Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Did sheriff's office become vacant in 2006?

Imagine this...

What if the Office of the Sheriff of McHenry County became vacant in December 2006, when Mrs. Nygren changed her residency to Florida, applied for a homestead exemption and was granted a homestead exemption on THEIR home in Cape Coral?

Because it was THEIR home (purchased and mortgaged in both names), did Keith Nygren become automatically become a resident of Florida at that time?

If so, he lost his right to hold the elected office of Sheriff in McHenry County at that time. At least, that's was Illinois law says. And the Office of Sheriff became vacant!

And what if he did vacate the office at that time, albeit unintentionally but legally so? Did McHenry County have no sheriff in office in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010?

Imagine the havoc with warrants, arrests, trials. And promotions and internal appointments. And HR cases involving Zane Seipler and Bob Schlenkert.

And imagine his having to return four years of pay and the cost of benefits! That would put a real dent in his Asset column.

All for the gain of a paltry homestead exemption. How did he confirm his Florida homestead? By giving up his Illinois homestead exemption in 2009, but only after getting caught for illegally claiming homestead exemption in two states (but not charged with any tax impropriety).

But wait, when you take a tax deduction on your Federal income tax return to which you are not legally entitled, is this a new and different issue than a tax problem on the local, county level? Will IRS start sniffing around?

Nygrens claimed the Florida homestead exemption in 2009, but they are not claiming it for 2010. When did they realize that claiming the Florida homestead exemption might jeopardize Keith's McHenry County residence and job? Is that why they are not now claiming the Florida homestead exemption in Lee County, Florida?

What if Keith Nygren is determined to have vacated the Office of Sheriff in 2006? What if he was ineligible to file to run for re-election in 2009? Would all 53,791 votes for him just be thrown out?

Would the race then be decided between Mike Mahon and me? Or would a new election between Mike and me be required? And without a Republican candidate, since no eligible Republican was on the November 2 ballot?

Or would Zane Seipler be ruled the Republican winner of the February 2 Primary, since there was no other eligible Republican on the Republican Primary ballot?

Just gets murkier and murkier, doesn't it?

9 comments:

AZ Supporter said...

Coulda-shoulda-woulda

More blathering

IF the sheriff became un-able to continue, the Coroner is 2nd in line to become the sheriff. And the one we have now is No Dummy.

QuitWhiningAlready said...

Murkier and murkier? No. You get crazier and crazier, Gus. This is quite a stretch, don't you think?

FatParalegal said...

I don't think it works like that.

Notawannabee said...

NO Gus..."no soup for you" or Zane. Mahon absolutely not. There are specific statues that provide for the appointment of a Sheriff if the Sheriff is removed or leaves office before the completion of the term.

Yes, the Coroner takes over as the ex-official Sheriff until a new sheriff is appointed from the same political party. That wouldn't be the GREENIES and the chance that ZANE would be chosen are ...well.... your chances of living forever are greater.

Nygren is the lawfully elected Sheriff still serving his current term. He was lawfully elected for the next term.

Check the law Gus...it's there.

Gus said...

No, no stretch at all. The McHenry County SAO has been carefully examining the residency issue. What if, (think, what IF) it turned out that Nygren DID unintentionally change his residency to Florida via the homestead exemption claim? And what IF the Office of Sheriff did become vacant as a result of that change???

And now he might be trying to "un-unintentionally" change it back by giving up the Florida homestead exemption.

Well, you can't do that. Two wrongs do not make a right. It'll be an issue that I'll bet McHenry County has never faced, and it will be very, very tricky (and expensive) to resolve.

Toa said...

Funny stuff, Gus... Hilarious as a matter of fact. I wonder who thought this one up for you? You? Zane? Bachmann? The Puppetmaster in Bianci's office? Hear any more good stories? Like who the next first assistant will be in that office? Where will Lou spend the next few months as he awaits his fate? Will his new aide clean house of those disloyal employees? All of them?

I was afraid the entertainment value of these blogs was going to decrease dramatically after the election. Thanks for keeping humor flowing.

Gus said...

Don't forget the basis... if he wasn't eligible to file to run for re-election, then he can't be lawfully elected. This is the issue.

The SAO is investigating whether he was really a Florida resident at the time he filed to run.

Gus said...

And even if the SAO decides that he was eligible, then a quo warranto action might result in a different result.

Gus said...

I'd like to take credit for thinking up the "vacating of office" idea, but I can't. The person who passed it along to me is not among those you mentioned; nor is that person related to or associated with any of them.

The person is a smart, creative, thinking person, as are those you mentioned above.