McHenry County Blog

Guess what popped into my email last night?

Another candidate for Governor.

And, he’s from Crystal Lake.

Here is his message:

There is another Write-In candidate for Illinois Governor...

From the October 27th announcement:

With the general election only a little more than a week away we are faced with an all too familiar choice when we step into the voting booth to cast our vote for Illinois Governor, which of the candidates is the lesser of the two evils?

If you are troubled by that choice, I'd like to present to you a third choice; cast your vote for me, Mike Shorten, as Illinois Governor on November 7th!

Why would you do that, you ask? Good Question!

Here's my quick pitch:

* I'll promise not to screw up things too badly.
* I'll provide a 'fresh look' viewpoint that is missing from within the high levels of government.
* I'll try to be available to you as much as possible to hear your ideas thoughts and opinions.
* I'll work to return the government to the people of this state.
* You won't have to worry about me beholden to anyone, as I am not accepting contributions for this campaign.
* I'm not sure if taxes will rise or fall, but I will do everything that I can to reduce the burden of taxation on all households.
* If I do a really bad job, you can go ahead and elect the lesser of two evils back into office in four more years.

Would you like to find out more about me? Please visit my website at www.shorten4gov.com to read up and sign up so I can reach you more effectively as we get closer to the election.

I'll need at least 1.2 million votes to win so I need to reach as many people as possible in a short amount of time, so whether or not you support me in this election, I would ask that you forward this e-mail to friends and family so that if they are as frustrated as most people, they will know that there is an option. Have any questions or comments, e-mail me at mike.shorten@gmail.com or leave me a message at 815-301-1962; I'll try to respond personally, but that will depend on how many messages I get.

Thanks for your consideration

Mike Shorten
Crystal Lake, IL

= = = = =

So who is Mike Shorten?

He lives in Walkup in the Park across from Veterans Acres, moving there from Elgin about 5 years ago.

He’s 34, married with “3 little girls.”

Shorten works in business sales.

While in Elgin he was on his homeowners’ association board for 5 years, 4 as president.

I asked him when he had decided to run.

Not until last Friday. I’d been thinking about it for quite a while. I sent a letter to the editor in March of ‘05.

A couple of weeks ago I was hanging out with some friends and neighbors talking about the discontent with the gubernatorial candidates and I asked what they thought about me running as a write-in candidacy. And, I got some enthusiasm from that.

And, it honestly wasn’t until a couple of days later when they asked me where the campaign was at….that’s when I realized they were serious about me being serious.

Given the hoops that the power party candidates have made 3rd party and write-in candidates jump, I asked if he had filed with the county clerks.

Believe it or not, state law forces write-in candidates to declare their intention to run as a write-in a full week before election day. We ain’t going to count no Mickey Mouse or Mike Royko (I guess it would be John Kass today) votes. The law hides such voter discontent.

“I sent out declarations to be a write-in candidate last week to all the county clerks and election commissioners—100 different filings,” Shorten told me.

Any last words?

Check out the web site. I’m pictured today on the front page of the Northwest Herald.

There's additional information here.