott Breeden)
• Grafton 3 – 9.9%
• Grafton 4 – 10.7% (Tammy Lueth)
• Grafton 5 – 9.8%
• Grafton 6 – 17.5% (Harriet Ford)
• Grafton 7 – 17.2% (Fred Wickham)
• Grafton 8 – 12.5%
• Grafton 9 – 10.1% (Eric Hartmann)
• Grafton 10 – 13.8% (Lloyd Everard)
• Grafton 11 – 11.0% (Bernice Gora)
• Grafton 12 – 8.1%
• Grafton 13 – 8.4% (Gene Goeglein)
• Grafton 14 – 7.9% (Terry Aavang)
• Grafton 15 – 25.5% (Daniel Ryan)
• Grafton 16 – 6.1% (Tom Halat)
• Grafton 17 – 10.5%
• Grafton 18 – 8.2%
• Grafton 19 – 4.4% (Samuel Paglini)
• Grafton 20 – 6.3%
• Grafton 21 – 10.2%
• Grafton 22 – 7.1%
• Grafton 23 – 6.1% (Linda Betzold)
• Grafton 24 – 8.3%
• Grafton 25 – 7.1%
• Grafton 26 – 17.7% (Linda Moore)
• Grafton 27 – 21.1%
• Grafton 28 – 7.8% (Thomas Poznanski)
• Grafton 29 – 9.7%
• Grafton 30 – 12.4%
• Grafton 31 – 11.1%

Sun City continued it reputation of being a high turnout area. County board member Dan Ryan got 25.5% of his constituents to vote GOP. He was on the ballot, but did not win. He blamed his loss on not filling out the conflict of interest questionnaire proposed by the Alliance for Land, Agriculture and Water. He was the only committee who topped the 20% benchmark that I am using.

Here’s what appeared in the Wall Street Journal about 8^th Congressional District Repubublican candidate Joe Walsh Saturday:

“The Tea Party movement boasts of at least one primary victory so far. Illinois venture capitalist Joe Walsh won a six-way contest on Feb. 2 to be the party’s nominee against well-funded incumbent Democratic Rep. Melissa Bean in a suburban Chicago swing district.

“‘I ran as a Tea Party candidate in the primary, and I’m going to run as a Tea Party candidate in the general,’ said Mr. Walsh, who spoke in Nashville. He said he is the candidate for voters who are ‘pissed off, scared, and angry’ at Washington.”

I haven’t covered the U.S. Senate race to any great extent. The prohibitive favorite, U.S. Congressman Mark Kirk has been to 1776 for a morning “vetting” by Republican Party insiders. I didn’t get much feedback, but when a candidate is running so high in the polls, Establishment types generally support him or her.

With last week’s widespread dissemination of what had previously been rumor mill fodder, stimulated by a radio ad from Senate candidate Andy Martin, some are wondering who is running against Kirk.

Pat Hughes is one of them. He describes himself as “a successful real estate developer, husband, and father, resides with his wife, Susan, and their three children in Hinsdale.”

Here is his press release in favor of term limits:

HUGHES MAKES STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF TERM LIMITS
U.S. Senate candidate Patrick Hughes
to Speak at “Stop Mark Kirk Express” Event

U.S. Senate candidate Patrick Hughes (R-IL) makes the following statement on his support for term limits and will be making a more formal statement on the issue tonight at the Stop Mark Kirk Express event hosted by the Will County Tea Party Alliance:

“Washington D.C. has quickly become the primary place of residency for some members of Congress. In the past twenty years over 90% of House members who ran for re-election have won and over 80% of Senators who have run for re-election have won.

“It is an astonishing high incumbency rate and an odd occurrence due to the fact that Congress has not seen an approval rating over 50% in almost as many years. Setting term limits for Congress helps set a standard for responsible government and responsible representation of the people. When members of Congress begin to see their office as a career and not a public service, they have lost sight of what serving in Congress is about; representation of the people. Politics should be about the people, not the office.”

“If elected to the U.S. Senate I would not only work towards getting term limits set for Congress, I would also pledge to only serve two terms as a Senator myself. Our country thrives when the voices of the people are heard and represented.”

It’s been a couple of weeks since the McHenry County Board bucked Chairman Ken Koehler, State Senator Pam Althoff, State Rep. Mike Tryon and those who stand to gain financially from placement of video poker machines in local taverns and restaurants.

It’s time to tell the tale of how McHenry County Establishment got narrowly beaten in that fight.

The vote was close (13-10-1) and my guess is that video poker proponents will try to reverse that vote after new county board members are sworn in, if the people they back defeat anti-gambling incumbents like District 2’s Barbara Wheeler.

Video gambling was the first local issue taken on by Patriots United, the folks who coordinated the Independence Day TEA Party, picketed State Rep. Jack Franks’ office on a cold spring day about his sponsorship of a bill considered pro-abortion and gun control, held a well-attended forum on the Democrats’ health care reform, and co-sponsored with the McHenry County Young Republicans a candidates’ night for 8th congressional district GOP aspirants.

Members attended John Hammerand’s License and Liquor Committee meetings and sponsored a debate between proponents and opponents.

Here are Patriots United video slot machine debate panels, ban proponents on the right, opponents on the left. Opponents, from left to right, are Tom Grey, David Smith and James Blue.

Then, Patriots United had a forum in Woodstock during which video poker machine salesmen debated three social conservatives:

• Tom Grey, the nationally- known Methodist minister who started out in Galena during the time the county board decided to site a riverboat in Jo Davies County and now Field Coordinator and National Spokesman for Stop Predatory Gambling
• Jim Blue, representing Illinois Church Action on Alcoholism and Addiction Problems
• David Smith, Executive Director of the Illinois Family Institute

They urged their members to contact county board members, but that was not what did the trick.

They used this robo call technique I first saw tobacco companies us in lobbying against cigarette tax hikes maybe ten years ago.

Call people, explain the issue and ask if they would like to speak to their county board member.

Since there are four county board members per district, how would that work?

The Illinois Family Institute selected six county board members considered to be approachable on the issue.

They were

• Yvonne Barnes in District 1
• Jim Heisler in District 2
• Ed Dvorak in District 3
• Sue Draffkorn in District 4
• Jim Kennedy in District 5
• Dan Ryan in District 6

From 1,334 to 1,453 calls were made in each district.

From to 649 to 774 of the calls were answered by voters. After the recorded pitch, voters were asked to push a phone button if they wished to be transferred to their county board member.

There were over fifty transfers for all but one district.

From the time my father served on the county board, I can tell you that he never got that many calls on any subject. On some zoning matters, especially the landfill ones, he might have gotten fifty letters. One phone call on a subject was a big number back in the 1980’s.

Getting dozens of calls must have sounded like a tidal wave.

And it was. You can’t find an issue where that many constituents have contacted county board members by phone. Undoubtedly, some of them were friends and supporters of each member.

A little over half of the calls were answered in person; the rest went to answering machines.

Of the six county board members receiving calls, only Huntley’s Ryan, a Sun City resident, voted in favor of allowing video slot machines in establishments serving liquor in unincorporated McHenry County.

Barnes, Kennedy and Ryan are up for election this year. District 6’s Ryan is the only one with GOP primary opposition.

= = = = =
Check out possible targets for the pro-gambling forces in this post.

Previously, I have shown what the Randall Road Liberty Trail demonstration looked like south and north of Algonquin Road. This has more close-ups.  Look at those holding signs. See if they fit your stereotype of people who protest in America.

Everyone was on the west side of the road and there are so many lanes of traffic I wasn’t able to get decent shots of those on the east side.  (This picture is for illustration purposes only.  It’s folks on the west side south of Randall as I was driving back to Crystal Lake.)

But coming back from the Algonquin Commons, I got some photos. Click to enlarge the image and you can see signs saying,

 

  

DON’T

ANGRY 

I Will Keep

If YOU Voted

 

As I drove past, I tried to get some close-ups, but the traffic was moving pretty fast.

On the other side of the entrance to Jewel and McDonald’s, these folks were holding up signs. The wind has the  “Don’t Tread on Me” flag being held by the man in the yellow shirt flying backwards.

It was after the scheduled one o’clock end of the two-hour demonstration by the time I reached Algonquin Road, so attendance had dwindled down.

One of the organizers was still waving her American Flag, with her child holding up a sign that said,

There were attempts to thwart these constitutionally guaranteed rights.

Tomorrow, we’ll give some details.

There was one final sign, which I featured at this Message of the Day.

Yesterday, McHenry County Blog showed you the folks who were south of Algonquin Road standing on Randall Road in Lake in the Hills.  Today we venture south, even into Kane County, where Acorn seems to be of interest to the demonstrator in front.

These demonstrators were all in the Algonquin part of Randall Road.  They were waving flags and signs as part of the Liberty Train ICE Tea event, which ran up and down the busiest local road in McHenry and Kane Counties. 

Because I was heading south, northbound traffic prevented me from getting photos of the eastern side of the road demonstrators. (Click to enlarge this or any other photo.)  You can see health care is the concern of the man in the foreground,.

I saw some on the west side just south of Algonquin Road, but my view of them from across the intersection was blocked by this pickup truck promoting the Liberty Trail event.  The “Don’t Tread on Me” flag seemed to fit the attitude of most of the sign carriers.

But the biggest concentration were between Biaggi’s and Corporate Parkway, the southern edge of the Algonquin Commons shopping center.  None were at County Line Road, but maybe the organizers wanted to have people in 14th District Congressman Bill Foster’s territory.

If Foster votes for President Barack Obama’s health care legislation, it will be a nervous vote.  Democrats have held this seat briefly in the past and been driven out of office.

As I was driving around looking for different perspectives, I found a group who had just arrived.  It was almost 1, the scheduled end of the demonstration, but he and his family were headed from the Commons’ parking lot to Randall Road.  He objects to Acorn and Czars.

A man protesting the Federal Reserve, spending and President Barack Obama’s health care plan had all three subjects on one side.

Taxes are also the subject of this woman’s sign:

Tomorrow the Jewel remnant.

I’m still have trouble realizing that conservatives can carry picket signs.  Obviously, they have overcome their inhibitions, as this first view in Lake in the Hills coming from Crystal Lake shows. (Click to enlarge any photo.)

 I grew up in the time of sit-ins and actually helped stimulate the teach-in movement by my newspaper editorial and front page article in the University of Michigan’s Michigan Daily.

Then, conservatives just stood around and watched the radicals wave their signs.

Patriots United’s spear-headed the biggest political demonstration I’ve ever heard of in McHenry County on Route 14 at the 4th of July. It was the second TEA Party.

Not that the first ones were any slouch. There were held in Crystal Lake, Algonquin and Cary.

Saturday in Lake in the Hills and Algonquin hundreds lined Randall Road. Both Lake in the Hills and Algonquin Police were called by merchants about which I shall write a separate article so those who oppose the First Amendment can know who to patronize.

The lines of demonstrators stretched from north of the intersection where one turns to get to Lowe’s to Algonquin Road on the west side of Randall Road.

The following press release was received from McHenry County-based Patriots United:

Across the nation on July 4th over 1400 Local Tea Party Tax Protests took place. The media didn’t cover the phenomenon.

Since our local news marginalized and under-reported the story of the Crystal Lake Tea Party we’d like to show you the highlights.

Over 1000 Patriots stood in the rain for 2 hours on a holiday to declare our Independence from an over reaching and over-taxing government.

The youngest to the oldest of the population were united in their anger and fear of over excessive taxation and oppressive legislation which will result in a loss of our hard earned freedoms.

A YouTube presentation is below:

Here are the articles I have written so far:

Crystal Lake July 4th TEA Party – Part 1

Crystal Lake 4th of July TEA Party – Part 2

Rob Lee wasn’t the only speaker at Crystal Lake’s Taxed Enough Already Party on Independence Day.

This photo of Joe Alger with the megaphone clearly shows he is standing on a box of tea.

And, I can’t pass up the observation that the arrow on Route 14 is pointing right.

It was raining as is evident above. Being July 4th, I would assume it was still pretty warm outside.

ACORN’s role in taking the 2010 U.S. Census is ridiculed in one of the signs above.

Another sign says,

Other placards visible above are

and

Here’s another one about cap and trade:

It says,

I see a man holding a “Don’t Tread on Me” flag, but the best flag picture I received is of the Minuteman waving it:
One man’s sign concentrated on the amount of money that I think President Barack Obama’s administration has borrowed:

That’s the message.

There are lots of homemade posters in the photo below.

And, there’s one small print that mentions the DNC. Maybe you can make it out if you click on the photo to enlarge it.

Then, there’s the sign with that great quote from President Ronald Reagan.

Still more homemade signs:

I think the one behind says,

If you missed the photos of Crystal Lake’s TEA Party published Monday, you can find them here and here.

More photos later, including some from Algonquin’s TEA Party.

There were so many signs in Crystal Lake and Algonquin at the 4th of July TEA Parties.

In view of the Grafton Township Board’s having stopped the $430 a day hemorrhage to the Harris Bank for the $3.5 million loan on a 5-0 vote last night, it seems appropriate to emphasize this placard found on Route 14 in Crystal Lake on Independence Day. (Click to enlarge.)

The upper corners carry the message

NO
New TAX

Below appears

It is held by a man with his wife who understands that “

as Democratic U.S. House Speaker Tip O’Neill once said.

One might fairly surmise that the two supported recently-elected Grafton Township Supervisor Linda Moore.

The names of the Grafton Township trustees are

• Betty Zirk
• Barbara Murphy
• Gerry McMahon (newly-elected with Moore’s help)
• Robert LaPorta

It also allows me to again observe that trying to make an impact on government is almost always easier the lower the level of government.

I’m still looking at photos that four people provided me of the TEA Parties, but, so far, I have found none protesting Mayor Aaron Shepley’s 75% Crystal Lake city sales tax hike.

I’ve seen nothing to indicate that demonstrators don’t want the Chicago Democrats’ 50% state income tax hike.

Too bad.

What a great opportunity to get through to state and local officials other than those of Grafton Township.

Here’s an all-purpose slogan that could be re-cycled.