McHenry County Blog

Mike Walkup

Thoughts from District 3 Republican candidate Michael Walkup, an attornehy,for the McHenry County Board:

“The recent debate at the County Board over the possible election of the County Chair at large has raised an interesting question about term limits.

“The position of the McHenry County State Attorney was that term limits cannot be imposed on any office in the State if IL regardless of whether or not that unit of government is Home Rule.

“You also cannot do a statewide referendum for a constitutional amendment that would be binding as the only constitutional referenda allowed have to pertain to the state legislature and have to be limited to changing the ‘form and structure’ of the General Assembly.

“This was done by now Gov. Pat Quinn in the 1980′s when he circulated a referendum to remove the three member State Representative districts and replace them with the current single member districts, thus lowering the size of the House of Representatives.

“Placing term limits on the GA would not change the ‘form and structure’ of that body.

“Otherwise the only clear way to get term limits at any level of government in Illinois is to have the General Assembly place a constitutional amendment on the ballot (don’t hold your breath), or otherwise have a Constitutional Convention.

“This is why several County Board members decided not to place the direct election of the County Chair on the ballot. Without term limits it can become a dynastic position al la ‘Stroger County.’

“There is language in the state constitution that local governments, whether or not Home Rule, can set the ‘terms of office’ of their officers. Possibly that could include limits on the ‘terms of office’ but I was unable to find any case law on that. Therefore someone would have to do it and it would have to be challenged. A challenge might not be a politically popular thing to do so it may be possible to try it and see.

“Tinley Park voters are nevertheless going to have an advisory question on their ballot in November on term limits for their city council and mayor. If it passes the proponents will then try to use it to put pressure on that body to enact term limits. The council could just respond that they don’t have the authority to do that, which would put them in a bit of a spot with the voters. They might try to enact it anyway and see what happens. Could be interesting to watch.

“Meanwhile, some members of the County Board are looking into imposing term limits on the County Chair where that Chair is selected by the Board as currently. I would think they could do this as it just involves internal rules. This could benefit efforts to defeat the Franks referendum by at least showing that the Board gets the message and is trying to do something.

“Is the McHenry County Board ready for Reform?”

There was a long debate over whether the County Board should put a referendum on the fall ballot asking voters is they wanted to elect the County Board Chairman in an at-large election.

Before that several citizens provided input.

District 5 Republican candidate Michale Rein was asking, “Where’s the money going to be coming from?” as I arrived a bit late.

“Outside interests” was his answer to the rhetorical question.

“We’re going to end up with a career political [running McHenry County],” he added.

Earlier I posted the comments that Grafton Township Supervisor Linda Moore offered.

By putting such a powerful official over McHenry County government, she sees the possibility of conflict similar to that in Grafton Township.

And that’s what Jack Franks’ County Executive form of government seems to be all about.

The alternative of having a competing referendum asking,

“Shall the Chairman of the McHenry County Board be elected at-large by the voters?”

on the ballot was rejected by a 16-3 vote. Only Randy Donley, Virginia Peschke and Paula Yensen voted to place it on the ballot.

Members attending the meeting to consider a resolution to put a referendum on the ballot to allow voters to elect the McHenry County Board Chairman. Only three voted in favor.

The majority seemed to think that they stood a better chance to defeat the Franks’ proposal to shift from a Parliamentary form of government to a very strong Executive form of government if a somewhat similar sounding question were not on the ballot to muddy the waters.

And the majority clearly did not want to lose the power they now have.

Even Bob Anderson, in the room to promote his own anti-double-dipping advisory referendum, took a shot at Franks:

“If Jack Franks were doing his job, he would be addressing like this.”

Jack Franks wasn’t invited to the meeting, but his ears must have been burning.

Democrat Kathy Bergan Schmidt opposed Franks’ proposal,  calling it “a Trojan Horse.”

“We can deal with this question on our own.”

A former candidate for County Board Chairman, Virginia Peschke said, “I don’t support Mr. Franks form of government,” while expressing her support for electing the Chairman in an at-large election.

It was suggested that if both referendum passed, the County Executive one would have precedence.

Later, Assistant State’s Attorney Donna Kelly stated that the Statute “does not address the situation when you have dueling referendums.”

Marc Munaretto wanted to know if the Franks’ question could be withdrawn if the at-large election of the County Board question were put on the ballot.

“This is not Jack Franks’ petition.  He has not control over it after he handed it in…Why are we taking any time discussing it?”Kathy Bergan Schmidt asked.

[There is some disagreement with regard to Schmidt's opinion.]

“I do not support the County Executive form of government,” the man who twice ran unsuccessfully against Ken Koehler for County Board Chairman, said.

Sandy Salgado told of taking to some folks in her precinct.

“I have a feeling it’s going to pass.”

Later Virginia Peschke agree.

“We’re going to have a hard time defeating it. ”

She told of talking over a twelve-month period with Winnebago’s at-large County Board Chairman Chris Cohen.

“I didn’t find many objections.  I think many of these things are bogeymen.”

“I’m in concurrence with Kathy Bergan Schmidt’s opposition to the County Executive form of government…It gives unlimited power to that position…I do not support Mr. Franks’ referendum.”

Yensen indicated what was needed was term limits for the McHenry County Board Chairman, as did the head of the Management Services Committee, Ersel Schuster.

She also pointed out that a “countywide race for that position would be very expensive.”

She estimated candidates spent $100,000 on the campaign to become the at-large elected Chairman of the Kane County Board.

Mary Donner was suspicious about Rep. Franks’ timing, she indicated while expressing agreement with Schmidt view that putting a second referendum on the ballot would be confusing.

“I certainly do not support the Executive form of government,” Randy Donley said when he gained the floor.  He made it clear, however, he supported electing the County Board Chairman at-large.

Donley expressed the opinion that Franks would be willing to take his question off the ballot, if the County Board put the at-large referendum on the ballot.

Except for the comment to the left and recognizing people to speak, County Board Chairman Ken Koehler was silent during the meeting.

Donley asked how many had called him.

Jim Heisler, Paula Yensen, and Mary Donner said they had, although Yensen later said she had talked to him in person with others being present.

“I do not know at this time the motivation of Mr. Franks.”

“We’ve sent numerous letters to him saying we’ll set a Special Meeting when he wants to come,” County Board Chairman Ken Koehler interjected.

Announcing her intent to push for Term Limits again, Schuster said, “I find it mind boggling that a State Representative would act in this manner.”

Scott Breeden said his opposition to at-large elections was based on how the expense of the campaign wold limit “the number of qualified people.”

He pointed out that currently the Chairman “owes responsibility to the County Board members.”

Donna Kurtz said she supported Term Limits, as well as an at-large elected Chairman.

“A County Executive is so onerous,” she continued, “such a huge threat to the democratic process [because it puts] such an unprecedented amount of power and control down to the [lowest] employee.”

She pointed out a County Executive would have the power to hire its own attorney and “that will wreck havoc with legal fees.”

Kurtz said she thought having two referendums on the ballot would “confuse the issue.”

“If anyone doesn’t think there isn’t political influence in the way we now select the County Board Chairman, [he's wrong],” Peschke said.

“I’d like to know why this discussion didn’t occur prior to his getting the signatures,” Yensen said, pointing out that those petitions had set “a fire under us.”

John Hammerand probed as to whether the County Executive form of government, once approved, could be changed by putting another referendum on the ballot.

The answer seemed to be that a repeal referendum could be put on the ballot in 2014, but that would be the first election for a County Executive, so he or she would have at least one term in office.

A friend of McHenry County Blog took this photo outside Jack Franks’ office on Route 47 this morning. It says, “Thank you for your support on local gov petition.”

Below are the comments of District 3 McHenry County Board candidate Mike Walkup made to the Board this morning:

Yesterday Jack Franks filed his petition to establish a county executive in McHenry County.

I was at the County Fair over this past weekend.

Jack and his volunteers were telling people who they wanted to sign the petition that it was to “elect the county board chair”, and “to end cronyism in the county.”

In reality, this petition will fundamentally change our form of local government.

It will do the following:

• Eliminate the County Board Chair;
• Create a County Executive who will be elected to a four year term, with no term limits, and who will have the following powers:
  (a) Chair the county board meetings and vote to break any ties;
  (b) Veto any votes of the County Board requiring a 3/5th supermajority to override;
  (c) Perform the duties now being performed by the County Administrator, including hiring and firing of staff and department heads, setting the county budget, awarding contracts; appointing members of commissions and special districts, and more.

Michael Walkup

Effectively a McHenry County Czar.

Hardly the way to “end cronyism”.

To the contrary, it is rife with potential for cronyism on an unprecedented scale.

Is this what you want? As a potential member of this Board in December myself, I don’t.

But , if you don’t do something right now, this may very well be what you get.

As we have already seen, the proponents of this measure think nothing of misrepresenting the effect of this referendum.

You can expect their campaign literature to do the same.

They have the money and means to get that message out.

Think: last minute mailings and robocalls the day before the election.

In fact, who is it, exactly, that is going to raise the money and form the organization to get out the true facts between now and November?

As I see it, the only way to counter that is for this Board to place the issue of direct election of the County Chair on the ballot yourselves.

This take the direct election issue off of the table and will allow the debate to be reframed as what it really is, a question of the distribution of power in county government.

This must be done before the end of this month.

I would also recommend that you include term limits in the proposal, which the County Executive referendum will not have .

I am out of time now, and so are you. Thank you.

I’ve heard Congressman Joe Walsh say it in person, but here’s a press release setting out his position on term limits:

Rep. Walsh Stands Up for Term Limits

WASHINGTON – Congressman Joe Walsh (IL-8) released the following statement on the 61st anniversary of the passage of Presidential term limits that was celebrated yesterday.

In July 2011, Congressman Walsh authored legislation with Rep. Schweikert (AZ) and Rep. Jeff Duncan (SC) that limits a Member of the House of Representatives to three terms and a Member of the Senate to two terms.

“I came to Congress to change the way this town does business and to restore the founding principles put in place by our Founding Fathers.

Joe Walsh

“If we are serious about getting this country back on track, we need to change the process that got us into this mess. Term limits are essential to changing this destructive process. 61 years ago it started with placing term limits on the President and today we need to fight to pass Congressional term limits.

“I have pledged to serve only three terms in Congress. Keeping the same Members year after year only feeds political corruption as politicians continue to lose touch with the people they were elected to represent.

“This anniversary is a great opportunity to bring up the need for Congressional term limits, and it is time to stop this unproductive cycle and apply term limits to Congress.”

This was found on a car of a businessman who attended the second meeting of the McHenry County Business Committee at McHenry’s American Community Bank:

Limit All Politicians to 2 Terms. One in office-one in prison. We Already Do This in Illinois.

Found this on Illinois Review.

The story is about former Cheers’ and Frasier star Kelsey Grammer’s deciding to shoot the television series “The Boss” in Chicago.

Here’s what caught my attention.  Creator Farhan Safinia comments on the lack of constitutional term limits:

“That’s another fantastic, brilliant thing about this state, it’s just brilliant!

Speaker Mike Madigan with two future felons, Rod Blagojevich and Tony Rezko.

“What if there are angles within the political mechanism here who know that you have to get rid of certain guys, so all that stuff (the downfall of past governors) is sort of orchestrated?

“So you’ve got your own version of term limits, and it’s called jail.

“I mean, where else are you going to find that in your country?

“That’s great as a place to set the show.”

Randy Donley first advanced the idea of term limits for the McHenry County Board Chairman.

At its meeting earlier this week, the McHenry County Board shot down two “reform” measures and supported one.

The movement to limit the number of terms that a County Board Chairman can serve, started by Union’s Randy Donley in his nomination speech of Mark Munaretto for County Board Chairman, failed 13-11.

Those 13 voting against term limits were

• Robert Bless
• Scott Breeden
• Mary Donner
• Sue Draftkorn
• John Hammerand
• Tina Hill
• John Jung
• Mary McCann
• Pete Merkel
• Anna May Miller
• Robert Nowak
• Nick Provenzano
• Ken Koehler

Supporters of the concept were

• Randy Donley
  

  Kathy Bergan Schmidt (D-Crystal Lake)



Paula Yensen (D-Lake in the Hills)

• Diane Evertsen
• Jim Heisler
• Donna Kurtz
• Marc Munaretto
• Virginia Peschke
• Sandra Salgado
• Kathy Bergan Schmidt
• Ersel Schuster
• Barb Wheeler
• Paula Yensen

The two Democrats voted for term limits, potentially setting up an issue for the 2012 elections, when all County Board seats are up for grabs.

Two other recommendations from the Management Services Committee were rejected.

The first would have allowed the public to speak after the meeting was completed, much as they can in the Huntley School District. It went down 13-11. The roll call was the same, except Donley, Peschke and Wheeler supported removal while Hill, Jung and Munaretto did not.

The final vote was on whether the County Board Chairman and Vice Chairman would be allowed to serve as chairmen of committees. The measure passed on a 13-11 roll call.

Those 11 voting against the measure follow:

• Robert Bless


McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler (R-Crystal Lake)

• Scott Breeden
• Diane Evertsen
• Jim Heisler
• Tina Hill
• John Jung
• Pete Merkel
• Anna May Miller
• Nick Provenzano
• Ersel Schuster
• Ken Koehler

The 13 supporters of spreading the power around were

• Randy Donley
• Mary Donner
• Sue Draftkorn
• John Hammerand
• Donna Kurtz
• Mary McCann
• Marc Munaretto
• Robert Nowak
• Virginia Peschke
• Sandra Salgado
• Kathy Bergan Schmidt
• Barb Wheeler
• Paula Yensen

In the three votes, Board Chairman Ken Koehler won two out of three tests of his strength.

Randy Donley talked a lot about term limits when he was nominating Marc Munaretto. He said the strong consensus was there should be a limit on the number of terms a person could serve as McHenry County Board Chairman.

Randy Donley

“I’m proposing four years, two terms,” he told me.

“I want something in the rule book.”

He will make that proposal on Tuesday to the Management Services Committee when it meets at 8:30 AM.

“There was not one Board member I talked to who agreed with eight years for the limit on chairman<” Donley continued.

“Most people told me four. There a few who told me six, but not one person told me eight years.

“On every issue I talked to between 16 and 20 people.

“I suggest that no chairman have more than two terms, regardless of who they are.”

Donnelly says that he is not running for re-election in 2012.

“The way things are now I don’t honestly think I can make a difference.”

Marc Munaretto

Ken Koehler

Previously McHenry County Blog reported on the results and the roll call for the post of McHenry County Board Chairman.  Challenger Marc Munaretto was pitted against incumbent Ken Koehler.

The temperature outside was about 10 degrees.

Some of the relationships discussed within the board room were as frosty.

Randy Donley, who as in 2008 was inextricably linked with his candidate for Chairman, Marc Munaretto, was the first to speak.

He talked of how he had discussed term limits with each of the board members he had approached.

Some said a chairman should be limited to four years, others six years.

“No one told me eight years.”

Incumbent Ken Koehler was finishing up three two-year terms and seeking two more.

Randy Donley

Donley relayed a consensus among those with whom he spoke that is was “dangerous to allow anyone to build a strong coalition.”

“I’m afraid to vote for anyone else. I’m afraid of retribution,” others told him.

Donley then made his arguments for electing Munaretto, including that a “$250 million corporation deserves to be managed like one.”

“If we lost one board member, who would you least like it to be,” Donley asked, implying that most had indicated it was his candidate.

He also said he had asked members which member would they have managed their life savings. All asked but John Hammerand had picked Munaretto, Donley said.

Newly-elected member Donna Kurtz, who replaced Ken Koehler ally Lyn Orphal, then seconded Munaretto’s nomination.

Scott Breeden

“I think we all know what Ken is capable of and what he’s done in the past.”

That was pretty much all Koehler nominator Scott Breeden, from District 2 as is Koehler said. Democrat Paula Yensen seconded Koehler’s nomination.

Speaking to the question, Hammerand explained how Koehler and he “don’t always agree,” but that he allows him to speak.

“That’s is not the case with the other nominee,” the Wonder Lake resident said.

Hammerand revealed that he had been “threatened with a lawsuit” after posing some questions to Munaretto.

October 10, 2008, letter from Marc Munaretto, 900 Pyott Road, Suite 101, Crystal Lake,The le to John Hammerand, which Hammerand provided after the meeting. A copy of the letter went to Arnstein & Lehr. Click to enlarge.

“I just don’t think he has the people (skills for the job),” Hammerand concluded.

Wheeler countered Hammerand’s characterization, praising “Marc’s willingness and openness in the Planning and Development (Committee). He and I were often on opposite sides of the discussion. After (thorough) discussion I thought we came (to agreement).

“Two years ago when I ran (for county board chairman), my main concern was the 2030 Plan. (It) came out (honorably).”

When allowed to pick seats, Barbara Wheeler decided to move to the back row.

Wheeler ended her comments by saying,

“If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu. Frankly, I’m tired of being on the menu.”

Democrat Yensen spoke in support of Republican Koehler.

At the end of the meeting during member comments, Munaretto offered his congratulations to Koehler, thanked his supporters and commented on his loss.

“It means your message didn’t get across.  The message is clear.  You don’t want me as Chairman of the Board.”

He said he knew his chances were “not that great.”

“For those of you who wanted to vote for me, but were afraid…(I didn’t get the rest).

“Rejection is not an easy (emotion),” he concluded, pointing out he was “here to represent my constituents not for you.”

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.”