Peschke looks back on tenure on McHenry Co. board

Seventy-four-year-old Virginia Peschke might have lost her bid in Tuesday’s primary election to continue her nearly two-decades-long tenure on the McHenry County Board, but she has plenty to keep her busy.

For one, the Republican from District 5 says she has no intention of retiring any time soon from her full-time job as executive director of Consumer Credit Counseling Service of McHenry County.

“I always tried to be very active. I have lots of stuff going on,” the Bull Valley resident said. “My husband retired very early, I could never understand how he could withstand it.”

Peschke’s husband of 50 years, John R. Peschke, died in November after having suffered a stroke in December 2010. Despite the enormity of her loss, she also knew that her once-outdoorsy husband would not have enjoyed life in a wheelchair, she said.

But the turmoil of the last few months resulted in Peschke not spending money on her election campaign, she said. According to unofficial vote tallies, incumbents John Jung Jr. and Tina Hill, and newcomers Michael Skala and Mike Rein, secured the four Republican spots for the general election in November. “I think it went the way it should,” she said. “I am good.”

Peschke served from 1990 to 1994, and again from 1996 to now, with a break to run in the primary for state representative in District 63, which she lost.

When Peschke first was elected to the county board, there were only three districts whose combined 24 members met just once a month. “We thought it was outrageous that county board meetings were in the morning. All you would see (in the audience) was farmers or moms with kids,” she said. The county board now meets twice a month, once in the morning and once in the evening.

Peschke is especially proud of her role in pushing to outfit all county sheriff’s deputies with protective vests, and serving on a committee that pushed for the Payday Loan Reform Act, a 2005 law that limited the number of payday loans per person and put a cap on interest rates.

“I also got a lot of people to respect the (county’s) land use plan. I was always interested in the preservation of farmland, conservation, and open space,” said Peschke, who is a charter board member of The Land Conservancy of McHenry County. She is also one of two longest-serving board members for Arts Alliance Illinois.

Peschke has served on every county committee except human resources and finance and audit, and said she particularly enjoyed leading the public health and human services committee. “It’s the most diverse. We deal with human health, mental health, environmental health, animal control, nursing. It’s a very interesting thing.”

It’s imperative that county board members push for taxation reform in Illinois, Peschke said. “The system of taxation just has to be equalized,” she said. “Everybody’s taxes should have been lowered, the assessment should be fair and equal — and it’s not.”

As for her hobbies, Peschke says her five children and 16 grandchildren keep her plenty occupied. “If you want a review on a child’s movie, come to me,” she said.