LEARN MORE ABOUT
GARY L. GOOD
2016 CANDIDATE
FOR WILL COUNTY AUDITOR
June 21, 2016
Article by Martin Paul
(*Note this is an independent publication and the candidate has not paid for any content appearing in this publication, nor, has the author financially contributed to the candidate's campaign fund.)
FIRST ... WHAT IS THE OFFICE OF WILL COUNTY AUDITOR - THE ELECTED POSITION GARY GOOD'S RUNNING FOR IN NOVEMBER 2016?
What does the Will County Auditor do?
ANSWER: In short, he/she makes sure the county's elected officials and its various department and divisions are operating legally and efficiently to help keep taxpayer's cost and waste to a minimum. Taxpayers (individuals and businesses) are those who fund the county government and its up to us (
the taxpayers) and the Auditor's Office to ensure our resources are not being wasted due to fraud and abuse.
Pursuant to the Illinois Compiled Statute 55 ILCS 5/Div. 3.1. Sec. 3-1005, the County Auditor is required to:
(1) Audit all claims against the County;
(2) Collect, analyze and preserve statistical and financial information with respect to the cost of operation of the various institutions and facilities maintained, operated or owned by the county ;
(3) Maintain a file of all contracts;
(4) Audit the receipts of all county officers and departments;
(5) Maintain a continuous internal audit of the operations and financial records of the officers, agents, or divisions of the county.
(6) The county auditor shall have access to all records, documents, and resources necessary for the discharge of this responsibility.
WHY IS GARY GOOD RUNNING FOR THIS POSITION
Why is Gary Good running for Will County Auditor: "While I was a citizen of Illinois, I was serving in the United States Armed Services in places like Korea, Afghanistan, and the Pentagon. During that time, over the past 2 decades, I watched and read the news and kept-up on current state events, and as I did so, I continuously watched my beloved state falter and become the laughingstock of the USA - fiscally, economically, and politically. I knew I had to come home. Even though I saw so many businesses and individuals fleeing Illinois, I knew I had to stay and be part of the solution - to make Illinois Incredible once again. I want Will County to be the leader in doing that ... Making Illinois Incredible, and so I decided to run for Will County Auditor. I felt my education and experience are a 'right-fit' for this position and I am passionate about securing the future of this County, which I call home, for generations to come - for my children and their children and the citizens of this County." - Gary L. Good.
GARY IN THE NEWS:
As Reported by the Joliet Herald News: "[Gary] Good also is a veteran, having served 22 years in the Army. As a Blackhawk helicopter pilot, he flew in Korea, Afghanistan, Kuwait and the U.S. It was [Sammy L.] Davis [
the real individual in which the Forest Gump movie character was based off of] who encouraged Good to join the military after graduating from high school. Having Davis there to support him [
at Good's June 7th, 2016 fundraiser] meant a great deal to Good. “I have known him since I was a little guy,” Good said.
Correction to the JHN Article According to Gary Good: " I was an Army Strategist in those locations. I only flew in the USA."
GARY ON FACEBOOK CLARIFYING
HIS SERVICE RECORD:
On March 31st, 2016 Gary Posted To His Facebook Account: "What an honor to have served for nearly 23 years total and 20.5 years of active duty service in the U.S. Army. As of a few minutes ago ... I am retired. Amazing."
You can find Gary on Facebook at (
Real Gary Good ) and (
Gary L. Good ).
ABOUT GARY, THE CANDIDATE AND
HIS QUALIFICATIONS:
Gary Describes Himself As: "Entrepreneur, business coach, leadership development coach, and, Servant of the people in Word & Deed." Gary is the Founder and Principal Consultant at "Straterations."
What is Straterations? Straterations is a consulting and coaching group with its primary goal to help businesses succeed beyond expectations by bridging the divide between strategies and operations using intelligently designed systems.
Gary is a current resident of Shorewood. He is a graduate of Robinson High School and has studied his Master's Degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. Gary is a loving and devoted husband and father. Some of Gary's biggest supporters are his wife Magda and his children Emily, Sam and Abby.
Gary loves what he's doing and passionate about his family and life.
He has been quoted, stating the following: "While some are doing what they are passionate about, most must be passionate about what they are doing." - Gary L. Good.
AND HIS QUALIFICATIONS?
What are Gary Good's Qualifications for the Office of Will County Auditor: "For the past 10 years, I have served as an Army Strategist working on some of the most challenging problems the Army and our Nation had to solve in places like Korea and Afghanistan. In my last assignment, at the Pentagon, I wrote the
Army's Business Management Strategy. 'The Strategy' dealt with making the Army more AUDITABLE and increasing efficiency and effectiveness of the Army's $30-billion operations. I will use those problem solving experiences, alongside my University of Illinois MBA (
Masters of Business Administration) to serve the people of Will County. I will seek out fraud, waste, and abuse and will strive to make Will County more efficient, more effective, and more accountable to the citizens it serves." - Gary L. Good.
LEARN MORE ABOUT GARY
You can learn more about Gary Good on his website:
vote4good.com and via his
Facebook pages at (
Real Gary Good ) and (
Gary L. Good ) ... On his
Twitter account at
@Vote4Good2016 ... And lastly, follow Gary on
Instagram at
@Vote4Good ...
Voters should seriously consider voting for Gary Good as your choice for Will County Auditor this November 2016 in Will County. He's an upstanding, hardworking, family-oriented individual with excellent moral values and is a dedicated civil servant with a passion for doing "what's right!"
Gary served in the Army to protect our Nation and our freedoms, now Gary is seeking to serve Will County in protecting its finances to ensure our County Government works for the people! This is a Candidate we can TRUST!
You can reach out to Gary with any questions via e-mail at:
gary@vote4good.com.
ELECTIONS DEADLINES
Request A Vote By Mail Ballot from the Will County Clerk's Office:
https://www.thewillcountyclerk.com/elections/voter-services/vote-by-mail/vote-by-mail-ballot-request-form/
* Election Dates To Remember:
September 29, 2016 – First day ballots can be mailed
September 29, 2016 – First day for early voting at the County Clerk’s Office
October 11, 2016 – Last day to register to vote
November 3, 2016 – Last day to request a Vote by Mail ballot
** SEE the full Elections Date Calendar:
http://assets01.aws.connect.clarityelections.com/Assets/Connect/RootPublish/will-il.connect.clarityelections.com/Elections/General%20Election%202016/2016%20GE%20Election%20Dates%20at%20a%20glance.pdf
LASTLY, WE'LL LEAVE YOU
WITH THE FOLLOWING...
GARY RECENTLY DONATED HIS TIME IN CELEBRATION OF MEMORIAL DAY:
Memorial Day at the Village of Channahon, Gary made the following speech:
"Good morning. It is an honor to be here today speaking with you on this important American Commemoration Day. Before I begin, I want to say thank you to President Schumacher and the Trustees for inviting me to speak this morning. As she just told you, my name is Gary Good. I retired from the US Army as a lieutenant colonel on April 1st, less than 8 weeks ago. Today, I have returned to my beloved Illinois to continue my service to the people of Will County ... To make Illinois Incredible once again.
As we stand here today, I want us to consider this same date 94 years ago ... In 1922. On this date, May 30, 1922, Chief Justice William H Taft dedicated the Lincoln Memorial on our National Mall and presented it to the President, Warren Harding. As these men stood before that 19 foot tall statue of Abraham Lincoln sitting in that marble chair, looking upon the National Mall, it must have been a humbling moment.
This man, this Illinois man, who led our nation through the abolition of slavery by persevering in our Civil War which took the lives of more than 2% of our population ... More than 600,000 men and women. To one side were the words of his Gettysburg Address when President Lincoln reminded those in attendance that it had been a mere four score and seven years, 87 years ago, since 56 men had signed their death warrants when they Declared Independence from King George III and declared the equality of man. How could those men say anything that would be more meaningful than Lincoln's words or the actions of those nearly 8,000 dead at Gettysburg who had given their lives so their nation might live. As he said, "we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground... These brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract."
That marble floor has held the weight of many, many people. Those people look upon those words and seldom comprehend the weight those words carried as they commemorated that battlefield ... Words that could be spoken in so many more places. Those eyes of Abraham Lincoln look out across the National Mall to the Washington Monument, the obelisk dedicated to the first leader of our nation who understood selfless service, even upon making the decision to leave office when most everyone wanted him to stay. He was led by a greater power, by the hand of God, that to ld him that a democracy cannot be held in the hands of a single man or small group of men … lest it become controlled by a despot seizing life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness from some to give to others ... those in HIS favor.
Beyond that tall, proud monument stands the US Capitol where the words of President John F Kennedy rang-out across the Mall and around the world ... "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." In the half-century prior to his remarks more than 500,000 Americans had given their lives in World War I, World War II, and Korea. Each of those lives had stood their ground, had done their job, had fought for freedom ... And more often than not, their death paid the price for another to continue on ... For one of their brothers-in-arms to come home and marry, have children, and grandchildren.
As I look at those assembled here today, I see hats, shirts, uniforms, and more that are quiet reminders of those young men and women who died to allow us to return here today. And, that is why we stand here to remember. We do not stand here for us, the veterans ... we stand here, dedicating our time, to remember the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, Coasties, and civilians who died to preserve our freedoms. This day was first commemorated as Decoration Day on this very day, May 30, 1868 when citizens in Charleston, South Carolina went to the cemeteries to place flowers and others decorations upon the graves of Union and Confederate Soldiers killed in the Civil War. The practice flourished in just a few years … until it became a national holiday when Americans take time to remember.
Five years ago on this very day, May 30, 2011, I was in Afghanistan. I was an Army Strategist working on the planning of Afghan Security Forces and the US forces who would support them ...
Planning that would end-up on the desk of the President of the United States and other leaders around the world. But, on that day, we too took time to commemorate our fellow Americans who had given their lives. I worked in a multinational headquarters for an American Lieutenant General. My office had an Australian, a Norwegian, a German, a Pole, a French officer, and a British officer. The British officer, a Colonel, came forward and offered a special commemoration ... A special gift to memorialize all the dead on this very American of days ... He played the bagpipes for the ceremony. It was hauntingly beautiful to hear those bagpipes playing Taps and the rest ... Knowing that the sounds that usually permeated the air in Kabul ... were all halted to the sound of bagpipes commemorating the dead.
Amazingly, those same sounds had been talked about in another hallowed place by another great citizen of Illinois ... Ronald Reagan. At the D-Day commemoration in 1984, Ronald Reagan, harkening to his kindred Illinois brother, Lincoln, once again used time to take us back to a terrible, but triumphant day, in history. He took us back forty years to the D-Day invasion and spoke of the 225 US Army Rangers who scaled the walls of the cliffs at Normandy to destroy German artillery that would rain down upon Omaha Beach and kill many, many Allied Invaders if those Rangers failed. As their daggers dug into the precipice of the cliff and pulled their tired bodies over the edge, they fought on to be triumphant ... And only 90 remained to fight another day. 135 had died or been severely injured, but each of those lives given saved the lives of untold numbers of American, British, Canadians, and more. Reagan went on to tell the story of a British regiment holding a bridge but terribly outnumbered. They heard the sounds of bagpipes and wondered if they were dead already ... Until they saw their comrades in arms coming down the way with reinforcements. As Reagan stated, once again like Lincoln ... his Illinois brother invoked God and the works of his divine hand when he said, "they had the rock hard belief of every man that day, that D-Day, that Providence would have a great hand in the events that would unfold here; that God was an ally in this great cause."
And, that brings us back to Lincoln and the memorial we began with... Around him ... Now ... Many years after that commemoration on May 30, 1922, the USA has dedicated its National Mall to those who have given their lives in defense of the hallowed ground that is The United States of America ... This City upon a Hill. The eyes of his 19 foot marble statue gaze from his left ... Where we commemorate the 58,307 Vietnam dead by name ... over to the center where the World War II monument commemorates the more than 400,000 dead with 4,048 stars ...a star for each 100 of them … following over to his right where we commemorate the Korean War with a haunting platoon of soldiers on patrol and the 36,516 dead. Southwest of the Lincoln Memorial stands Robert E. Lee's former estate, Arlington, which the Union seized when he took his commission from the Confederacy ... And they buried the first Union dead in his front yard. Today, more than 14,000 are interred there ... A moving place dedicated to those who gave their lives in war ... AND those who returned home because of them .... But wanted to rest side by side with their brothers-in-arms.
We here in Illinois are proud of our dedication to preserving Liberty. Time and again around our great state, we have created places of memorial to remember those who gave their all to defend freedom and preserve Liberty. At my beloved Alma Mater, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, we play football in Memorial Stadium ... Dedicated initially to those who died in World War I and then extended to those who died in World War II. Our beloved Chicago Bears, who wear their blue and orange in homage to George Halas's Illinois Alma Mater colors, play in Soldier Field, dedicated to the US Soldiers who died in World War I. Just down the road in Elwood, we have Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery which contains more than 32,000 interred remains.
Today, we commemorate the dead ... Because of them, we stand here today. You stand here with me ... Many of you might know the name or names of those who died and allowed you to stand here. While I was a young man in the Army, I was back at Fort Rucker, AL where I had completed flight school and flew Blackhawk helicopters. Seven years before, CW3 Michael Durant had been shot down in his Blackhawk in Mogadishu, Somalia. He knew the names of the two men who had saved his life … Gary Gordon and Randy Shugart … these two men, made famous in the movie Blackhawk down … they demanded to be placed with CW3 Durant … knowing they would likely not come back alive. This is the way of the warrior … to stand when no one else will … at the side of his brother-in-arm. These two men received the Medal of Honor like so many of our Medal recipients do …
CW3 Durant spoke to my class of young captains about the debt he can never repay.
It is hard for those who have never served to connect a name on a wall, or a star on a monument to their own lives and see the ties that bind their lives to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice ... It is hard to completely empathize when they watch the old man in Saving Private Ryan as tears roll down his face at Normandy. He might be a movie character, but those tears have watered many a grave around the world.
But, we must try … and this is the day we do so … we take a deep breath and explain as best we can.
For that reason, we must remember, and live, Ronald Reagan's final words standing on that cliff at Normandy 32 years ago next week ...
"Let us make a vow to our dead. Let our actions say to them the words for which General Matthew Ridgway listened, 'I will not fail thee nor forsake thee.' Strengthened by their courage, heartened by their valor, and borne by their memory, let us continue to stand for the ideal for which they lived and died."
Let us never forget, and may our state step forward once again and be the Incredible state it once was ... A state that defends the liberty of all ... Justly. God Bless you all, God Bless our Fallen, and God Bless Illinois. Thank you.
Gary L. Good
Lieutenant Colonel, US Army, Retired"
