Another Democrat–Sharon Fairley–Announces Run for Attorney General, Jack Franks Stops Talk about Candidacy

Jack Franks

Capitol Fax prints the press release from Sharon Fairley announcing her candidacy for the Democratic Party nomination for Attorney General.

Yesterday, McHenry County Board Chairman rolled up any potential run for the office by telling the Northwest Herald and the Daily Herald he would not run.


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Another Democrat–Sharon Fairley–Announces Run for Attorney General, Jack Franks Stops Talk about Candidacy — 13 Comments

  1. Jack will wait for the SOS from the Democrats, then he will ask for an appointment, will be the first one to say Me, Me!

  2. Northwest Herald

    McHenry County Board Chairman Jack Franks Says He Won’t Run for Illinois Attorney General

    October 10, 2017

    by Ed Komenda

    “Franks now is pushing a resolution to ax pensions for all countywide elected officials.

    If passed by the County Board, the resolution will remove Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund eligibility for the offices of County Board chairman, state’s attorney, county clerk, circuit clerk, treasurer, auditor, recorder, coroner and sheriff.”

    “The County Board is expected to discuss the resolution at its next Committee of the Whole meeting, which will be at 9 a.m. Thursday at the county Administration Building, 667 Ware Road, Woodstock.”

    http://www.nwherald.com/2017/10/10/mchenry-county-board-chairman-jack-franks-says-he-wont-run-for-illinois-attorney-general/adxk73q

  3. Daily Herald

    McHenry County Chairman Jack Franks Won’t Run for Attorney General

    October 10, 2017 at 5:08PM

    by Lauren Rohr

    “He ran on platforms of reducing government size and cutting the county’s tax levy by 10 percent.”

    http://www.dailyherald.com/news/20171010/mchenry-county-chairman-jack-franks-wont-run-for-attorney-general

    ++++++++++++

    Jack Franks more accurately ran on a platform of cutting the tax levy of all property taxing districts in the county by 10 percent.

    Not just the county’s property tax levy.

    ++++++++++++

    When the next property tax levy’s (and more importantly the extensions) are released, a comparison can be made to determine how close Jack Franks came to delivering on his cornerstone campaign pledge of cutting the property tax levy of all property taxing districts in the county by 10%.

  4. Rumor has it the County levy maybe reduced 14% next year.

    Yet to be seen, but that would also wipe out this years 4% increase also.

  5. According to the head of IMRF no action by the county board will affect pensions of elected officials.

    Franks has not provided a copy of that letter to Board members or informed them of its contents.

  6. The big money people probably told Jack that it isn’t his year,

  7. McHenry County Blog

    IMRF Says Franks’s Proposed Pension Revocation Action for Countywide Elected Officials Illegal and Unconstitutional

    October 6, 2017

    http://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2017/10/06/imrf-says-frankss-proposed-pension-action-illegal-and-unconstitutional

    +++++++++++++++++

    The three page letter from the head of IMRF to McHenry County Board Chair Jack Franks is included in the above blog post.

    The URL (web address) of the blog post can be emailed to County Board members.

    Emails of county board members are found by clicking on their hyperlinked name (underline text) on the County Board Members website, which is located here (insert “www.” before the address):

    co.mchenry.il.us/county-government/departments-a-i/county-board/meet-your-county-board-members

    +++++++++++++++++

    The three page letter from the head of IMRF to McHenry County Board Chair Jack Franks could be included in the board agenda packet of the Thursday October 12, 2017 McHenry County Board Committee of the Whole Meeting.

    But it is not currently included.

    The board agenda packet for that meeting is currently 664 pages and is located here (insert “www.” before the address:

    mchenrycountyil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=4182&Inline=True

    ++++++++++++++++

    An agenda item about the resolution to remove IMRF pension eligibility for the McHenry County offices of County Board Chairman, State’s Attorney, County Clark, Circuit Clark, Treasurer, Auditor, Recorder, Coroner, and Sheriff would be included in the agenda for tomorrow’s County Board Committee of the Whole Meeting.

    But it is not.

    +++++++++

    Anyone can make a public comment at the Committee of the Whole meeting tomorrow about Mr. Kosiba’s letter to County Board Chair Jack Franks, and provide copies to the County Board Members and County Board Chair.

    +++++++++

    Why is the County Board Chairman is included in the resolution?

    The McHenry County Board Chair is not currently a member of IMRF.

    Is the end game for this resolution to include the County Board Chair, as a countywide elected official, in IMRF?

    Is the McHenry County Board Chair expected to work 1,000 hours a year?

  8. FROM ILLINOISLEAKS.com:
    McHenry County Board Chair Jack Franks – Ethics problem growing –

    It’s a crime to willfully file a false or incomplete Statement of Economic Interest statement according to our State Ethics law.

    (5 ILCS 420/4A-107)- Sec. 4A-107. Any person required to file a statement of economic interests under this Article who willfully files a false or incomplete statement shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.

    We exposed the McHenry County Board Chairman in a previous article related to his SEI statements, and as our investigation continued, we find more compelling information that leads to many questions.

    Franks claimed to have worked for numerous local public bodies and listed them on his SEI statements since at least 2009, with the exception of keeping that information off his SEI statement while running for County Board Chairman. We now suspect he kept it off of that one because many of the locals who would have read it would have quickly discovered what we did, from four hours away.

    We submitted Freedom of Information Requests to those local public bodies whom Franks claimed to have worked for.

    Greenwood Township: “..we have not retained the services from the law firm of Franks, Gerkin, McKenna for over 8 years”

    So is the Greenwood Township lying to us or has Jack Franks willfully filed a false SEI since 2009 by claiming to have worked for Greenwood Township each and every year since 2009?

    Hebron Township: “Hebron Township does not have any records requested for items 1, 2, 3 or 4”

    We requested:

    A copy of any employment application for Jack Franks

    A copy of payroll records for Jack Franks for 2016

    A copy of any legal bill received from Jack Franks in the last two years.

    A copy of any W2 for Jack Franks

    A follow-up request for last 2 years of legal bills also reflected in nothing tying Jack Franks to doing work for Hebron Township.

    That leads us to the question, Is Hebron Township lying to us or
    has Jack Franks willfully filed a false SEI since 2015 by claiming to have worked for Hebron Township each and every year?

    Village of Huntley: “I am positive he has never worked here.”

    Q: “do you know if his law firm represents you?”
    A: “No, his law firm does not represent us.”
    Q: “Did his firm represent the village in 2016?”
    A: “No it did not”

    That leads us to the question, Is Hebron Township lying to us or has Jack Franks willfully filed a false SEI since 2016 by claiming to have worked for Hebron Township each and every year?

    We did receive legal bills from the Village of Union that point to Franks, Gerkin, & McKenna, PC as their attorney, however when I spoke with Franks on the phone about his SEI filings, he dismissed the legal service matter by claiming it is his Fathers law firm, not his. That may be the case and without knowing the financial arrangement of his legal practice through his fathers firm, assuming what he said is true, there is no way to validate any of his claims.

    Of concern in this whole matter is Jack Franks appears to have filed false Statements of Economic Interest statements since at least 2009 by listing public bodies that he has not worked for during the time covered in the filing. Why would a person list public bodies and claim he worked for them when all indications are he has not? Was this a way to make himself look important or somehow claim knowledge of local government matters, thus becoming a self-proclaimed expert on those matters as a State Representative.

    Everything we have found related to Franks’ filings is pointing us to an opinion that he filed false and incomplete statements, and we believe did so willfully, as no one else would know the information requested better than him.

    And let’s not forget, he signed his name claiming he has examined it and the best of his knowledge and belief, it is true, correct, and complete statement of his economic interests as required by the Illinois Government Ethics Act.

    Why is this an important matter worthy of a criminal investigation? (a formal criminal complaint has been filed)

    Willfully filing a false or incomplete SEI statement is a crime in Illinois

    Jack Franks is an attorney

    Jack Franks is the Chairman of McHenry County

    Jack Franks is floating an interest in being our top cop, as in Attorney General.

    For those four reason listed, Jack Franks should face a criminal investigation by an independent agency to make a determination if laws were broken and if so, they should pass those findings on to the County State’s Attorney for appropriate legal action.

    If we don’t hold our top elected officials to the rule of law, how can we ever gain any trust back in our local government?

    Jack Franks SEI filings: 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009

    And as to assure our readers this is not just our opinion, these were the comments from a local official on the matters above:

    “I am glad to hear that Greenwood Township and Village of Huntley do not use the services of Franks, Gerkin, & McKenna, as some voters could have a negative view on the appropriateness of such agreements.”

    “It is unfortunate a respected politician would make incorrect declarations on political campaign disclosure documents. I would not have expected information provided in a Statement of Candidacy form to be false.”

    “It is my belief, that discussing things in public or expressing concern to those in control can also be a good method to get discussions started. We all know Illinois needs major reforms in order to get back on track; local governments also need to take part.”

    .

  9. You are prsuming he is ONLY a liar.

    I suspect there is a lot more to uncover.

    Sociopaths don’t just stop at making things up.

    Keep digging!

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