Arriving in the mailbox of a precinct committee I know was a January 28th letter from Grafton Township Precinct 20 Committeeman Glenn C. Schmeltzer. His precinct votes at Chesak Elementary School, along with Grafton 12 and 19.

This is the second committeeman to share his dissatisfaction with McHenry County Republican Central Committee Chairman Bill LeFew.

The first was veteran volunteer Bernie Narusus. He called LeFew “a spineless coward” for trying to hide that his political attack on McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi.

Here’s what relative newcomer Schmeltzer wrote to his fellow committeemen/committeewomen:

The McHenry County Party is at an obvious crossroads. The antics of Bill LeFew have been front page news for the past several weeks, causing political pundits, neutral observers, and certainly local Democrats to laugh at the infighting and backstabbing within the Republican Party.

The McHenry County Republican Party has been called a “good ol’ boys network,” wherein success within the party is based exclusively on who you know. For years,

When Lou Bianchi ran for State’s Attorney he was backed by Bill LeFew and local party leaders who thought they could control him.

Somewhere during Bianchi’s term, LeFew came to realize that Bianchi’s campaign promises were just that—promises he intended to keep.

When Bianchi held firm to his promise to be tougher on crime, local defense attorneys complained to LeFew.

Largely for that reason, LeFew has orchestrated a smear campaign against Bianchi.

In my opinion, LeFew engineered a complaint to the Attorney General against Bianchi and publicized it before it was even filed, hoping that Bianchi would face this election with an open investigation pending.

His plan backfired when the Attorney General’s Office (run by a Democrat, by the way) announced that the complaint was so spurious that it did not even warrant an investigation.

LeFew then sent an anonymous mailer to 900 households attacking State’s Attorney Bianchi. His plan backfired when his identity as the mailer was revealed by the Daily Herald newspaper.

Thankfully, LeFew will no longer be our Party Chairman; however, that does not mean that his influence is gone.

He has handpicked a candidate to run against Bianchi that he can control, throwing the full weight of his political machine (Union 150, a group of local Democrats) into the race, with an entirely negative campaign.

Given who is backing Bianchi’s opponent, it is perfectly clear that this race is shaping up into a choice between the old guard and the new.

Those

• who want to see the Republican Party move forward,
• who are more concerned about political ideals than political power, and
• who want an independent State’s Attorney beholden to no one,

should vote for Lou Bianchi.

You as precinct committeemen will have to choose the direction of the party.

It’s time to back a “statesman” not just another political good ol’ boy. It’s time to move forward before the democrats move in. It’s time to back Lou Bianchi.

That’s the end of the letter, but there is a P.S.:

A meeting of committeemen and committeewomen has been called several times and has not been rescheduled because “so many committeemen and committeewomen could not make it.” This seems very strange to me. I, for one, would like to see a show of hands whenever the meeting does happen, to see just how many could not make the meetings.

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The picture of McHenry County Republican Party Chairman Bill LeFew was taken December 6, 2006, the day of the big luncheon party at the courthouse after newly elected judges were sworn in. This is the one which was paid from funds intended for court automation. (No article about that in the Daily Herald for LeFew to mail out.)

McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi was one among many candidates who spoke at the Algonquin Township Republican Central Committee candidates’ night on Tuesday night at the Cary Country Club. That’s where I took this picture.

His opponent, Dan Regna, spoke, too. That’s where I took this picture of him, too.