McHenry County Blog

An observant reader reminds me that I have not yet published who got two year terms and who won’t have an election for another four years.

Members of the 2012-2014 McHenry County Board.

McHenry County Clerk Kathie Schultz held the two different term options as the newly-sworn in County Board members drew their lots. You see the results below. The numbers in front of the names refer to the numbers of years for each of three terms. If a “2″ is first, it means the person has a two-year term starting in 2012 and is up for election in 2014. The “4′s” refer to four-terms.

District 1
2, 4, 4 – Robert Nowak and Nick Chirikos
4, 4, 2 – Anna Miller and Yvonne Barnes

District 2
2, 4, 4, – Donna Kurtz and Jim Heisler
4, 4, 2 – Carolyn Schofield and Ken Koehler

District 3
2, 4, 4 – Mary McClellan and Joe Gottemoller
4, 4, 2 – Nick Provenzano and Mike Walkup

District 4
2, 4, 4 – Sandy Salgado and John Hammerand
4, e, 2 – Sue Draffkorn and Bob Martens

District 5
2, 4, 4 – John Jung and Paula Yensen
4, 4, 2 – Tina Hill and Mike Skala

District 6
2, 4, 4 – Michele Aavang and Ersel Schuster
4, 4, 2 – Diane Evertsen and Mary McCann

Note that Democrats Chirikos and Yensen both drew a short straw.

This doesn’t mean a lot to anyone but the candidates themselves, but the lottery results are in for length of terms for State Senators.

With four-year terms, the two 2012 winners in McHenry County are

• Pam Althoff  (Term lengths are 4-2-4)
• Dan Duffy (Term lengths are 4-2-4)

Karen McConnaughay drew a two-year term.  Her other terms this decade will be four year terms.

Here are the results of the Secretary of State’s length of term lottery for all districts:

Above you can find the years when State Senators get four and two year terms. Click to enlarge.

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.

The County Board members sworn in last December all knew they had two-year terms because all 24 are up for election because of reapportionment.

The McHenry County Board has a rule that determines why County Board winners in each district get two-year and which get four-year terms in the reapportionment year election.

It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.

Logic would dictate that the two candidates receiving the most number of votes would get four year terms.

Likewise, those two winners with the fewest votes would get two-year terms.

Instead, the four winners draw lots for the two- and four-year terms.

Maybe state law is the determining factor.

If not, wouldn’t you think that the County Board would change the rule before the fall 2012 election?