McHenry County Blog

Harry Carey’s food was being served on the lower deck before the boat began its tour of the berths of the Tall Ships and Lake Michigan’s shoreline.

The boat load of Family PAC contributors first cruised up the Chicago River far enough to see the Tall Ships docked along lower Wacker Drive. These were some of the smaller ones.

Next, the Evening Star was out to Lake Michigan through the docks past Navy Pier.


North far from the shoreline out by the lighthouse was the first destination and, then, it was south of Navy Pier for a view of the Sears Tower.

It was well after sunset by then.

The program of awards began, in which State Senator and congressional nominee Peter Roskam was the main honoree.

Roskam explained that congressmen he was introduced to in the nation’s Capitol generally had no clue who he was until he told them he was running to replace Henry Hyde.

Also honored for being a friend of the taxpayer was Republican Cook County Board of Review member Maureen Murphy. As a state representative, she sponsored the bill setting up the system by which Cook County real estate assessment appeals are now handled.

Murphy told me that the Democrats are now trying hard to knock her out of office, which would return the board to what I would call the “bad old days” when the Democrats controlled it completely.

Other than Roskam, I think Republican Cook County Board President candidate Tony Peraica got the biggest hand of applause. The Republicans on the boat can smell a victory.

United Republican Fund President Joseph Morris expressed the crowd’s hope that Peraica would be the first GOP County Board President since Richard Ogilvie, pointing out that he had gotten the most votes of anyone since Ogilvie when he ran for the post in the 1990’s.

(I remember having a great day with him attacking the building of a new Cook County Hospital when there were more empty rooms in existing hospitals within sight of Cook County than were being proposed to be constructed.)
Morris was also honored, but I cannot remember the details.

Numerous candidates were present, including

· long-time conservative State Rep. Terry Parke of Hoffman Estates, who reminded me that, when there were only two votes against bills to increase pension benefits in the 1990's, they were his and mine.


· Joe Maun, who is running for State Senate against Democratic Party Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson. Moan took on liberal Republican Flo Carlo in a mid-1990's Repubilcan primary, but lost.

· 8th congressional candidate David McSweeney greeted people boarding the boat, but did not take the cruise.
McSweeney is running against Democratic Party freshman Congresswoman Melissa Bean and Moderate Party candidate Bill Scheurer, an anti-war candidate. McSweeney won an 8-way primary race to earn the right to the Reublican nomination.

Bean's candidacy, as well as that of State Senator Peter Roskam's opponent Tammy Duckworth, is being run as a personal crusade by Congressman Rahm Emanuel of Chicago. (You'll remember that Emanuel is the one whom the Hired Truck "volunteers" helped to win his Democratic primary.) It is an attempt to stick the tenacles of the Chicago machine octopus further into the suburbs.

· Andrea Zinga, the Republican congressional candidate for the second time around to replace Lane Evans in Forgotonia (west central Illinois) is a former CNN anchor. This year she is being touted as a possible pick-up for the Republican Party because long-time incumbent Lane Evans has announced his retirement and has been replaced by Evans' none-too-popular district staffer.

· Mark Wiley, who is running against George Scully, whose district is as far south as one can go in Cook County.

· Matt Murphy, state senate candidate for the Palatine seat, beat Palatine Village President Rita Mullins handily in what was expected to be a close primary. Mullins earned a special place in my heart for challenging my friend State Rep. Bernie Pederson in 1992. I was so incensed at her completely unjust criticism of Bernie that I put together this rebuttal piece, which went in the mail the Saturday before the primary election. Its headline was, "Why Does Rita Mullins Lie?" I would not let Bernie see it before I mailed it.

· Eric Wallace is running for state senate against Democratic Party south suburban double-dipper Maggie Crotty. Crotty is not only a state senator, but she is Bremen Township Supervisor.

· Judge Don Weber, appellate court candidate in the southernmost Illinois judicial district, where trial lawyers duked it out with business for a Illinois Supreme Court seat and the trial lawyers amazingly lost.

I just went through my pictures again and found my former colleague Carol Pankau.

Carol also greeted people getting on the boat, but I didn't see her taking the cruise. She is a candidate for State Comptroller against incumbent Dan Hynes.

I am sure there were other candidates and apologize for not getting their photographs and enough information to write a bit here.

My apologies.

= = = = =
Time for my first "opps."

I missed the Republican candidate for Attorney General, Stewart Umholtz.

Sorry.

Labels: Andrea Zinga, Carol Pankau, David McSweeney, Eric Wallace, Family PAC, Joe Maun, Joe Morris, Matt Murphy, Maureen Murphy, Paul Caprio, Peter Roskam, Stu Umholtz, Terry Parke, Tony Peraica