No one appeared Wednesday to oppose petitions for the County Executive referendum circulated by rural McHenry County State Rep. Jack Franks. There being almost triple the required signatures, Chief Judge Michael Sullivan certified them and sent the question to the County Clerk for inclusion on the ballot.
Some County Board members are upset about that and today they'll debate whether to ask for a referendum to elect their Chairman at-large. The Board only has until next Tuesday to approve the question. The problem it faces is that the County Executive referendum, if it passes, would become law, while the Chairman of the Board question, if it passed, would only express a desire.
"I had no choice," Franks told FEN Wednesday explaining why he circulated the County Executive petitions. "The only other option was for them to do what they refused to do," he said, referring to a move to directly elect the County Board Chairman which the Board rejected in March.
The current County regime resembles the U.S. House of Representatives where members choose one of their number to be Speaker. The County Board chooses a Chairman from among themselves to set agendas, conduct meetings and make committee assignments. There's no equivalent to the President at the County level. Franks' measure would create one in the office of County Executive who would set agendas, create the budget and hire and fire administrators.
No it isn't, said Franks, it's a place for the Chairman to bully the rest of the Board, hence his County Exec proposal. "It's really simple," Franks said. "Do you believe in democracy or not?"
In the pics: (above) State Rep. Jack Franks. (below) State Rep. Mike Tryon.
8 comments:
I am not a Franks fan and I am a TRUE Republican. Perhaps this move will finally convince the rank and file Republicans of this county to see Khoeler, Tryon, Nygren and the rest of their ilk for what they really are, Hacks!
We would have been much better off with electing the chairman at large.
This proposal stinks. Another "Boss Hog" is right.
We already have one in Nygren and what did that get us?
Regect the Franks proposal. It is NOT GOOD FOR US.
People are confused as to what it really is.
We do not want a CZAR and more problems.
If Koehler had not been such a self promoting jerk, we would not have this problem.
Stop electing realtors and their families.
Ken Koehler has done a wonderful job, we don't need a "Kingdom" here in McHenry County. Reject this proposition, please.
Ken K.Is the reason people want to elect the chairman in the first place. Too many favorable real estate deals and illegal meetings to help friends.
Jack is a decent guy with good ideas however he needs to focus more on our Speaker of the House, Mike Madigan or Senator John Cullerton and their shenanigans and concentrate more on Pension reform and state budget.
First Franks, now Moore. Each dictator wants to be Supreme Dictator. What's with these desperate despot-wannabes?
Franks is just one man who out-smarted the entire McHenry County Republican Party. Wake up McHenry County Republicans, our leadership is a joke. How is a Democrat dismantling an entire, Republican dominated County Board? The answer is easy, we are lemmings who deserve all of it. We, the Republican Party, allowed this by allowing people like Khoeler, Tryon, Provenzano and the rest of the do nothings political opportunist to run this county. Shame on Jack for being so ambitious and power hungry, shame on the rest for sitting on their thumbs, refusing to put up a candidate against Franks. Perhaps Franks wouldn't be grabbing power if he was too busy running a campaign against, that young lady who offered to go toe to toe with him in November. Suck it GOP leaders, your incompetence and corruption led to this. Now you have an up hill battle to stop it.
The County Board has made their bed and now they will have to lie in it. What they should do now is try to put some genuine reforms on the table and pass them, like term limits for the Chair if that position is to continue to be selected internally, a different method of making committee assignments,and more transparency in general. This might deflect enough of the criticism to kill the Frankenczar referendum.
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