Want to Get Illinois Out of Stupid? Pay Attention and Vote Erika Harold for Illinois Attorney General.

Erika Harold for Illinois Attorney General *- ASAP!

If are happy with your tax burden and the endless parade incompetent, larcenous and creepy elected officials in this City, County and State, vote the way you are told by the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun Times, WTTW, WBEZ, Crain's  NBC, WBBM, FOX 32, WGN, Chicago Business, The Reader and all of Fred Eychaner's Free Newsstand. 

Vote like Eric Zorn, Steve Chapman, Andy Shaw, Mike Flannery, Dane Placko, Chuck Goudie, Phil Ponce, Carol Marin, Mark Brown, Bruce Dold and Neil Steinberg.

That will ensure that, Sneedless to say, the buckshot, the upshot and the bullshot for Illinois will be JB Pritzker, Rahm Emanuel, Toni Preckwinkle and Kwame Rauol  in control City Hall, the County, the Governor's Mansion and, most importantly - Illinois Attorney General.

With 13 weeks till the primary election and Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s surprise decision not to seek re-election, Illinois voters have a crowded field of eight Democratic and two Republican candidates to choose from.

Though the Cook County Democratic Party last month crowned State Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, as their choice, former Gov. Pat Quinn has secured the top ballot spot via a state lottery, which might help get him some votes. Raoul and Quinn are perhaps the most familiar names on the Democratic primary ballot.
In the Republican primary, Erika Harold — a Harvard-educated attorney and former Miss America who has the backing of the state’s Republican Party — faces Gary Grasso, a DuPage County Board member.  Sun Times

I don't know a thing about Mr. Grasso - probably a very nice gent. But, I know a little about Erika Harold.

This might be the only time you read about Erika Harold, Sneedless to say. Lisa Madigan was an access ticket for our lazy Illinois media and she had fourteen years of unexamined performance protecting Illinois politics from scrutiny.


Lisa Madigan has done nothing in her fourteen years as Attorney General but become the first woman to hold that office. 

Ms. Madigan argued successfully before the United States Supreme Court in Illinois v. Caballes," where the court reaffirmed the ability of police officers to use specially trained dogs without a search warrant or probable cause to detect the presence of illegal drugs during traffic stops."  Not exactly groundbreaking.

Ms. Madigan raised her profile by speaking out on many issues and accepted awards.

Illinois cork-screwed deeper into the rich soil of this State.

Kwame Rauol and Pat Quinn are equally challenged human beings, in fact the Lake Zurich Patch called them 'an unbeatbale ticket 2014.'  They lost, huge.

Now they face each other in duel of the challenged for Attorney General.   Pat Quinn secured the top spot on the ballot, but Kwame nailed imprimatur of the State Democratic Party.

The Illinois Attorney Generalshould not be a security blanket for crooks, cons, conniving creeps and cretins. Instead the States Attorney General's homepage reads like programming from NPR

• Advocating for Women
• Protecting the Environment
• Safeguarding children
• Advocating for the Older Citizens

Name one crook sent to the Illinois Corrections System by Lisa Madigan. Name one investigation of corporate collusion in the explosion of Pay Day/Car Title Loan industry in Illinois during Madigan's tenure.  

These Usury Utilities prey on the poor, but the Attorney General's Consumer Affairs site offers this advise to the desperate: 

Consider Other OptionsWith their extremely high interest rates and many charges and fees, small consumer loans, payday installment loans, and payday loans can quickly transform a short-term financial crisis into a long-term debt problem. You should exhaust all possible resources – family, church, friends – before you even consider taking out one of these high-cost loans.

Should you exhaust all possible resources -family, church, friends - turn to gun violence on yourself after you have been taken to court by the good folks at PLC Illinois.

Thanks Lisa!

Like President Obama, Erika Harold is Harvard Law Alumna and, unlike POTUS 44, a practicing attorney in Illinois with a list of legal achievements.

• When she was blessed with the opportunity to attend Harvard Law School, she was thrown a curveball. She couldn’t afford the tuition.
• But Erika didn’t give up. Lacking the funds to pay for school, she got creative. She decided to compete in the Miss America Organization to attempt to earn the scholarship money necessary to pay for law school.She won. And she used her platform to not only pay for school, but also to give back.

• As Miss America 2003, Erika became a national leader in the fight to end youth violence and bullying, sharing with more than 100,000 students her own experience of overcoming bullying. Erika was named one of Fight Crime, Invest in Kids’ “Champions for Children” and received a leadership award from the National Center for Victims of Crime.

• Upon graduating from Harvard Law School, Erika worked as an attorney in the litigation groups of Sidley Austin LLP and Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella, P.C.

• Erika represented businesses in commercial disputes and advised religious institutions in matters involving First Amendment protections. She also was active in the law firms’ respective legal education efforts, teaching students about the U.S. legal system as part of the Lawyers in the Classroom program and coaching a team of high school students in the City-Wide Mock Trial Competition. She was also part of the teaching faculty for Harvard Law School’s 2017 Trial Advocacy Workshop.

• In 2015, the Illinois Supreme Court appointed Erika to serve on the Illinois Supreme Court Committee on Equality.

• Erika is also a member of Trinity International University’s Board of Regents, and serves as a Commissioner on the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism.

• Erika currently serves on the national board of directors of Prison Fellowship, the world’s largest outreach to prisoners and their families. In that capacity, she advocates for criminal justice reform.  She was also recently selected to the 2017 Emerging Lawyers list and was recognized in the categories of commercial litigation, civil rights/constitutional law.Erika Harold works as an attorney at Meyer Capel, one of Champaign County’s largest law firms.  

I doubt if Erika Harold will receive the Caroline Kennedy New Frontier Award, like Lisa Madigan, because Ms. Harold is not a child of nepotism, but she is willing open the books on Lisa's Dad and his minions, because, " Erika Harold knows that home is worth fighting for. That’s why she’s stepping up to take on Mike Madigan’s political machine."

Jeanne Ives should be linked arms with Erika Harold, ASAP.  Jeanne could point out all of the bones in Springfield graveyard of deals. 

That is something worth bucking the trend. 

Let's see if Illinois is ready to grow a pair. 

* My apologies - I had earlier confused States Attorney with the office of Attorney General.  My error was pointed out by a kind soul.  I am nothing, if not flawed.

"Dig Two Graves" Southern Illinois Gothic and a Wonderful Movie

I like good movies.  Therefore, this is not a traditional review.  Dig Two Graves is a gem:

Starring: Ted Levine, Samantha Isler, Danny Goldring, Troy Ruptash, Mark Lancaster, Dean Evans, Bradley Grant Smith, Kara Zediker, Ryan Kitley, Sauda Namir, Ann Sonneville, Mikush Lleshdedaj  

A supernatural thriller about the generational violence that plagues a small, backwoods town, set in the 1970s, Dig Two Graves asks “how far would you go to save those you love?” After 13-year-old Jacqueline Mather (Samantha Isler) loses her brother in a mysterious drowning accident she is soon visited by 3 moonshiners who offer to bring her brother back to life but at a grim cost. As the dark history of her grandfather, Sheriff Waterhouse (Ted Levine) is unearthed the true intentions of the moonshiners come to light. FaceBook

Last night, I was treated to a screen full of familiar sights and scenes from Southern Illinois: the great people of Illinois, Giant City State Park - great limestone canyons spiked with trees, deep mysterious quarries and most especially for me the school - grade school in Grand Chain, it chilled me.


The old Gresham Chicago Police District ( now Dudley Beauty College) at 85th & Green was about as cheery. It is in this Fritz Lang nightmare of a school that the young protagonist Jake comes to aid of the bullied target of doom.  No, spoiler this old boy.

Instead, I wish to recognize the high quality/low budget genius who commanded a crew of talented actors and masterful technicians -Hunter Adams.

His movie is a feast for the senses - all but the tongue. The snakes, coon, squirrel, otter and deer drying in the smoke filled cabin and caves of the mysterious strangers might be a bit for delicate appetites, but these flourishes spice the Gothic magic of Dig Two Graves.

The dialog is authentic to speech of real people and not Ryan Goslings, or Meryl Streeps.

What the actors bring to the script is magic - especially  Chicago veterans Ted Levine, Danny Goldring and the exquisite Kara Zediker, in the role of a woman who looses two children in 90 minutes of drama.

I am prejudiced, as I had the pleasure of teaching Ms. Zediker English and American Literature at Bishop McNamara High School and proudly watched her wonderful career.

Kara's expressive beauty captures the bone chilling nightmare of mother and daughter who outlives her children  and manages to capture a youthful resilience that will carry her family beyond its tragedies.

Young Samantha Isler reflects that feminine verdure of Kara Zediker's throughout the drama.

This drama is as dark as a winter afternoon in Cobden and Hunter Adams crafts natural and supernatural imagery that would shame Mary Shelley and Horace Walpole and get a sturdy tip of John Ford's Stetson.  Witness these scenes especially the lightning scene  right out of a John Ford Western.




Enjoy Illini Gothic.  See Dig Two Graves.

Get Thee to L'Erable! Eat Thee at the Longbranch and Enough of This King James Thee BS!

Call me Hungry!   Whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul, or May, or Tuesday after a particularly dull Monday, I  turn my thoughts to L'Erable, Illinois; unless I get distracted by something else.

I spent some of happiest times of my ordinary life in French Illinois: Kankakee and its border counties.  This is a beautiful land inhabited by beautiful people - many of whom are of French Ancestry.

The French discovered ( with apologies to indigenous Injuns who hunted and fished and yanked wild onions hereabouts for centuries)  the soil we offend with our smelly feet and Kankakee County doubled down on its Gallic demographics in the 1840's because of the labors of French Canadian priest, who shortly upon his arrival in Illinois become the only American Catholic Apostate - Charles Chiniquy.

Chiniquy was the Michael Pfleger of the 19th Century, who never met a bishop, or Superior he did not loathe. Chiniquy tangled with every Ordinary of Chicago, until he quit the Catholic Church altogether and became a darling of the Know-Nothing crowd and lectured world wide on the dangers of the Church of Rome. Chiniquy, from my reading of his works and primary documents of the day, was a pathological liar, bully, land swindler, name-dropping fraud, roue and megalomaniac; but, some would argue that 'he did a lot of good,'

That he did. Chinquy brought great, hard-working, devout and industrious French people down from Canada and established Catholic parishes and townships south to Illinois. When Chinquy broked from the Church, most of his people said goodbye to the American Luther; thus, we have St. Anne, Martinon, St. George, Boubonnais, Papinaeu, Beaverville and just south of the Kankakee County line -L'Erable, Illinois.

L'Erable is notable for two magnificent buildings: one is the Church of St. John the Baptist and the other is Longbranch Saloon and Restaurant.


St. John The Baptist Catholic Church was built in 1856.  The Longbranch Saloon a bit later.

The Longbranch has a storied history:

The Longbranch has been in my family for the last 40 years.  I am the third generation in my family to own and operate it.  My grandparents owned it before selling to my parents who ran it for 21 years and my wife and I took over at the beginning of 2013.  We are located in a tiny unincorporated village an hour and a half straight south of Chicago in the middle of corn and soybean fields. My wife Lindsay and I are both culinary school graduates having attended the Cooking and Hospitality Institute, myself in Chicago, and her in Las Vegas.  I started working at the Longbranch when I was twelve years old, starting out as a busboy, moving up to dishwasher and cooking by the time I was 14.  I didn't go to culinary school right out of high school because I didn't think this is what I wanted to do for a career.  But I couldn't find any other career path that interested me so decided to go to Chicago to culinary school and graduated in 2005 and found myself back at the Longbranch in June of 2005 and have been here ever since.  I met my wife a few years ago and  brought her in as a chef to work alongside me and business has been awesome ever since.  We work great as a team and have been putting out some great food that people drive from all over to come and eat.
 At the beginning of the year she moved out to the front of the house but still has her hand in a lot of the cooking.  We run a few different specials every weekend.  It keeps people wondering what we'll be cooking each and every weekend and keeps them coming back for more.  What sets us apart from other restaurants around is that we always look to buy the best quality product and strive to give our customers the very best that their money deserves.  We're known for our great prime rib and steaks and have even been known to serve up some killer sushi.  But like I said we're doing something off the menu and different every single weekend so I think that makes us very unique for the area that we are in.
-Nick Bohn, owner

The Longbrach has a storied menu of great eats -seafood include Froglegs, naturalment!

Get to L'Erable!  Eat the Longbranch! Celebrate the people who put the frog in the froglegs!

As the dirty old ditty goes,  Les Français , les Français de la sale race ; ils se battent avec leurs pieds et . . . avec leur visage!

God Welcomes Home Marietta Frogge - Martinton, Illinois

Calvin Frogge was a WWII Naval Aviator and after the War he wooed Marietta McCue - Marietta took to Calvin's wooing. These two young Martinton, Illinois kids married and raised two boys on a small farm in Iroquois County, Illinois.

Calvin raised acres of popcorn for Popeye Brand Popcorn and worked as a machinist. Marietta raised the boys, took the piglets into the home in winter, worked the fields, detasseled, cooked for, washed and fed the three men. Everyone went to Mass and everyone prayed on their knees. This was French French Catholic Illinois and only a hectare or two from the Dutch Calvinists in Wichert,IL and the Dutch could break an anvil with prayer.

Marietta and Calvin raised Jim and Tom. Jim and Tom became Catholic High School school teachers and coaches. Both Jim and Tom were standout athletes at Bishop McNamara High School in Kankakee, Illinois. Jim went on to Yale and played football with Brian Dowling and Dick Jauron and was coached by ABC Sportscaster Tim Weigel and then returned to coach and teach Physics and Chemistry at Bishop Mac. Tom went to John Carroll and taught English and coached at Bishop McNicholas High School in Cincinnati, OH.

Calvin and Marietta operated a small farm near the Indiana State line and went to dances at the Knights of Columbus and they acted like the teenagers who fell in love with one another for sixty years. This, I witnessed.

Calvin and Marietta always held hands; always hugged; there was always a tactile recognition of the power and force of the love between them. At weddings and baptisms Calvin was never more than a hand span away from his girl Marietta - Marietta McCue.

At my wedding, in the Knights of Columbus Hall in Kankakee, attended by three hundred members of my family and more than two hundred folks from Kankakee and Iroquois Counties, Calvin and Marietta were about the very last to leave and helped me and Charlie Olson and my brother Kevin load up the gifts and arrange rides for the over served.

Calvin and Marietta were devoted to one another and they were best pals.

Marietta went home to Christ on Monday night in a skilled care facility in Danforth, IL. Calvin is having a very tough time. I lost my best pal in 1998 and it is tough, but God never gives us more than we can handle. Calvin is a tough, wiry Illinois Dirt Farmer, but Calvin managed to woo Marietta McCue.

God grant Calvin Peace. Marietta, as with all women, is way ahead of you, Calvin!