What's behind "I Won't Hire My Wife"?
- Joe Tirio
- Apr 4
- 2 min read
First things first: iWontHireMyWife.com was actually my wife's idea.
Karen and I ran a business together for thirteen years. She did a great job. And if she worked in the Clerk's office, I'm sure she'd do a great job there too. So before anyone says the URL is a dig at her, let me be clear: it isn't. She came up with it. And she still thinks it's hilarious and important.
What it IS is a dig at something else entirely: the culture of corruption that has made Illinois the predictable punchline for jokes about bad government for far too long.
I love this state. I was born here and will likely die here. Illinois has great land, a central location that makes it a natural hub for transportation and commerce, an incredible supply of fresh water, and one of the great cities of the world in Chicago. We should be the envy of every other state. Instead, we're the place people come from when they’ve gone somewhere else. And the reason is simple: corruption. Nepotism. Patronage. No-show jobs. Favors traded for votes. It's so commonplace that my campaign website doesn't call out any one politician. It calls out a system.
So a few years ago, I did something most politicians would never dream of doing. I ran for public office on a platform of eliminating the very office I was working so hard to win.
I was the Republican candidate for McHenry County Recorder. My pitch to voters was straightforward: this office is no longer needed, consolidating it will save you money, and if you elect me, I will make that happen, even if it means working myself out of a job.
We won. We merged the office. Taxpayers saved. And I kept my word.
Before I ever set foot in government, I spent more than 30 years in the private sector at Ameritech/AT&T, Abbott Laboratories, and Aon Hewitt. In that world, results were the only currency that mattered. You either delivered or you did not. I carried that standard into McHenry County government and I have never let it go.
Hiring and voting should be based on merit, competency, and capability. Not politics. Not party. And definitely not the promise of a favor.
I did not come here to run a favor factory. The people of McHenry County deserve better than that, and they always have.
"I won't hire my wife" is at once a tongue-in-cheek acknowledgment of past corruption and a promise of merit-based public service. I'm proud of what we have built together, and I'm asking for your vote to keep building it in November 2026.
If you're tired of the Ilinois "Political Favor Factory", share this with a friend and encourage them to vote for me in November,
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