It looks like Cal Skinner scooped McHenry County with the announcement that Jim Harrison filed petitions for McHenry County Sheriff on the last day of the filing period, Monday, June 23.
The story and a good photo of Jim are on McHenry County Blog. I heard about the filing on Monday, and I was awaiting a press release and photo.
How many naysayers were there who said that Jim wasn't really running for Sheriff or that he'd never get the required minimum number of signatures on petitions? Jim needed over 6,000 signatures, and Cal wrote that Jim turned in over 9,000, which means a good cushion for any challenge.
In the General Election for Sheriff in 2010, a Republican candidate had to have about 550 petition signatures. A Democratic candidate had to have about 350. As a Green Party candidate, I had to have 19.
Think Illinois politics (and politicians) aren't interested in trying to keep Independents off the ballot? Jim Harrison had to collect over 6,000. And he did it!!
Will Bill Prim challenge the signatures and hope to bounce Jim from the ballot? Or, since there is a 50% cushion, will he just meet Jim for a series of debates around the County to give voters the information they need to make their informed choice?
There are already 48 replies to Cal's article. Read them, if you are interested or curious. I'm not.
Good luck to Jim and Bill. May the best man win!
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4 comments:
Oh goodie!! First he doesn't want to stay working for the sheriff's dept to become a lawyer, then he can't choose a side (party), then he's doing soooo well as an attorney, he now wants a job that pays less than a semi-successful attorney.
Jim, with this comment I am not trying to defend or explain Harrison's reasons for running, but it seems to me that your comment may not be well-founded.
My understanding is that he was injured in an on-duty traffic accident, and he went to law school. He certainly did make a choice for "party", as I did. He chose not to be eliminated in the Primary. And then it took a huge effort to collect 9,000 signatures to make it onto the ballot for the General Election.
As far as the pay, if you've ever run a business, you know that there are Gross Income, Expenses and Net Income. To generate a "net business income" of $150,000, he probably would have to gross $250,-300,000 in a year.
Congratulations to Jim Harrison and his whole campaign team, great job!
Couple of points to make:
Jim is in a financial position where he can afford a paycut to do something he thinks is important. You know Jim, money is not always the most important thing. I guess you could critisize me for taking siz weeks off without pay to donate a kidney to a stranger a few years back. It did reduce my income.
Jim really considered and was asked by some high level people to run as a Republican. But as you may know the Republican Party is so toxic right now. Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan and Ronald Reagan are not conservative enough. Young idealists, like Melissa Denker, are being excluded for being willing to work with others outside the party, if they have a good idea.
Personally, I don't see the need to have party bosses running the MCSO. And Jim made a brave decision to run as an Independent, knowing it is 12 times harder to get on the ballot and that some people will voter by party no matter what.
I don't believe his people found 9000 INDEPENDANTS. They found 9000 people who may have thought that it's a good idea to at least have a race for the job , instead of just hAnding it to Prim. I do question his people's choices of venues to campaign, I.e. The Johnsburg cancer Relay fir life, and a few others we've all heard about. I also don't know anything about being on a squad wreck; I actually thought he was a corrections officer, but I'm not sure either way, so I'll conceded that point. The rest, tho, stands.
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