McHenry County Blog

“Meat Is Dead” is what this bumper sticker said at the Old Capitol Art Fair in Springfield.

This person probably did not enjoy a corn dog.

A year ago Parkway Bank Chairman Rocco Suspenzi refused to tell the state Gaming Board "about his role in secretly splitting up an investment in the now-defunct Emerald Casino with at least one man the FBI has claimed associated with members of organized crime,” according to the Chicago Tribune reporter John Chase.

Now, another Suspenzi is in more serious trouble.

Here’s the beginning of the U.S. Attorney’s press release today:

A former bank officer was charged today with fraud and federal income tax offenses for allegedly obtaining nearly $500,000 from a customer’s credit line and converting the money to his own use. The defendant, Jeffrey Suspenzi, was charged with one count of bank fraud and two counts of filing false individual income tax returns in a three-count criminal information filed today in U.S. District Court, announced Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

Suspenzi, 34, of South Elgin and formerly of Palatine, was an assistant vice president of Parkway Bank and Trust Company, based in Harwood Heights.

It seems likely that the two Suspenzi’s are related, so could this be a way of prying information out of bank Chairman Rocco Suspenzi?

= = = =

Tucked away in the business section of the Chicago Sun-Times on June 1 is this story. It turns out that Jeffrey is the son of Parkway Bank's chairman and faces up to 30 years in prison, if convicted. Here is the Chicago Tribune's story.

Assuming Judy Topinka has enough money for TV ads, she might want to take a page out of California State Treasurer Phil Angelides’ use of Illinois Democratic Party corruption in his quest for his state’s gubernatorial nomination.

Awaiting sentencing in the Downstate Teachers Pension kickback scheme in Illinois is former Democratic National Committee Finance Chairman Joe Cari.

Joe Cari, as in the guy who fingered Governor Rod Blagojevich as “Public Official A.”

As in a guy who helped Al Gore raise big money.

Now, California Democrats are batting Illinois Dem crook Cari around like a tennis ball.

Whom Cari helped most is a major issue in California’s June 6th gubernatorial primary fight.

Is Democrat State Treasurer or Democrat State Comptroller Steve Westly more corrupt? That seems to be the issue before Democratic Party primary voters.

State Treasurer Angelides is excoriating State Comptroller Westly for
Raising cash from “a corrupt Chicago businessman,” according to the Los Angeles Times

But, Blagojevich also got $15,000 from Cari—in three 2003-04 chunks of $5,000. Each donation ranked as national player Cari’s biggest Illinois contribution.

What did Blagojevich do with the money?

On August 4th--after Cari copped a plea--the Governor gave it back to Cari.

In effect, Blagojevich made a contribution to his fellow Democrat’s legal defense fund.

And Demo crook Steven Loren, a Blagojevich administration appointee also caught up in the pension scandal, got his $4,500 back, too.

How much more fertile are the crooks, alleged crooks and pre-alleged crooks who helped Governor Rod Blagojevich!

Just in case Topinka’s creative people need any help, here’s part of the TV ad:

"This is Joe Cari," the narrator intones. "He's a corrupt Chicago businessman who gave Steve Westly thousands in campaign contributions."

Westly's picture appears, and the narrator continues: "Westly then steered public pension funds to Joe Cari's investment company….

"Now Joe Cari has pleaded guilty to extortion in a pension fund scandal."

Monday, the LA Times reported that the Clinton-supported Democratic candidate making the charge also sought Cari’s help in fund raising.

Tuesday, the San Francisco Chronicle's Ad Watch reported:

Cari held fundraisers for Westly in New York and Chicago and, in 2004, the fund invested $5 million in Healthpoint….Westly can't deny that he backed the investment efforts of a fundraiser who was later convicted of a felony.

And, if you think that only in Illinois do public officials try to raise money from those doing business with state pension funds, read this, also from the LA Times:

Westly and Angelides both sit on the state's main public pension boards, and both have raised millions in campaign donations from companies and individuals seeking lucrative pension fund investments.

Topinka can run similar ads, of course.

But she could make them more powerful.

Not only did Blagojevich give money back to pension fund crooks Cari and Loren, but he also gave $500 back to alleged mob firm M&M Amusements on April 28, 2005.

Only after I asked political spokesman Peter Giangreco what the Governor was going to do now that M&M (think brothers James and Michael Marcello) had been implicated in the massive mob indictment was the money returned.

On the other hand, contributions from multi-indicted and part-time Republican Stuart Levine of the alleged Crystal Lake Mercy hospital kickback and the pension fund kickback fame were not returned.

Blagojevich directed his $4,267 in contributions to the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation.

The seventh page explains the review and selection process.

The final page designates Michelle Rentzsch, the city's Director of Planning & Economic development as the sole contact person and sets the submission deadline for June 30th at 4 PM.

Then, there are two paragraphs of disclaimers, including one that says with 60 days written notice, any subsequent agreement may be cancelled, immediately, if there is a violation of the terms, conditions, requirements and/or non-performance on the agreement. (Click to enlarge image below.)

  

Yesterday’s issue of the Chicago Tribune’s Red Eye has an article by Kyra Kyles designating

40 entertainers, leaders, sports personalities and tastemakers who are making a difference in Chicago today.

Listed first in the article is

Christee Snell [49, Gay Games managing director]

Commenting on her group’s overcoming of the "outcry" in Crystal Lake, she said,

"We finally made them understand that this was just an issue of people, athletes, wanting to row," said Snell, who replaced the event's executive director Brian McGuinness after his firing was announced early this month.

Eleven lines are devoted to her profile. The next longest (for Vince Vaughn [36, actor]) is ten lines long and most of the entries are just a couple of lines long.

So, not only is her importance noted by being first in the article, but also by being given the most space.

The Tribune puts her first in the list of “Leaders.” Mayor Daley is second.

I think she should have been first in the “Tastemaker” category, but there is no such section, despite the article's introductory paragraph.

How should she have been categorized?

Another tee shirt from the Old State Capitol Art Fair, held last weekend in Springfield.

Can you guess what

wysiwyg

means?

I had no clue.

It’s

What You See Is What You Get

Male or female?

Many people might remember what brought down George Dunne, but probably no one knows how he helped protect Illinoisans from the spread of HIV.

He had to go around the radicals who were running Cook County Hospital to do it.

What brought him into the issue was a bill sponsored by State Rep. Penny Pullen (R-Park Ridge) that required health care workers involved in invasive procedures to tell patients if they were HIV-infected. Some physician at County Hospital was HIV-infected and Dunne was trying to assign him to administrative duties over the objections of his left-leaning advocates.

In Springfield, the health committee was, as usual, dominated by liberals, who had already cleared the AIDS Confidentiality Act that tied the hands of public health officials.

For the same committee to approve a comprehensive public protection package required divine intervention, in this case, of the human variety.

That intervener was George Dunne.

And, because of that intervention, Illinois did not go the way New York and California. Our HIV laws are a mixed bag, but relatively protective of the public’s health.

Dunne's wife, Claudia, is Chairman of the National Day of Prayer for Chicago.

Back on February 2, 2003, I wrote an article for Illinois Leader entitled, “I’m Rod. Fly Me…For Free.”

The fruits of part of what I found—horse race track owners flying gubernatorial candidate Rod Blagojevich around the state—were harvested last Friday. That’s when Governor Rod Blagojevich signed legislation awarding the industry $36 million a year from Chicagoland’s four casinos over two years.

A company controlled by Richard Duchossois (who owns a big part of Churchill Downs, to which he sold Arlington Park) provided one fly-around on October 23rd. Add to that $25,000 in cash from Churchill Downs that had an Octobler 25th date and you have a big chit.

Cicero’s Sportsman’s Park spent $75,990 on nine free plane trips from August 18th through September 21st. That’s a lot of “face time.”

On May 28th, Sun-Times Springfield Bureau reporter Tracy Swartz quoted Cindi Canari of the Illinois Committee for Campaign Reform as saying the industry had contributed $250,000 to Blagojevich.

May 8th, Sun-Times Springfield Bureau Chief Dave McKinney reported the beneficiaries:

· track owners 40 percent…, leaving the rest for breeders, farmers and others in horse racing
· Arlington Park - $4.2 million
· Hawthorne Race Course - $4 million
· Balmoral Park Racetrack and Maywood Park to split $4.09 million

Whether one uses the $250,000 contribution-to-date figure or the $81,322 spent on the fly-arounds or the $106,322 contributed at the end of the 2002 campaign, the horse racing industry got a huge return on it “investment.”

Somewhere between 132-1 to 405-1.

The odds for the tracks were lower, a bit over 11-1, if one goes with the $106,322 pre-election figure I found.

Here are the details of the fly-arounds:

Duchossois Industries Inc, Elmhurst $5,332 10/23
Sportsman’s Park, Cicero $5,524 8/18
Sportsman’s Park, Cicero $8,760 8/23
Sportsman’s Park, Cicero $24,812 8/26
Sportsman’s Park, Cicero $5,512 9/2
Sportsman’s Park, Cicero $10,254 9/4
Sportsman’s Park, Cicero $5,202 9/14
Sportsman’s Park, Cicero $5,799 9/15
Sportsman’s Park, Cicero $4,964 9/16
Sportsman’s Park, Cicero $5,163 9/21

And, the story of Pegasus:

Bellerophon tried to use Pegasus to fly to Mount Olympus, but Zeus was not amused and sent an insect to bite Pegasus. Pegasus then bucked off Bellerophon, who fell to earth and died. Moral:

Don't try to crash Mount Olympus without an invite.

Another reference mentions that Pegasus is most closely related to Corinth.

Are there parallels today?

Labels: Arlington Park Race Track, Cindi Canari, Horse Racing, Pay to Play, Pegasus, Richard Duchossois, Rod Blagojevich, Sportsman's Park

That’s what Eric Krol reported in the Daily Herald’s Animal Farm blog on May 19th.

She also thinks the Protect Marriage Amendment is “unnecessary.”

Guess she has not been following what the Massachusetts Supreme Court did to legalize homosexual and lesbian marriage.

Bean’s 8th congressional districts opponent supports the advisory referendum, which is designed to bring pressure on the General Assembly to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot in 2008.

Bean says she is opposed to same sex marriages, but “supports basic partnership rights.

Pro-abortion, pro-homosexual rights.

This should be an interesting campaign with the lines drawn so sharply on social issues.

It’s the tourism industry.

At least that’s what I heard after my congressman, Robert C. McClory, passed the three-day holiday bill.

(McClory was the man I unsuccessfully challenged for Congress in 1980. He won Lake and Kane Counties in the primary; I won McHenry. He blinked re-apportionment year, when he was put in the same district as Congressman John Porter.)

That probably is the most significant bill that McClory sponsored.

And, before you yawn, how many congressmen have done something as significant to your life as changing the calendar.

There were traditionalists like me in the General Assembly that refused to change the state’s Memorial Holiday date to conform to this congressional action, but eventually, the legislature caved in.

Page 6 contains the submission requirements--15 copies with these specified sections:

General approach to redevelopment of the site (2 pages)

Names, addresses, phone and fax numbers of all principal firms involved, including their roles, responsibilities, and authority, plus size and depth of experience and current workload for "2005 and 2006." (That must be a typo.) Also wanted is information of previous projects over the last five years and a company history.

Names of project personnel and their areas of expertise and responsibility, plus the name of the Project Manager.

Evidence of the development team's financial strength and ability to obtain financing for the project, which information shall be "confidential."

Three references from similar projects, that is, public/private ventures, "if possible."

Click to enlarge page.  

I remember the first Italian I became friends with back in the 1960's.

He so much wanted to fit in that he insisted on wearing a white shirt and tie almost all the time. (My wife's Italian family is much more informal and relaxed.)

I wonder if the driver of this car, seen on Route 14 in front of the Fannie May store has a similar desire for acceptance.

Of course, the only words I can read are “el army.”

Any Spanish speakers who can translate the whole bumper sticker?

On the way home from work, my wife heard that seatbelt use was going to be strictly enforced. I don’t know whether it was for Memorial Day traffic and right now.

The put that in juxtaposition with the lack of enforcement of the law against illegal immigrants.

"Be sure you wear a seatbelt when you cross the border," the woman who makes me smile, just said.

Not a lot of consistency in the enforcement of laws in the United States, is there?

And, which should have higher priority?

TG wrote a comment to a Quad City Times article on the prospect of leasing tollways by Matt Adrian.

It made me smile so broadly, I thought I would share it with you:

TG wrote on May 28, 2006 6:19 PM:

"Great idea Rod. How about just taking all of the Illinios owned vehicle titles to a title loan place. You can get cash now and not have negative effects until later! Has anyone ever taught you the pitfalls of immediate gratification, Rod?"

Maybe, after the election, the Governor can fulfill his promises by going to Pink Slip Loan Financing.

The fifth page discusses the development possibilities and evaluation criteria.

Apparently, considerable discussion has already occurred with potential developers. The RFQ mentions the city's perspective "has expanded as it has discussed a wide variety of options internally and with deveoplers who have expressed interest in the site."

But, the instructions stress,

"Above all, the City seeks to assure that the redevelopment of the site will include the publicly accessible beach, marina and waterfront amenities."

A beginning vision is outlined next:

1. A commercial activity center adjacent to the public recreation uses that includes destination restaurants, recreation, and recreation-oriented retailing,

2. Mid-rise condominiums on the uplands and luxury townhomes cascading down the slopes of the site, and

3. Redevelopment of adjacent property (on US 14 and Main Street) reoriented toward the lake, in a mix of restaurants, hotel, banquet and conferencing facilities which will take advantage of overviews.

As to evaluation critieria, here is what is listed:

Experience of the Development Team with projects of similar scope.

Indicated understanding of the Vulcan Lake Center concept, project scope, and goals and objectives of the City as evidenced by the contents and quality of the proposal submitted.

Developer's demonstrated capability to plan, finance and successfully carry out the development program.

Financial ability to complete the project as designed.

A demonstrated capacity and commitment to quality control, and cost control.

Makeup of the Team and specific experience of individuals assigned.

Familiarity of the firm with the project area, including environmental consideration, comunity characteristics, and local real estate markets.

Developer's vision or strategy for the development.

Click to enlarge page.  

Managing Editor Chris Krug announced what I think is the Northwest Herald’s first blog.

It will be called Everymom and be written by Jami Kunzer. It will be written in conjunction with Lifestyle columns on Sunday and Thursday.

Krug says Kunzer has three children under 3.

Crystal Lake’s City Clerk Roger Dreher wears many hats. One of them is a fireman’s.

A retired United Airlines pilot from Denver, Dreher spent his spare time for 18 years on the Crystal Lake Fire Department since moving the Crystal Lake in 1968, becoming its chief engineer before retiring.
  He is so into fire protection that he has his own 1928 75-gallon soda acid fire truck, seen here with Dreher in front. The big wheel is used to turn the soda tank over so it can fight a fire, working something like the large fire extinguishers that used to be in school buildings. (Click to enlarge the photograph.)

When Marengo’s recently retired Fire Chief Ross Kitchen decided to retire as president of the Northern Illinois Fire Museum, a 30-person organization, Dreher says he was the only one who “didn’t take four steps back.”

Now, “talking about the fire museum and the fire service is a love of mine,” he told Crystal Lake Kiwanis at the group’s Wednesday luncheon.

The museum is temporarily located in a Meyer Materials building on Route 23 south of Marengo. They have 10 vehicles, including motorized and—on loan from Harvard—the 1851 hand pumper cart used in the 1879 Chicago Fire.

The Museum is open for tours (call815-568-8950) and will soon give its first to the Marengo High School shop class, which has been manufacturing parts for the fire equipment.

The group has $50,000 in the bank as a result of what is euphemistically called a “member initiative” of former State Senator Dick Klemm.

Of course, the organization will need much more than that amount to purchase property and construct a building.

Dreher served two terms on the city council under former Mayor Carl Whede before being elected city clerk.

Two, actually.

Both were found on a car east of the Old State Capitol during the Art Fair.

I discovered there was a Christian women’s conference being held at the Convention Center down the street.

Two former executives of Intercounty Title Company and Independent Trust Co. (also known as Intrust) just got sentenced to 14 years in the Federal pen for defrauding 20,000 investors.

Laurence Capriotte and Jack Hargrove are the bad guys in this $90+ million scheme.

Just for fun, I decided to see to whom these crooks made campaign contributions.

None of the recipients have been accused of doing anything wrong in connection with the contributions, but lets take a look anyway.

I tried “Independent Trust” first and guess what popped up?

$500 to Citizens for Governor George Ryan--since convicted of racketeering--on September 22, 1998.

Now, it wasn’t Independent Trust Company. It was Independent Trust Corporation (15255 S 94th Ave Ste 303, Orland Park, IL 60462), but the odds are good that the two are related, if not the same company. The Illinois Secretary of State’s Office has only the Corporation registered.

Next I plugged in “Capriotte.”

Not a dime of contributions.

Next in was “Hargrove.”

There’s more than one, so I looked for “Jack Hargrove” and found a $2,000 October 17, 1997, contribution to Poshard for Governor.

I’m not sure what to make of the two contributions. It is interesting that Ryan’s contribution comes after the one to Poshard.

While the Tribune story did not mention Intercounty Title Company, the Associated Press story did.

Typing in just “Intercounty,” I hit paydirt.

56 contributions totaling $58,499 from different entities, all located at 120 W. Madison in Chicago.

Most are for Intercounty Title Co Of Illinois, a couple are listed Intercounty National Title and one as Intercounty Title Co Sas PAC, which I cannot find registered as a political action committee.

So, let’s see who Intercounty sought to influence.

Let’s go for the big ones first.

Getting $5,000 were

· Friends of Lee Daniels (plus $1,600 in 1995 and 1997)
· Committee to Elect James A. Deleo and
· Aldo DeAngelis, P.A.

All were in 1996, except DeLeo’s, which was in 1998.

Citizens for Emil Jones received $2,500 in 1996.

Citizens for Jim Myers got $1,650 in 1997, following $500 in 1995 and $1,250 in 1994. Myers’ committee also got a $298 CD player in 1999.

$1,600 was given to Citizens to Re-Elect Thomas J. Walsh in 1997 (plus $500 in 1999).

$1,500 was given to Jesse White in 1998, while State Rep. Bob Churchill got the same amount in 1996. Churchill also received $250 in 1997.

Citizens for George Ryan received $1,400 in 1997.

Which other folks who have been governor got checks from Intercounty?

For contributions $1,000 or less, plus those to others who were or became governors, click here.

Or, play Campaign Finance CSI. (Well, maybe there was no political crime, but it's a catchy title, isn't it?) Here is a chronological look at the campaign contributions of Intercounty.

There are some names of individuals next to some of the Intercounty entries that might yield further clues to why these folks were making political contributions.

While the Chicago Tribune overlooked Crystal Lake in its search for a rowing venue for the 2016 Olympics, it found Crystal Lake in its search for Chicagoland’s best tacos.

Coming in third place was La Rosita, a Mexican grocery on Main Street north of the tracks next to Suburban Office Supply.

The Chicago Tribune’s quest for the best taco in Chicago has a map pointing to Crystal Lake, much like the Gay Games did (even before the Crystal Lake Park District had granted permission).

$1.50 buys the regular taco. The fixin’s are described,
But the real deal-closer were La Rosita’s two breathtaking salsas in big squeeze bottles. Made with tomatillos, garlic and pureed avocado, the green oozes with creamy nuttiness while the chile de arbol-in-fused red unleashes an irresistible firey, smoky finish. We could eat this stuff on tortillas all day long.

The next page explains why a Request for Proposal is not being used. The Request for Qualifications is designed to avoid

"unnecessarily limit(ing) the number and quality of teams responding...The City seeks the most qualified, most enthusiastic, most committed development team, and will, instead, use this RFQ process to select that team as the Developer of Record..."

In the agreement that will be negotiated after the Developer of Record is selected,

"Issues of ownership, control, timing, financial interest, and return on investment will be documented in the development agreement."

The rest of the page is devoted to outlining what Crystal Lake's city government wants to be completed in the first phase of the Vulcan Lakes Center development:

A public beach area and shore protection

A public shelter/cabana/concessions facility

Small boat marina, fishing piers, and several public overlooks

A unifying trail system

Site circulation with access to US 14, Pingree Road and Main Street

Market driven uses compatible with the site are most likely to include:

Active Recreation facilities

High quality restaurants and entertainment uses

Other compatible uses designed to maximize site views, such as high-quality housing, hotel, conference, banquet centers, etc.

The City says it wants the developer to construct the public improvements, which will be reimbursed with TIF money. (Click to enlarge image.)
  

Found at the Old Capitol Art Fair in Springfield last weekend was this boy’s tee shirt:

Daddy’s Side Kick

And, just in case you are in doubt, a proud Dad insisted I take a picture of the two.

By a vote of 78-15, the United States Senate confirmed General Michael Hayden as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

WGN-TV called it a "landslide vote."

It seems like a lot of Democrats in the Senate had a miraculous change of heart since their original outcry at, gasp, a military man taking control of the civilian syy agency. Of course, the General played a similar role at the civilian National Security Agency.

I wonder if their secret briefing resulted in a growing of new spines or whether, when the original opponents heard what the United States is up against, they decided they did not want to be blamed for the next 9/11.

On May 11th, the Northwest Herald advised,

Air Force General Michael Hayden is not the right choice to lead the CIA. President Bush needs a critical thinker in this position, not another "yes" man.

Senators Dick Durbin and Barack Obama followed the Northwest Herald's advice, even if the U.S. Senate, as a whole, did not.

Click to enlarge the editorial.
  

The following page of Crystal Lake's Request for Qualifications lays out the opportunities,

"opportunies,,,(that) do not present themselves every day. Lakefront property with high accessibility, within a diverse and fast growth market, near transit and community services, and supported by tax increment financing...The economics of this development must work for both the developer and the community, and the City seeks a development partnet willing to "dream big" and build well.

The page outlines Crystal Lake's control of "a net developable area shared by public recreation uses and private market driven development of approximately 95 acres. An additional 31 acres of land adjacent to the site are held by owners who have expressed interest in incorporating their property into a unified Vulcan Lakes development.

Without limiting the possibilities, the City anticipates that the open space and recreation facilities on the site will be a natural supporter and compatible partner with restaurants, entertainment, banquet/clubs, recreational venues, and high quality residential uses. Property along Route 14 is most likely to succeed in retail commercial uses. Additional property overlooking the lake, accessible on South Main Street may be suitable for hotel, restaurant, and high quality residential uses.

Concernnig density, the RFQ says,

it recognizes that development densities will need to be commensurate with the overall scale of this project investment. The City will work closely with the developer to assure that the project sets a very high standard for place making, and that it makes a significant contribution to the character of the community.

The Tax Increment Financing district is discussed next:

The City...will use TIF funding to support the cost of infrastructure, public improvements and amenities for the site. As is the case in any TIF project, the greater the private investment in development, the greater the city's capacity to reinvest TIF project funds in the site. The TIF budget anticipates public costs of approximately $20 million in support of infrastructure, site preparation, and public recreation facilities.

Click to enlarge the following:  

I found this matched pair of messages on Oak Street heading into Crystal Lake.

The bumper sticker below the rear window reads ”Goeoist” I think.Below is an appropriate license plate from Iowa:

KATPHSH

Yiddish for,

Do you understand?

I’m not sure I do, but maybe you will.

I see the symbols for Muslims, peace, Jews and, I guess, the "e" is for the environmental movement.

I just got it. The "t" is a Cross for Christianity.

Did I miss anything?

Crystal Lake has issued a Request for Qualifications for developers who would be willing to take on the Vulcan Lakes Tax Increment Financing project, promising a $20 million subsidy for public improvements from the Tax Increment Financing district which will force taxes up throughtout the area.

A Request for Qualifications is quite different from a Request for Proposal. Basically, the city is looking for a partner it can work with. With an RFP, you see a lot more of what you are going to get.

With so much discretion and money involved, I surely hope that the city passes an ordiance which prohibits campaign contributions to local politicians from anyone or company related to the project.

The first page looks like a stock "poop" page that would be sent to anyone inquiring about the area, but the cover of the request certainly doesn't look like Vulcan Lakes to me, but I haven't been at lake level. I'm somewhat color blind, but those look like Northern Lights in the sky.

This looks like a standard "poop" sheet sent to folks considering locating in Crystal Lake. (Click to enlarge any image in this seven-part series.)  

 
Gone fishing...one May evening over what's left of the old icehouse off Gate 7 beach on the south side of Crystal Lake. Click to enlarge. 

This week’s Susan Sovereign column from the Sumner Press is about how children take after their parents.

As a bonus there is a description of how a dog looks when it is fighting a balloon.

Click to enlarge the print.

For other Susan Sovereign columns, press the keys "control" and "F" at the same time and type in "Susan".  

Arlington Heights School Board member Leslie Pinney has created quite a fuss at the second largest high school district in Illinois.

She has targeted a list of nine books listed in the Tribune article:

"Beloved" by Toni Morrison,
"Slaugherhouse Five” by Kurt Vonnegut,
"The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien,
"The Awakening" by Kate Chopin,
"Freakonomics" by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner,
"The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World" by Michael Pollan,
"The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky,
"Fallen Angels" by Walter Dean Myers and
"How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez.

But no samples of what is objected to is quoted in this family newspaper…nor is it likely that any area newspaper will ever include such descriptions of sexual activity and torture.

One email I received contained some pretty descriptions of both. Here’s what I saw

“soft porn” (“Garcia Girls,” “Wallflower”),

“excessive violence” in Vietnam (“Fallen Angels” and “The Things They Carried”) (PETA should be complaining about how a baby water buffalo is killed.) and/or

“uses words you won’t hear broadcast over the airwaves or see in the newspaper” (“Slaughterhouse Five”).

In any event, I don’t remember anything like them in the high schools I attended at Middletown, New York, and Crystal Lake.

In fact, I’ll bet a school board member would object if someone tried to read the excerpts at a school board meeting. And, if a high schooler had any of what is described in the excerpts I read on a video game, a parent would object to having it in the house.

I filed a Freedom of Information request with Crystal Lake High School District 155 asking about the five that seemed to have some of the most explicit language and here’s what I found:

“Slaughter Five” and “The Things They Carried”—the two books about Vietnam--are included as an option in two District 155 English courses. Both of these novels are grouped among other titles that teachers may select from in order to meet the criteria for the course curriculum.

Books currently available in district libraries follow. The dates are years when the book was purchased.

Cary-Grove High School

· Slaughterhouse Five (1995 and 1996)

Crystal Lake Central High School

· How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent (1998)
· The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2000)
· Fallen Angels (2001)
· The Things They Carried (1992)
· Slaughterhouse Five (2001)

Prairie Ridge High School

· How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent (1998)
· The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2000)
· Fallen Angels (2003)
· The Things They Carried (1997)
· Slaughterhouse Five (1997)

Crystal Lake South High School

· The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2000)
· Fallen Angels (1994)
· Slaughterhouse Five (2002)

The next Arlington Heights School Board meeting is Thursday, May 25th, 7:30 p.m. sharp at the Forest View Educational Center, 2121 South Goebbert in Arlington Heights.

Lew Caldwell was a 12-year (1967-79) independent black state representative from Chicago. He received his degree in social work from Northwestern University.

We stayed in the same cheap ($14.50 a night in the 1970’s) and now demolished hotel—the Hotel Governor—right next to the infamous Hotel St. Nicholas, where shoe boxes of former Secretary of State Paul Powell’s money was found.

That’s probably how we got to know each other.

I eventually learned that Lew had written a novel called “The Policy King.”

It was about Chicago politics.

A group of citizens decided to try to legalize policy.

When Lew told me about it, I had never heard of policy. It was a daily numbers game. Runners sold policy slips with numbers on them. If you had the correct number, you won the day’s prize.

Does that sound like today’s daily lottery or what?

The hero of the book wanted to legalize numbers and, basically, franchise their sale to individuals. The example used was the early insurance industry, which Lew said did not have a good reputation in the early days when salesmen went door-to-door.

The citizens group went to the mayor’s office and made the pitch.

The mayor’s reply was that, when they had some political power, they should come back and see him.

The group then organized and beat the local alderman.

He loaned me the only copy of the book he had, which I avidly read.

When the lottery decided to start a daily game, he introduced a bill to carry out the plan in Lew’s book.

Why not empower individuals, giving them an ability to make an honest living?

You’ll find this hard to believe, but we got House Bill 841 passed the House 173-0 in 1977.

Naturally, the idea died in the Senate.

We couldn’t have private citizens competing with the state and local stores, could we?

This is the same western Carpentersville home that sprouted a "Vote Yes, Vote Yes" and a "John Mayer for County Board," right next to its "For Sale by Owner" right before the District 300 referendum.

Now the referendums have passed.

John Noverinni defeated John Mayer for County Board.

And a much higher tax bill has arrived.

Only the "For Sale by Owner" sign remains.

Read the following state law:

(10 ILCS 5/9-25.1) Sec. 9-25.1. Election interference. (a) As used in this Section, "public funds" means any funds appropriated by the Illinois General Assembly or by any political subdivision of the State of Illinois. (b) No public funds shall be used to urge any elector to vote for or against any candidate or proposition, or be appropriated for political or campaign purposes to any candidate or political organization. This Section shall not prohibit the use of public funds for dissemination of factual information relative to any proposition appearing on an election ballot, or for dissemination of information and arguments published and distributed under law in connection with a proposition to amend the Constitution of the State of Illinois. (c) The first time any person violates any provision of this Section, that person shall be guilty of a Class B misdemeanor. Upon the second or any subsequent violation of any provision of this Section, the person violating any provision of this Section shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.

The use of pork to help elect incumbents must not be covered by this law. Even the use of “member initiatives” to help elect non-incumbents seems not to have raised an eyebrow among law enforcement officials…with the exception of the Michael Tristano case.

So, does Governor Rod Blagojevich’s promise to accelerate lottery revenues in order to induce the Rev. and State Senator James Meeks to withdraw his threat to lead minorities off the Democratic Party plantation break the Election Interference law?

The Governor does seem to be doing it for a “political or campaign purpose,” but it certainly hasn’t been “appropriated” yet.

Even if he is, he’d still keep his pension. It’s only a misdemeanor.

“In 1975, the State of Illinois created the lottery. The idea behind the game was to create a funding source for schools that would solve the inequities in school funding. However, over the years, lottery money was not used exclusively for schools. Instead, it was used for a variety of purposes, failing to fulfill the mission promised to the taxpayers over thirty years ago.”

That’s what Governor Rod Blagojevich’s press release said yesterday.

It is, of course, a blatant falsehood.

I guess that’s what happens when you don’t have enough gray heads around the office.

Blagojevich’s staff may have never learned the RTA’s history, but the Governor has.

In the freshman orientation session at the Holiday Inn East in December of 1992, lottery sponsor State Rep. Zeke Giorgi delighted in taunting the newly elected legislators. He said he bet they thought the lottery was passed to finance education and everyone, but I, probably nodded his or her head “Yes.”

Then, Giorgi held up the front page of the Chicago Sun-Times with a headline saying something like, “Lottery Finances RTA.”

He even passed out copies to everyone present.

Now, maybe Blagojevich was in the hot tub, but, more likely, he attended the session.

He just doesn’t have as good a memory for lottery facts as he does for presidential succession.

Labels: Lottery, Regional Transportation Authority, Rod Blagojevich, RTA, Zeke Giorgi

McHenry County has a combination of unit school districts and dual districts, that is, separate elementary and high school districts.

The education reform proposal Governor Rod Blagojevich put on the table Tuesday—his successful attempt to buy off the Rev. and State Senator James Meeks’ gubernatorial candidacy—proposes financial incentives to create unit school districts.

Take a look at these two slides, which explain a bit of what the plan’s implications for schools in Cary, Crystal Lake, Fox River Grove, Marengo, McHenry, Wonder Lake, Richmond, Riley, and Spring Grove.

The educational advantages are, of course, pretty self-evident. All the elementary schools in a unit district would have similar educational offerings. Presumably, freshman high school students would be equally prepared.

There should be lower administrative expenses, as well.

The second slide shows what those who compare school tax rates already know. Most unit school districts have lower tax rates than the combination of grade and high school districts.

When I saw this “SELL YOU” license plate at Sam’s Club, I thought it probably belonged to a real estate agent.

The owner walked up as I was talking the picture with a quizzical look on his face, tinged with a bit of apprehension.

I told him I had a message of the day on my blog and his was an interesting license plate. I asked him what he sold.

He told me he had been a salesman for several decades and this was the only plate that he could find that was not taken, that he now was a salesman for ComCast.

He also told me that he thought I might be taking a photograph of where someone had backed into his car for insurance purposes.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 23, 2006


Governor Blagojevich unveils bold new plan to reform Illinois schools
Governor’s plan includes extending the school year, merit pay for teachers, mandatory after school tutoring, taking over failing school districts, school construction, parental involvement initiatives, textbook replacement, full day kindergarten, new school technology, and new accountability measures; Plan would provide $6 billion in new funding for schools over next four budgets


CHICAGO - Building on the work of the previous four budgets and legislative sessions which saw more than $3.8 billion in new funds invested in Illinois schools, the creation of universal preschool in Illinois, and raising graduation standards to req

Require students to take more reading, writing, math and science, Governor Rod Blagojevich today unveiled his new plan to continue reforming and improving schools, with initiatives including:

· Implementing full day kindergarten and universal preschool;
· Funding new school construction;
· Creating “Small Schools” and “Identity Schools”;
· Helping school districts regularly replace outdated textbooks;
· Extending the school year for underachieving schools;
· Performance pay for teachers;
· Increased state takeovers of failing school districts;
· Funding after-school tutoring for underachieving students;
· Helping schools afford special education teachers;
· Introducing new ways to help parents get involved;
· Increasing school district consolidations;
· More and better mentoring for principals and superintendents;
· Helping schools afford new technology to help parents track their kids performance;
· Improving school libraries;
· Improving Career and Technical Education curriculums; and
· Reducing school district administrative costs.

For the twenty five years preceding the Blagojevich administration, the State of Illinois consistently neglected and chronically underfunded its schools – increasing funding on a year to year basis by just .5% (after adjusting for inflation). Instead, the State spent the taxpayers money on things like a bloated state payroll, corporate loopholes that cost schools over $500 million a year in funding, and special purpose funds that held money aside for special interests.

For the rest of the press release, click here.

Twenty days after its mistake in projecting State Aid to Education became apparent, District 300’s board stated the obvious.

It blew the state aid projection big time.

The Elgin Daily Courier-News served up a pretty scathing story under the bland headline:

D300 confirms aid figures

If you are a regular reader of McHenry County Blog, you will remember the Algonquin/Lake in the Hills Rotary Club meeting during which District 158 Board member Larry Snow got an admission out of District 300 finance projector Cheryl Crates that her prediction of the state aid increase was flawed by being too low. The meeting was well over a month before the tax hike and bond referendums.

A week later Northwest Herald reporter Allison Smith ran a history of state aid.

Today Elgin Courier reporter Christine Moyer points out that in this fifth version of District 300’s budget the $170 per student State Aid to Education figure Larry Snow predicted a month before the election is (May I have the envelope, please?) CORRECT.

The newest budget revision says an extra $1.3 million will flow from the state taxpayers.

Oh, my.

That’s more than the $1 million that was going to be saved by eliminating sports and extracurricular activities.

Read this from the Courier-News:

In the past, District 300 officials projected the foundation level for assistance would increase by about $50 per student, meaning the district would receive roughly $2 millino less than is expected in state aid for the 2007-2007 school year.

District officials referred to this as a conservative approach…

However, district critics called these figures unrealistic, insisting they were used to create a more dire financial situation than really existed.

The Northwest Herald’s Allison Smith wrote a story.

Smith noted that most of the criticisms of the budget panned out in District 300’s favor:

For months, there has been debate, much of it contentious, leading up to the March referendums.

But one by one, firm figures replaced best guesses. Some factors played out as critics predicted. Most did not.

I don’t think I entirely agree. Smith points out that the state subsidy for the charter school will not come in this year, as critics suggested. Critics also pointed out that nowhere in the 5-year budget projection was any state aid predicted by District 300.

Here is Smith’s statement on the state aid controversy:

The state will increase the amount it funnels to districts by $170 a child – well more than the $50 the district had estimated at first, and even higher than the $140 figured last month.

Certainly, that state aid will not come this coming year, but I wonder if the 5th budget now includes that charter school subsidy.

She also points out that assessed valuation did not increase as much as critics said it would.

But, District 300's housing boom numbers did not translated into new construction equalized assessed value growth.

District 300 was wrong, however, on the amount of State Aid to Education, ignoring transition fees from Gilberts and some Carpentersville subdivisions, plus charter school subsidies from the state for the entire 5-year budget projection.

Maybe I’m just quibbling, but it seems more like District 300 was more wrong than right.

Obituaries for Sherman Skolnick appear in the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times today, but neither mention his involvement in McHenry County politics.

Skolnick did speak to the Crystal Lake Kiwanis Club about his role in bringing down two crooked Illinois Supreme Court justices, but it was his help in drafting a federal reapportionment suit that affected McHenry County politics.

My father noticed that he had won a reapportionment suit (mentioned in the Sun-Times story) concerning the drawing of congressional lines in Chicago and contacted the self-described legal researcher.

County boards were to be apportioned on the basis of one man, one vote for the first time in Illinois history.

Previously, each of the county’s 17 townships had representation through their township supervisors, regardless of whether the township had 40,000 people or less than 1,000. In addition, the larger townships had assistant supervisors who had no role in township government, but sat on the county board. (That was the type of board I served with while I was county treasurer from 1966-70.)

Dad was dissatisfied with the disparity among county board district populations in the reapportionment map that had been passed. He came up with suggested districts which were more equal in population, but which, I would imagine, the powers-that-be thought would shift power in directions they did not favor, that is, toward the more densely populated southeastern corner of McHenry County.

I went with Dad when he visited Skolnick’s home for advice. As you can image with a man to whom research was his life, the living area was pretty cluttered.

Sherman gave Dad a copy of the successful suit and suggested how it could be altered to fit McHenry County.

Dad filed a suit in federal court. It dragged on and on.

The judge agreed that Dad’s districts were more equal in population than the county board’s and told State’s Attorney Bill Cowlin to talk to Dad.

Now, this was akin to heresy to Cowlin. Talk to a mere layman representing himself in court. Not this State’s Attorney.

The next court date, the judge asked how the talks were progressing and Dad revealed that Cowlin had not contacted him.

This time the judge ordered the State’s Attorney to confer with Dad.

As I remember the outcome, the county came up with lines for the three districts which had substantially the same population difference as those Dad presented, but had different boundaries.

They split Crystal Lake three ways, thus diminishing the area’s influence in county politics for several decades during which the McHenry politicians ruled the roost.

The judge agreed to accept those new and much more equal in population districts.

And, none of this little drama would have occurred without Sherman Skolnick’s help.

Labels: Bill Cowlin, Cal Skinner Sr, Crystal Lake Kiwanis, Illinois Supreme Court, McHenry County Board, McHenry County State's Attorney, Reapportionment, Sherman Skolnik

Help me out here.

At the Springfield Art Fair, I saw a tee shirt with this Candyland game on it. I didn't get a picture of it, but do wonder why a child would have it on a tee shirt.

What's that all about?

On Friday, the Chicago Tribune dropped the suggestion that the Lottery may be the source of the money with which Governor Rod Blagojevich bought off the Rev. and State Senator James Meeks.

But, you say, money from the Lottery already goes to education.

Yes, it does. So the question arises of what accelerating Lottery revenues by selling it to a private gambling firm would do…in the long run.

One could get big money up front, the same way many states did by selling future Tobacco Settlement collections. But those states needed to accept less upftont in order clinch the deal.

A similar discount would undoubtedly be necessary if the Lottery were sold to private interests.

State Rep. Zeke Giorgi pre-sold the Lottery as being for education, but it was not passed until it became the source of money for the General Fund’s subsidy of the Regional Transportation Authority. (Reviews of the Lottery’s history usually forget this fact.)

In the 1980’s Zeke’s pitch was finally made law when legislators got tired of explaining why Lottery proceeds didn’t go to education. Of course, that got no additional money for schools, because an equal amount of previously General Fund receipts was spent elsewhere.

So, what happens if the Democrats sell this stream of revenue for the current benefit of getting re-elected?

Put simply, it means that Governor Rod Blagojevich will have put another cliff in the path of future politicians in order to obtain a short-term political benefit for himself.

This year’s windfall would turn into some future year’s budgetary free fall.

For more McHenry County Blog, click here.

So, O’Hare Airport’s $15 billion expansion is in trouble and is going to cost more than city officials predicted.

Ho, hum.

Opponents have been predicting that for years.

Right after the plan was announced, WTTW had a panel discuss it. One of the proponents was Lester Crown of Material Service fame. Material Service, as in, “We sell gravel.”

There may be more of McHenry County in Cook County than in McHenry County, thanks to Material Service and other gravel pit owners.

Now, last Thursday's Daily Herald’s editorial asks,

Will this plan fly?

It’s first paragraph is

"The reason — the only reason — to expand O’Hare Airport is to substantially increase the airport’s capacity and reduce its delays in a cost-effective manner."

To say there is some doubt is a substantial understatement.

As the Daily Herald concludes:

"Some observers have suggested another course and say that adding one runway and extending an existing runway would significantly reduce delays at much lower cost. It is time, before the city goes further down the uncertain path it is on now, to fully analyze this and perhaps other options in an open-minded search for the most cost-effective modernization of this vital airport."

Could former U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald have been right…again?

I wish Daily Herald Jack Mabley were still with us so he could write an “I told you so” column for the Daily Herald. He convinced me that this mega-expansion of O’Hare was unnecessary, as was the Peotone Airport.

Mabley argued that Gary’s airport would work quite find, thank you. It’s 35 minutes from the Loop, but in another state, of course.

But Chicago/Illinois politicians can’t control the contracts there, can they?

It’s really all about concrete.

Labels: Concrete, Jack Mabley, Lester Crown, Material Service, O'Hare Expansion, Peter Fitzgerald

This tee shirt was found on a Cub Scout one early May Friday.

The Scouts were launching rockets.

The message on the tee shirt is "How Jesus Saved the World," complete with graphics.

Jesus rose from the dead.

Puffed wheat may be shot from guns, but these rockets blasted off from their launching pads.

Here are two (800 film) views of a blast-offs.

In this column from May 11, 2006, Lawrence County's Susan Sovereign writes about leftovers and their re-cycling in the rose garden.

Her husband thinks that is a good idea (better than eating them) until she scares him out of his wits.

Lawrence County lies on the Wabash River. Here is a map of its townships.

Susan Sovereign's column is reprinted in McHenry County Blog with the permission of the Sumner Press Publisher Roscoe Cunningham.

Don't forget to click to make the words large enough to read.
  

Here’s another tee shirt I found at Disney World.

I don’t know what Binford Tools are, but the message,

Real Men Don’t Need Instructions

seems appropriate for a Saturday “Honey Do” list.

Media reports Friday said that Governor Rod Blagojevich had bought off the Rev. and State Senator James Meeks.

Well, those were not the exact words, but with Meeks' saying his third party bid is in the toliet and the Governor will unviel a four-year education financing plan that spokesmen say will not include increase income or sales taxes, think of another source that could provide billions.

Here's an April report hinting at tollway revenue use.

What do you think of that?

“Come Back With A Warrant.” reads the $15.99 doormat from Target.com.

I found this in a blogger daisy chain that began with Marathon Pundit’s article on Chicago’s banning of foie gras faux (goose liver to us of the lower classes) to Advice Goddess Blog to The Consumerist, Shoppers Bite Back.

The black background is not part of the doormat...unless you have a black front stoop.

Never let it be said that legislators can’t put forward proposals that seem a bit, well, selfish.

That was the word that came to mind when I read the tollway lease distribution ideas DuPage County Republican State Senators Kirk Dillard (also DuPage GOP County Chairman) and Peter Roskam (now running for Congress).

Estimates of the amount at stake could be as high as $14 billion.

It’s not that my former colleagues should not have real fear that toll money paid by suburbanites might end up Downstate. That happens right now.

Only 43% of the money paid in gas taxes for motor fuel consumed on the tollway came back to the six-county area, as of Illinois FIRST (which I did not vote for) days in the late 1990’s. If all of it had been given to the tollway over the years, we could have freeways now.

But, it was siphoned off to build Downstate freeways, one of which I found has less traffic than the Lakewood street in front of our home. (Less than 5,000 cars a day traveled then on parts of the four-lane Route 67 in Western Illinois. Over 6,000 go past our home daily. 4-lane highways are generally justified by 20,000 cars per day.)

So, I share the DuPage County legislators’ concerns that suburbanites should be wary of a Chicago and Downstate rip-off of the billions that could come from privatizing the tollway. So does the Daily Herald in this editorial.

My thought is that the money should return to its source. (The Daily Herald editorial agrees, specifically citing McHenry County users.)

My original conception in the late 1990’s was that surveys would have to be taken to determine where drivers lived. Now, with the wide use of I-PASS transponders, that information should be readily available.

If such a common sense approach should be adopted, then I believe the money should be spent on 1500 miles of existing highways designated as highways designated Strategic Regional Arterial roads. Some are state highways like Route 176; others are county roads like Randall Road.

Plans for the SRA improvements—complete with public hearings--have been made and, if the Illinois Department of Transportation thought far enough ahead (which they don’t), these plans would be recorded in each local county to prevent growth from ruining the plans.

In any event, it seems the money should go back to the counties whose citizens paid it.

One final word: when the Randall Road exit was being considered, Kane County put up the bulk of the money. McHenry County, however, paid $250,000.

So, just because a tollway is in a given county does not mean that county should get all of the benefits of any long-term lease.

Another tee shirt from the Chrysalis team training session at the First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake the Saturday before last.

This one says, “I live in my own Little World…but it’s okay, they know be HERE!”

Probably a blogger.

Eric Donnewald, Director of Election Training for the State Board of Elections is charged with handling the Protect Marriage petitions.

I talked to him on Wednesday and he gave me this overview of what's happening:

We are in the process of conducting a conformity check on the signatures submitted by PMI (Protect Marriage Illinois).

We’re just going through the petitions line by line, making sure the jurisdiction for the signature given matches the jurisdiction given at the top of the petition sheet.

It’s pretty simple.

We have sold copies to Mike Kasper, who is with a group called Fair Illinois Committee. They are registered as opponents to this question.

The rough cost is in excess of $1,400. The only thing they have requested of us so far is the City of Chicago and 1, 2, 3 Downstate counties, which are smaller in nature. I don’t know which ones they are yet.

Kasper is the former parliamentarian for Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan.

The Fair Illinois Committee was formed on May 8th “to support or oppose question of public policy. It’s address is in the heart of Chicago’s Boys Town at 3712 N. Broadway.

James E. Snyder is listed as president and treasurer.

The Protect Marriage Illinois’ David Smith writes,

The People for the American Way, Equality Illinois and other homosexual groups are joining forces to form what they are calling the "Fair Illinois" campaign. Their stated goal is to "defeat this hateful amendment" and they are of the opinion that "the best way to do that is to keep it off of the ballot." This is the kind of intolerance we are up against.

If you would like to help defend the signatures collected in McHenry County, please get in touch.

No hints.

Take a look here.

This is an example of how one can work with seeming opposites in a legislature.

“Without music, life would be a mistake,” reads the sticker on this car found at Crystal Lake’s Jewel store.

Daily Herald columnist Chuck Goudie has a special column today on how the word “special”—as in “special” consideration--is poison to Illinois governors.

You can catch the tone of his column from this part:

If you are an Illinois governor, you want to avoid having the word “special” come anywhere near you. In addition to being asfastaslightning, the word is known to possess tiny barbs, like a small fish hook, that can grab you and drag you away before anybody notices.

Can You Spell “Toast?”

Well, that’s what I thought about Governor Rod Blagojevich when I read this breath-taking story by Chris Fusco and Dave McKinney in today’s Chicago Sun-Times.

Somehow these two star reporters have obtained Blagojevich’s first “Fawell’s Favors’ List.”

Unlike Fawell, however, this list was not kept on a state computer. That is was off-site means that Illinois politicians are capable of learning from experience, I guess.

Here is the lead to the story, which I highly recommend you read:

Gov. Blagojevich's office kept a clout list of hundreds of state employees recommended by lobbyists, lawmakers and major fund-raisers -- despite the governor's repeated statements that politics doesn't influence state hiring.

The list covers the first six months of the governor’s term. Of those on the list,
at least 274 of the 292 people on the list have or had state jobs.

And, here is a Crystal Lake Mercy Hospital connection:

In one instance, (Blagojevich fund raiser Tony) Rezko sponsored Ahmed Almanaseer for a trade office intern post in the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, the list shows. Almanaseer was working for the state at the time his father, Dr. Imad Almanaseer, was a member of a state board that oversees hospital construction. Rezko had recommended some members to the board.

Reached Tuesday and asked about Rezko, Ahmed Almanaseer said he no longer works for the state, owns his own business and "was not in a position to speak right now."

Dr. Almanaseer was the deciding vote when the Illinois Health Facilities Board gave permission for Mercy’s Crystal Lake hospital.

Dr. Almanaseer has not been accused of any wrong-doing, but don't you imagine that he will now be asked some interesting questions about Tony Rezko?

Here’s another “not yet in Illinois” story. The first went up May 13th.

And, actually, it was an “Assembly” Speaker, not a House Speaker.

The Associated Press and others (WisPolitics.com, for example) report that former Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen (R- Waukesha) was sentenced to 15 months in state prison for using GOP caucus, that is, state employees for political purposes or, as AP puts it,

on state time with state resources.

Caucus employees worked for the state, supposedly to do legislative research, but, like legislative Policy Staffs in Illinois, had a primary responsibility for political work.

The caucus workers testified they served as field campaign operatives, held campaign strategy meetings in both Jensen's office and the caucus' state offices, recruited candidates and produced campaign literature on their state computers, all under Jensen's oversight.

Does that sound familiar?

The former Speaker was sentenced to 18 months in jail—state prison, not Club Fed—after a March jury conviction. Jensen also is barred from entry into the State Capitol for 5 years. Restitution remains open. An appeal is expected.

He could have gotten 16 years in the prisons he probably underfunded.

Former GOP Assistant Majority Leader Bonnie Ladwig (R-Racine) was sentenced to 30 days electronic monitoring and $4,500 in fines and restitution “for using her position in the Legislature to help collect money for GOP candidates,” AP reports. She could have gotten a year in prison.

House Republican fundraiser Sherry Schultz, a full-time House employee, got 4 months of electronic monitoring, 5 years’ Capitol banishment, plus restitution to be decided later, according to the Capitol Times.

The judge said,

You essentially were the grease that helped that machine function smoothly.

Former Assembly Majority Leader Steve Foti (R-Oconomowoc) hired Schultz. Foti got 60 days in jail and is allowed to be a work release lobbyist.

But Republican Corruption blog readers should remember

· Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala, D-Madison, got 9 months in December, after pleading guilty to doing pretty much what the Republicans sentenced this week did.

· Milwaukee Democratic Party State Senator Brian Burke got 6 months for using his staff for political purposes.

Will the convictions make any difference?

Here’s what a Common Cause Wisconsin press release, posted on WisPolitics.com, said,

While the Jensen sentencing marks the end of one phase of Wisconsin's most serious and widespread poitical scandal in the last 100 years, it most certainly does not mean Wisconsin has been cleansed of the corruption that precipitated the Legislative Caucus Scandal.

Almost nothing has been done to transform and reform the political culture in Wisconsin. If anything, there is even more special interest money undermining our elections and public policy-making process now, than when Jensen and Chuck Chvala exercised absolute control over the Wisconsin Legislature.

If it isn't time to clean up and reform this political cesspool now, then there will never be a good time to do so.

The Wisconsin State Journal weighed in with this editorial.

Remember, this is Wisconsin. Its politicians learned from ours.

Part of the headline of Common Cause Wisconsin press release in WisPolitics.com is

CAPITOL CORRUPTION CONTINUES UNABATED

The Daily Herald is reporting today that former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani, Vice President Dick Cheney and House Speaker Dennis Hastert will headline fund raisers for 8th congressional district Republican candidate David McSweeney.

The candidate has done his homework well, having hosted a fund raiser at his home during the last election cycle at which Hastert spoke.

No, this “D Alien 8” was not posted because of President George W. Bush’s address to the nation on immigration last night.

I just picked it at random. (Well, maybe I did move it up one day.)

Here's the boat and some of the Illinois State Geological Survey folks who were in Crystal Lake the better part of two weeks ago.

They launched their boat at West Beach.
Next is the sonar equipment, before launching, used to probe the depth of Crystal Lake.

They dragged it behind the boat, back and forth, back and forth.

The mission goal is to update depth findings.

Or, to put it in the more specific language of geologist Brandon Curry,

"A bathymetric map shows lines of equal elevation of the lake’s sediment, and should be accurate to within a foot or so. There are earlier bathymetric maps available, but this one should be the best one done to date."

The image created by the Echosounder, Curry continues, will show

"a detailed surface reflection, and also provides some data on the shallow 'acoustic properties' of the surficial sediment. reported yesterday,The combination of the two should result in an interesting map from which we should be able to classify the lake bottom sediment, and perhaps, aquatic vegetation, in addition to subterranean springs."

The final photograph, supplied by Leila Zajac, as were the others, shows the screen which received the signals from the equipment.

And a repeat from yesterday's article. Curry is looking for $15,000 to figure out the cycle of droughts ovder the last 10,000 years:

Using some money from old grants and limited support from the ISGS, I will be working on the part of the record that should tell us about paleoclimate from about 7,500 to 9,000 years ago (why this time frame? It’s when we know Illinois went from moist to dry).

I will need more funding in a while to continue my study as I go up the geological column. I would imagine that there would be interest in a study of drought frequency (climatic) conditions over the past 2,000 years.

Can you think of local funding agencies that would likely endorse such a project?

The asking price... about $15,000. The study could be done in one year.

Agencies such as NSF don't generally fund projects that are that limited in scope geographically. Please don't be offended by me pouncing on you this way... I'm just testing the waters.

How about the villages that have water bans in effect?

Might not they be helped by knowing what happened in the past, so they can adapt in the future?

Labels: Bathymetric Survey, Crystal Lake, Illinois State Geologic Survey

The story about the Rev. and State Senator James Meeks' running for governor is probably the most interesting of the year.

There were reports that Steve Reeb, a Republican St. Clair County Board member having been asked to run as Meeks' running mate. Reeb would probably be St. Clair County Board member now, if there had not been massive vote fraud (with federal convictions) in the Democratic Party stronghold of East St. Louis.

Today, articles say Reeb turned Meeks down.

I missed this Sunday afternoon or evening on WBBM-AM, but a friend of the blog did not.

He said there was a short report about Meeks’ being at a minorities in government conference. He thought it was in Springfield.

Meeks was probably the main speaker.

The way my friend remembers the quote, which was prefaced by saying that the Democrats had taken minorities for granted, follows:

We have been on the plantation for far too long. It’s time to drive off. I’ve driving the bus off the plantation and it’s parked right out front.

The article below quotes the Chicago Defender's editor as suggesting that a Meeks' candidacy could lead to a realignment of national politics, basically setting blacks free from the Democratic Party and putting them in an enviable swing vote position.

How this all fits into the Rev. Jesse Jackson's having selected Meeks to be his successor at Operation Rainbow/PUSH is certainly intriguing. Jackson has consistently pointed blacks to the Democratic Party.

For more McHenry County Blog, click here.

Chicago Defender Executive Editor and WVON-AM mid-day talk show host Roland Martin says black politicians are “sweating bullets” over the coming gubernatorial candidacy of the Rev. and State Senator James Meeks.

"There are a group of people who are sweating bullets and hoping Meeks isn’t successful in getting the 25,000 signatures, and those are the Black state representatives, senators and aldermen. If they are forced to choose between the chair of the Black caucus or the Democratic governor, many would likely prefer to vote for Topinka!"

This comes after the following paragraph:

"A Meeks run puts on front street the claims by white conservative evangelicals that they support those who support their issues. Here you've got a guy who is against abortion, against gay marriage, for prayer in school, and provides a strong moral voice to the political discourse. So with his kind of track record, then he should be the darling of white evangelicals. But the big question is if they will leave the moderate Republican candidate, Judy Barr Topinka - who is for abortion rights and gay marriage – to vote for a Black guy. Oh, yea, a gay marriage amendment could very well be on the ballot in November. This will mean a tremendous number of people who oppose gay marriage heading to the polls, and out of the three choices, Meeks lines up best with them."

And, finally, the set-up for a question I’d like feedback on:

"But the main issue that a Meeks run means for Democrats is that it could usher in a new age where Black elected officials buck their party, and demand more for their broad support. Trust me when I say this, there are a multitude of Black eyes across America that are fixated in Illinois, and this couild launch a domino effect across the country that would unsettle Democrats’ long lock on Black voters."

What about that?

Could a Meeks' candidacy for governor lead to a realignment of American politics?

For more McHenry County Blog, click here.

Reporters know that Jack Franks is not afraid to say that Emperor of Illinois no clothes.

His most recent quote appears in an Associated Press article (a re-write from the Chicago Sun-Times) about a Governor Rod Blagojevich being a lobbyist for a firm hired to squeeze fat out of the Medicaid program.

State Rep. Jack Franks, D-Woodstock, said the contract creates a "perception issue."

"The governor hasn't learned your friends can't just keep getting rich by shepherding state contracts," Franks told the Sun-Times.

Franks is positioning himself well for a statewide run.

I wonder who is ready to run for his seat besides Perry Moy, the county board member.

When he was running for re-nomination for county board, his signs were located well beyond his county board district, but, the ones I saw were located on roads people take to and from the state rep district.

Labels: Jack Franks, Pay to Play, Perry Moy, Rod Blagojevich

This is the billboard at the entrance of Neumann Homes huge new Wonder Lake subdivision (the village, which is on the northwest side of Wonder Lake, the community).

You can see here and also on Route 47 that Neumann is selling Wonder Lake, the lake.

While my wife was driving to teach Sunday School yesterday, she drove by Gate 7 Beach on the South Side of Crystal Lake.

What did she behold but a large red fox (not this one obviously).

It ran from the boat pier into the yard across the beach from South Shore Drive.

I guess the fox was thirsty.

And, today, the fox was in my neighbor's front lawn. She lives on the non-lake side of Lake Shore Drive. She said she throught the fox lived at the Crystal Lake Country Club and was out looking for rabbits.

Crystal Lake was being mapped by the Illinois State Geological Survey the Thursday before last. (The one seen here is from 1957. It shows ten-foot intervals down to deeper than 40 feet.)

I asked what the state agency was doing and here’s the reply I received from Illinois State Geologic Survey geologist Brandon Curry:

Hi Cal,

Thank you for your phone message.

The boat was out in the lake on Thursday doing geophysical surveys in an attempt to image the lake’s bottom sediment.

We used two techniques and had three objectives; two of the three will likely be successful, but the third may not work out as well.

One product will be an extremely accurate bathymetric map (which I think you mentioned in your message).

A bathymetric map shows lines of equal elevation of the lake’s sediment, and should be accurate to within a foot or so. There are earlier bathymetric maps available, but this one should be the best one done to date.

The other product is an Echosounder image... it does two things... it creates a detailed surface reflection, and also provides some data on the shallow “acoustic properties” of the surficial sediment. The combination of the two should result in an interesting map from which we should be able to classify the lake bottom sediment, and perhaps, aquatic vegetation, in addition to subterranean springs.

The third product will probably take the longest to produce, and is the product of seismic reflection.

The useful product from this is a deeper acoustic cross section of the lake sediment. This technique is hindered by methane bubble(s) in the sediment.

Preliminary results suggest that very little penetration (1 -2 meters) was achieved using this technique, which is too bad, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Each of these techniques needs a lot of computer processing time. Our consultant, Dr. Nigel Wattrus (University of Minnesota - Duluth), says that it will take about a month to process the data. I haven’t talked to Nigel yet, but I would think that the bathymetric map should be done fairly soon... ostensibly, it’s the easiest to process.

I asked for something that would give an idea of what the mapping might provide and was sent the map of Crystal Lake's 1957 depths you see in this article:

Cal,

Sure thing! Attached is a jpg of a figure I used for a proposal to do studies of climate change based on the fossil record. The proposal was sent to the University of Illinois Research Board, and was, by the way, not funded.

Using some money from old grants and limited support from the ISGS, I will be working on the part of the record that should tell us about paleoclimate from about 7,500 to 9,000 years ago (why this time frame? It’s when we know Illinois went from moist to dry).

I will need more funding in a while to continue my study as I go up the geological column. I would imagine that there would be interest in a study of drought frequency (climatic) conditions over the past 2,000 years.

Can you think of local funding agencies that would likely endorse such a project?

The asking price... about $15,000. The study could be done in one year.

Agencies such as NSF don't generally fund projects that are that limited in scope geographically. Please don't be offended by me pouncing on you this way... I'm just testing the waters.

And, as a matter of fact, I can think of who might be interested in rainfall records.

How about the villages that have water bans in effect? Might not they be helped by knowing what happened in the past, so they can adapt in the future?

Labels: Bathymetric Survey, Brandon Curry, Crystal Lake, Illinois State Geologic Survey, Nigel Wattrus

It was in 1988 that "The Report of the Presidential Commission on the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Epidemic" was written and filed with President Ronald Reagan.

Its recommendations were basically written by Republican Illinois State Representative Penny Pullen, the legislative expert on the subject in the country, in my opinion, and nurse Kristine Gebbie, a liberal Public Health Department Director from both Washington and Oregon before becoming President Bill Clinton's AIDS czar. Perhaps Kristine's ability to compromise is one reason that she ended up on the hate poster below.

Shepherd Smith, who founded Americans for a Sound AIDS/HIV Policy (not the guy on TV), and I worked with Penny far into the morning on what we called the "public protection" side of the issue.

Penny and Kristine met the next day and agreed upon most of the final recommendations.

One of the recommendations was "routine" HIV testing without pre-test counseling. The reasoning was that people deserved to know if they were HIV-infected, because that meant they were infectious.

Now, it is 18 years later and the CDC is finally getting around to implementing that sound recommendation.

I note that the son of another commissioner, Richard DeVos, is now a Republican candidate for governor in Michigan.

I worked with Penny on the issue of HIV through 1992. I became so disgusted with the Centers for Disease Control lack of action to stem the AIDS epidemic that I started calling the agency, "The Centers for the Spread of Disease."

Even when it spent almost a half million dollars investigating the spread of HIV in Illinois prisons--about as much as it spent on its condom TV ads--Penny had to pry the results out of Atlanta with a Freedom of Information request.

The results?

1/3 of 1% of Illinois state prisoners seroconverted within one year of incarceration. And, only those who had been in a local jail for at least three months were tested.

Doesn't sound like much, does it?

If one projects that rate onto the general Illinois population, for the purpose of perspective, it would have turned out that the total of HIV infections among Illinois residents in one year would have equaled the actual total over the life of the epidemic.

Labels: Kristine Gebbie, Penny Pullen, Presidential Commission on HIV/AIDS Epidemic, Shepherd Smith

This one was worn by a Chrysalis team member at last Saturday’s training session at the First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake.

It says, “Die with Christ. Grow with Christ. Fly with Christ.”

The next four-day retreat is July 7-9, 2006 at Judson College in Elgin. If you are interested in more details, please email me.

This young man also helped the United Methodist Men load the remainders of the Methodist Women's rummage sale into the trailer.

The Northwest Herald came out against the Protect Marriage referendum before its petitions were even filed.

The day after they were filed, the Daily Herald editorialized in favor of a “No” vote. Today, here is part of the first sentence of an article about what effect the ballot question might have:

(It) appears headed for the November ballot is bound to spark many a heated debate throughout the state.

This reminds me so much of the 1974 referendum to establish the Regional Transportation Authority with its rip-off from the top of the General Fund and Motor Fuel Taxes, plus the authority to levy a gas tax and parking lot tax.

Then, every newspaper I can remember strongly supported the referendum, but it was overwhelmingly defeated outside of Chicago. It did pass, but by only 12,800 votes.

Even though one Chicago precinct voted 100% “Yes” (about 80 “Yes” votes, absolutely zero “No” votes with about 60 spoiled ballots), no recount of the paper ballot referendum was allowed by the newly-established State Board of Elections.

The next session the only RTA “reform” bill to pass was the one to allow recounts for close referendums.

If the Protect Marriage referendum sustains the challenge I expect, watch for at least the suburban newspapers to have about as little influence on their readers’ votes as they did 32 years ago. The vote probably won't be as lopsided, but the referendum will pass by a wide margin here where people move to get away from unhealthy city influences.

And, check out the hostile cartoon from the State Journal-Register in Springfield.

I wonder how editorial page writers, reporters and cartoonists will react if the Rev. and State Senator James Meeks makes passage of the referendum a key part of his campaign for governor. Will they be able to label a respected pastor as the idiot the State Journal-Register's cartoonist makes supporters here? (And, why does the cartoonist use the pejorative phrase--"That's so gay!"--commonly used by pre-teens and teens?)

I remember the kid gloves that they used when covering incumbent State Comptroller Roland Burris when I ran against him in 1982.

CBS’ Dotty Lynch’s column Political Points cites this prediction by National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Carl Forti in her internet post entitled, “Diamonds In The Rough;Things Aren't All Bleak For Republicans In Mid Term Elections”:

In the House, Republicans are mainly playing a game of defense but the NRCC's Carl Forti says they have 10 challengers who "have an excellent chance of defeating incumbents." He lists Dave McSweeney, the investment banker who is running against Democratic Rep. Melissa Bean in Illinois and State Rep. Chris Wakim running against former House Ethics committee member Alan Mollohan in West Virginia.

Maybe she just added the paragraph for balance, but Lynch concludes her column with this:

So while Democrats are thinking big thoughts they better watch out that the old fashioned nuts and bolts politics don't puncture their big dreams.

Last week I found this poster by Students Against Destructive Decisions at McHenry West High School.

You can see some of the prom goers here.

That’s the headline yesterday, but not in Illinois.

Yet.

Kentucky’s Republican Governor Ernie Fletcher was indicted by a Grand Jury on three misdemeanor conspiracy charges for breaking a state law forbidding hiring on political considerations.

Patronage hiring, to translate.

Kentucky’s governor, like our own, is running for his second term in office.

And, headline yesterdayhe’s angry, just like our governor is when he "uncovers" something wrong in his administration.

The article from which my headline came says the governor could pardon himself. That’s probably better than spending time in a state prison. He's already pardoned everyone else involved in the scandal.

Who does this sound like?

(The governor) entered office in 2003 on a pledge to cut "waste, fraud and abuse" in state government. He promised to “clean up the mess” in the state capitol.

It could be Blagojevich, but it’s Kentucky’s governor.

And, today, Governor Rod Blagojevich announces the firing of the people he picked to run state hiring…back in April.

Here is the Saturday Chicago Tribune story.

Read the more detailed Sun-Times story, too.

Kentucky's governor tried an affirmative defense, too, but it obviously didn't work.

Mayor Richard Daley’s hiring team is on trial for violating patronage hiring rules and Governor Rod Blagojevich decides to fire his hiring team.

Timing is everything.

ABC’s Andy Shaw did a story last October on a developing Federal investigation into Blagojevich hiring abuses. (Actually, the Channel 7 reporter used the word, “practices.”)

Of course, Governor Blagojevich could not pardon himself from a Federal conviction.

But there is more irony than his annoucing the personnel firings the first week of Daley's counterparts' trial.

Blagojevich announced them the day after after former Republican Governor Richard B. Ogilvie’s patronage chief, Don Udstuen, got told he would spend the fall, winter and most of next spring in a Wisconsin prison.

Of course, Udstuen’s offenses had nothing to do with patronage. They were about bribes.

Another involved in the Ogilvie administration’s systematic replacement of Democrats with Republicans was Alan Drazak, Director of the Department of Personnel. Drazak figured out a way to put the people Udstuen selected on the payroll. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 9th. He so angered Cook County Democrats when he played the same role when Ogilvie was sheriff and county board president that Senate Democrats refused to confirm him as director. He remained an "Acting Director."

Among Drazak's offenses was laundering Udstuen’s share of the Secretary of State vendor bribes that went to Larry Warner. (Warner got 1/3, Udstuen got 1/3, and 1/3 went elsewhere, according to testimony.)

No wonder the first major reform in United States government was civil service.

Permission of the Sumner Press brings us the March 3, 2006 column of Susan Sovereign today. Click to enlarge the copy of the column.

Here's the four bedroom brick home for sale 240 miles south of Chicago.

It's been on the market a while, so maybe you can get it for less.     

Not that it would surprise anyone who has followed her career, but 8th congressional district Congresswoman Melissa Bean attended the fund raising luncheon of EMILY’s list.

If the group has any issue but supporting women who support allowing abortion at any time during pregnancy, it’s hard to figure out what it is.

Another friend of the blog contribution. The reader says this is his wife's favorite tee shirt:

My Next Husband Will Be Normal

I’ve been reading the newspaper takes on the sentencing of Don Udstuen and have found some interesting information that I did not know.

For example, yesterday I did not know Udstuen was paying some restitution, in addition to the $30,000 fine imposed.

The Chicago Tribune story says,

Udstuen has paid $77,000 in restitution to the Illinois secretary of state's office and $67,000 to Metra.

That makes me feel better, but he indicted for taking bribes of “approximately $365,000” from fellow lobbyist Larry Warner for Secretary of State contracts.

Does he gets to keep the rest? Or did the Feds get the number wrong in the indictment?

The Daily Herald story contains this timeline about Udstuen’s turning state’s evidence:

“He made his decision quicker than I’ve ever seen,” Udstuen’s lawyer, David Stetler, told U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer Thursday.

Within two hours of being confronted that day, Udstuen — a former Crystal Lake resident — was on the horn recording phone calls with Ryan and a lobbyist, Ron Swanson.

And, Daily Herald reporter Rob Olmstead discovered Udstuen now lives in Dahinda.

Virtually everyone who knew Don wondered why someone earning as good a living and enjoying the political power he had would take bribes. The Sun-Times reports,

His client's crimes "had more to do with ego than it did with greed.”

I have a hard time understanding that. Does that mean Udstuen did it to see if he could get away with the crime?

Greed makes an easier explanation.

And, here’s another insight into Udstuen’s mind from the Sun-Times:

On Thursday, Udstuen admitted "it was a lot harder to decide to cooperate" than it was to decide to plead guilty.

That fights a bit with the less than two hours the Daily Herald says it took Udstuen to agree to cooperated with the Feds.

Loyalty is such a large thing in Illinois politics, but Udstuen is certainly smart enough to figure out that a quick flip would save him time in jail...which it did.

Finally, Nate Legue of the Northwest Herald has a great description for a backroom operator, which Don certainly was:

Donnie wasn't a real visible presence in the county. He was either in Chicago or Springfield.

You’ll have to read the story to find out whose great characterization that was.

There are three third party--as opposed to power party--candidates on the horizon.

The best known prospective third party candidate is the Rev. and State Senator James Meeks. He is liberal on everything but social issues like homosexuality and abortion. He says he is running because he wants more money for public education. That is a none-too-subtle way of saying he wants to raise taxes.

The Chicago Defender (a newspaper aimed at blacks) today reveals that Meeks will journey Downstate to Rockford, Springfield and East St. Louis on May 20th, as well as holding a press conference in Chicago, to launch his petition campaign for the needed 25,000 signatures.

Over 5,000 signatures were obtained on Protect Marriage petitions at his church, so obtaining 25,000 should be no problem

I’m one who thinks Meeks is not really running for governor.

Oh, he probably will be on the ballot, but I think his goal is to become mayor of Chicago.

That would leave Jesse Jackson, Jr., in his congressional career, so the father’s coalition would have covered two out of the three bases that count. And, if lightning strikes and Meeks is elected governor, Jesse, Jr., could always be drafted for a mayoral run.

To follow in Harold Washington’s footsteps and the blueprint used successfully for Washington, one must rev up the base, that is, the black vote in Chicago, the year before the mayoral election. That election is the first week of April, 2007.

The May 12th Chicago Defender has this quote, which I think supports my analysis:

He (Blagojevich) has not met with Black leaders to say this is what I’m going to do for Black voters.

If anyone can think of a better way to do run for mayor than to run for governor, let me know.

My guess is that Meeks will team up with

· the Illinois Farm Bureau, which favors raising income taxes and cutting property taxes on farms,

· the Illinois Education Association, which favors raising income taxes in order to get higher salaries,

· the Illinois Teachers Union, ditto,

· AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union, which represents most state workers and

I’m sure I have missed some tax eaters that incumbent Governor Rod Blagojevich has alienated.

Constitution Party candidate for governor, Randall Stufflebeam, has been collecting signatures for 45 days. There are 45 days left
until the June 26th deadline for filing 25,000 petition signatures.

His campaign reports

We are half way through the 90 day window which has been given to us to get signatures. YES!!! REALLY, half way through. I know a lot of you have sheets with signatures on them, please get them notarized and sent in. We have probably a 10th of the number needed to just get on ballot and as you know we have a goal of 75,000 because they will be hotly contested.

If this means that he has only collected 2,500 signatures so far, he’s not doing well…especially when you consider that Protect Marriage petition passers gathered over 400,000 signatures for the advisory referendum. Stufflebeam obviously has not been able to tap deeply into those petition passers, who would likely approve of much of his platform.

And, it looks as if I forget Green Party candidate for governor Rich Whitney.

My guess would be that the Greens have more signatures for Whitney than Stufflebeam has.

And, an email I just received validated my guess. Campaign Manager Jennifer Rose writes,

We are right around 15,000. Barring any unforseen obstacles,
we fully expect to exceed the required 25,000 by 20,000 and to be on the ballot in November. We have a statewide effort with
hundreds of volunteers.

The Libertarian Party is not running a candidate this year.

I found this tee shirt at Toys R Us on the chest of a bearded twenty-something. He, like a lot of other folks when I ask permission to memorialize their tee shirts, was amused that I wanted to take a picture.

Besides the Facilities Committee meeting Tuesday night for the Pool/Community Center, there was a meeting of the Site Committee. Below is what Park Board President Scott Breeden put on the table.


The sites are numbered, but a bit hard to see.

1-Sunset Meadows Park (the old Christ farm north of Route 176 and Lippold Park)

2-The corner of 176 and 14, the site where a Holiday Inn was first proposed.

3-The old Oak Manufacturing Building--where money could be diverted from the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district just created to subsidize the construction.

4-Right behind Crytal Lake Central High School, a site considered in a previous pool referendum proposal.

5-On the Rakow Road side of the Vulcan Lakes property. Again, this is in a TIF district, whose proceeds could subsidize construction of the facility.

The Finance Committee will meet next Wednesday night at 6:30 at the park district administration building.

Mitigating circumstances lowered the sentence of Donald Udstuen, Crystal Lake's biggest bribe taker, to 8 months in prison, 8 months home confinement, 2 years probation, a $30,000 fine, plus community service, such as he has been doing with Habitat for Humanity in the Knox County area. At least that what I heard on WBBM radio.

Why Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer did not at least require the return the over $300,000 in bribes to Metra and state government is beyond me. After all, Udstuen admitted taking the money.

And, it's not as if he couldn't have afforded to pay it out of the $4.9 million retirement package that he took away from the Illinois State Medical Society.

Udstuen was probably the key to getting former Repubican State Representative and mailhouse guru Roger Stanley (R-Streamwood). Stanley led the way to Scott Fawell. Fawell and Udstuen led the way to George Ryan.

I guess the judge concluded that Udstuen performed a public service.

Considering the advisory role Udstuen played in McHenry County Republican and state politics, perhaps Udstuen's public service has not ended.

For more than you would ever want to read about Don Udstuen, click here.

And, check out the bachelor party I attended with three future felons.

For more McHenry County Blog, click here.

Labels: Don Udstuen, George Ryan, Rebecca Pallmeyer, Roger Stanley, Scott Fawell

Influential backroom Republican strategist Don Udstuen, who lived in Crystal Lake while exercising his post Governor Richard B. Ogilvie patronage boss influence, will be sentenced in Federal court today.

I thought I had done an article on the original indictment, but, checking back, I remember that I was running for Governor on the Libertarian Party ticket at the time. In fact, I may have been on a tour of Southern Illinois news outlets.

When I looked at the May 21, 2002, press release on the indictment, I noticed two of the three men—Don Udstuen and Alan Drazak--were acquaintances since the years of Governor Richard B. Ogilvie (or, maybe shortly after, in the case of Udstuen).

The third was Larry Warner, who just got convicted along with former Governor George Ryan, in an amended indictment that originally included the other two.

The two with better judgment—at least concerning when to turn state’s evidence—were at a bachelor’s party I attended for State Senator Jack Schaffer when he got married a second time.

It was an outside affair behind Mike Brown’s North Walkup building in which my high school classmate Jack had his office, complete with beer wagon and Republican County Chairman Al Jourdan, Jr., cooking the steaks.

Among those there were Don Udstuen and Alan Drazak, friends of Jack’s probably since Young Republican days at college. I met Drazak at a Spiro Agnew rally (in Northwest Chicago, I think). I’m pretty sure that Roger Stanley, who has already served his time in Federal prison, was there, too.

The present for Jack was quite practical—a folding machine.

For pretty much everything I have ever written on Udstuen, click here.

Near the bottom of her column in the Daily Herald, District 300 tax hike supporter Amy Mack worries about people who are wondering how to pay their higher tax bill:

Those pesky tax bills

Getting the mail was no fun for most of us in recent days. Those tax bills are just nasty. An Algonquin widow wrote to say her taxes went up so much she will have to move. I hate to hear that and urged her to check with county tax officials to make sure she has all the exemptions for which she is eligible.

How about you? Can you cope with the increase, or will you have to cut back or even move? If anyone has suggestions for how to cut corners and save some cash, we’d love to hear them.

There is one solution that most seniors will not take. I found it in Oregon in the late 1970’s. It passed the year after I left office during the 1981-82 session.

The law allows seniors to defer their taxes until they die. They pay interest on the money that is borrowed so the local tax districts can be paid.

I envisioned this law as one that would help widows with big homes who lived a long time without the benefit of enough increased income to keep up with property tax hikes.

As it was passed, however, there was an income limit for participation. That limit is now $40,000. So, the people who are now buying what McHenry County Board member Virginia Peschke calls “starter castles” better hope the income limit is hiked a lot before they grow old.

Most seniors I counseled since the law’s passage have been quite hesitant to use it. I guess that’s a legacy of living through the Depression and not wanting to owe anyone anything.

Mack’s email address is amack@dailyherald.com.

Tiptoeing around Tuesday night’s Facilities Committee meeting for a proposed community center in Crystal Lake was the possibility of a referendum.

The park district has held several referendums to finance an outdoor pool. One employee said that park district planner Ann Viger had found that Crystal Lake should have 4-5 pools, considering its population. Centegra and the YMCA have indoor pools. Centegra also has an outdoor pool, as do several community associations.

“Though open only three months a year, (an outdoor aquatic center) makes enough to pay for an indoor facility,” Crystal Lake Park Board member Candy Reedy said.

I got there a bit late because my 8-year-old had swimming at McHenry’s West High School, but I arrived in time to hear a lot of what one park district employee characterized as a “wish list” at the end of the meeting:

Fitness center, indoor walking track, child care facility, a branch of the library, a senior center, a teen center, a gym, field house, outdoor aquatic center, indoor pool, a small (180-sear) theater for dance recitals, plays, choir and band performances, and more.

Park Board member Reedy, who led the meeting, took pains to emphasize that revenue sources other than those that would require a referendum (and attendant real estate tax hike) would be marshaled before that possibility would be broached.

She said the park district has discussed selling off some of its property, for instance. Reedy specifically mentioned

· the pre-school (at the old Ivan Hill home) on Barlina Road, which is surrounded by Four Colonies. She thought it might be a good location for townhouses and implied even

· the current administration building at the corner of Crystal Lake and Walkup Avenues

could end up on the block.

Taking into account an employee complaint that sometimes only one employee is around to close up a facility at night, the not-so-old church west of Lippold Park came to mind, especially, if the proposed community center is built across Route 176.

About twenty of the 134 acres at Sunset Meadows park would be required.

One sage female senior observed, “I can’t see duplicating rooms.”

Later Reedy agreed, saying, “I think there is a need to figure out multiple use for every square inch.”

Here's a good piece by Doug Whitley, President of the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce:

During the 20th century the office of Governor has propelled several executives onto the national scene and into the White House. It is a proven career path for the politically ambitious, and it appears to be a path our Governor is striding.

States serve as laboratories of democracy, as legislative and policy initiatives in 50 states provide test beds for national policy. The concept has not been lost of Governor Rod Blagojevich. He has hardly missed an opportunity to put himself before the media by proposing Illinois solutions to national issues.

Perhaps it is a result of his time in Congress making a grander impression than has his time in the state capitol. Maybe it comes from the rapport he has with Rahm Emanuel, successor to his Congressional seat and prominent strategist for the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee. Perhaps it is because his closest advisors come from the coasts, are tuned to the national scene and don’t have political roots in Illinois. Maybe it results from perpetual campaigning, constant opinion polling, and campaign fundraising in California, New York and Washington, D.C. It may be inevitable if your media success is measured by appearing on network television, conversing on the trendy Daily Show, and being mentioned in national journals, like the New York Times.

Governor Blagojevich’s policy interests, political instincts and camera-ready style are obviously more attuned to pursuing issues on the national stage than simply managing the routine affairs of the Prairie State.

For the rest of the analysis, click here.

The first time I saw this message, “Forget the Dog. Beware of the Owner,” was in 1982 in the Quad Cities.

I was running on the GOP ticket for State Comptroller in the Quad Cities area. I think it was the Republican candidate for state senate who was handing them out.

This photo was sent by a friend of the blog. He found it on a privacy fence in Des Plaines. (If you see a great message somewhere, please send it to me in a jpg file.)

I have suggested that domestic partnership benefits have been accepted so widely by corporations because they cost so relatively little. Why? My guess is that few people sign up.

If so, the granting of such benefits is basically a political, not a financial statement.

That is certainly the case with Governor Rod Blagojevich's signing of the 2004 AFCSME contract and his recent granting of same-sex benefits to non-union employees as well.

The administration thinks it will cost $2.2 million to provide benefits to ½ of 1% of the 72,000 or so state employees will sign up for benefits. That's 360 (opps, originally posted as 3,600) people.

I doubt it. I think it will cost a lot less.

Maybe a lot less when state employees figure out they will have to pay taxes on the benefits that their partner receives.

Besides a birth certificate or a driver's license, prospective domestic partnership beneficiaries must provide either a Cook County Domestic Partnership Certificate or two of the other items to establish eligiblity.

To test my hypothesis that the state may be overestimating participation, I asked the University of Illinois for statistics on its domestic benefits program

Here’s what I found.

This year there are 48 who signed up their partners. Here’s the campus breakdown:

Chicago - 31, estimated annual cost - $41,000
Urbana - 14, estimated annual cost - $1,200
Springfield - 3, estimated annual cost - $18,000

The program reimburses the employee for insurance premiums on a quarterly basis, so benefits are not automatic after sign-up, as they will be with the state program. Some effort is required on the part of the employee, so there are undoubtedly lost benefits. I have multiplied the average quarterly cost so far this year by four to obtain the figures above. Using this methodology, the total for the year would be $60,800.

Unlike the state program, however, the U of I does not require a year's living together. Six months and you qualify if you are this university's employee.

Even with the more liberal entrance standards, only 48 of 22,660 full-time equivalent employees signed up. Maybe it's just too much hassle to file the reimbursement forms. For the U of I to reach 1/2 of 1%, 1133 would have had to have asked for domestic partner benefits.

At the Crystal Lake Park District headquarters (the southeast corner where the five streets converge on Crystal Lake Avenue), the Crystal Lake Pool facilities and site committees will meet tonight at 6:30. Opps, I see the proposed building is being described as a “Community Center.”

While members are listed, I would assume that anyone interested in getting involved still may.

Listed on the Site Committee are the following:

Scott Breeden, Park Board President
Dave Phelps, Park Board Commissioner
Mike Zimmerman, Park Board Commissioner
Kirk Reimer, Park District Director
Dennis Jahnke, Park District Supt. of Parks
Jack Sebesta, Park District Supt. of Recreation
Don Self, Park District Asst. Supt of Parks
Ann Viger, Park District Planner
Jan Peters, Park District Racket Club Assistant Manager
Ellen Brady-Mueller, Crystal Lake Councilwoman
Howie Christensen, Crystal Lake Councilman
George Keller, Lakeside Legacy Board President
Lori Phelps, Crystal Lake resident

I see only two private citizens on the Site Committee--Lori Phelps and George Keller.

On the Facilities Committee are the following:

Candy Reedy, Park Board Commissioner
Jerry Sullivan, Park Board Commissioner
Kirk Reimer, Park District Director
Walt Herrick, Park District Racket Club Manager
Brenda Adams, Park District Recreation Supervisor
Connie Cooke, Park District Recreation Supervisor
Jenni Forster, Park District Recreation Supervisor
Joe Davison, Park District Recreation Supervisor
Cindy Dunham, Park District Extended Time Assistant Supt.
Cathy Ferguson, Crystal Lake Councilwoman
George Koczwara, Deputy Crystal Lake City Manager
Dave Secrest, District 155 High School Board member
Ginny Visin, District 47 Grade School Board member
Don Peters, Crystal Lake Library Board member
Brian Shahinian, NISRA
Capt. David Werner, The Salvation Army
Bette Schoenholtz, Senior Services
Corrine Zoellick, Crystal Lake Senior Committee Chairperson
Grace Anderson, Senior Committee
Mike Croll, Senior Committee
Bill Markison, Senior Committee
Daphne Starr, Senior Committee
Linda Dawson, Crystal Lake resident

Again, there are few ordinary citizens.

The Finance Committee will not meet until next Wednesday, May 17th, at 6:30 at the same location. Members listed as having volunteered for this committee follow:

Scott Breeden, Crystal Lake Park Board President
Kirk Reimer, Park District Director
Debra Oldham, Park District Business Manager
Dennis Jahnke, Park District Supt. of Parks
Jack Sebesta, Park District Supt. of Recreation
Ann Viger, Park District Planner
Aaron Shepley, Crystal Lake Mayor
Gary Mayerhofer, Crystal Lake City Manager
John Lutch, District 155 High School Business and Finance Asst. Supt.
Brian Shahinian, NISRA Director
Henry Cowlin, Senior Citizens Committee
Chris Diserio, Crystal Lake resident
Ryan Farrell, Crystal Lake resident
Kent Krautstrunk, Crystal Lake resident

This committee actually has three non-affiliated citizens.

Labels: Community Center, Crystal Lake Park District, Pool

It was at the end of its village board meeting during the trustee comment period when Lakewood Village Trustee Dorothy Pfeuffer held up a copy of the Northwest Herald article in which Crystal Lake Councilwoman Ellen Brady Mueller was quoted as saying,

We better repeal the hotel tax because it doesn’t sound like we want to share the lake.

Unfortunately, I did not write down what she said, but, suffice is to say, she did not look favorably upon making Crystal Lake a tourist destination.

I did jot down what Trustee Carl Davis said,

There are plenty of people using the lake.

He said a lot of people had contacted him about sharing the lake with outsiders (my word, not necessarily his).

Trustee Erin Smith, who grew up in Country Club Additions on Gate 12, asked,

What’s in it for us?

She suggested she did not see anything.

Most of the trustees, either by body language or comments, seemed to agree that they wanted to limit lake use to local residents.

Trustees inquired when there would be a general discussion with Crystal Lake and the Park District about future use of Crystal Lake. Village Administrator Catherine Peterson replied

I have no notice of a general discussion.

I read the final three paragraphs of the Monday Northwest Herald editorial:

The lake should be used as an asset to promote tourism. The City Council is right to evaluate lake use and to formulate policy to ensure that the city is not accused of favoritism in the future if an event were to be denied.

But they should not get carried away.

If anything, lake use – even by outsiders – should be promoted by the city, not discouraged.

I then expressed my opposition that view, pointing out that people had moved to Lakewood to get away from where they earned their money, not to make money off the lake.

The sticker on the book at Sam's Club is rouind and says, "Summer Read."

So what if it's not summer.

I read "Raising Atlantis" by Thomas Greanias anyway.

He's written screen plays and this one is obviously aimed in that direction.

The author graduated from Northwestern and its Medill School of Journalism.

For $4.88, how could I go wrong on this science fiction action unrequited romance adventure with an archological underlay and a Biblical slant?

It may come as a surprise to the absentee owners of the Northwest Herald, but most people did not move to Crystal Lake to make money.

We moved here so we could get away from the places we had to go to make a living.

As far as I know, now that Bob Shaw has moved to the Southwest, no one who owns a part of the Northwest Herald lives in Crystal Lake.

In short, the Northwest Herald, like most of the developers who cover our cornfields with homes that force higher taxes on the rest, is in McHenry County only to take advantage of the money that our residents bring home.

The vast majority of us are quite satisfied, thank you, with the current way we use Crystal Lake.

We enjoy its calming effects when we drive past.

We love to go fishing on it.

We enjoy swimming in it or just dipping our toes in.

We savor the concerts that waft music across the lake.

We take pride in teaching our children how to water ski on it.

We withdraw from world as we sail our small boats.

We don’t care one whit that some city councilmen and the Northwest Herald have the warped vision of selling our lake to tourists in new and more intrusive ways.

Councilwoman Ellen Brady Mueller apparently told the Northwest Herald,

We better repeal the hotel tax because it doesn't sound like we want to share the lake.

If Councilwoman Brady wants to promote her neighborhood as a tourist site, God bless her.

If she and others want to promote the city-owned Vulcan Lake as a way to bring in more taxes for city government, most could care less. To get to that point, however,at least she and the rest of the council would have to allow local residents to use it.

No. I’m wrong. The Crystal Lake City Council has no intention of allowing anyone who is not a resident of its municipality to use its private lake. Unless you are willing to pay, you will not be welcome.

Fortunately, the Crystal Lake City Council does not have the last say on how Crystal Lake will be used.

And, even if it did, there’s an election next year.

= = = =
I forgot to put in how the Northwest Herald editorial concluded:

The lake should be used as an asset to promote tourism. The City Council is right to evaluate lake use and to formulate policy to ensure that the city is not accused of favoritism in the future if an event were to be denied.

But they should not get carried away.

If anything, lake use – even by outsiders – should be promoted by the city, not discouraged.

I suggested earlier that having the Protect Marriage referendum would not particularly help Republican candidate Judy Topinka, because she flaunts her support of homosexual rights so blatantly.

Now, the Daily Herald’s Eric Kroh (who now has a blog with Springfield correspondent John Patterson) has written a column in which he predicts the Protect Marriage referendum would help Republican congressional candidates David McSweeney (8th congressional district) and Peter Roskam (6th congressional district).

How?

By boosting turnout of conservatives.

Here’s a bit of the column, but read the whole piece:

Where the gay marriage referendum could have impact is in the 6th and 8th District congressional races. In the 6th, Republican Peter Roskam of Wheaton supports the proposal while Democrat Tammy Duckworth of Hoffman Estates opposes it. In the 8th District, Republican David McSweeney of Barrington Hills supports it. Democratic U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean of Barrington could not be reached Monday to say where she stands.

"It seriously could hurt (Democrats)," said Rick Garcia, executive director of Equality Illinois, a gay rights group. "It clearly helps Roskam, because he's one of the (conservative movement's) drum majors."

Garcia's group is expected to challenge the legitimacy of the petitions because, in my opinion, the homosexual activist knows that he does not have public opinion on his side.

Earlier I noted that national and state party officials have ignored the petition campaign.

For a first time petition effort, it was pretty good.

421,801 signatures were collected. And, that's not counting the ones that were stolen from the office at Crystal Lake's St. Thomas Catholic Church.

In any petition campaign, there are good signatures and bad signatures.

Bad ones can be on petitions which are not notarized.

Under the flaky Illinois law, which is designed to discourage citizen petitioning, bad petitions can contain signatures from more than one election jurisdiction.

For example, in Kane County, people from Aurora must sign different petitions from the folks in the rest of Kane County. Those in the Kane County part of Elgin must sign one petition, which cannot be mixed with those from the Cook County side.

The minimum number of signatures required is 283,111.

345,199 were filed.

One would assume that only the ones considered most valid were filed.

Residents of all counties signed petitions.

More than one-third of the petition signers represent minority communities, the organizers say.

11,581 people passed the petitions.

2,635 church congregations participated.

Illinois Family Institute and the Family Taxpayers Network did the heavy organizational lifting.

Two other citizen initiatives were attempted this year. One was a constitutional amendment (called the Redfern Amendment) which would have limited the General Assembly to meeting once every two years and re-instated cumulative voting from 3-member Illinois House districts. The other was an advisory referendum that would have sought approval of socialized medicine. Its web site is www.illinoishealthcarenow.com.

The last advisory referendum was the so-called Thompson Proposition. Signatures were gathered by precinct committeemen in 1978. Legislation resulted from which newspapers have been making money on ever since. The ads warn taxpayers when tax districts seek to increase their tax take by more than 5%, if memory serves me correctly.

Associated Press reporter Mike Robinson is reporting that ex-Crystal Lake resident and admitted felon Don Udstuen claims he paid taxes on whatever part of the hundreds of thousand of dollars of bribes he obtained from Roger Stanley and Larry Warner, both fellow convicted felons.

Udstuen is scheduled to be sentenced this Thursday in the federal court of Judge Rebecca Pallymeyer.

Udstuen is now living near Galesburg.

Crystal Laker Paul Laudick, the former president of Centegra, is reported to have written a letter of praise to the judge.

Udstuen was an advisor to former Governor George Ryan while

· he was seeking to become Republican leader of the Illinois House in the 1970’s,

· when Ryan was seeking to run for Lieutenant Governor with Jim Thompson against State Senator Don Totten of Schaumburg and State Rep. Susan Catania of Chicago,

· when Ryan ran for Secretary of State and

· when Ryan was running for Governor

Considering that Udstuen was also former McHenry County Republican Central Committee Chairman Al Jourdan, Jr.'s boss while Udstuen was partonage chief for former Governor Richard B. Ogilvie, as well as one of Jourdan's closest political advisors, it is hard to understand why the Northwest Herald has not been covering this story like a blanket.

Maybe the paper will send someone the Udstuen's sentencing hearing on Wednesday. It would be interesting to learn who else wrote letters on Udstuen's behalf.

Just in case you want to read more about Don Udstuen, here is most of what I have written about him:

Former Crystal Lake resident and Illinois Medical Society super-lobbyist Don Udstuen played a central role in the George Ryan corruption trial. Udstuen not only was a close advisor of Ryan when he was running for Illinois House Republican leader in the 1970’s, House Speaker, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State and Governor.

Indeed, it is probably not much, if any of an overstatement to suggest that Ryan would have held none of those offices without Udstuen’s counsel.

Here are the articles that appeared in McHenry County Blog on the McHenry County angle:

Friday, November 11, 2005 - Ex-McHenry County Resident Donald Udstuen's Actions Related in Biggest Day for Prosecution in Former Governor George Ryan's Corruption Trial

Friday, November 11, 2005 - Part 1 - What the Feds Say Don Udstuen Did Relating to George Ryan and Larry Warner

Friday, November 11, 2005 - Part 2 - IBM & Honeywell - What the Feds Say Don Udstuen Did Relating to George Ryan and Larry Warner

Friday, November 11, 2005 - Part 3 - Viiasge & American Decal with Lots More

Thursday, December 08, 2005 - Former Crystal Laker Don Udstuen on George Ryan Witness Stand Today

Thursday, December 08, 2005 - Don Udstuen's First Day of Testimony in George Ryan's Corruption Trial

Saturday, December 10, 2005 - Message of the Day – A Quote

Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - Don Udstuen’s Second Day on the Stand at George Ryan Corruption Trial

Wednesday, December 14, 2005 - Who Got the Other One-Third of Larry Warner's Lobbying Fees?

Wednesday, December 14, 2005 - Don Udstuen’s Third Day at the George Ryan Corruption Trial

Saturday, January 21, 2006 - George Ryan Trial Summary by WBBM-TV’s Mike Flannery

I’m sitting here looking at my “Benefit Choice Options” as a State of Illinois retiree.

Guess what’s one of the “Important Changes,” starting July 1st?

Domestic Partner – Effective July 1, 2006, same-sex domestic partners may be eligible for health, dental and vision coverage. See your agency Group Insurance Representative of visit the Benefits Website at www.benefitschoice.il.gov for eligibility and enrollment information.

After doing research on how many people signed up once our state universities started offering similar benefits—without authorization of state law, of course—I found that very few university employees had domestic partners who wanted to sign up. In 2003, for example, the University of Illinois only had 16, as of November. Here’s a history of the movement in our taxpayer-financed universities.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I concluded that this is a fringe benefit that companies and other employers can offer that costs virtually nothing in terms of dollars.

It does, however, make a significant political statement.

Obviously, Governor Rod Blagojevich wanted to make such a statement.

It is ironic that I should receive this policy change notice on the same day that the Protect Marriage petitions were filed.

The Chrysalis Team was training at the First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake this Saturday morning.

That’s where I found this tee shirt with a teen playing a computer game on a television set with a job stick.

It says, "Now Now. I'm Busy."

The young men where kind enough to help the United Methodist Men load the remains of the Methodist Women's rummage sale into a trailer before their worship service.

Chrysalis provides a four-day retreat (Thursday night through Sunday afternoon) in which teens provide the leadership. The next Chrysalis retreat is July 7-9, 2006 at Judson College in Elgin.

This morning I was reading a letter to the editor in the (Elgin) Daily Courier-News. It was from a Harriet Grifford Elementary School parent volunteer. Here’s some of it:

"…fourth-graders recently went on a wonderfully educational and inspiring trip to Springfield. It was a trip that potentially could have inspired members of this highly diverse group of your people to see the value of involvement in our community, our government and our political system…"

Then, I read Dennis Byrne’s column in the Chicago Tribune. Here’s part:

"Speaking of idiots, Illinois legislators obviously want us to believe that they’re doing their job (governing) when they pass a $56 billions (“rough” estimate) budget a mere two or three days after they first see it. It was handed to them by a legislative oligarghy that has run Illinois government for years, effectively reducing remaining lawmakers to mopes."

Any comments?

For other views of the Capitol, click here. Thanks to Capitol Fax Blog for introducing me to this historical look at the State Capitol.

When I was spending a great deal of political capital trying to get the now universally accepted right-turn lane on Route 62 in downtown Algonquin, right before Route 31, my vision for the corner was a park.

I figured that eastbound traffic coming down the hill on Algonquin Road—especially during morning rush hour would appreciate being able to see the Fox River. Water has such a calming effect.

If I remember correctly, I was mocked by Northwest Herald columnist Amy Mack (now working for the Daily Herald) for suggesting water relaxes people.

On Saturday I drove south on Route 31 past the corner and saw that the old Conoco station, now an automotive repair shop, is for sale.

I certainly hope the Village of Algonquin buys it, along with the lots on which two bars and a barber shop once sat and turns it into a park. I’d even settle for a parking lot, if there were not a lot of light poles to interfere with a view of the river.

Oh.

And, by the way. There is still enough room to build six lanes through Algonquin all the way to Huntley, complete with a turn lane...if anyone in power has the vision.

The Chicago Tribune Perspective section took a look at the possibility of holding the 2016 Olympics in Chicago and guess what?

They found a rowing site closer to Chicago than Crystal Lake.

How can it be?

Wasn't Crystal Lake promoted by the Crystal Lake Rowing Club to be as a promising venue for the 2016 Olympics, even in the CL Rowing Club's application for a $14,800 tax subsidy from Crystal Lake?

Would I be criticized by suggesting that holding the Gay Games Rowing Regatta in Crystal Lake is about more than, well, rowing?

The Saganashee Slough, west of Palos Hills, was the suggested site. In fact, a local developer on the Cal-Sag Canal has spent money to attract the Chicago Rowing Club, according to the Chicago Tribune. (How convenient the local rowers forgot to mention the Gay Games until right after it got a $7,000 grant to promote the harmless Palm Sunday teen regatta.)

The tourism promoters are looking forward to regattas on Saturdays and Sundays.

The Tribune quotes the Chicago Rowing Clubs coach Michael O'Gorman as saying

the Cal-Sag (is) "a great row," noting that its overhanging bridges will give spectators a bird's-eye view of the action.

It's so unlike Crystal Lake's Main Beach, where this is what you will see at the Gay Games Rowing Regatta.

This may be the only State of Illinois license plate that has shown a cross.

It was sponsored by the First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake to celebrate the church’s 150th anniversary.

Even atheist Rob Sherman took a pass on challenging its constitutionality.

McHenry West High School, where my son swims, held its prom Friday night.

It was a relatively warm that early and no one was wearing wraps.

The first picture was taken at 5. Such an early time to be so dressed up and ready for the ball.

After the one-hour swimming lesson, I took the second picture.

Students were still arriving, side by side.

I don’t know what the connection between State Representative Jack Franks and TV shock jock host Jerry Springer, but something has obviously caught the Bull Valley Democrat’s attention.

Internet-based Movie Web has noticed. In an article on Springer’s 3000th show, Franks offered praise. Here’s what Movie Web said,

"(Jerry) Springer celebrated the 3000th show by receiving several special mementoes. In honor of the 3000th episode, Illinois State Rep. Jack Franks issued a Resolution honoring Springer stating, 'We congratulate Jerry Springer on his 3,000th television broadcast and proclaim "Jerry Springer Day" in the great state of Illinois.'"

I can’t find a House Resolution Franks sponsored to that effect.

Springer did headline a fundraiser for Franks in early 2005 and Springer's publicist Kathy Posner has raised money for Franks. (Posner will be on blogger Tom Roeser's WLS-Radio show tonight from 8-9.)

Want to bet this guy was fishing this morning?

Beginning last Saturday, I am reprinting from the Sumner Press, which is owned by my friend and former colleague State Rep. Roscoe Cunningham, columns written by Susan Sovereign. She is one of two reasons I continue subscribing to Roscoe's weekly newspaper.

Last week, I showed you a $100,000 4-bedroom brick house that is for sale. Here is a $40,000 3-bedroom fram home there.

This week's column, from April 13, 2006, is about Susan's encounter with super glue. Remember to click on the image to make the print large enough to read.
  

Go to the bottom of this jump page to read the additional comments on my "Half-Truth" article. Some are good ones by readers of this blog.

Here’s the tease for Chicago Northwest Side attorney Russ Stewart’s thought-provoking column this week:

May 3, 2006

WILL "UNDER-PERFORMING" REPUBLICANS SUFFER IN '06?

To be alliterative, the Bush Blight is badly burdening the Republicans. With a 37% approval rating, the president will cause virtually every 2006 Republican candidate to under-perform -- which means they run anywhere from 5 to 15% behind the Bush 2004 showing in their respective districts.

In safe Republican districts, a 10% diminution is absorbable. In closer races, it is dangerous.

But, for challengers, it is insurmountable.

In Illinois' 6th and 8th congressional districts, both of which had comfortable Bush majorities in 2000 and 2004. GOP nominees Peter Roskam and Dave McSweeney would be easy winners in any year but 2006. But McSweeney is up against Democratic incumbent Melissa Bean, and Roskam faces Iraq War hero Tammy Duckworth.

My early prediction: Roskam and Bean will score narrow victories.

For the rest of the story, click here.

Red bud offers the evidence of spring and petunias suggest the promise of summer.

The Chicago Tribune reported Thursday that lakeshore property owner Howie Christensen, a member of the Crystal Lake City Council who voted for the Gay Games, has obtained two hours of make-up time for power boaters.

But, the water skiers will be short-changed by one hour, because the council took away three hours of wake time and awarded them to the non-resident rowers.

Lakewood will have to agree for the coucil's actions to take effect.

It seems some minorities are more important than others.

The following is so instructive of what may have driven the acquiesce of the Crystal Lake City Council to the summer advancement of the homosexual agenda in town that I quote it directly:

Councilwoman Ellen Brady Mueller was angered by Christensen's demand for compensatory wake time, saying the city uses tax money to promote tourism and lure outside groups to the city and lake.

Sounds like it’s all about money, folks.

Of course, she is correct, as was reported here the day before Palm Sunday.

Any readers going to gain anything financially from the July 16th regatta?

I keep hearing that Chicago schools don’t have enough money.

Our Crystal Lake United Methodist Men’s group is even sending guys to help completely re-paint a Chicago school June 10th, instead of having its regular monthly breakfast meeting. (We have a member, Scott Goodwin, who is working with IBM’s Chicago Cares project.)

Maybe it’s not that Chicago schools don’t have enough money.

Maybe it is a repeat of what Harold Washington proved was happening in Chicago parks when he and I were state representatives in the 1970’s.

Washington sponsored a bill that would require the Chicago Park District to spend its money equally across the city. You can imagine that the ethnic Chicago Democrats were none too pleased at Harold’s attempt to intervene. There wasn’t even the ”hook” that parks got state financial assistance.

Washington passed the bill, but only with the help of suburban whites like me.

What I heard Wednesday on WBEZ-FM makes me wonder if the same disparity is not occurring with money the Chicago school system spends.

On the way home from swimming, my 8-year-old son and I listened attentively to Chicago public radio’s “Science Sisters” documentary.

It featured two girls from 100 year-old Farragut High School (now called a “Career Academy”) who entered the city’s science fair.

They were compared to the traditional big winners in the competition from 100-year-old Lincoln Park.

What astounded me was that Farragut only has one modern science lab, while Lincoln Park has 10.

Guess which school won the Science Fair.

(Farragut doesn't have a web site or I would have put its picture up opposite Lincoln Park's.)

Is it time for some Black or Latino Caucus member to follow in Harold’s footsteps?

Labels: Chicago Park District, Chicago Schools, Farragut High School, First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake, Harold Washington, Lincoln Park High School, Science Sisters, United Methodist Men, WBEZ

The General Assembly has passed its money bills. One, Senate Bill 1520, is the “sticks and brick” construction appropriation bill. Here are the mentions of McHenry County projects that I was able to find:

Union – McHenry County for flood control and drainage improvement of unnamed Kishwaukee River tributary (p. 699)…$200,000

Fox Chain of Lakes - Lake and McHenry Counties – For the state share of the comprehensive Dredging and Disposal Plan, including beneficial use of dredge material and island creation, for the Fox River and Chain of Lakes (p. 699)…$2,000,000

Re-appropriated from Public Act 94-15 –

Fox Chain O’Lakes and McHenry Counties (p. 701)…$1,431,292

Fox River Dams – Kane, Kendall and McHenry Counties (p. 702)…$4,996,222

Union – McHenry County (p. 702)…$30,000

W. B. Stratton (McHenry) Lock and Dam – McHenry County (p. 703)…$59,370

Widen Rakow Road from Ackman Road to Route 31 in McHenry County, Illinois (p. 725)…$5,720,000

Miller Road Widening and Improvement (p. 727)…$6,364,000

Widen Route 47 from Kreutzer Road to Reed Road (p. 755)…$1,000,000

McHenry County / Crystal Lake Road (p. 756)…$1,000,000

For the counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will, pursuant to Section 4(b) (2) of the General Obligation Bond Act, as amended (p. 766)…$1,128,186

Moraine Hills State Park – McHenry County, for replacement of restrooms and upgrading water system (p. 780)…$82,922

Moraine Hills State Park – McHenry County, for roofing systems at (p.784)…$23,387

McHenry County College - For constructing a classroom/administrative building, providing site improvements and purchasing equipment, in addition to funds previously appropriated (p. 824)…$473,076

8th congressional district Republican candidate David McSweeney has taken aim at incumbent Democrat Melissa Bean. Here is his press release on the topic:

David McSweeney, candidate for Congress in Illinois' 8th Congressional District released a one-page paper outlining solutions to the escalating cost of gasoline back in August of 2005. McSweeney entitled this paper as his "Three Pronged attack on Gasoline Prices". This paper is accessible at the website. The cost of fuel is a major concern for commuters in the 8th Congressional District.

“Last summer I released a paper that took on the issues of gasoline prices. The high price of gasoline has a ripple effect throughout our economy as the cost of travel and shipping products become burdensome. It affects our ability to compete in the marketplace worldwide and it impacts every level of our economy including small business. One of the key factors in the cost of gasoline is rooted in the basic economic principle of supply and demand," said David McSweeney.

"We have not built a new refinery in this country in 30 years and we have an archaic set of fuel standards that defies the marketplace. Melissa Bean had the opportunity just yesterday to vote on legislation that would help to streamline the process for building new refineries. Instead of supporting the consumer's position she voted with the Democrats against HR-5254," said McSweeney.

"I proposed a three-pronged attack on rising gasoline prices last August. The same issues apply:

Firstly, I support a five percent reduction in the Federal Government's Strategic Petroleum Reserve Inventory.

Secondly, I support immediately creating a single national standard for refined gasoline.

Thirdly, I support the use of closed military bases for building new refineries.

Additionally, I would double the tax credit for hybrid cars, cut the Federal gasoline tax in half from 18.4 cents per gallon to 9.2 cents through the end of the year, and

I would provide permanent tax credits for wind and solar energy development," said McSweeney.

"Melissa Bean's voting record, and campaign positions, demonstrates her penchant for limiting the marketplace and shows a lack of understanding of the basic principles of supply and demand. Without new refineries and a single fuel standard we are effectively limiting the supply of gasoline. Without new sources of oil, such as the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge, we are limiting the supply of crude oil for refining. Without tax credits and other means of encouraging the use of alternative energy sources we are perpetuating our dependence on oil," said McSweeney.

"As member of Congress I will work to find solutions to the problems that the people of the 8th District are facing. Congress, and Melissa Bean, can tackle the issue of rising gasoline prices right now. This district is not an urban public transportation district like Chicago or San Francisco where Melissa Bean gets her campaign funds. Public transportation plays a role but many people rely on their automobiles to commute to and from their jobs. I think the people of this district want solutions and thus far Melissa Bean is only providing no votes when it comes to solving our energy crisis," said McSweeney.

David McSweeney resides in Barrington Township within the 8th Congressional District with his wife Margaret and their two daughters.

This is the first mud flap message.

Cartoon character Yosemite Sam says,

“Back off.”

Think that's what some local politicians are thinking about the inquiries being made by the Chicago Crime Commission in McHenry County?

The surprise answer from Lakewood Police Chief Lawrence Howell is that the Crystal Lake Rowing Club might be on the hook. (The photo is from the Palm Sunday high school regatta.)

Howell’s answer could send chills down the backs of Crystal Lake Rowing Club members, even on a warm July day:

There is some question, if the Gay Games didn’t pay us, whether the rowing club would be liable for it, because they also requested it. The permit for a special use was issued to them also for the event.

With the Chicago Tribune reporting a major shake-up in Gay Games management, I started wondering if the three local taxing bodies have secured bonds from the Chicago Games (the organizer’s official name).

The Gay Games’ executive director has been fired. The Gay Games are scheduled for the third week of July, 2½ months away.

The last two Gay Games have lost money...big time.

Will Crystal Lake, Lakewood and the Crystal Lake Park District be able to learn from that experience or will local taxpayers be left to pay the bill?

I placed calls to all three governments, but Lakewood was the only one to reply before the close of business Thursday.

The village has not secured a bond to guarantee payment, Police Chief Lawrence Howell said,

At this point it has not been the position of the village for them to post a bond.

There is some question if the Gay Games didn’t pay us whether the rowing club would be liable for it, because they also requested it. The permit for a special use was issued to them also for the event.

Howell said the cost had “now been narrowed down a bit. Between $4,000 and $5,000.”

Previously, the estimate was $4,000 to $8,000.

Because of my questions, it appears that the topic will be brought up at the Crystal Lake Park Board meeting tonight.

= = =
After posting this, I got the following email from Jack Sebesta, Superintendent of Recreation of the Crystal Lake Park District:

All expenses, including a damage/security deposit, will be paid in advance or Chicago Games, Inc. will not have the use of Park District property or access to the lake via Park District property.

There will be no reimbursement. Everything will be paid upfront including the deposit. The deposit amount will be put in our accounts and we will issue a refund less any additional expenses that they might incur. As we will not be billing them and trying to collect, we will not be asking for a bond. In addition to the above items, Chicago Games, Inc. will be supplying the Park District with a certificate of insurance naming the Park District as additional insured with regards to the activities on Park District property.

Lee Daniels’ former chief of staff Mike Tristano agreed to cooperate with U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s investigations. One certainly might be the use of state resources to advance targeted GOP political campaigns.

I’ve given some thought to what might pop up, if an indictment occurs.

Let me state first that Lee Daniels has not been accused by Federal authorities of doing anything illegal. He has spent a lot of the campaign cash he controlled on legal fees, however, folding the House Republican Campaign Committee this year.

In Tristano’s indictment, I noticed something that had not been included in previous indictments of political figures.

Tristano was accused of using pork to get a job for Harry Jankowski.

Jankowski is a real taxpayers’ hero. As a county board member, he led the fight to impose property tax caps on Washington County

But Jankowski was not independently wealthy. He did re-modeling and roofing, among other things, and could not campaign full-time without money to support his family.

Instead of paying him out of his campaign fund, with heavy infusions of money from Daniels-controlled and influenced campaign funds, as was done with another Southern Illinois challenger, Tristano got him a job with a real estate company operated by future felons Roger Stanley and Alan Drazek, plus others.

Jankowski got paid $4,000 a month by a company started by Daniels' favorite direct mail house operator, former State Rep. Stanley (R-Streamwood) and associates. Stanley and fellow company organizer Alan Drazak have pled guilty to felonies in connection with Crystal Laker Donald Udstuen’s acceptance of kickbacks and bribes from Stanley-related companies and Larry Warner. The job gave Jankowski an income and time to campaign.

In addition, during Jankowski’s 2000 campaign for state representative, $395,000 in Illinois FIRST taxpayer dollars were used to advance Jankowski's campaign.

For the rest of the story, click here

For more McHenry County Blog, click here.

Interviewing current and past public officials, investigators of the Chicago Crime Commission are looking at McHenry County.

What are they looking for?

“Crime,” one investigator said.

Jim Wagner, the new president of the organization that has a reputation for tracking syndicate activities, told McHenry County Blog,

Obviously, the Chicago Crime Commission is interested in more than organized crime. We are interested if there are things being done in McHenry County that would rise to the level of concern of the Chicago Crime Commission.

We’re just trying to determine whether there is anything of an illegal nature that has happened out there.

If we determine that there are illegal activities that occurred, we will be meeting the United States Attorney’s Office to turn that information to them.

Wagner spent a career at the FBI and, then, became the chief investigator for the Illinois Gaming Board. His specialty is organized crime.

If you would have seen something that doesn’t seem right and would like to talk about it to the private investigator and the former FBI agent doing the interviews, give the Commission a call at 312-372-0101.

After the referendum, the Woodstock Citizen stopped posting articles every day or two.

It is now back with a thoughtful story on the cost of illegal immigrants to the local school system.

The estimate?

$360 million.

That's not a typo.

There are some thoughtful comments below the story about the Rev. an State Senator James Meeks’ having said

for education we still rank 49th out of 50

If you would like to add to them go to Illinoize, Capitol Fax Blog’s Rich Miller’s aggregator of blogs, and make a comment.

15 Comments

Levois said...
I know Rev. Meeks is trying to get more money for the schools on the far south side, but it think he's wrong on trying to just get more money for the public schools. I remember that people like Arne Duncan was at some rally trying to advocate for more money for the city schools. They seem to have been doing this for a decade or so. Money is not the issue here. Whether we are ranked 25th or 49th in school funding.
12:12 PM

Yellow Dog Democrat said...
Cal -

Senator Meeks is absolutely correct. The current school funding system shortchanges our kids. Combined funding levels for our schools fall far short of what is recommended by education experts.

There is no denying that Illinois is balancing it's budget on the backs of school children.

Your post points out another truth though. It isn't only our local school children that bear the brunt, it is also local property taxpayers -- including our seniors, our families, and local businesses -- that are bearing more than their fair share of the load.

You, as a former state representative, should take a long, hard look in the mirror, instead of throwing stones at others, because you are just as responsible for the current system as anybody else, and Illinois has you to thank for our high property tax bills.
12:58 PM

For the rest of the comments, some, even charitable, click here.

Even a casual reader of the Northwest Herald’s coverage (or lack of coverage) of the Gay Games would conclude that it is a proponent of the “gay” lifestyle.

In yesterday’s editorial, however, the Herald savages the Protect Marriage advisory referendum, concluding that, even it were a constitutional amendment, rather than just an advisory referendum, it couldn’t possible obtain the 2/3 majority a constitutional amendment requires for passage.

Illinois voters do not need to be distracted by such a frivolous campaign. A 1996 law already bans same-sex marriages, and the law is not being threatened in court.

Even though they don’t mention it, the editors surely are aware that it was a Massachusetts Supreme Court’s overturning a law similar to Illinois’ that started the cascade of referendums to amend state constitutions in order to make the law the editorial cites more likely to withstand arbitrary court decisions like Massachusetts‘.

Here's the rest of the story.

Labels: Northwest Herald, Protect Marriage

Seen at various places around Crystal Lake.

I have come to expect tax hikers to tell half-truths. We hear them from income/sales tax hike cheerleader Ralph Martire all the time.

He continually emphasizes that Illinois ranks 49th in educational spending, although sometimes he hints there may be more money from local sources.

That is a half-truth. Illinois may rank 49th or 48th in state aid to education, but, to be honest, one must consider state and LOCAL financial assistance to our public schools and tell what that ranking is. Anything less is deliberate deception…propaganda of the worst kind.

I put this more bluntly last year on Jeff Trigg’s blog:

The "big lie" technique was used at least three times today. Illinois is 49th in school funding, a lie, if one is trying to characterize how well Illinois schools are funded with tax money, compared to other states.

We may or may not be 49th in the STATE share, but we most certainly are not 49th when state and local taxes are combined.

After combining educational funding financed by both state and local tax dollars, the Illinois ranking is usually put in the twenties. About half the states are higher and half lower. According to the American Legislative Exchange Council,Illinois has been in that position since the 1970's. I think the NEA Table H-8 to the left confirms ALEC's findings. The largest teachers' union's statisticians say Illinois ranks 21st in per captal expenditures for K-12.

But, maybe Illinois ranks even higher.

In "current expenditures...per student," the National Education Association found us to rank 10th in 2003-2004, if I read Table 5 in last year's report and the more recent Table H-16 to the right correctly. Last year's report ranked Illinois the highest midwestern state, with Wisconsin ranking 13th and Minnesota coming in at 18th.

(I researched this at many sources last year. You can find those notes here.)

Here’s how Meeks is quoted in the Chicago Tribune today:

My concerns are not allayed by [the new budget] because even with the money in this budget, for education we still rank 49th out of 50.”

Perhaps truth takes a hit when a minister goes into politics.

Or, maybe, he said more, but the Tribune did not have space for a qualification of that half-truth.

Labels: 49th, Big Lie, Income Tax Hike, James Meeks, Ralph Martire

After is referendum passed, District 300 officials pointed out that its original assessed valuation projections were correct and that raising them after criticism had been a mistake.

Now that general State Aid to Education has been pegged at exactly what Governor Rod Blagojevich’s puppet State Board of Education requested—up $170 per pupil--I wonder if an admission will be made that District 300’s low-balling of state aid was a mistake.

That happened at the Algonquin Rotary Club meeting after member Gene Brown pressed District 300 finance person Cheryl Crates whether she rejected everything that District 158 school board member Larry Snow had said in his critique of District 300 projections. Here's what she said while admitting that morning that the districts state aid figures were probably low:

I’m always interested in people’s opinion. The only thing that’s not in there is state aid (at) $170 (per pupil).

The amount omitted was enough to pay for the extracurricular activities and sports that were to be removed, if the tax hike referendum failed.

In a press release concerning the first two years of operation of the union-backed state equal pay for equal work law, Governor Rod Blagojevich is quoted thusly,

Women doing the same work as men should be paid the same wages.

Anyone disagree with that?

Then the First Feminist, wife Patti, says,

"The fact that many women in the state are still making about 70 cents for every dollar a man earns is a stark reminder that we have more to do."

The problem with putting that canard in an equal pay for equal work press release is that it has nothing to do with the law being enforced. It is the slogan for those who wish to impose state regulations on private sector salary patterns.

It's called "comparable worth."

Here's what long-time employment law lobbyist Jay Shattuck told me several years ago

"They’re mixing apples and oranges. The Equal Pay Act is about paying people paying people the same for the same work. The statistic is about comparing wages of men earned in male-dominated professions with wages earned by women in different occupations.

"That’s the old comparable worth issue. It’s not equal pay. Comparable worth’s goal is to bring the salary in female-dominated occupations to the same level as male-dominated occupations. A female doing the same work as a male on a construction project would be paid the same.

"That doesn’t mean that a construction worker would get paid the same amount as a nurse.

"Comparable worth is about imposing a societal, subjective value system, rather than a market system for determining wages."

The incendiary poster shown above was forced onto every employer's wall by the Blagojevich administration.

Tomorrow or the next (or whenever state public information officers answer my questions), a story about the success of the new equal pay for equal work law in Illinois.

Found at the First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake.

It is pretty obvious that incumbent 8th district Congresswoman Melissa Bean got a lot of outside help to de-throne Congressman Phil Crane.

One of the prime suspects is former Bill Clinton aide and, now, U.S. Congressman Rahm Emanuel.

Emanuel has been mentioned in a filing by the U.S. Attorney as having received campaign assistance from Hired Truck “volunteers” in his primary victory over the classy former State Rep. Nancy Kazak. She previously lost the Democratic Party primary to then-State Rep. Rod Blagojevich when he was first elected to Congress.

I have always wondered if some of the Hired Truck guys not only went out to Will County to campaign, but also into Crane’s district.

Here is what blogger and and WLS-AM radio talk show host Tom Roeser (8-9 PM Sundays) reports that former Better Government Association Executive Director said about Emanuel last Sunday:

(Brunner) was the first prominent ex-prosecutor to publicly affirm that Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign committee may be in trouble for using city workers in his first campaign-a campaign that Greg Goldner ran-against Nancy Kazak…a charge that should have national repercussions since Emanuel is criss-crossing the nation inveighing against a Republican “culture of corruption.”

In December, I reported on the relative state of the two power parties in McHenry County: Republican and Democrat.

Both had immense numbers of vacant precincts.

What’s a vacant precinct?

It’s one where no one had cared enough about being precinct committeeman to get the signatures of 10 neighbors to get on the ballot.

In some cases it was just laziness. In others it was a deliberate decision.

After all, not many non-elected officials need to curry favor with party leaders to keep their government jobs anymore. There are some, but they are few and far between.

In any event, the lack of citizens filing for precinct committeeman not only reflects the decline of party politics, but also concentrates power in the county chairman. That’s because the two county power party chairman have the power to appoint people who do not even live in the precinct to serve as precinct committeeman until the next primary election.

Some are sincerely interested in getting party candidates elected; others are “space filler” who will do nothing except take up a line in the McHenry County Yearbook.

Last week, Republican Party chairman Bill LeFew appointed 37 people, by my count, for seven townships:

21 - Algonquin Township
9 – McHenry Township
2 – Chemung Township
2 – Marengo Township
1 – Burton Township
1 – Dorr Township
1 – Greenwood Township

Algonquin has 66 precincts, so nearly in one-third no one cared enough to file. And, we had a hot Republican gubernatorial primary election, right?

Some of the appointees are/were elected officials. I see

· county board member Don Brewer (who lost re-nomination) for Algonquin 1, where Constance Donner has long served,
· county board member Anna May Miller (Algonquin 26 in Crystal Lake’s Coventry subdivision),
· her husband, Algonquin Township Road Commissioner Bob Miller adjacent to his home precinct of Algonquin 17, where Jack Schaffer served for 40 or so years as committeeman,
· District 300 School Board President Mary Fioretti in Algonquin 63, (Fioretti voted Republican in 2004, but Democrat in 2002) and
· former McHenry County College Board member Nick Kachiroubas will serve GOP committeeman in my Crystal Lake/Lakewood precinct, Algonquin 7.

Dean Whitfield and his wife Sue will take on Algonquin precincts 37 and 42, respectively. Both previously served as appointed committeemen in those precincts.

Neighbors Suzanne Koch, 65 Hilltop in Lake in the Hills, has been appointed to Algonquin 28, where she was elected two years ago, and
Anna Saikel of 77 Hilltop, LITH, was appointed in Algonquin 39, where she served as an appointed committeeman last term.

Also appointed to serve in the same precinct, as last time was Cary’s Rebecca Lee—Algonquin 31. Lee is Bob and Anna Miller’s daughter. She is a lawyer who works for the State’s Attorney’s Office.

Lake in the Hills’ Greg Cook will be responsible for Algonquin 61, the same precinct as last time.

Educator Andress Conneen will staff Algonquin 60, rather than Algonquin 58, as he did during the last election.

Jeff Altman has been tagged for Algonquin 58, as he was during the last 2-year cycle.

Algonquin 49 has appointed committeeman Robin Mohr for the term. Mohr was the elected committeeman in Algonquin 8 until he moved out of the precinct.

Former Cary village trustee and one of my former (and only conservative) Democratic Party candidates for state representative Joe Powalowski will serve in Algonquin 48, where he was last time.

Keith Petropoulos of Algonquin will be in Algonquin 32. Petropoulos filed to run against me in the 2000 primary, but withdrew in mid-January, presumably to give Rosemary Kurtz a better chance of winning, which she did.

George Boddy is a long-time elected precinct committeeman in Algonquin 29, where he was just appointed.

Mark Zulke of Fox River Grove will jump the river to represent Trout Valley’s Algonquin 23, one of the most Republican precincts around.

Charles McKenney of Turnberry in Grafton Township will work Algonquin 13, my old precinct in Coventry. McKenney is the attorney son of former Lakewood village trustee Hal McKenney, an active Republican in his later life. (Hal was Democratic Party chairman when I ran for County Treasurer in 1966 and recruited my opponent, Doris Fortier.)

Clare Johnson has been appointed in Algonquin 66.

The second largest township, McHenry, with 34 precincts, only filled 9. That means ever precinct has a name attached to it as Republican precinct committeeman.

Township Supervisor Donna Schaefer will fill a previously vacant one—McHenry 25—while she was in McHenry 29 last term.

Jake Justen will serve in McHenry 4, Angelo Nardi in McHenry 7 (McHenry 30 before), Township Trustee Jerry Courdrey in McHenry 13 (the same as last time), George Dienhart in McHenry 15, Township Clerk Bruce Novak again in McHenry 17, Wally Fox in McHenry 22 (where he was the elected committeeman last time), Judge Mike Chmiel former law partner Lewis Matuszewich in McHenry 24, and John Landon (the husband of Central Committee Executive Geri Davis) in McHenry 28, instead of McHenry 32.

Chemung Township got two appointements:

Glenda Miller, LeFew’s chief deputy treasurer, Chumung 2 and
Harold Cross in Chumung 4.

Chemung now has committeemen in all precincts.

Marengo Township also received two appointed committeemen:

Brian Kruase in Marengo 1 and
Sheriff Keith Nyfren in Marengo 4.

Marengo now has all precincts filled.

One vacancy was filled in Burton, Dorr and Greenwood Townships:

Tim McKeever in Spring Grove’s Burton 3,
County Board member Virginia Peschke in Dorr 14, the precinct from which she had been previously elected, and
Carl Scarim in Wonder Lake’s Greenwood 1.

Greenwood and Burton are now fully occupied. Dorr still has five empty precincts.

Of course, the real question remains:

Will the precinct committeemen, whether elected or appointed--work their precincts?

Labels: Andress Conneen, Anna Miller, Anna Saikel, Bill LeFew, Bob Miller, Greg Cook, Jeff Altman, Keith Petropoulos, Mark Zulke, Mary Fioretti, Nick Kachiroubas, Rebecca Lee, Robin Mohr, Suzanne Koch

Washington paper The Hill reports today the amount of money that the National Republican Congressional Committee spent urging 8th congressional district constituents to urge Congresswoman Melissa Bean to help force the top Democrat on the House Ethics Committee from his post.

Here’s what the paper said:

On April 24, the NRCC spent about $10,000 on phone banks opposing Reps. Melissa Bean (D-Ill.), Chet Edwards (D-Texas) and Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.), who stepped aside as ranking member of the House ethics committee in the wake of allegations of unethical activity.

For good measure, the NRCC spent $970 to run phone banks April 24 opposing Emanuel, who won the Democratic primary in March with 83 percent of the vote and faces token GOP opposition in November.

Emanuel, besides being head of the Democrats congressional financing committee, is Bean's sponsor.

With McHenry County real estate tax bills coming out, this "FOR 13" license plate that my father had on his car is appropriate.

Illinios does not have the type of protection that California's Proposition 13 provides. My understanding is that California property tax bills are limited to 1% of purchase value.

That has some downsides in that people tend to stay in the same house in order to avoid higher property taxes. It also means that purchasers of new (or new-to-them used) homes have a higher tax burden than those in older homes.

Considering that homes in new subdivisions cause the increase in taxes for schools, however, maybe that system makes some sense.

It certainly violates the public finance axiom I learned in grad school, however. Equals (based on the market value of their house) are not treated equally.

= = = = =
While you’re looking up tax information, type your zip code in Chicago Tribune reporter Diane Rado’s Senate Bill 750 tax swap tax calculator. This proposal to "swap" (temporary) lower property taxes for a (permanent) income tax hike is a net tax hike for McHenry County residents.

= = = = =
And, if you haven't seen this year's tax bill, click here for a web site operated by the McHenry County Treasurer. You will need to enter your PIN number without dashes and your last name. Try your neighbor's last name without a pin number and see what you get.

Probably the biggest story this month is that conservatives managed to gather the signatures needed to place the Protect Marriage advisory referendum on the fall ballot. Now, advisory referendums are usually not very important; the results from them are usually just ignored.

But, pro-family lobbyists and others say that House Speaker Mike Madigan and Senate President Emil Jones, both Democrats, of course, have refused to allow a vote on placing a more meaningful constitutional amendment on the fall ballot—even though there are enough members who have said they would vote for it.

The advisory referendum is an attempt to bring pressure on individual legislators to bring pressure on their leaders to allow a vote to place such a constitutional amendment on the ballot two years from now.

Also significant is that an infrastructure of activists has now been identified for future pro-family efforts. That will be an accomplishment, even if enough challenged signatures are sustained to keep the question off the ballot.

Former top lieutenant to long-time House Republican leader Lee Daniels copped a plea with U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in March, but I didn’t get around to writing about its implications until the first of April. The title was “Tristano’s Promise” and there are potential McHenry County implications. Probably related is a story I wrote in 2003 for Illinois Leader (which was refused publication) about the bonuses that Lee Daniels’ campaign fund gave 17 legislative staffers. I wrote it the December after the U.S. Attorney started investigating his use of state employees on political campaigns, including in McHenry County, according to whistle-blower Rich Means.

Everyone knows that former Governor George Ryan was convicted in his corruption trial, but, if the Northwest Herald is the only paper you read, you probably don’t know that Don Udstuen, former Crystal Lake resident and long-time political advisor of his former patronage employee, McHenry County GOP Chairman Al Jourdan, Jr., was a major player in the trial. The day after the conviction, you could not find the name of Donald Udstuen (who lived in the white brick house north of the Episcopal Church on McHenry Avenue) in the NW Herald.

What will be the impact of Ryan’s conviction: “Shifting Sands” is my take.

At their organization conventions, neither of the power parties showed much strength. The Republicans played “same ‘ol, same ‘ol,” while the Democrats put forth a new face in selecting Patrick Ouimet, the lawyer who gave appointed State Senator Pam Althoff such a scare. If he can find a fraction of the money that he spent on his campaign two years ago, there could be some very interesting county board races.

The Gay Games Rowing Regatta gained final approval of both the Crystal Lake city council and the Lakewood Village board. With Mayor Aaron Shepley leading the way, the vote was 6-1 on the council and 3-1 on the village board. The village president and two Lakewood trustees did not attend the meeting, which resulted in July 4th fireworks “lock-down” conditions being imposed, with the Gay Games being forced to pay the $4,000-$8,000 cost.

This month Gay Games critic Lori Phelps uncovered what certainly looks like outright deception on the part of the Crystal Lake Rowing Club in its application for a $14,800 subsidy from Crystal Lake’s hotel tax fund. The city granted $7,000 for the high school regatta held on Palm Sunday without being told on the club’s application that one of the future regattas the rowing club wanted was the Gay Games. (The club did managed to mention the Olympics a decade from now, however.)

While no one else thinks it is important, I am so proud of the accomplishments of my former legislative assistant Pete Castillo. Pete is McHenry County’s Disabled Veterans Outreach Program Specialist.

With the cooperation of everyone working to help veterans in McHenry County, he has managed to develop a unified approach that deserves to be widely copied. The group is even getting results apparently quite different from what the Sun-Times has documented elsewhere in Illinois.

Castillo's latest breakthrough is to connect with John Blanchard, a Crystal Lake businessman who runs NASA. No, not that NASA. The National Association of Systems Administrators. Blanchard has a not-for-profit arm which is placing homeless or near-homeless veterans in thoroughly middle class jobs. (The program is not limited to veterans.)

April was also the month that 88-year-old great-grandmother Leona Nelson withdrew her suit against the Crystal Lake Park District for censoring her for sexually harassing a park district supervisor. She has a year to change her mind. And, if she can raise the money to hire an attorney, she says she will be back in court.

Payments from a waste transfer station approved for Virginia Street Road by the Crystal Lake city council could have been used to re-shape Vulcan Lakes for recreational use. But, of course, the council had already approved a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district, which will increase all of our property tax bills.

And, I also want to mention the beginning of the re-printing of Susan Sovereign columns from the Sumner Press in Lawrence County. She consistently makes me laugh, just as Erma Brombeck did.

A group from Philadelphia called Repent America has the Gay Games in Chicago on its calendar.

I've picked off some of the photographs from the group's gallery. You can see more by going there.

Some of the pictures show police and one I saw seems to have police carrying a demonstrator away.

All of the demonstrations seem to be cities, but they appear to concentrate on events designed for gays and lesbians.

Whether they will venture as far out as Crystal Lake for the Gay Games Rowing Regatta on July 16th is unknown.

But, given the fact that the most television cameras will be here, it would not surprise me.

It appears that street preacher Rick Barnes, who said he would be at the Regatta at both park board meetings, might have some company.

Here’s what FrontPageMag.Com said about the group on April 27th:

And, in Philadelphia not quite two years ago, a group of Christians with Repent America were arrested for holding signs and quietly praying at a city-sponsored gay pride event.

Though the Christians obeyed all police orders and were accosted by militants, they were arrested and spent 20 hours in jail.

The City of Brotherly Love wanted to prosecute them for a laundry list of felonies, including criminal conspiracy. If convicted, they could have faced up to 47 years in prison. (Fortunately, a reality-based judge ruled the Christians were exercising their First Amendment rights and threw out the case.)

No other group in America has seen its free-speech rights attacked in similar fashion.

Sunday, Prospect Heights city officials tried to place the arsonist blame on disgruntled city residents, of which the town has plenty.

This is what appeared in the Daily Herald article:

Generally, (2nd Ward Alderman John) Styler said the vandals were not believed to be rowdy teenagers, but someone with a beef against the city. At no point did the vandals enter the building, he said.

The way I read that, it is the citizens who have been critical of the city fathers who are having the finger of blame pointed toward them.

One of the citizen finger pointers—architect Kurt Giehler--sent the following email:

I am stunned by the disclosure that arson was the cause of the fire.

While I have contempt for the mismanagement and corruption of the present administration, I never seriously considered arson as a possibility.

I figured cause would be lightning, faulty electrical, or a coffee pot. I figured they got caught with their pants down--didn't remedy the known building defects out of hubris and arrogance--and that they would try to cover up their malfeasance, which is what they, apparently, are trying to do.

At the last council meeting on 17 April, Mayor Pace, Administrator Zimmerman, and City Attorney Zimmermann, were so brazen as to not allow any citizen input whatsoever. This was in direct violation of the Open Meetings Act.

It is very interesting that records used for the audits as well as building permits and plans were casualties of the fire. Documents affecting the two areas where residents have the most beef were destroyed. Other residents, the local group at the website "PHinform.com", and I have been after City officials to disclose information for years. Now, unfortunately, most of these records will be permanently unavailable.

Other than the disturbed actions of a disgruntled employee, I suppose the investigation will focus on who had the most to gain by destroying the building and the records it contained. This makes it hard for investigators in that, with the exception of the intellectually-challenged aldermen, there are many Prospect Heights officials with something to hide.

I doubt if the culprit is a resident.

Almost all residents are very unhappy with the way the Pace Administration spends money; it seems odd that a resident would create a bigger financial burden by burning the place down. Residents want more information, not less.

As for Prospect Heights officials, look for someone who has something to lose.

Take your pick as to affected parties:

· we have the City's missing regular audits.

· Then we have the TIF audits for the ill-fated 12,000 seat arena project which have never been done.

· We have the illicit travel junket by private jet with arena Developer #2. We have the alleged $100,000 "bribe" to our former City Attorney, Donald Kreger (Schiff Hardin) described by Developer #1 in his ongoing lawsuit against the City.

· We have the illegal commingling of specific funds with the City's General Fund.

· We have the patronage outlet, otherwise known as the City's Convention & Visitor's Bureau, which serves as a slush fund for the Administration - (travel to Disney World, vacation islands, etc. in hopes of luring convention business to Prospect Heights?).

· We have a Palwaukee vendor that was charging rent to a Hertz Rental Outlet for land that belonged to the city.

There is so much, how does one whittle it down to just one crook?

So, who do you think is to blame?

Read the first story about Prospect Heights at here.

Labels: Aarson, John Styler, Kurt Giehler, Palwaukee Airport, Prospecht Heights, Rodney Pace

May Day used to be the big day for celebrating Communism. Great marshalling of military strength used to take place in Red Square and where Communist officials stood was carefully analyzed by Cold War Kremlin watchers.

Today, it is the day for illegal immigrants to demonstrate and strike

“for nothing less than full amnesty and dignity for the millions of undocumented workers presently in the U.S.”

according to Actionla.org.

Today it is the day to boycott United States businesses, according to the Immigrant Solidarity Network

"We are clling (sic) for No Work, No School, No Sales, and No Buying and also to hold demonstrations around symbols of economic trade in your areas (stock exchanges, anti-immigrant corporations, etc.) to protest the anti-immigrant bill.

"We will settle for nothing less than full amnesty…We believe that increase enforcement is a step in the wrong direction and will only serve to facilitate more tragedies along the border Mexican-U.S. border in terms of deaths and family separation."

In 2002, when I learning about what Libertarians believed, I was told that they wanted the free flow of people across borders.

I wondered then and wonder now how one can have a country without borders. Some active Libertarians Party members agreed with me.

I was severely criticized for proposing that illegal immigrants be housed in the prisons and youth camps the state did not have enough money to open.

Instead of the state's getting the opportunity, the unfinished 4th floor of McHenry County's jail got the nod, plus a federal construction and operating subsidy. (Guess Governor Rod Blagojevich blew that opportunity ...and he had it at the then-shuttered Sheridan Correctional Facility.)

It is not that I do not understand the hope that Mexican immigrants have for a better life. I have written about that before.

Columnist Charles Krauthammer made an interesting suggestion in a column a little less than a month ago. He suggested that both sides compromise.

Compromise, what a novel idea for a legislative body. The column was entitled,

"First a Wall, Then Amnesty."

He suggested giving into the hardliners’ call for a fence, pointing out that the country certainly does not have secure borders now.

Then, we would sit back for a couple of years and see if it worked to stem the flow of illegal immigrants.

If it did, then the country should be compassionate to those who are already here, thus satisfying at least the more reasonable of the immigrant rights’ proponents, if not the radical demonstration organizers.

This is obviously not a new issue.

Back in the 1970’s I introduced a bill to fine businesses that hired illegal aliens.

It was prompted by Woodstock’s Claussen Pickle factory's refusing to hire local residents who could not speak Spanish. It was during a recession and some of my constituents were willing to take any job to make it through to better times.

During the 1970’s, McHenry County was represented by three state representatives, Johnsburg’s Tom Hanahan, a Democrat; Bruce Waddell, a Republican from Dundee and me. We were all elected from one district under the system of proportional representation. (Each person got three votes to cast for one, two or all three candidates. Usually, the minority party won one seat.)

With Tom bringing in the union votes (he was the son of the Chicago Carpenters Union official), the bill passed the House with business representatives offering the same arguments being made now. The bill did not get through the Senate, a legislative body that virtually always represents the establishment.

Labels: Actionla, Amnesty, Communism, illegal aliens, Illegal Immigrants, Immigrant Solidarity Network, May Day

On Sunday, the Northwest Herald did a story on the tourism potential of the Gay Games, but failed to mention the $7,000 city hotel tax subsidy that the Crystal Lake Rowing Club received for hosting the Palm Sunday for high schoolers.

So far, McHenry County Blog is the only media outlet to report that the local rowing club’s application miraculously failed to mention the possibility that the Gay Games might be coming to Crystal Lake, even though a meeting had been held at the Main Beach on November 30th and its subsidy application was not filed until December 2nd. The application did tout the potential of the Olympics being held on Crystal Lake a decade from now, however.

And, the local dominant daily newspaper—circulating in about half of McHenry County’s homes the last time I checked—did not mention any benefit to the hotels whose customers paid the tax from which the regatta promoters wanted $14,800.

The number expected at the Gay Games, according to the NW Herald:

"Games organizers originally estimated a crowd 75 competitors, 25 volunteers, and 50 to 75 spectators, but now predict an additional 200 Crystal Lake residents will watch the event."

That's right.

8th congressional district Congresswoman Melissa Bean is advertising on ArchPundit, a liberal political blog covering Illniois politics.

She's a "premium sponsor."

Bean is being challenged by David McSweeney of Barrington.