Under the current county government bad check program the State’s Attorney’s Office, through employed Assistant State’s Attorneys and other government staff, attempt to collect on NSF and other passed bad checks on behalf of McHenry County merchants exclusively.

State’s Attorney Bianchi created the in-house government program on February 19, 2007, which has since serviced only about 100 clients in a county of over 300,000 residents.

“In an environment of raising property taxes and increased burdens on McHenry County taxpayers, it is counter-productive that State’s Attorney Louis Bianchi would be supporting a government program which winds up costing the taxpayers of the county thousands and thousands of dollars and provides a legal remedy to a select few. . . ” Cynor said. “While the taxpayers are paying for ASA’s salaries, staff and administrative costs of the program, it is only McHenry County merchants who are eligible to use the special government services.” Sadly, even these few exclusive clients aren’t even realizing a benefit. Big picture - this really is a lose, lose situation”

There is an alternative to the government bad check program. The Illinois Criminal Code provides a civil remedy for anyone who fails victim to a bounced or returned check. “This civil law alternative to the government bad check program is clearly the superior choice for both the merchants and residents of the county.” Cynor added.

Under Illinois civil law, any payee who receives a bad check can file suit and collect not only the face value of the check, treble damages and court costs but also attorney’s fees. Accordingly, it is the people who pass bad checks who pay for the collection costs when proceeding in the civil courts. Under the current government program run by SA Bianchi, fees and collection costs are severely capped by statute and ultimately the bulk of collection fees are paid by county tax payers.

“This really is a business or corporate welfare program where the government through the State’s Attorney’s office acts like a glorified collection agency,” said Cynor, “the problem is this is supposed to help McHenry County merchants, and in reality is leaving thousands and thousands of dollars uncollected from the people actually writing the bad checks.”

SA Bianchi has repeatedly distributed press releases expressing his satisfaction with his government program and boasting about the amount of money collected to date. All the information released to date, however, fails to make mention of the administrative costs of the program or the amount of attorney’s fees and treble damages left uncollected from offenders.

“In an era where more and more people are using debit and credit cards and more and more merchants are using check verification services, it simply doesn’t make fiscal and or legal sense to continue with a costly county government check cashing program.” Cynor said. “It’s time the State’s Attorney returned to basics and focused on prosecuting serious crimes and providing legal services to county officials.”

Interview by Grant Crowell.
http://youtube.com/user/grantast

So far this summer, Thomas Cynor has walked in more than a half-dozen parades, in Harvard and McHenry, Hebron and Crystal Lake, promoting his run for McHenry County State’s Attorney.

But one place you probably won’t see the Democrat this weekend is Algonquin, where, he says, organizers of the village’s Founders’ Days festival have banned him from entering Saturday’s parade.

Citing a rule barring some, but not all, political candidates from the event, Cynor said a festival official this month rejected his entry to the annual procession down Algonquin Road.

The same rule does not apply for sitting office holders whose seats are up for re-election, such as Cynor’s opponent, incumbent State’s Attorney Louis Bianchi.

“Obviously we think it’s unfair, Cynor said Monday. “Given the opportunity, we’d like to be in it.”

Parade Chairman Alan Kirk said the decision preventing a Cynor entry conforms to a 27-year parade rule that, until now, had never been challenged.

Cynor, he said, still may walk the parade route with the McHenry County Democratic Party’s float, as long as there is no overt campaigning, but he may not have a separate parade entry.

“He just wants to have something no one else has ever had,” Kirk said. “He wants to be treated special.”

While organizers do make a distinction between challengers and incumbents when it comes to parade entries, the rule barring open campaigning applies to everyone, Kirk said.

“If we see (incumbents) campaigning, we’ll tell them to stop,” Kirk said. “If we let everyone campaign, we’d have a six-hour parade. I don’t want to do that to the people of Algonquin.”

Cynor said it was news to him that he could walk with his party’s float. An e-mail from Kirk earlier this year specifically said no political candidates would be allowed and there would be consequences for anyone seen campaigning.

“If someone is caught violating this rule, they may be escorted off the parade route and it could be very embarrassing to the candidate,” the e-mail reads.

“At some point, it just becomes intimidation,” Cynor said of the e-mail.

Cynor, of Woodstock, said he has no plans to take legal action to get his entry into the event. For now, he does not intend to be anything more than a spectator along the parade route Saturday.

“We’re not looking to upset anyone,” he said.

State Rep. Mike Tryon, a Republican up for re-election in November, said he will be participating and would have no problem if Cynor or other challengers were allowed to do the same.

“I don’t think it’s government’s position to tell a private organization what to do at an event like this,” said Tryon, who also serves as chairman of the McHenry County Republican Party. “But generally speaking, any legitimate candidate should have the right to be in a parade. As far as we Republicans are concerned, we say ‘Let them in.’ “

The Citizens for Cynor Campaign was notified earlier this month by Algonquin Parade Chairman Alan P. Kirk that their timely parade application was being denied and the tendered check for the entry fee was being destroyed. Chairman Kirk based his denial on what he termed an “unwritten, long standing rule” prohibiting candidates from participating in the parade.

The denial prompted Citizens for Cynor representatives to inquire about the rule with the local Democratic Party. Party representatives did confirm that Chairman Alan P. Kirk has denied participation of all Democratic Candidates in the parade. In an e-mail to party representatives on May 19, 2008 Kirk states, “Please understand that you cannot have any candidates in the parade. This is a long standing rule of the parade. You cannot pass out info on them or have any banners. If someone is caught violating this rule, they may be escorted off the parade route and it could be very embarrassing for the candidate.”

The nature of the unwritten rule and the particular method of enforcement took campaign volunteers and organizers by surprise. “I’ve reviewed the parade application and all the other website information and could not find any reference to this rule,” said parade volunteer, Barbara Rendine of Crystal Lake, “If we had participated with the party float and had volunteers show up to the parade with an OBAMA for President sign or a Citizens for Cynor banner, I had no idea that they were prepared to make a scene and escort us off the street.”

Although the rule may be “long standing” it has not been enforced in the recent past. “We had a great time and were well received in Algonquin in 2006 when I marched with the Democratic Party Float,” said Citizens for Cynor Field Director, Laura Asbury; “at that time we walked with Dick Auman, who was a candidate for U.S. Congress, Alexi Giannoulious who was running for State Treasurer and a host of candidates for County Board.” The McHenry County Democratic Party was even fortunate enough to be awarded a trophy for “Exceptional Community Group – 2nd Place”, by that year’s parade committee.

Not only did Democratic Candidates participate in 2006, they also participated in the parade in 2004 without incident or comment from that year’s parade committee. Both Democratic Candidates Paula Yensen (State Representative) and Patrick Ouimet (State Senate) appeared in the Algonquin Founders Day Parade that year, each with signs, a vehicle and their own marching volunteers.

Volunteers and candidates were left to speculate as to why Chairman Kirk was choosing to enforce such an open ended restrictive rule this particular election year. “Although some might speculate that Mr. Kirk’s party affiliation might have something to do with his decision making, I am willing to give him a pass,” said Asbury, “but inconsistently prohibiting people from participating in community parades citing ill-defined, “unwritten” rules is just simply un-American.”

Citizens for Cynor
PO Box 1816
Woodstock, Illinois
(815) 861-1198
http://www.citizensforcynor.com

The second generation website offers the expected information about Cynor’s campaign for State’s Attorney, including legal background, campaign events and the candidate’s positions on topical issues. However, the site also offers a simple and unique way for visitors to obtain any McHenry County Democratic candidate yard signs, from county board to President of the United States.

Visitors to the site are directed to the “Signs for Change” tab, asked to register their address and then have the option of choosing any and all signs for Democratic candidates for office in McHenry County. A representative of the campaign will then deliver the signs and appropriately place according to local ordinance.

“The site was designed with content being the top priority. The most important aspect was to ensure visitors could easily find the information they were looking for with no confusing or unnecessary distractions,” said Matt King, the campaign’s website administrator. “But we have now taken the next important step in reaching out to supporters by including a simple and easy way in which everyone can get involved.”

Even before its official launch, CitizensforCynor.com has generated a great deal of interest. “Many have already used the site to acquire information about the campaign or to request their Barack Obama or Thomas Cynor yard signs”, said, Laura Asbury, Campaign Field Director. “Even before announcing the ‘Signs for Change’ campaign, the pre-launch generated over 200 new sign placements throughout the county.”

“Everyone involved with Citizens for Cynor is incredibly pleased with this website and the ‘Signs for Change’ campaign. It has already completely exceeded our expectations. The internet is the wave of the future for campaigning, so this is a vital tool to get our message out and get people involved in the process,” Tom Cynor stated.

For more information or to place your order for yard signs, please visit CitizensforCynor.com or call the campaign at 815-861-1198.

Citizens for Cynor
PO Box 1816
Woodstock, Illinois
(815) 861-1198
http://www.CITIZENSFORCYNOR.com

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