Franks Sign in Front of Fake Republican Candidate Jeff Lichte’s Home

Voting history of Jeff Lichte.

Voting history of Jeff Lichte.

Jeff Lichte is running for State Representative as a Republican.

McHenry County Blog has been reporting that he is a Jack Franks plant, a fake Republican, a ringer, if you will.

The man has voted in Democratic Party primaries.

Although he gathered a good number of signatures himself, every other petition passer lives outside of McHenry County–some in Chicago.

House Speaker Mike Madigan regularly fields people in his Republican primary who will roll over and play dead.

Franks may have had a different motive.

If no one ran in the GOP primary, the Republican Party could pick someone in a caucus, gather signatures for him or her to put the choice on the ballot.

If a ringer like Lichte were on the ballot without opposition, however, the local GOP would not be able to field a serious candidate against Franks.

Unknown to the Franks folks, Steve Reick, the Democrat’s 2014 opponent who drove his winning margin down to 58%, changed his mind and filed on the last day possible.

Nevertheless, a Lichte stalking horse campaign could be of value to Franks.

His pawn could be the source of criticism of Reick, leaving Franks’ hands relative clean.

The Google photo you see below, however, makes the connection of Lichte to Franks picture perfect.

Jeff Lichte's home with Jack Franks' yard sign in front.

Jeff Lichte’s home with Jack Franks’ yard sign in front.

Here’s is a closer look at the two signs:

Close-up of Jack Franks' yard sign in front of Jeffrey Lichte's home.

Close-up of Jack Franks’ yard sign in front of Jeffrey Lichte’s home.

The Franks sign is readable; the other isn’t.

It is Franks’ sign favoring passage of electing the McHenry County Board in an at-large election.

A clearer view of it is below:

The County Executive referendum supporter yard sign.

The County Executive referendum supporter yard sign.


Comments

Franks Sign in Front of Fake Republican Candidate Jeff Lichte’s Home — 14 Comments

  1. It would be refreshing if the local newspapers pseudo-journalists even engaged in one percent of the investigative journalism you can find in this blog.

    Great job!!

  2. Why not find a way to get this in the NWH, DH, and Chicago news papers?

    There must be at least one or two Republican leaning columnist in one of those papers willing to do this story.

    Scott Reeder?

  3. Great catch!?!?

    A 10 year old would think it’s a great catch.

    Normal adults would call it creepy and pointless web stalking.

    The man’s voting record is a matter of- wait for it- public record.

    Perhaps the two of you could steal a bag of garbage from his driveway and jerk each other off while you sorted through the contents.

    That’s just the sort of investigative journalism this blog needs.

  4. Sounds like somebody struck a nerve.

    Lichte’s a phony and that’s good to know.

    Best of luck to Reick.

  5. What’s a “fake republican”?

    Is there some test you need to take to see how “Republican” someone is?

    By many accounts then Franks would be considered a “fake Democrat”.

  6. Franks had approached someone I know to run for the office as a Republican and offered a tidy sum to do it.

    I’ve been told that there were others.

    It just goes to show that Franks doesn’t care about the people, or he wouldn’t try to game the system. Disappointing.

  7. I didn’t realize that once you vote one way you are incapable of ever thinking or voting for the other party, ever.

    Guess I’ve screwed up all these years by voting for and supporting who I thought was better for my district regardless of what party they affiliated themselves with.

    Guess I’ll flip a coin to decide who I support for the rest of my life. /end snark

    Not saying this guy isn’t a ringer, just saying the evidence isn’t one of those “set in stone” things.

    I’ve voted one way in a primary, and when the person I thought was best didn’t make it on the ballot voted the opposite party at election time.

    Doesn’t make me one or the other.

  8. kittyhm

    As far as the Dems and the Reps in Illinois are concerned, your party loyalty is based on your primary voting pattern or personal knowledge held by your committeeman or some other person in the party who has entered that information into their voter data base.

    If you always pull a D ballot, you are a ‘hard’ D.

    If you usually pull a ‘D’ ballot but sometimes pull a ‘R’ ballot you are a ‘soft’ D.

    If you never vote in a primary, or pull only non-partisan ballots (rare) you are considered an independent.

    Voter turnout in this state for primaries is very low because people do not like to declare.

    However, because voter turnout is so low we tend to end up with the worst candidates in the General Election.

    When will we DEMAND open primaries where you can make a choice for each office without regard to party?

    Turnout would improve and we would end up with better quality candidates.

  9. @kittyhm

    Nobody says you cannot change parties, split a ticket, or stay home and not vote at all.

    What we’re saying – and anyone with half a brain would agree – is that there is something wrong with a person running as a Republican candidate for state representative and at the same time putting up a sign in support of his Democratic “opponent” in his yard.

    To do so makes him either a fraud or crazy. While both those qualities are shared by many of our politicians, it’s not something we – the constituency – need.

  10. McHenry County Blog

    Steve Reick – Jeffrey Lichte Race Noted in Civil Justice League Report on Trial Lawyers Association Political Spending

    September 9, 2016

    “The largest-ever contribution to support a Republican by ITLA PAC was actually a recent contribution to the independent committee Government For The People PAC that supported 2016 Republican ‘stalking horse’ primary candidate Jeff Lichte and opposed Republican party backed GOP candidate Steve Reick.”

    http://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2016/09/09/steve-reick-jeffrey-litche-race-noted-in-civil-justice-league-report-on-trial-lawyers-association-political-spending

  11. Illinois Civil Justice League (ICJL)

    Civil Justice Case Study

    Justice For Sale III

    The Trial Lawyers’ $35 Million Investment in Illinois Government

    Released in Partnership with Illinois Lawsuit Abuse Watch and American Tort Reform Association (ATRA)

    September 6, 2016

    “The largest-ever contribution to support a Republican by ITLA PAC was actually a recent contribution to the independent committee Government For The People PAC that supported 2016 Republican ‘stalking horse’ primary candidate Jeff Lichte and opposed Republican party backed GOP candidate Steve Reick.”

    http://www.judicialhellholes.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/090616-ICJLsJusticeForSaleIII.pdf

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