Read his speech below and you’ll probably get more than a hint why Kirk Donald will be leading the McHenry Township Republican Central Committee for the next two years.

Others elected were

• Chris Schurrer, who ran for Chairman, was re-elected Vice Chairman.
• Mike Mckenna was elected Treasurer.
• Tim Beck was re-elected Secretary

Kirk Donald’s Speech

Hello, my name is Kirk Donald and I’m running for McHenry Township GOP Chairman.

I’ve been a precinct committeeman in Johnsburg for approximately 3 yrs. I’m

• Pro Life,
• Pro 1st & 2nd Amendment,
• Pro Flag,
• Pro Law Enforcement, and
• I support limited government.

You might ask, “What have I done as a Republican for the Township
GOP?”

Most recently I raised just under $4000 for the Grand Old Party at the Farm.

Through my friendships, I recruited Wayne Smith, Fred Haller, and Mike McKenna into the McHenry Township GOP.

Along with Fred Haller, I ran as a candidate for the Johnsburg School Board District 12.

Although we lost to the establishment candidates, we offered the voters a choice!

I still attend school board meetings.

I campaigned and canvassed my precinct for and with Carl Kamienski.

I worked tiresly on the “Save McHenry Township” campaign, and I campaigned to elect Gary Barla and John Macrito as Township Trustees.

I along with John Macrito hosted a wine tasting to raise funds for the GOP.
I’ve attended numerous “Meet and Greets” and McHenry County GOP functions.

I campaigned for Mike Buehler and Craig Wilcox, in fact, I arranged a Meet and Greet for Craig at the senior center I worked part time in.

I personally handle the cleanup several times a year on Rolling Lane in Johnsburg, a road that’s dedicated to the McHenry Township GOP.

I get up 5:30 – 6:00 am every morning to produce the McHenry Township Facebook Page, which as promised when I took it over 2 years ago, I grew from 33 Followers to 821 Followers, with over 125
people following it daily.

But most of all, the most important thing I’ve done, I got my neighbor, who is a lifelong Democrat, to pull a Republican Primary ballot!

What changes should be made to the Mchenry Township GOP?

• We should have regularly scheduled monthly meetings.
• We should have printed agendas for those meetings.
• The meetings should be held to an hour in length, 1 1⁄2 hrs. at the
  most.
• We should update the By Laws.
• We should appoint and recruit PCs to fill vacant precincts.
  There should be PC Training.
• There should be mention of and explanation of upcoming GOP events.
• Initially there should be committees formed on ways to raise funds,
  public relations, and inter party relations.
• We should adopt the slogan, “GROW, SUPPORT, & STRENGTHEN”!

You might ask, “What leadership experience does Kirk have”?

When I was elected Grand Knight of Council 9167, Johnsburg, in 2005, (a larger organization than the GOP), the senior officers of the Council contacted me and asked me to shut the Council down, they said we didn’t have the money to pay our insurance premiums, they said the Council was bankrupt.

I didn’t want to do that!

At the time, I was managing the Council newsletter and I had just started a new section called “Businessman of the Month”.

I featured a Knight named Jack Snell that made signs (in fact, he had a shop right here on 120).

Another Knight, Joe Rubino, read the piece and liked it so much that he donated the proceeds of the sale of a used 18 ft. U Haul truck he had to the Council.

Now we had the money to pay our insurance premiums.

We had event after event, a Golf Outing, Super Bowl Party, Cookouts, by the end of that Fraternal Year we had $11,000. In the bank.

We recruited 17 new members that year.

Council 9167 was Awarded Star Council that year.

A few years later, when I was a District Deputy for the Knights of Columbus, I nominated Arnie Diedrich for Illinois State Knight of the Year for his work with blood drives.

It was the first time this area had a State Knight of the Year.

Soon afterwards I instituted the first Hispanic Knights of Columbus in McHenry County, San Jose’ el Trabajador.

The final question is about Unity.

I remember in the late 90s watching a football game between the Chicago Bears and the Washington Redskins. Mike Tomczak was Quarterback, and the Bears were losing.

They were getting their calls from the box above.

Mike Ditka got fed up and threw his headphones to the ground.

He called Mike Tomczak over to the sideline and barked the next play to him.

Ditka kept calling the plays as the Bears marched down the field and put the winning points on the board.

After the game the Press questioned Ditka, “How did you do it”?

He said “I got them back to the Basics, we have to start following the basics”!

I think the best thing we have done as Republicans in McHenry County is to have elected Mike Buehler as Mc Henry County Board Chairman.

This is my model, to consider all things at hand, to recognize each other’s talents, to put one foot in front of the other, and get back to the Basics.

If you want to see the Mchenry Township GOP thrive and flourish, I humbly ask for your vote this evening.