McHenry County Blog

McHenry County Democrats have sent out an imaginative post card based on the game of Monopoly.

They obviously want people to think that McHenry County Republicans have a monopoly on local office.

While that is not true—think of the Democrats on school boards—the partisan offices at the county level are dominated by Republicans, even though at least one used to be a Democrat.

All of the countywide officials are Republicans and only one of twenty-four county board members is a Democrat (Jim Kennedy of Lake in the Hills in District 5).

This article will address where your town has been placed on the McHenry County Monopoly board.

What town is where Boardwalk is? Who's Park Place?

I would have thought Boardwalk would have been Bull Valley or Barrington Hills and Park Place one of those two as well.

But, that's not the case.

So, this isn't exactly a reality game.

Marengo is where Boardwalk usually appears and Ringwood is identified as McHenry County's Park Place.

Crystal Lake, Huntley and Lakewood are the placed where the next most valuable lots are on the real Monopoly board.

The yellow lots just before where the “Go To Jail” sign on regular Monopoly appears are Algonquin, Hebron and Lake in the Hills.

McHenry, Trout Valley and Prairie Grove are the red lots next to where free parking.

Do you notice a lack of uniformity in what appears to be almost a random placement of village and city names?

The orange ones are labeled McCullom Lake, Cary and Woodstock.

Oakwood Hills, Richmond and Harvard are on the same side next to the jail.

Spring Grove, Union and Johnsburg are right before the jail, but they aren't the color I remember on the original board (but I'm color blind to some extent, maybe I'm wrong).

The two cheapest properties on the regular Monopoly board were named Wonder Lake and Fox River Grove. I wonder if residents there will take offense.

Labels: Fox River Grove, Marengo, McHenry County, McHenry County Democrats, McHenry County Monoploy, Monopoly, Ringwood, Wonder Lake

I'm not sure what the last COMMUNITY CHEST substitution has to do with McHenry County Republicans.

But, what the heck.

This is a political piece and most won't look at it as closely as I am.

Let's cut them some slack even though it was the Clinton Administration that pushed for loosening mortgage qualifications.

It has the guy pulling his empty pants' pockets out again with the message


Where Luxury Tax usually appears are another three monkeys.

This time it says,


Water and air pollution are under the jurisdiction of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and the Illinois Pollution Control Board, but the McHenry County Health Department did prepare a report that was far less than complete.

Before returning to the “STOP” game starting place, the Democrats have replaced the last CHANCE SPOT with something a bit different

A CHANCE SPOT near Boardwalk and Park Place still has a question mark, but above it is the word


That's what the advertising piece is designed to push people toward, isn't it?

Voting Democrat, rather than Republican.

Change.

And between Boardwalk and Park Place is another card with a bag of money.

$5,000 this time.

What's that?


Who's it from?


Tomorrow - Part 5 of McHenry County Monopoly - How Is Your Town Ranked by Local Democrats?

Labels: Bob Miller, Change, McCullom Lake, McHenry County Democats, McHenry County Monoploy, McHenry County Republicans, Mike Chmiel, Monopoly

Today we look at the third side of the McHenry County Monopoly board.

Where the second CHANCE space usually appears after FREE PARING. the same man with his hands pulling out his pockets.


The Dems could have done something with Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley's 75% city sales tax hike that took effect on July 1st.

No ballot box vote was required because Crystal Lake is a "Home Rule" unit and its ordinances generally are as important as state law because of that special status that can only be challenged by passing a petition seeking a vote on whether to repeal Home Rule status.

Shepley is an appointed Vice Chairman of the county GOP--for "Community Outreach," of all things!

That huge sale tax hike went into effect on July 1st.

And, after all, all of the city council members are Republicans.

But they are elected on a non-partisan basis. Maybe that is why the Democrats gave them a pass.

Where the third railroad would be is a third bag of money.



Oh, I get it.

Each board side's money bag is $500 more than the one before.

The utility just before the regular “GO TO JAIL” has three more monkeys,


One candidate for office, the Democrat's man for County Coroner, Dave Bachmann, has said he won't take the authorized raise during the first year, should he win election.

The “Go to Jail” space at the next corner has been replaced with


I would have put the apostrophe after the “S,” but that's a small quibble.

Tomorrow - McHenry County Monopoly - Side 4

Labels: Dan Regna, Dave Bachmann, Lisa Madigan, Lou Bianchi, McHenry County Democats, McHenry County Monoploy, McHenry County Republicans, Monopoly

The following postcard is showing up in McHenry County mailboxes.

It is imaginative in the extreme and may well be effective. It attacks the one-party nature of McHenry County's Republican-dominated partisan offices. (No mention of all the Democrats on school boards, which levy the largest proportion of local taxes or municipal governments--think the 75% Aaron Shepley Crystal Lake city sales tax hike that went into effect on July 1st.)

On the address side are the names of all of the Democratic Party candidates.



Nice touch for those who might want to get more information.

On the back, however, is the

Whoever put this imaginative piece together had a lot of fun.

Lot names are local towns. I wonder how people will take where the Dems have placed their hometowns on the board.

Who gets to be Boardway and Park Place?

I encourage you to click on the image to enlarge it so you can better read the descriptions on.

I wonder if they were alert enough to list the McHenry County Republican Cat Tax.

Regardless, there are mentions of pretty much every McHenry County Republican mistake and abuse of power that I can remember.

In type probably big enough for you to read without enlargement are newspaper quotes with what appear to be fake headlines:

County officers get huge raises

• McCullom Lake cancer study: fatally flawed


• County wants $177 million for new offices


• Valley Hi Nursing Home mismanagement


• Regional land us planning boondoggle

On top is the headline:
Below the newspaper quotes appearsIt must be fun to be a Democrat.

Labels: McHenry County Democrats, Monopoly

The teachers union in Huntley is saying that salaries are not competitive.

The Huntley Education Association points to salaries in Unit District 300, east of Huntley and based in Carpentersville, while ignoring those in Unit District 200, immediately north in Woodstock.

Convenient selection of comparables, I’d say.

Every year the State Board of Education reports on supply and demand for teachers.

So, what’s it say?

Is there a shortage of teachers?

For lots of categories, the answer is “Yes.” Go down to page 20 of the paper version of the report (page 29 of the electronic version).

I have reproduced the top of the table, where the most needed teachers are listed, and the bottom, where there are surpluses:

If the lines are too small to read, click on the images and they will enlarge.

Those areas with surpluses are

Physical education
English – language arts
Social Science, and
Standard Elementary Instructor

Half of Huntley’s school teachers are elementary school teachers.

Clearly there is no shortage in that market place.

Only 2% of school districts report any shortage of regular grade school teachers.

48% have a surplus, which this report calls an “overage.” (Don’t you love “education speak?”)

And the situation is going to get worse from the teachers' point of view at least until 2011 as enrollments plunge.

From this, anyone who has taken Economics 101 can figure out that the salaries of elementary teachers do not have to be raised. There are many more than enough ready to take those jobs.

On the other hand, all sorts of special education teachers are in short supply.

As are bilingual, Spanish and math, science (near the top of the chart, but not reproduced here).

While the job situation for high school teachers is not as bad as for those who teach elementary school, the downward student trend line is merely delayed a few years.

So what might that mean to Huntley School District Board 158?

I’d suggest it means that grade school teachers should be in a poor negotiating position.

But, since they probably dominate their teachers’ union, they can demand salaries as high as high school teachers, many categories of which are in short supply.

So what is propping up salaries and prices?

It is unions, such as the Huntley Education Association, which is demanding more than 30% raises for all teachers over 3 years and trying to pressure the board of education to cave in.

In other words, a legal monopoly that Springfield has given striking rights to, is artificially propping up prices.

That monopoly in the suburbs is called the Illinois Education Association.

Competitive pricing doesn't exist when one monopoly union determines the prices of a product for virtually all of the suburban Chicago school districts using a “ratchet up the price scheme.”

The IEA and Huntley teachers can't be accused of collusion.

When there is a virtual monopoly, there is no one else to collude with.

The best job of education the IEA teachers’ union is doing in Huntley and McHenry County is teaching taxpayers how a monopoly in the suburbs can enforce its will with the threat to strike.

And monopoly pricing is what the State Board of Education report shows.

In the real world, that is, the private sector, those in professions in oversupply would have lower salaries than those where shortages exist.

Labels: Competition, Huntley Education Association, Huntley School District 158, Illinois State Board of Education, Monopoly, Supply and Demand