At nine months on the job, Sheriff Bill Prim is asking McHenry County Board permission for a six months longer to decide on whether to keep housing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees in the McHenry County Jail. He gained … Continue reading
The last article on McHenry County Board Committee assignments by newly-elected Chairman Joe Gottemoller focused on what those who supported his opponent Jim Heisler ended up. This will look at how the winners were rewarded. Again requests that were granted … Continue reading
Last Thursday Bill Prim’s campaign for McHenry County Sheriff held a fundraiser at the Red Mill Inn. This has been a place frequented by Sheriff’s Deputies since 1966-1970 Sheriff John Carroll bought the place. Now it’s owner is fully on … Continue reading
I attended my first Milk Day Parade since I served the area in the 1970’s in the Illinois General Assembly Before the parade, I noticed petitions being passed for the Independent candidacy of Jim Harrison for Sheriff. Libertarian candidate for … Continue reading
The debate on Tuesday about housing Federal prisoners in the McHenry County Jail started with Law & Justice Committee Chairman Sue Draffkorn trying to set the terms of debate. With regard to the ten-year agreement with the Feds, Draffkorn pointed … Continue reading
The vote was 12,153 to 8,703 in the contest between McHenry County Board member Sandra Salgado and Mark Daniel, Vice Chairman of the Republican Central Committee and Chairman of Nunda Township’s Central Committee. A victory margin of 3,450 votes. (Each … Continue reading
McHenry County Board member Sue Draffkorn is trailing challenger Fred Kieltyka for Republican Precinct Committeeman in McHenry 14, a Wonder Lake precinct. Because early and absentee ballots have not yet been included in the totals, it is impossible to know … Continue reading
Contests for Republican Precinct Committeeman are few and far between. This year there is a repeat of a three-way race in Seneca 1. R Mark Gummerson, who won the seat in 2012 from McHenry County Board member Ersel Schuster (also running for … Continue reading
McHenry County Board members get paid a salary of $20,815.86 a year. The average salary is almost $33,000 when health and dental insurance is included. And, even more if the County Board member is participating in the Illinois Municipal Retirement … Continue reading
There was a transparency vote on the McHenry County Board that mystified me. It was a change in the County Board Rules which would have required the posting of County Board member expenses. The County Board annually budgets $1,000 per … Continue reading
Two previous posts have focused on the beginning of the parade, where all the village officials rode in Thunderbirds, and on the biggest contest in McHenry County, the race for Sheriff. After the Johnsburg Village Board members, the first politician … Continue reading
After the election of officers, the new McHenry County Board Chairman (woman, what’s she want to be called?) appoints one person from each District to a Committee on Committees. That’s the committee that recommends who should be put in what … Continue reading
Getting as much money out of taxpayers is pretty much the goal of every tax district official, from school board member to township trustee. To do that, boards need to ask for more than the increase in the Cost of … Continue reading
Regular readers will know that I go to parades to read political tea leaves. Perhaps the biggest insight was that Democrat Jack Franks was in the middle of the Republican floats. Whether deliberate or not, it surely sent a mixed … Continue reading
Last night when I did the story about McHenry County Board’s District 6, the numbers showed that the three incumbents were winning, plus Linda Kvidera Murphy. Take a look: Having not a clue what happened between then and when the … Continue reading
I don’t know what John Hammerand did right, but he’s running first when neither his ballot position (in the middle) nor his gender would have led one to predict it. Of course, he is an incumbent who works his constituents … Continue reading
Maybe it’s not tea leaves. Maybe it’s newspaper clippings to which I should allude. In any event, the first two McHenry County Board endorsement editorials got me thinking. McHenry County’s paper of record has suggested dumping Board Chairman Ken Koehler … Continue reading
After an overly long set-up yesterday, today we move into what office seekers who attended the McHenry County Young Republicans’ Candidates’ Forum said about the County Board’s having decided to maximize the amount of money it will take out of … Continue reading
There are four seats open in each McHenry County Board district. In the McHenry-Wonder Lake-Richmond-Spring Grove-Lakemoor district, there are six candidates. They are incumbents John Hammerand Sandra Salgado Sue Draffkorn The fourth incumbent, Pete Merkel, is retiring. Newcomers are Bob … Continue reading
The McHenry County Board failed to break with the “increase the tax take as much as possible” crowd, but they came close. Barb Wheeler made the motion to remove the CPI and Nick Provenzano seconded it. Wheeler is a candidate … Continue reading
