A view of Wednesday’s McHenry County Democratic Party Convention held in a McHenry County College lecture hall.
Yesterday McHenry County Blog was the first to reveal that McHenry County taxpayers will be shelling out $25,000 in legal fees to Local 150 of the International Union of Operating Engineers.
Now, let me follow the Northwest Herald in telling you that the County Board has agreed to repeal its resolution supporting Governor Bruce Rauner’s Turnaround Agenda. (And my source is not the NWH.)
Let me add that at the Wednesday Democratic Party Convention, it was announced that Democrats and union members are being encouraged to attend next Tuesday night’s McHenry County Board meeting to watch the Republicans on the County Board “eat crow.”
Folks will be both in and outside of the Board room “to bang kettles and make a ruckus”.
Democrats were urged to come at 6. The meeting starts at 7.
They want as many Democrats as they can get.
The is nothing but a show of force by the Democrats and the Local 150.
Those Local 150 boys are losing their power in McHenry County.
I know of several companies the local 150 members forced to unionize and the owners accepted in fear of retaliation and sometimes in fear of their lives.
Maybe, it’s time to disclose legal documents alleging illegal activity but the “LOCO GUYS” showing they went into business to intimidate and harass with the intention of forcing those business owners to Unionize.
Some of the Business Owners have left the State.
McHenry County Board members, if you want my vote and support ever again, do not support this.
Do not even make the motion.
I have a memory like an elephant, I will not forget this betrayal.
No way, don’t strong arm a local government.
Please board members of the county board do not vote to reverse your support of the governor
Please Fighting Corruption.
PLEASE.
Name names.
Either you’re going to name the several companies that you supposedly know of that have forced members to unionize or anything you just said is hearsay.
Disclose the documents you speak of while you’re at it.
And Cal, will you be banging on kettles too?
You have been spending a lot of time cozying up with the Dems lately.
It’ll be easy to pay the $25,000 when the county board is cut in half.
Have a spine board members and work for the best interest of THE TAX PAYERS and support the turn around agenda.
The corruption and intimidation from unions in IL is sickening and is not good for the citizens of IL.
Matthew 5:37New King James Version (NKJV)
But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’
For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.
I hope everyone that approved the resolution votes down it’s repeal.
The McHenry County Board has to have some backbone!
If we really want IL to turn around, we need to do more than just elect a Republican Governor.
We need to start at home and support the turn around of our laughed at state!
And the task at hand demands that the board not back down to the mob rule of the local unions!
This belongs under the endangered mussels article.
I agree with Cindy
Re: “County Board Agrees to Repeal Resolution Supporting Bruce Rauner’s Turnaround Agenda”
I realize we are no longer a Representative Republic but have we become a dictatorship?
If we are still even close to being a democracy, can anyone tell me who on the County Board voted for this?
What you are observing here folks is the reason we need Right to Work laws in this state.
The local 150 lawsuit is outright extortion of hard earned taxpayer dollars by union members with a ‘thug’ attitude.
It is in the face of adversity that true character is displayed…
Each board member, individually, will make public a display of his/her character this night.
We have three small airports in the area: Lake in the Hills, Galt and Harvard.
Can someone contact the Rauner camp and request he show up at the Board meeting?
The Board showed support for his ideas, how about him showing support for the Board?
He could fly in and out without screwing up his schedule in Springfield.
If the Dems are planning to demonstrate, Republicans should also.
Make a sign with very large letters and start walking.
I saw a sign on Youtube from the demonstrations in WI a few years ago:
The decision was made in a secret session, so we won’t know who favors it until the public vote.
Maybe by Tuesday the County Board will release the document.
I will assert again that cutting the board in half will in a couple of election cycles result in the doubling of the remaining board members’ salaries.
Agree with Aglawyer on all points; stand up (County Board) for a Governor we’ve long needed in this state.
And, as for Mr. Skillicorn and Serwatka –
Spare me the preaching.
Instead, reflect on your disgusting campaign tactics and posturing.
I recall Serwatka’s mailing where he was posed in front of a church with that glazed look, and the dirty mailings from well funded PAC supporting Skillicorn.
This hypocritical behavior and weak Republican candidates is what gets Democrats elected.
Martha, when the time is right I will post a link to the court documents.
I personally have spoken to business owners this has happened to.
Nygren and Zinke knew how some of the Local 150 members were acting and did nothing to protect the victims.
They pleaded with Nygren.
Anyone who votes for this should be voted out of office.
If they don’t stand for something they will fall for anything.
We are paying attention county board members and there is a November election
Simple solution:
Do not build, maintain, or fund anything which is not affordable within a budget which requires a maximum 2.5% property tax rate.
If any public project becomes too expensive due to prevailing wage rates being 75% higher than the rest of America, don’t do the project.
It’s a win-win.
Unions can maintain their rigid posture on demanded wages and benefits, while taxpayers save money by foregoing many unneeded public works expenditures.
Dejavu – name one thing in my campaign that was not completely above board and honest.
Do you hear that “giant sucking sound” ?
That’s the sound of more overtaxed people and businesses
fleeing Illinois.
More for “sale signs” going up as we post.
Paul? I think they did. You had that glazed look!
Oooooo.
I’m so afraid of sidewalk chalk and glaring glazes.
Nick’s idea for a Resolution Supporting Bruce Rauner’s Turnaround Agenda was nonsense from the very beginning.
Stupid is as ………
All the resolutions in the world aren’t going to fix Illinois, that ship sailed 20 years ago.
To believe this government of employees and unions, works for the people and not itself is delusional.
Rauner’s only hope is the Fed bails out Illinois smaller cousin Puerto Rico.
Than this Democrat run fiscal hellhole, can take its filled out welfare voucher forms and get in line with Democrat California, New Jersey and other Union infested Democrat swamplands for its handout.
Unless say Bernie gets elected and everything will be free.
Right Democrats?
Maybe, just maybe, the McHenry County Board shouldn’t have blatantly violated the law.
Its amazing that there are so many comments on here about unions, about how board members better not support this, etc., but there are no comments about how the Board blatantly violated the law.
What is MORE ironic is that conservatives often complain about transparency, open meetings violations, etc.
Yet they’re quiet about it here.
Alabama, how much did you make from SEIU HealthCare?
No conflict of interest with your comments.
It was a violation of the law and a big waste of time.
The settlement is half of what the union spent on lawyers supposedly.
After the redistricting meeting mess, some still don’t get it.
Maybe the author of the deal should be given a vacation on our dime as our true hero.
THis is the third violation of open meeting act for some of these county board members they think the law does not apply to them.
Bye Bye
Who is the lawyer that represented the board that thought this was a good idea?
I’m not sure what you’re talking about, but whatever it is, it is a valiant attempt to change the topic.
The right-wing led McHenry County Board attempted to do the bidding of Governor Rauner, and blatantly violated to law to do so.
And you want to blame everyone BUT the McHenry County Board members.
Got it.
Cindy on you missed the point.
We wanted a Republican Governor to fix this state.
Instead, we got an entitled, self-important, narcissistic billionaire who lets the state collapse while he pursues his personal vendettas.
Way to go, Brucie…
There must be consequences to breaking the law otherwise there is no use in having laws.
If law makers are allowed to break the law without consequence then what? We elected the County Board.
We need to hold them accountable.
It happens that the board is Republican.
If the board was democratic and they violated the law the story would be different.
Your feelings would be different and that is not fair.
Fair is was the law violated?
Yes or no?
Yes.
Why do we want to defend people who are not representing us in the manor that is expected?
Within the parameters of the law.
What law was violated?
All Local 150 has is a the opinion of Lisa Madigan’s office. Take the lawsuit to a jury trial! A jury comprised of only McHenry Count taxpayers and no one affiliated with any union or County Board member.
Insofar as the comments by “Nob”. Thank you for removing any doubt I had relative to your credibility.
The County Board can definitely reject the settlement.
Then go to trial on the Open Meetings Act violations, which were blatant.
Lose, and pay way more than $25,000 in legal fees.
That would be…better?
Looks like the McHenry County GOP are spineless.
Since this occurred in private meeting, the party GOP know the votes are there to repeal the agenda.
I will never trust this bunch if they pass this vote.
They can complain about Springfield or Washington DC all they want.
However, when the vote came they voted like Jack Franks would.
SPINELESS AND NO PRINCIPAL.
*Principle
For everyone who is barking angry that the County Board is repealing the 100% symbolic Turnaround Agenda resolution, you should blame the board members themselves for stupidity, not for spinelessness.
Remember why Local 150 sued the County in the first place–because all of these idiots on the Board failed to comprehend that if you have a majority of a quorum of the Board in any place at any given time, that’s a violation of the Open Meetings Act.
It’s not a hard rule to understand.
For a 24-member body, a quorum is 13 (50% + 1), and a majority of that is 7. 7 Board Members cannot meet without calling an open meeting first.
For a committee of 7, a quorum is 4 and 3 committee members cannot meet without calling an open meeting beforehand.
And for a committee of 5 (and this is the only hard one), there’s a special carve-out for you, but 3 of you still can’t meet without calling an open meeting beforehand.
Save the weeping and gnashing of teeth for something that isn’t so obviously the fault of our stupid County Board members.
You would think that all of these snakes who each swore to God that they spent 1,000 hours a year doing County Board stuff would have taken the time to have a basic understanding of the Open Meetings Act.
And don’t call for these idiots to vote against the settlement.
However much the County is getting its wrist slapped for under the settlement is minuscule in comparison to what the County will get stuck with if the County gets its ass handed to itself in a complete lawsuit.
A typical construction job done with union workers has a cost value of 15 percent of the entire job spent for labor .
please explain to me you’re math figures organized labor wages raises job costs four fold.