The McHenry Township Republican Party held a caucus to select April candidates at the McHenry VFW on Tuesday night.
From left to right are Township Trustee candidates Mike Rakestraw and Bill Cunningham, Supervisor candidate Steve Verr, Road Commissioner nominee Steve Koerber, plus Township Trustee candidates Bob Anderson and Stan Wojewksi. Clerk candidate Dan Aylward, who ran unopposed, is not in the photo.
McHenry Township GOP Chairman Steve Verr was nominated Township Supervisor 3,966 to 1,508 votes for McHenry Grade School Board member Erik Sivertsen.
That didn’t happen, however, befor Sivertsen moved to change the rules from
- giving Republican Precinct Committeemen the number of GOP votes cast in their precinct in last spring’s primary minus any votes cast by township residents attending the caucus to
- giving every person in the room one vote
The weighted vote on Sivertsen’s amendment was 4,352 against to 1.049 in favor.
Looking just at the results of giving everyone a vote, the results would have been 64-24 against.
For Road Commissioner, the tally was
- 4,565 for Steve Koerber
- 917 for Brad Deppneier
For Township Clerk
- Dan Alyward (unopposed)
Four Township Trustees were nominated from six candidates:
Steve Verr used his arms to show how high McHenry Township salaries were compared to County Board salaries.
- 5,466 – Mike Rakestraw
- 4,466 – Bill Cunningham
- 4,403 – Bob Anderson
- 3,963 – Stan Wojewski
- 1,510 – Mark Jaeger
- 1,503 – Kevin McConville
In his speech to those gathered, Verr pointed to the extremely high national ranking McHenry County has as far as property taxes go and said that by having a caucus, rather than a primary, the Republican Party was saving $35,000 to $40,000.
“I vow and promise I will cut and slash [the Supervisor’s salary and benefits] down [from “over $100,000] to what the County Board makes–$21,000.
“It’s a part-time job,” he pointed out.
Erik Sivertsen
Sivertsen said that he had “fought to lower taxes [on the McHenry Grade School Board] and that’s what I will do as Supervisor while still offering needed services.
He pointed out that salaries of elected officials cannot be changed during the term of those to be elected in April, so his opponent could not keep his proimise.
Sivertsen said the Township Board had cut its levy 10% and that further cuts would require cuts in services.
Highway Commissioner candidate Steve Koerber told of his activism on behalf of non-dedicate road homeowners.
“If I don’t cut the rate every year, get me out of there,” he said.
Opponent Brad Deppmeier, who runs a trucking and excavating business, told of being “involved in road construction, maintenance and upkeep for the last thirty years.”
He said he had worked “with the township, for the township and side by side.”
He indicated that it was impossible to do “the popular thing,” but one could do “the right thing.”
Dan Alyward
Alyward told the crowd that he was “better known as the man who paid his taxes in dollar bills.”
He told how his taxes had jumped from $2,700 to $4,000 one year in the early 1990’s.
When he went to the Assessor, he was told, “You’re lucky, it could have gone up $3,900.”
He told of talking to me over an hour on the phone and asking me how today was different from the time of the American Revolution.
“The taxes are higher,” I replied.
While usually evoking laughs, Alyward pointed out, “It isn’t funny.”
“This has to stop.”
Counting the votes took as long as it would have taken the County Clerk’s Office to count election ballots.
The results were announced about 10 o’clock.
88 McHenry Township Republicans voted in the Tuesday December 6, 2016 caucus to select candidates (Township Supervisor, Township Road Commissioner, Township Clerk, and 4 Township Trustees) for the April 4, 2017 general election?
No Republican incumbents ran for re-election?
No Republican is running for Assessor?
++++++++++++++++++
Northwest Herald
McHenry Township Holds Caucus to Nominate Republican Candidates
December 7, 2016
by Nate Linhart
http://www.nwherald.com/2016/12/07/mchenry-township-holds-caucus-to-nominate-republican-candidates/atqzph1
How ridiculous to elect an anti-township activist to the township board.
Everybody is always complaining about the democrats caucusing, run a primary and give the voters the decision
A banner already made up with the candidates the precinct committeemen wanted to run for the Township positions.
Seems pretty awkward?
I thought those people that attended were going to be given a choice?
Now we have Bob Anderson telling the NW Herald he is running to get an office position to abolish the Township?
I can’t wait till he goes to one of the Senior Functions at the Township and tells them “I am running for Township, once I get in, your programs are finished”
I hope they didn’t take the bus!
I find the waited vote very humorous too!
Come to the caucus and watch us vote 100 to 500 times for someone.
So, these trustees received 5466 votes?
I bet none of these guys will be able to muster up that many votes in the General Election.
This is the reason you have a group of independents running.
So people can pick the candidate THEY want.
Not some lazy PC who THINKS he or she knows their district.
I feel a giant awakening coming, as many of the PC’s were embarrassed of this event and did not even attend.
The good news is come April 4th, you won’t be forced to vote for these people.
You will have other choices.
Re: “How ridiculous to elect an anti-township activist to the township board”
Why?
I hope he gets elected.
He will then be exposed to reality instead of continuing to thrive in the cloud he has walked under for many years!
Heh, heh, hear the pigs squeal!
The fatcat incumbents are now forced to run as independents to keep their do-nothing jobs because they thought the GOP meant nothing and didn’t even bother to become precinct Committeemen.
Well guess what, the conservatives who took over the Township GOP didn’t cotton to the self-serving ways of the McHenry Township Private Club.
Only a single trustee was actually elected! All the rest were appointed to their positions.
Yeah, that’s right, they were all appointed but 1 Trustee!
The Supervisor, Road Hog, Clerk and 3 Trustees were all appointed!!!
The Party Organization finally said Enough!
Caucuses are best ’cause they save money and the real Republican activists turn out.
That’s how Trump won the caucuses and the ‘elites’ got the boot.
Craig Adams, the Mchenry Township Road Kingpin is a rotten democrat anyway.
That’s why he let the Assessor, also a democrat, have no opposition.
Another sweet Township “deal”
Good luck to the Real Republicans …maybe they will clean out the foul Township nest in McHenry.
I can smell the reek all the way to LITH!
My nostrils are sensitive; the stench from Bobby “Booby’ Miller’s Algonquin Township nidus almost covers up the McHenry and Nunda stenches I endure daily, but I can still detect them when the wind blows right.
If you were at this meeting last night, as I was, you would have been struck by the absolute absurdity of the process.
Let’s have a weighted vote to decide whether we are going to have a weighted vote.
Not to mention that a reading of the IL statute on caucus as was done by Mr. Sivertsen should cause any reasonable person to understand that rules votes are one person/one vote.
And you can’t point to the 64-24 tally as redemption since many other people may have been at this meeting if they hadn’t been convinced that it was going to be conducted in this way.
They were correct.
By my count only 24 of the 35 PC’s were present and at least one of those left during the meeting because of the way it was being conducted.
Whether you have issue with appointments of the incumbents (as I do) or you support them, whether you support the candidates railroaded in last night or not, this was not the way the process should have been conducted.
Ideally, it should have been a primary.
Much was made of saving taxpayer money by not having a primary but most honest people would understand that a few dollars there is well spent in getting a true democratic result.
Some of the very same people involved in this meeting were ones giving the Democrats static for caucusing in candidates for the County Board election and not participating in a primary.
Some have also claimed this was so much better because it was open.
Open to observe only, basically, because your vote didn’t really count with other people in the room having 100-500 votes each.
I had heard also that the caucus happened because of an error in getting it to a primary.
It’s pretty obvious to me that this caucus was not a result of any mistake made but the result of a deliberate effort and likely because some of these candidates did not think they could prevail in a fair contest.
I guess we’ll find out come the April election since the word is the incumbents will run as Independents.
To be clear, I’m not taking the side of any individual candidate or disparaging them but this meeting was an embarrassment.
88 people voted “what a joke this republican party has become
Now, if we knew how many people attended the Democratic Party caucuses in a private home in Cary, the McHenry Township Hall and the Nunda Township Hall.
The conservative GOP precinct captains finally got control of the Party.
A bunch of township hacks, and their dwindling retainers, get dethroned and cry foul.
Caucuses tend to favor the real Republicans.
There’s not a damn thing wrong with ‘weighted’ votes for Precinct captains.
The current township do-nothings can pout to their heart’s content.
Aylward is the guy who paid his tax bill with dollar bills ….
I wish I could vote for him, but don’t live in that township.
But my daughter does, and she’s got the sky-rocket tax bills to prove it!
And she will vote for the whole GOP ticket of these anti-taxers, along with her husband and voting age-age kids.
I will personally see to it!
Hey Scott Curry,
—the GOP Committeeman left the caucus, not out of ‘disgust’ at allm but because he was legally barred from being there!
He signed one of the loser-incumbent’s independent petitions and thus could not participate in the GOP caucus for this election.
He was lied to or mislead by his pal.
Which committeeman was this?
This is what Sandy wants.
Steve Rooney is a joke
OldManWinter, Trump lost many caucuses.
He did much better in primaries, particularly open (as opposed to closed) primaries.
Never Trumpers pointed out that the reason he got the nomination was because we let so many people who weren’t “real Republicans” have a say.
How do you even have a weighted vote in a caucus?
Aren’t weighted votes for issues of just a central committee?
How would this work for people going to the caucus who aren’t PC?
How many votes do they get?
Sounds kind of confusing, and it seems like even the people who were at the meeting didn’t know what was going on.
After all these years, all the attempts to eliminate/consolidate Townships, you’d think the Bob Anderson types would have the numbers, facts, and a viable plan that reduced taxes and the size of the gov they claim to hate.
Lots of emotional whining, but no tax reducing plan in writing for all to see and debate, why Bob’s?
Hey Rickey!
Not that committeeman, that was before the meeting started.
There were 24 for role call.
Then there were 23 after the rules fiasco.
Only 2/3 precincts were represented, not exactly a ringing endorsement for the party.
What’s all the fuss Mr. Curry?
Are you backing the taxaholic GOP ship-jumpers or what?