Racist Bashing of Perry Moy

While McHenry County Board member Perry Moy was attacked obliquely in a Democratic Party door-to-door piece and newspaper insert I am analyzing in 3-part series entitled, “Picking on Perry,” a direct mail piece that arrived yesterday deserves the light of day now.

It is from Moy’s county board opponent James Kennedy, an 11-year trustee of Lake in the Hills and a policeman for 26 years (16 as a supervisor), according to the McHenry County Democratic Party web site. (Photo of Kennedy is from the same web site.)

Here’s what I know about Perry Moy. He and his mother immigrated to the United States from China. She bought a restaurant in McHenry. I asked for her vote in 1966 when I was running for County Treasurer. Perry developed an interest in public affairs and contributed amounts big enough to catch the attention of the Northwest Herald. The restaurant had apparently been quite successful.

In 1992 Perry strongly supported congressional candidate Don Manzullo, whose family also owned a restaurant. In 1994 Perry and his then-wife Mimi hosted soon-to-be House Speaker Newt Gingrich in a reception at their home.

At that time I discussed with Mimi how Perry ought to run for public office.

I disagreed.

Perry did run for county board in 2002 and won. He has sided with the Establishment on pretty much everything policy and political. Some criticize him for that.

But, he had the boldness to run against Jack Franks before the divorce proceedings were completed. The divorce publicity certainly did not enhance Perry’s prospects for victory.

That challenge probably earned him the honor of being a bull’s eye in this year’s campaign, however.

But, as I looked at Kennedy’s “hit” piece I thought back to Mimi’s comment about racial prejudice in McHenry County.

Look at Perry’s face. He’s frowning. He looks more threatening than the most evil Chinese villain you’ve ever seen on a “B” movie. Maybe it's the villain from the next installment of "24."

“Is this guy a member of the Chinese mafia?” casual voters might ask themselves.

The demonizing picture makes me think that the Democrats don’t have strong enough issues to take him down. They need to demonize him and are using his race to help do so.

Plain and simple, this is a hate campaign.

Under the unflattering photo are the words,

Reckless
Careless
Insulting

Now, those who know Perry know that he is usually smiling.

He’s the guy behind the counter of his Plum Garden booth throughout McHenry County.

The Democrats do attack his county board record with regard to the animal shelter purchase, but all the other policy attacks are on the county board in general, not on Perry.

Here’s what they say:

Perry Moy is the author of the shoddy report that led to the $3.5 million animal shelter fiasco in Crystal Lake. Taxpayers and neighbors of the proposed facility are outraged. Moy’s own Republican allies call his behavior “insulting.”

The only other policy attack is against a $146,000 loan from county-controlled economic development money that went belly up.

“I wasn’t even on the board when the loan was made,” Perry told me.

The third major item points to an IRS lien on the Moy residence because “$88,500” was not paid in a timely fashion. A tiny reproduction of the lien is reproduced on the address side of the mailing.

“The taxes are paid,” Perry told me.

Oh yes, this immigrant American is also criticized for urging “the Federal Government to loosen oversight of aliens coming into this country to make it easier for his restaurant to earn even more profits.”

I wonder if this pamphleteer is bold enough to say that Perry is not paying the minimum wage to his employees.

Perry’s reaction:

They are attacking me with blatant lies and they link me--which is very disturbing--to the darkest day that this country has ever faced and that’s 9-11. They tie in the immigration concerns we have as a nation and this hints of profiling and could be defined as a hate crime.