McHenry County Blog

With District 300 tax hikers, joined by their campaign employee and District 158 tax hiker in her own right, aiming higher, the taxpayer ducks better better stop sitting and fly out of range.

These home grown, but relatively inexperienced, tax hiking hunters do not understand that more experienced Chicago and Downstate hunters will send their dogs out to retrieve the juicy suburban ducks once they are shot down.

And, if that doesn't work, they (even the ones in favor of gun control in Chicago) will use their big guns in the General Assembly to take what the local tax hikers consider their fair share.

According to the Daily Herald, the format used by the District 300 tax hikers in their first meeting aimed at storming the gates of the General Assembly to extract something they call “funding reform” consisted mainly of rehash of the huge tax hike bill Senate Bill 750 and the previous unsuccessful court cases.

The inequity of funding among Illinois school districts was discussed. It was not reported whether District 300 tax hikers figured out that District 300 taxpayers would most probably end up paying more than they would get back from Springfield in any such ”reform” initiative.

Just as a reminder, check out what people in your zip code would pay under the Senate Bill 750 that failed last year. This internet tax calculator was developed by crack education reporter Diane Rado of the Chicago Tribune.

In Algonquin, it predicts a net tax increase of Property owner's average net income and property tax increase of $973. The two would increase from $7,106 to $8,079 or 13.7%.

It shows the average reported household income to be $85,099. The average state income tax now is $2,553 and the average property tax is $4,553.

Under last year's SB 750, average income tax would go up to $4,255, while the property tax would fall to $3,824. Schools would get $729 more out of the deal.

Of course, after the huge tax increase, the figures could be predicted to change.

The increase in Huntley would only be $645 or 9.5%. That's because the reported household income is $69,861, lower than in Algonquin.

Not content to just raise taxes locally, the District 300 tax hikers are setting their sights on raising taxes statewide.

Liberal tax hike leader Nancy Zettler told the Daily Herald,

We’re hoping to parlay that into something more substantial on the state front.

They met last night at their campaign headquarters.

Appropriately mentioned in the story by Jeffrey Gaunt was District 158 tax hike leader Cheryl Meyer, who advanced to professional paid campaign worker status for the District 300 tax hike committee.

The two did not mention whether they would become regional campaign workers for the Rev. James Meeks, who is threatening to mount a third party challenge whose basic platform plank will be the raising of state taxes to give more to schools. Meeks is also pro-life and anti-gay rights, something neither of the power party candidates avow.

Perhaps Meeks will borrow from Jack Roeser’s Family Taxpayers Network and call his effort the “Family Tax Hikers Party.”

The Lake in the Hills village board put a question on the ballot asking whether the village clerk should be appointed in the future. Almost 60% of the people voted, “No.”

The vote was 1164 –1731.

What does that mean?

Village President Ed Plaza would have made the appointment after current clerk Denise Wasserman’s term ran out.

“She doesn’t keep regular office hours,” her deputy told me.

Village administrator Jerry Sagona told McHenry County Blog,

It’s purely an administrative position and doesn’t deal with policy-related matters.

There was a unanimous vote of the village board to put the question on the ballot.

Asked why it failed, he said,

I have no idea.

Maybe this was just an indication that citizens like to elect their officials, even if they don’t know them.

Or, maybe, it was for the same reason that the Home Rule referendums in Lakewood and Harvard failed--people don't trust their local officials as much as the local officials would want to beleive.

 

This Kane County Democrat's car was found one tote over the McHenry County line at Montarra's. See story below about the Chihuly chandeliers hanging at the new restaruant. 

The Association Press reports that multi-millionaire Ron Gidwitz raised about $12.5 million to win about 76,000 votes.

That number rang a bell.

I received 73,794 votes when I ran for governor as a Libertarian. Of course, that was puny compared to the power party candidates’ totals, but our campaign cost “only” $211,648.89. That’s just a bit more than we know the District 300 tax hikers spent.

It works out to $2.87 per vote.

Gidwitz spent $163 for each of his approximately 76,000 votes, AP figures. He did get a higher percentage than I did. His was 11%; mine was 2%.

in 2006, Gidwitz spent 56.7 times more for each vote than the 2002 campaign did.

For real economy in getting votes, however, take a look at what happened in 1978 when bullet voting was still allowed. It was called proportional representation--common in Eurpoe, but rare in the USA. Each voter got three votes to split as they wished among the candidates running for three seats in a district. (Pat Quinn's "Cut Back" amendment to the Illinois Constitution killed it, thus ensuring that the Illinois House would look and act like the Illinois Senate, that is, both bodies would represent local establishments.)

In any event, here are the votes from 1978, when yours truly got the second most votes of any state representative in Illinois:

(R) Cal Skinner: 72,697.5 Total vote
(R) R. Bruce Waddell: 47,736.0 Total vote
(D) Thomas J. Hanahan: 42,412.5 Total vote

At least I got more votes running for Governor, although not many more.

I spent $3,618.90 or 5 cents a vote. Most probably went for printing literature for the precinct committeemen.

Of course, with three to be elected, I was essentially running unopposed.

From very early on, I had this theory that one could not run for office higher than the state legislature without selling one’s soul.

So, when I got the opportunity to run for State Comptroller in 1982, part of the reason I ran was to test that theory.

After it was over--with my giving bragging rights to Roland Burris that he had carried the state by over a million votes—I concluded I was wrong.

You can run for an office higher than the state legislature without selling your soul.

You just can’t win.

Fast forward to the late 1980’s. Gary MacDougal was thinking about running for governor. So was Jim Edgar.

Someone gave me his phone number and suggested I give him a call.

I called. I tried to convince him that the expenditure of $300-400,000 for an office like Comptroller might well be successful. I was unsuccessful.

MacDougal eventually served as chairman of the Illinois Republican Party until ousted by what Tribune columnist John Kass calls the “bi-partisan combine” and replaced by the short-lived chairmanship of House Republican Leader State Rep. Lee Daniels.

Think of all the millionaires who have run for the U.S. Senate or governor without holding any other office. Jim Oberweis and Ron Gidwitz ran this year.

Oberwies would have been a better candidate had he served elsewhere first. He would known that a primary goal of many members of the media is to play “gotcha.”

Andy McKenna, now Republican State Party Chairman, is another millionaire whose first run for office was U.S. Senate. As we know, he lost.

If he or any of the others had run for a lower state office first, Republicans might have a candidate other than Judy Topinka as its gubernatorial choice.

Labels: Andy McKenna, Gary MacDougal, Jim Edgar, Jim Oberweis, Judy Baar Topinka, Ron Gidwitz

When we were in Colorado last summer, we visited the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. A site for traveling exhibits, it was filled with blown glass from the West Coast factory of Ghilhuly.

The eye patch wearing artist have been seen by most on the PBS-TV show on his chandeliers he installed in Venice, Italy.

In Colorado Springs there was one hanging in the foyer. My 7-year old got down on his back and took this picture of a yellow and green chandelier.

We were then admonished that photographing the exhibits was not allowed.

I knew that flashes could degrade paintings and pointed this out to the volunteer admonisher. I also pointed out that glass probably didn’t fade when put in bright light.

No matter. No more pictures.

Now, two chandeliers that are certainly as beautiful as the one in Colorado Springs can been seen in Algonquin at the Montarra Grill, located in a strip mall north of the Oberweis Ice Cream store, northeast of the intersection of Randall and County Line Roads.

A large group can dine beneath this blue masterpiece. Another hangs in the bar.

Reservations are certainly a good idea on weekends. Expect to pay $100 a couple, if you like wine and other libations. The phone number is 847-458-0505.

For the dog lovers.

The centrifugal force evident in the Illinois body politic today is stunning.

Liberals are leaving incumbent Governor Rod Blagojevich because he won't raise taxes. Conservatives are leaving Republican Judy Topinka because she celebrates homosexuality. Where's a middle-of-the-roader to end up?

Is Chicken Little right? Is the sky falling?

First, while getting in the car during his re-announcement tour, Democratic Party Governor Rod Blagojevich said he would stick to his pledge not to raise income or sales taxes. Slip of the tongue then or deliberately left out of his announcement speech is irrelevant?

Republican Party candidate Judy Topinka won’t take the same pledge. Even fiscally conservative Republicans who think social issues are irrelevant have to be nervous about that omission. The older ones will remember that it was moderate Republican Governors Richard Ogilvie, Jim Thompson and Jim Edgar who imposed and raised the income tax.

Talk about confusing fiscal conservatives.

Neither power party candidates are on the right side of the issue of gay rights for social conservatives.

First comes Randall Stufflebeam of the newly emerging Constitution Party with a conservative social and tax message.

Now, the Rev. James Meeks of Chicago’s South Side threatens to run for Governor.

It could just be a prelude to bring a black mayor back to control in Chicago, but State Senator and, more importantly, mega-church Pastor James Meeks’ announcement that he will run for governor got me thinking.

He says he is running because Chicago schools do not get enough state aid to education. He claims we are 49th, although that figure refers to the state’s ranking in state aid to education, not money actually spent on a per pupil basis. On the more relevant measure, Illinois ranked in the middle of the states the last time I checked. (We rank in the top ten, as far as teachers’ salaries go. Details that are about a year out-of-date are here.)

If Meeks runs, he will obviously coalesce black voters as they have not been since State Senator Harold Washington ran for Mayor. He will run for governor with a “Where’s mine?” theme, but, unfortunately for truth in politics, will not call his effort “The Tax Hike Party.”

And, he has a smattering of ready-made supporters throughout Illinois for his “let’s hike taxes” message. The messenger who prepared the way was Ralph Martire of the union-financed Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, playing the "John, the Baptist," role.

Mayors in Southern Illinois and the Chicago suburbs (the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus) have endorsed his idea. Educational Funding Task Force Chairman Elgin Mayor Ed Shock led the charge in 2003.

The two teachers unions endorsed Blagojevich in 2002 because they thought a Democrat would sign a tax increase. The Illinois Education Association has its power base Downstate.

Tax hike proponents in schools throughout Illinois have complained that the state was not paying its fair share.

Locally, Carpentersville District 300 and Huntley District 158 tax hikers supported the so-called “tax swap” in Senate Bill 750. Would they wonder out of the closet again for Meeks’ siren song of getting more money from Springfield? (No matter, that our area would pay far more than it could ever expect to receive in return. Rhetoric trumps logic in politics. Although, one of the District 158 B.E.S.T. leaders did back her support off at the last minute last year.)

The Farm Bureau has chapters in every county, which regularly vote in favor of higher income taxes. Of course, farmers don’t pay a whole lot of income taxes.

And, what about those Democrats I playfully call the “Leftie Liberals.” They opposed John Stroeger’s re-election to the Cook County Board, but they—sometimes quite openly—push for higher income taxes. And, they can’t stand Blagojevich.

And, poor Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn. He favors Meeks’ position, but loses his job, if he supports him. He supported a constitutional amendment to hike income taxes on high earners.

And what would now-organization player Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan do? He has been pushing a “tax swap” plan for years, but aspires to succeed Cook County Board Chairman John Stroeger.

In any event, it is not obvious that Meeks couldn’t put together a respectable campaign organization.

And, Meeks is on the conservative’s side on gay rights.

Blame this analysis on the theme song of the Disney movie, “Chicken Little,” whose theme song is “The End of the World, As We Know It.” We bought the DVD last Tuesday and the 1987 song by REM has been playing a lot.

For more McHenry County Blog, click here.

I’ve been filing Freedom of Information requests seeking information on the Gay Games application for $450,000 in state assistance with the state Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity for months.

I’ve gotten nothing but rejections…until now.

I had been told that I could not see the application until it had been approved.

Yesterday, I have been supplied a letter to Ms. Tracy Baim, Vice Co-Chair of what is officially called “Chicago Games, Inc.”

Here is the very short text of the letter:

Thank you for your interest in the Tourism Marketing Partnership Grant Program. This Program remains very competitive with a significant amount in requests and limited funding available. We have awarded all the FY ’06 grant funds.

If you have any programmatic questions, please feel free to contact me at blivingston@idceo.net or 217-557-2409.

The letter, dated March 8th, is signed by Beth Livingston, Manager of the Tourism Marketing Partnership Program.

I am sure there was more said over the phone. After all, I have never heard of a phone call’s being subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

I suspect that the failure of the Gay Games to get any money before the 2007 Fiscal Year--which begins July 1st (just three weeks before the proposed Regatta on Crystal Lake)--means that there was something in the application that state officials would rather not have the public see. That’s just a guess, however.

The rejection of already-approved budget money also opens up the subject up for debate during this spring’s legislative session.

Those voting for the Commerce Department’s funding bill will know that the Gay Games will be in line for a significant chunk of the tourism money.

Reflecting upon the recent District 300 referendums, I thought how the young people who led the student end of the tax hike operation would have been naturals for my Public Affairs Scholarships, were I still in office.

I love passion in politics. To encourage such passion is one of the reasons I started the blog.

When I was state representative for a district that included northern Kane and DeKalb Counties, McHenry County and southern Boone County in the 1970's, I could not figure out how to award the 8 scholarships state law let me give away every year. I discovered that most legislators gave them to children of supporters and/or contributors. (One gave one to his own child!)

One summer I was at a McHenry Grade School (can't figure out why they were in school) and the grade school kids were asking questions.

One girl in front asked a question. Then, her hand popped up again. I called on all of the others and then went back to her. She asked a second question:
"Would you like to be president?"

I was 32. I answered,

"Sure. It's the top of my profession. Wouldn't you?"

I was greeted with a chorus of "NO's."

It shocked me.

Maybe it should not have. It was 1974 and the Watergate hearings were everywhere in the media.

At that point, I had awarded no legislative scholarships because I had not figured out how to do it.

I wanted to encourage young people who participated in public affairs.

After that I decided to award my legislative scholarships to students who--themselves--had demonstrated activity and interest in public affairs. I called them "Public Affairs Scholarships."

The roles played by Jacobs High School student leaders in this referendum would have really impressed my scholarship selection committee. (All I did was sign the form after the committee picked the winners.) My guess is that they would have been awarded scholarships. (Now, sometimes I didn’t agree with my committee’s recommendations, but providing rubber-stamp approval was part of the deal.)

The first year, my committee awarded scholarships to two young men who had run for precinct committeeman—one in Crystal Lake and one in Carpentersville. (This was the first election after the voting age had been lowered to 18.) One was a Democrat and the other a Republican.

When I returned to the Illinois House after 12 years of “remission,” I couldn’t find my old application blank. I went down to the Legislative Printing Unit and asked if I could see application forms from other legislators.

Know what I discovered?

It was the form I developed in 1974 after that troubling interaction with the McHenry grade school kids.

A friend of mind chided me when I used the term “Mainstream” to describe the traditional media. He said, “Leftstream” was more descriptive.

I concluded he was correct and I started using the term “Left Stream.”

Today, I decided to see what other bloggers were using the term. I wrote the following article in last December, when I obviously had too much time. I always thought I'd update it, but have not found the time.

April 4th Google’s blog search engine lists Sola-Man using “left-stream” on “The Impudent Finger.” Again, on September 7th and on 12th was used by Solablog on that site.

Blogster’s “Pull on Superman’s Cloak” used left stream twice on April 21st.

For “leftstream,” I found the first mention on May 20th by “The Rules of Engagement” (loyaloppositionblog.com) by Jeremy D. Thompson.

For later sightings, click here.

Dog lovers get equal time tomorrow.

The continuing goal to impune the public service Huntley School Board member Larry Snow continued early Monday morning.

The first attempt of the kingdom's rulers was the “tacking a notice” warning of about Snow on the door of various newspaper letter-to-the-editor columns.

Today, with the help of Friday’s Northwest Herald front page “You all come” story and spring vacation, the leaders created their own crowd of supporters—a room of about 100—drawn by the charge that Larry Snow was trying to censor a critical editorial in the high school student newspaper.

All that was missing was the pitchforks. (Of course, the barns have been replaced with subdivisions, so they are hard to come by now.)

The result was totally predictable.

A motion to distribute the student newspaper and apologize to the paper’s staff was passed.

But Snow had a move that showcased the innovative behavior which the “critical six” find so disruptive to their previously unchallenged rule.

He made his own motion to

The Board of Education shall provide the Huntley High Newspaper with complete freedom of speech, subject to the laws of Illinois, and subject to the prominent disclosure that the paper expresses the views of the students who wrote it, and not that of the District, its administrators or Board of Education and that residents receive the right of free speech at all District referendum informational meetings.

"How much free speech for all residents does this board want?

“Let's see.

“Is there second here for free speech?” Snow asked.

None of the dukes or duchesses were up to such radical behavior.

“There was no second to my motion,“ Snow explained. “They didn’t want to talk about free speech today. They wanted to make it very narrow.”

On Friday, after I got the email from the Huntley School District 158 high school paper advisor telling me that his superintendent had “embargoed” its issuance, I filed a Freedom of Information request for all emails that had been sent by school personnel about the editorial.

This morning, probably the most liberal member of the school board—Kim Skaja--confessed that she had given the editorial to the Northwest Herald. I guess a school superintendent can’t enforce an “embargo” on one of his seven bosses.

Did she cause the whole uproar?

Did Ms. Skaja get an electronic copy of the editorial? If so, from whom?

The Northwest Herald's article Saturday said--in its second paragraph--

"I was totally shocked," said board member Kimberly Skaja, who read the editorial online and described it as well-written.

"Isn't that special!" is what Saturday Night Live's Church Lady would have said.

And, come to think of it, this could be the one the show's continuing skits.

Was Larry Snow the only board member who was not allowed to see the editorial before the meeting was called?

Only a future reply to by Freedom of Information request may provide a public answer.

One thing is for certain.

While the “Critical Six” school board members may have planned to burn Snow at the stake, he’s still alive and motivated…although his hair may be singed a bit.

They did burn their straw man censorship, however.

Here's the Northwest Herald's pre-print internet version of the meeting.

Maybe I should have just titled this little tidbit from the County Board minutes:

Revolving Loan Fund – Bad Debt Expense,

but it seemed to need a political context.

The entire budget amendment passed last Thursday is below, but, in summary, a $200,000 loan was made with county-controlled funds in December, 2004, to a start-up company called Contempos Industries, collateralized only by its inventory.

Less than a year later the firm was in bankruptcy court.

The State’s Attorney’s Office advised the county board to write off $177, 470 of the $200,000 loan—last December 1st. That right before the filing of petitions for re-election.

Now, let’s see.

This story’s appearance might have jeopardized the re-nomination of some county board members, had it seen the light of day in a timely basis.

But, action taken two days after that primary election—which is when the county board voted to take the financial bath—would have the minimum political fall-out.

Only the Democrats could make hay out of it this fall…and we know how much chance it is that such a challenger will make a close race of any of the county board contests.

The Illinois Secretary of State’s Office reports that Contempo Industries is headed by Ken Pawela, 1704 Ginko Court in McHenry. The firm’s location is 455 Borden Street in Woodstock. Richard Szyzka of 36 Pheasant Run in Hawthorne is listed as the company’s secretary. It was incorporated in late July, 2004.

In a December 5, 2005, report from the “Troubled D Company Reporter” it was listed as doing business as both Woodstock Gardens and Contempo Products.

To see the minutes, click here.

I think this is a third generation story, but the second one—on Forbes.com —is the first time I saw it.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Congressman Donald Manzullo is challenging a 16,000 computer contract won by Vernon Hills computer supplier CDW. He is doing so because he thinks a Chinese government-owned company is providing subsidized computers.

Vernon Hills is not in Manzullo's district.

Entitled, “Why Men Hate Going to Church,” this book is aimed at explaining why virtually every Christian church has more women than men attending and participating. The author argues that churches are designed to attract women, not men.

Going to church not exciting. It is boring.

Relationships are emphasized in church. There are plenty of programs, but few projects. Things guys are good at are not are not needed at a church after it is built (assuming here that the men helped build the church).

My grandfather, Roy Skinner, helped build a church on the rural Eastern Shore of Maryland. I think it was a Holiness Church. (The Holiness Church is in the Wesleyan tradition, as is the Methodist Church.) That was in the 1940’s, when he and my grandmother, Addie Watling-Skinner, apparently decided that the Methodist Church had gotten off the right track. (I have no doubt what they would say today.)

This book makes suggestions of how to change churches so they can again attract the kind of bold, active leaders Jesus found for his disciples.

I’m not quite halfway through the book, so I can’t provide its prescription for re-engaging the men who find golfing, watching sports on TV or just sleeping in more exciting that church.

But, I can tell you that the least boring service at First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake is the 11 o'clock one. I irreverently call it the "hip-hop" service, but that does not accurately describe it. For starters, there is no hip-hop music. It features a message, of course, but not delivered in one fell swoop. It is interrupted with video clips, a skit, sometimes modern dance, and often brassy music.

Illinois has an open primary, but it is not a secret primary.

Voters must declare the party among whose candidates they wish to chose.

Party officials and candidates favor the system because it provides targets to contact in following primaries. They have a good indication of who will vote in their party’s primary from who did so in the past.

In Springfield, a Democratic Party insurgent candidate for state representative, narrowing beat the establishment favorite, probably because he put a referendum on the ballot asking whether people would rather have a secret open primary or a public open primary.

Surprise!

80% voted in favor of voter privacy in the insurgent-inspired referendum. (It took 5,000 petition signatures to get the question on the ballot.)

The insurgent won the election by 200 votes.

Bernie Schoenburg of Springfield’s State Journal-Register has the definitive column on the upset. Bernie calls it a “closed primary,” but it realty isn’t. Voters can switch from party to party from election to election.

Good news for fans of Santa’s Village.

It won’t turn into another boring townhouse development.

That’s the news from Elgin’s Daily Courier-News.

It’s already being spruced up and the new purchasers plan to install an indoor water park and a hotel.

Spokesman for the new owners—Steve Hopp—has a great sense of humor. Here’s an example:

Hopp even looked at adding a revolving dining room that turned 360 degree(s) at the top of the proposed hotel, to give diners a breathtaking view of the Fox Valley. The cost, though, was too high.

“We decided to buy swivel chairs instead,” he joked.

The only downside is to taxpayers. The East Dundee village board is thinking of helping the developers finance the project with a Tax Increment Financing district. TIF’s suck money out of all the other tax districts, resulting in their raising their rates enough to recoup the money given to help the developers.

 
Found at Disney World standing in line out of Ma's Cafe 

It is no big secret that the allies of the teachers union in Carpentersville District 300 resented Huntley School Board member Larry Snow insertion of financial forecasting facts that contradicted the official “line” of the district and its tax hike committee.

Their allies on the Huntley school board wrote a letter to local papers rebuking Snow for meddling in the referendum of another school district. Then, they backed off when challenged by a Pioneer Press reporter.

The student editor of the school paper read letters to local papers from the other six Huntley school board members criticizing Snow. “After being alerted to the article by parents of kids in the class,” as the Daily Herald article reports today, the target of the editorial, board member Larry Snow, said he asked administrators to review the article and remove it from the publication if it was inappropriate or inaccurate.

The superintendent subsequently “embargoed” the distribution of the paper…except to the Northwest Herald, which ran a “freedom of the press” story on its front page yesterday. McHenry County Blog’s story on that article, which includes an email using the word “embargo,” is here.

How did the Huntley School District reach this point?

Here’s what the Tribune wrote today:

The editorial stemmed from Snow's role in a tax referendum campaign in neighboring District 300. Snow said that after the local Rotary Club asked him to examine the district's finances, he concluded publicly that its revenues were healthier than school officials had claimed.

McHenry County Blog is the only outlet that covered the Algonquin/Lake in the Hills Rotary Club presentation.

“Fiscal hawk” (that’s what the Tribune calls him) Snow’s comment in the Tribune:

"I think it's a valid question to say to what extent do we want our high school newspaper to allow personal attacks of residents, teachers, public officials, political ridicule of people," he said.

The Daily Herald reports

“He wanted to me to pull the editorial,” (Michael) Skala said of Snow. Skala said he told Snow he couldn’t do it by himself, that the board as a whole had to act.”

So instead, Skala said he decided to forbid the 1,500 copies from being delivered until the board could discuss the issue in a special meeting set for Monday morning.

Skala was, or course, one of the six board members who signed the letter criticizing Snow, which the student newspaper quoted.

Ironically, the student paper had editorially praised Snow earlier in the year.

And, also with some irony, the student editors did not praise Snow for leading the opposition to starting school in mid-August—a fight that would seem to suggest that he was paying attention to his school district’s affairs a tad bit more than the student editors state. He won that fight.

Neither paper noted the inaccuracy in the student editorial.

Their quote of the “critical six’s” letter was not published in the Northwest Herald, as the editorial said. It was published in the Daily Herald.

They did, however, find sources to say that what Skala and the school superintendent had done was wrong.

A school board meeting was set by Skala for Monday morning at 8 AM.

Labels: Huntley School District 158, Larry Snow, Mike Skala, The Voice

In out third and final installment of Carpentersville resident Wayne Bastiaan’s election morning “sign patrol,” we return to Dundee-Crown High School where the men in the red District 300 truck were instructed to put back the signs they had taken down and put in the back of their school district red truck.

This time we learn Superintendent Ken Arndt’s explanation of why green ribbons were allowed on District 300’s Dundee-Crown High School trees right before the referendum.

Bastiaan sets the scene:

“I noticed a bunch of green ribbons tied around small trees on District 300 property at Dundee-Crown’s parking lot area.

“The principal was no longer available.

“When I mentioned the green ribbons, I was told by the policeman (he’s the local policeman at that high school, but he is a Carpentersville cop) that I had spoken my piece already and, if I didn’t leave, I would be arrested for criminal trespassing.

“I then called Superintendent (Kenneth) Arndt’s office.

“He returned my call.

“I asked him about the green ribbons and he made a joke about St. Patrick’s Day:

‘They’re St. Patrick’s Day ribbons.’”

"That's behind us and these ribbons are your solidarity ribbons you were tellin people to put up, just like your 'Yes' signs.

"Then I asked if they would them from the trees on school property at Crown and he said, 'No.' Then, I asked him if I could remove them and he said, 'No.'

Then, he came back and said,

"You can go ahead and tie red ribbons up on those same trees, if you like."

If you missed the Golfview Grade School dumpster diving for "Vote No" signs yesterday, click here.

The blue marked signs, by the way came from the blue garbage can at Dundee-Crown High School, rather than the dumpster.

Found at the First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake.

It appears that the previously praiseworthy District 158 board member Larry Snow has now morphed into the devil in the minds of those who wrote student newspaper editorial featured in the Northwest Herald today.

The reason?

He dared speak truths about the inadequacy of the District 300 financial projections.

First, his six fellow board members attacked him in letters to several local papers. Here is a letter in Snow’s defense that McHenry County Blog received.

Then, a spokesman for the critical six back off, saying the letter was not meant to be “criticism.”

Now, the student newspaper has chimed in citing the complaints made by the “critical six.”

I tried to get a copy of the newspaper editorial—and may still—but when I asked school officials, I was told it had been “embargoed by order of the superintendent.”

Funny how the Northwest Herald could get a copy, but McHenry County Blog can’t—even after it has been published by the Northwest Herald. Most strange.

So, if you want to read what the students wrote, click on the Northwest Herald link above. Editor Jake Sanches told the NW Herald that it was edited four times.

Then, come back and tell everyone what you think.

  

Yesterday, McHenry County Blog reported on the District 300 red truck that Superintendent Ken Arndt dismissed in a March 14th Northwest Herald article like this:

"District 300 Superintendent Ken Arndt said the allegations that district officials were pulling the signs was an urban legend, and said he was confident that the district had not pulled ‘no’ signs.”

Today, let’s go dumpster diving with Wayne Bastiaans at Carpentersville’s Golfview Grade School.

Here, Mastiaans continues with his commentary on his election morning “sign patrol":

"I also went to Golfview School in Carpentersville. I had put up a bunch of signs in yards across the street (from the school). They were taken out of three people’s yards.

“I looked over at the school and saw some dumpsters at the left. So, I went over and looked in the dumpsters. “Under some garbage bags were some ‘No’ signs.

“I then went into the administrative office.

“The principal was out.

“I spoke with his secretary.

“She came out to the dumpster with me to view these ‘No’ signs.

"She told me that those signs were on school property between the Golfview sign and the school and that the janitor was told to remove them.

“I removed the signs from the dumpster and one of the signs—I was marking my signs—had been taken from across the street.”

Bastiaans had marked the signs he put up in the yards across the street with a blue marking pen. He said that there was a blue mark was on one side of one of the “Vote No” signs in the Golfview Grade School Dumpster.

(The blue marked signs, by the way came from the blue garbage can at Dundee-Crown High School, rather than the dumpster. Bastiaan did not take a picture of them where the blue stripe can be seen.)

Saturday read the article about what District 300 Superintendent Ken Arndt says the green ribbons tied to trees in the Dundee-Crown High School Parking lot signify.

Bought in Baghdad is this tee shirt saying “Who’s Your Baghdaddy!” on the front in English on the front and in Arabic on the back.

It is available only in Baghdad, according to the father of one of my son's classmates. His brother bought it there.

8th congressional district Republican nominee David McSweeney called this afternoon with praise for what his 8th congressional district

“Kathy has been a complete class act and saved me months of heartache by unifying the Republican Party, he said. “I think she set an example for the rest of the Republican Party.

“She called me Tuesday night before the returns were final and she pledged her strong support. Then, she went in front of her supporters and the TV and all the newspapers and supported my candidacy as the Republican nominee,” he continued.

“To top things off, she showed up at the Republican unity event and, not only reiterated her support, but gave me a check for $1,000,” he said.

“I believe she has a bright future in the Republican Party.

“She is allowing me to focus on my message and also to focus on Bean’s message instead of trying two or three months straight to unify the party.”

You say you want evidence of sign stealing by District 300 employees and other tax hikers. Wayne Bastiaans learned from the disappointing response of the Carpentersville Police Department when a citizen reported a District 300 red truck with “Vote No” signs in the back.

Here's his story:

"I was out at 5:30 AM along King’s Road going to Dundee-Crown High
School.

"There were a lot of people putting up signs. I came back 45 minutes later and I had seen where there were 5 signs, one a 'Vote No' sign. Those five signs on the public right-of-way were gone.

"I glanced around and saw a red pick-up truck parked near the old DeLacey School.

"So I immediately drove over to the pick-up truck and I saw wire sticking out of the back end of it, so I got out of my car and walked up to it, saw a bunch of signs and one out of the five was a 'No' sign.

"So, I started taking pictures.

"At that time, there were two men there. One of them asked,

What are you doing?
Taking pictures of these signs that were stolen.

"He didn’t like it that I was taking pictures of the truck and him.

"He called the Carpentersville Police in on me.

"The policeman showed up. We talked about what happened. I told the policeman I was going over to the high school to talk to the principal.

"I parked my car and started walking up to the doors to the school. As I was walking up, there was a large blue garbage can. Sticking up out of that can were wires attached to three 'No' signs in the garbage can.

"I made the policeman look at that. He didn’t like me telling him to do that.

"While trying to get a hold of the principal—his name is Whitehouse—I was being told that since I was not the parent of a student, I was trespassing and they were thinking about arresting me for trespassing. A couple of assistant principals and the policeman. The principal wasn’t there yet.









"The principal showed up. I spoke with him about the pick-up truck with the signs and he made those men put the signs back.

"Then, I told the principal about the three signs in the blue garbage can and he said he didn’t know who put them there, that it was probably students.

After McHenry County Blog ran its story, Daily Herald colunnist Amy Mack wrote this column. It said that the Dundee Township Road Commissioner was picking up signs posted on township road right-of-ways.

That is, of course, completely appropriate action. However, the township road commissioner does not pick up signs within municipalities like Carpentersville, where a District 300 red truck was seen with "Vote No" signs in the back.

It looks like the answer is about 3% percentage points, if the two District 300 referendum results are any indication.

The bond referendum was endorsed by all three daily newspapers, plus the weekly Pioneer Press. The tax hikers got 55.5% on the school building question.

As I have stated elsewhere, I think the papers went with the wishes of major advertisers—the homebuilders. It was just business.

However, the tax hike forces failed to make a good enough case for the 55-cent tax rate hike to Daily Herald and Elgin’s Daily Courier-News. That referendum passed by only 52%.

So, it appears to me that getting the tax hikers’ failure to obtain the endorsement for its tax hike proposal by two out of three of the regional daily newspapers resulted in a drop off of about three percentage points.

We now know that Rod Blagojevich and Judy Topinka are the major (power) party candidates for governor, but who knows there is a Constitution Party candidate who wants to be on the ballot, too.

His name is Randall Stufflebeam and the Constitution Party is his game. He describes his party as “conservative.”

The retired Marine says,

Illinois citizens are faced with the left wing and the right wing of the same bird, flying they wrong direction.

I WILL BE THE ONLY pro-life, pro-family, pro-2nd-Amendment, pro-veteran, anti-corruption, anti-illegal-immigration candidate on the ballot.

Of course, getting enough signatures to get on the ballot--25,000--and withstanding what will be a whithering petition challenge by Republicans is a big task.

At least such a challenge will probably not have public employees working on public time working on the challenge, as George Ryan's Secretary of State's employees did in 1998. (Source: Chicago Tribune post-general election story in 1998.)

I would have some advice that Libertarians unfortunately were unable to follow during the challenge of my gubernatorial petitions in 2002. Video everything you can using a time stamp. That would allow Stufflebeam supporters to prove any inappropiate use of public employees. (Had there been an extra Libertarian with a camera, Judy Baar Topinka might not be the GOP candidate for governor today.)


To read his whole release, click here.

The answer is pretty simple, actually.

Somewhere is some Republican campaign material I read advice from Abraham Lincoln on how to win an election. It is deceptively easy:

1 - Identify your supporters.
2 – Get them to the polls.

If you think that is simple, try it some election.

That’s a paraphrase, of course. Here’s the real thing:

"Make a list of every Whig and make sure they vote."

Certainly, the Carpentersville District 300 tax hike committee committed the enough of its $200,000 in resources to run a voter identification and get out the vote campaign. My guess is that, with $62,500, the Woodstock District 200 tax hike group did, too.

I saw part of the District 300 tax hike operation in action two Saturdays before the election in western Carpentersville, south of Huntley Road. A man and a woman were walking in a neighborhood that already had “Yes” sign penetration of over 40%. Clearly, it had already been worked once. This couple was there for a second (maybe, even a third) try to find the people who had been missed before.

(When I was a Republican precinct committeeman, I tried to knock on everyone’s door at each election—that was 5 times every 2 years. I found that over a 4-year period, I would get a chance to meet someone at pretty much every home. The point is that one must go back again and again to reach everyone.)

What the District 300 tax hike committee did to win was to outspend and outwork the opponents.

The opponents had no real ground campaign beyond signs, which the proponents repeatedly removed. (More on that subject—with pictures of a red truck—in a later story.)

The tax hikers, on the other hand, expended many resources on identifying who would vote “Yes.” On election day, I’ll give large odds that they were calling those who had not yet voted to exhort them to go to the polls well past 6 PM.

The opponents campaign was pretty much over before election day.

The proponents realized that the battle was not over until the polls closed.

Let’s use a more of war analogy.

Both the proponents and the opponents carpet-bombed the mail boxes.

The opponents ran special operations (meetings) resulting in publicizing their side of the issue.

The opponents had an intelligence operation going for them that drove the tax hikers nuts. Led by Larry Snow’s February 8th Algonquin-LITH's Rotary Club alternative interpretation of District 300’s financial projections that intelligence resulted in the heavy damage of two traditional allies' (daily newspapers) refusing to participate in one front of the war (endorse the tax hike referendum).

The proponents had big guns, too. These Big Berthas heaved huge sums of money into the treasury of the tax hikers. They (at least those operated by developers) also managed to somehow convey to every newspaper how important it was to approve the bond issue…if (circulation) growth and homebuilder advertising were to continue.

However, only the proponents had ground troops that went door-to-door and made phone calls.

You can no more drive the enemy out of Baghdad without ground troops than you can even the odds in a tax hike referendum without following Lincoln’s campaign advice.

- - - - -
Although I predicted a higher turnout in my pre-election article estimating the cost per vote in Districct 300, Dundee Township Republican Precinct Committeeman Marc Avelar rightly notes that I didn't include that factor in this analysis. He's posted it in comments, but it deserves to be seen in the main article:

Something missing from your analysis is the impressive voter turnout which took place within most of D300's precincts. In my own precinct, Dundee Precinct #29, 55.5% was the overall turnout. That's 422 out of 761 registered voters turned out to vote on Tuesday. Of those 422 voters, 277 took Republican ballots, 86 took Democrat, and 59 cast non-partisan ballots.

That's the highest voter turnout in a non-General Election for my home precinct (and I've lived here over 11 years).

Marc V. Avelar
Algonquin, IL

- - - - -
At the 2002 primary election, District 300 voters approved a $35 million Working Cash Fund was approved 8-7, a 56% “Yes” vote. 15,886 people voted.

In the 2000 presidential election, another referendum was held by District 200. 30,531 voted on the referendum to borrow $88 million to build Westfield School and increase the tax rate maximum from $2.40 to $2.70 per $100 of A.V. The proposal passed 18,304 to 12,227—almost a 60% voting for approval.

I based by cost per vote predictions on a 20,000 voter turn out. My turnout projections were about 10% too low.

Undoubtedly, a lot of people will be feeling frustrated like Donald Duck is in this classic pose. What are you sputtering about this day after the primary election?

This picture was not taken at Disney World. For some reason, my wife bought me this swear shirt and gave it to me for Christmas. (McHenry County Blog may have its first administrator-deleted comments, if people get too close to the truth as to why my bride thought this was appropriate for me.)

Check last night's articles on election returns.

As readers of this blog know, peace advocate Bill Scheurer wants to run as a third-party candidate in the 8th congressional district against incumbent Congresswoman Melissa Bean and newly nominated Republican candidate David McSweeney.

I have observed before that I believe his presence on the ballot would pretty much guarantee the election of the Republican candidate.

Scheurer has issued a press release, one paragraph of which I find particularly revealing:

What do the D.C. Dems fear more than a grassroots progressive primary challenge? A grassroots progressive challenge in the general election. The only thing that can put at risk what they value most -- winning, no matter what.

He argues that “progressives” can only get a seat at the Democratic Party table by showing that can deny Democrats something they value most—the power of a congresswoman like Bean.

Scheurer characterizes the attitude of national Democrats thusly,

eat at the children’s table, kids

Does this sound like what conservatives are saying my post at Illinoize on Judy Topinka’s sop to conservatives?

You can find the full press release by clicking here.

Cost Per “Yes” Vote in District 300

When I predicted the cost for every “Yes” vote in District 300 would be $7.50 per vote, I said

Let’s guess that 20,000 people will vote. That’s 1/3 more than voted at the 2002 primary and 2/3 of those who turned out at the 2000 general.

I was about 10% low on my turnout guess.

22,033 voted in the bond referendum and 22,939 voted in the tax rate hike referendum. (These figures exclude the portion of the district in Cook County, where results cannot be read on County Clerk David Orr’s web site.)

The tax hikers had a really good voter identification and get out the vote effort, while the opponents had none.

I also assumed that each side would get 10,000 votes, that is, that the election would be 50-50.

In reality, the tax hikers got 12,233 people to support the bond issue and 11,962 to vote “Yes” on the tax rate hike.

So, instead of getting a total of 20,000 votes, as I guessed, the tax hikers got 24,295 votes.

When I divide 24,295 into the $200,000 available to be spent (what I can find reported on the State Board of Elections web site since the state of 2005), the tax hikers’ cost per vote comes out to $8.23.

That’s in the range of what the Democrats paid East St. Louis voters during the 2004 presidential election. They paid $5-$10, but, of course, they wanted every vote on the ballot, so their cost per vote was lower.

Of course, the District 300 tax hikers didn’t put cash into people’s pockets…unless you want to count the District 300 employees who will undoubtedly end up with more cash in their pockets as a result of the 55-cent tax hike.

The Crystal Lake Park Board will have five of its 7 seats up for election next April.

Up for re-election are

Scott Breeden, who voted against the Gay Games, and

Gay Games supporters

Candy Reedy
Michael Zellman

I believe the latter two will be facing some rough waters.

That’s because a solid core of residents are resentful of the in-your-face political intrusion of the gay political movement into family-friendly Crystal Lake.

In the past, these “family values” folks have only paid attention to national and state politics…with few exceptions.

Now, they know it makes a difference who serves on the Crystal Lake Park Board. (And, they figure out it also makes a difference who serves on the Crystal Lake City Council and Lakewood Village Board.)

My guess is that they will try to do something about it.

In addition to the three current board members whose terms expire, there will be two more seats open because park district voters expanded the board from 5 to 7 members on a vote of 3,055 to 2,161.

With two of the three Gay Games supporters on the ballot (assuming Reedy and Zellman run for re-election), there are clear targets for the opposition.

But, every candidate runs at large. In order to get them off the board, the insurgents will have to field five candidates.

And, they will have to identity 2,500 people who will support their candidates.

Next April, Crystal Lake will look like it is having an election…as opposed to this year’s primary elections, where I was able to drive three miles on arterial streets to pick up our baby sitter and not see one political sign after I left my house.

By a margin of 341 votes, the proposal of the Crystal Lake Rural Fire Protection District lost. The percentage voting against the referendum was 61%.

By a 106-vote margin, the Marengo Rescue Squad referendum passed on Tuesday.

The Fire Protection District referendum passed by 246 votes.

Was it because of voter dissatisfaction with the Crystal Lake Park Board’s vote on the Gay Games that led voters to vote 3,055 to 2,161 to expand the park board from 5 to 7 members?

Probably there is no way to know. No one did exist polling.

With two new members to be selected and at least one of the current board up for election next year, maybe citizens decided they want the change to elect people who more closely represent their views than the 3-member majority that voted to allow the Gay Games regatta on Crystal Lake on a prime Sunday in mid-July.

Another, more insider reason for 7 members, is that now no two members may talk to each other about park district business under rules of the Open Meetings Act. They have to communicate through a third party.

With 7 members, two members may talk about park business directly.