No Fun At Forum As County Board Candidates No Show

A League of Women Voters McHenry County Board candidate forum at McHenry County College Wednesday promised fireworks when the acknowledged former mistress of one of the candidates appeared in the audience.  But the candidate himself was a no-show so the closest thing to prurient was a federal family planning and birth control program the Board junked 15 years ago.

Only about 30 voters--average age, 60 plus--turned out to hear County Board hopefuls from Districts One, Two and Three pitch themselves. Most of the candidates from District One covering eastern Algonquin and Lake in the Hills were absent, however. Only former Board Member Yvonne Barnes, Cary, and Algonquin aspirant Nick Chirikos appeared. Missing were Cary incumbents Anna May Miller, reportedly about to become a grandma again, Bob Nowak, unexplained, and the sorely-beset Bob Bless, Fox River Grove.

In the past six weeks Bless may have spent more time defending himself in court and regulatory proceedings than on the campaign trail. Hearings were held in ex-mistress Kathleen Scott's Cook County lawsuit against him, her similar complaints to the Illinois Attorney Registration and Discipline Commission, his Cook County Sheriff's Office Workers' Compensation Commission case, a disciplinary proceeding before the Cook County Sheriff's Merit Board and a Cook County civil suit by a pair of ex-clients.  All were continued until after the November election.

As far as the Title X birth control program was concerned, only District Two (some of northern Algonquin and LITH) incumbent Donna Kurtz, Crystal Lake, supported it. Since no one's trying to bring it back, the point of the question was obscure.

All the candidates opposed passage of State Rep. Jack Franks' referendum to elect a County Executive to run McHenry County.  District Three hopeful Mike Walkup, Crystal Lake, was particularly worried claiming he'd talked to 75 people over the weekend.  "Only two had even heard of it," he said, "and they didn't understand it."

There was a similar consensus on what the County Board could do about the State's pensions crisis.  The answer, not very much, since it's a State problem. It took about 15 minutes for everyone to say that in his own way, though, so there was no time left for Algonquin Trustee Jerry Glogowski's question about how candidates view a controversial Continuous Flow Intersection. MCDOT thinks one would ease the Randall/Algonquin intersection commuter choke point while the LITH and Algonquin village boards fear it would kill local businesses.  "I really wanted to hear what they had to say about that," Glogowski said.

Board candidates from Districts Four, Five (parts of LITH and Huntley) and Six (West of 47) will appear for another forum at MCC this evening at 6:30 pm. Friday 52nd District State Rep. Candidates Dave McSweeney and Dee Beaubien and 26th District State Senate Candidates Dan Duffy and Amanda Howland will appear at a third candidates' forum at MCC.  That one will also start at 6:30.