I noticed that former McHenry County College Board President Scott Summers is running a write-in campaign for Congress against Republican Darn LaHood.
I asked him for more information and he sent the following:
Only small portions of the 16th Congressional district are in McHenry County.– specifically, Dunham and Chemung Townships plus areas of Hartland and Alden Townships. Remarkably, it stretches to Galena and from there to the outskirts of Peoria and Bloomington.
The incumbent is Darin LaHood.
Voters may learn more about my candidacy from my website, www.ScottSummers.org. I’m also posting on X as @SSummersforIL16. (This is a campaign-only handle. My usual spot on X is @SummersTimes1.)
This past Wednesday, I was part of a panel that spoke on 2024 ballot access issues. It aired on a downstate NPR feed called The 21st.. https://will.illinois.edu/21stshow/story/long-shot-running-for-public-office-as-a-third-party-or-write-in-candidate
On October 21st, the Chicago Sun-Times ran as its lead letter to the editor my “On the ballot: Too many uncontested election races.” You may reproduce it if you wish. https://chicago.suntimes.com/letters-to-the-editor/2024/10/21/uncontested-races-election-donald-trump-impaired-fop-endorsement-gaza-israel-letters
Looking beyond November 5th — perhaps some of your readers may be interested in following my ongoing public policy blog SummersTimes. It is on Substack: SSummers.Substack.com.
Here is my press release:
For immediate release: September 30, 2024
“Voters Deserve a Choice”
There’s a write-in candidate for the 16th Congressional District
Two area Congressional representatives have no competition this year: Mary Miller in the 15th and Darin LaHood in the 16th.. They will be the only names printed on their respective ballots.
A McHenry County attorney wants to change that. He’s a registered write-in for the 16th.
“I was surprised to learn that Mr. LaHood has no Democratic Party opponent,” says Scott Summers of rural Harvard. “Voters deserve a choice. So I decided to run as a write-in.”
Election laws make that process difficult. Summers reports that he had to file notarized Declarations of Intent with each of the clerks of the twenty-one counties that are in or partially in the 16th.
“Long gone are the days when voters could write in any old name on election day,” he says. “Now, if you vote for anyone other than a declared write-in, it doesn’t count.”
Summers is a fiscal conservative. “The only thing worse than tax-and-spend is borrow-and-spend,” he says. “If we are to reduce taxes, then we must also curb or eliminate programs.”
He offers three examples for cutting: fossil fuels, nuclear warheads, and corporate welfare.
“Subsidize fossil fuels in the face of climate change? Oh, please.”
“We have over three thousand nuclear weapons. Do we really need all of them?” he asks.
“And then there’s $100 billion that goes each year to corporate welfare programs. Whatever happened to capitalism in America?”
Scott stakes out progressive positions on a number of issues. One is the establishment of a trickle-up economy.
“That’s right,” he says. “Not trickle-down. Trickle-up. Tax breaks and other incentives for big companies don’t work very well. Instead, let’s help our families and friends and neighbors establish home and community-based businesses.”
Summers has served in both elective and appointed offices. He was a trustee at McHenry County College. By way of gubernatorial appointment and state senate confirmation, Scott worked as the public guardian and public administrator of McHenry County.
Voters may learn more at www.ScottSummers.org.
