-By Warner Todd Huston
Imagine that. In this day and age most of the GOP Party organizations in the great state of Illinois do NOT have a web page. Illinois has 102 counties, but only 23 of them have a usable, working webpage.
In this Internet age, the very first place everyone runs to in order to find out about something is the Internet. Yet three quarters of our Illinois county GOP organizations do not have their own maintained webpage up on the Internet for prospective voters to peruse.
Of the 102 counties, 23 have websites that they’ve created and maintained. Another 33 have place holder pages sponsored by the state party. And fully 44 counties have no web presence at all. Nothing. Not even a state party place holder.
Of the 33 state party hosted place holder pages, few have any information past the county name and, perhaps, the name of the county party chairman. A couple have a few updates in the “Local Headlines” section, but most have nothing at all. It seems obvious that the state party is trying to get these place holder pages created for every county — certainly a good idea — and has gotten to these 33 thus far, though I have not contacted the state party to confirm this.
For a full list of Illinois counties and their web status, Click Here.
For the kudos list, here are the counties that have actual webpages posted:
- Adams
- Champaign
- Coles
- Cook
- DeKalb
- DuPage
- Henry
- Jackson
- Kane
- Kendall
- Knox
- Logan
- McHenry
- Randolph
- Sangamon
- Shelby
- St. Clair
- Tazwell
- Will
- Williamson
- Champaign
- Winnebago
- Woodford
They are of varying quality, of course. But, hey, at least these 23 have a website at all! So, good for them.
Again, I must stress how obscene this is. It’s a travesty that only 23 Illinois county GOP organizations have websites up and running. Here we are in a time when enthusiasm for the GOP is looking bright, a time when new voters might be on the hunt for information about the GOP, a day when new members that want to get involved are everywhere, yet few of Illinois’ party organizations can be found on the Internet. Shame on those that do not and shame on the state party for allowing it.
When I attended the State Party Central Committee meeting last month, it was universally reported by the committee members that they were seeing an amazing uptick in enthusiasm back home. That people were coming up to them asking how to get involved. It is simply a crime that few of these county GOP organizations have a webpage for voters to seek out. It is the first way to quash that much needed and long unseen enthusiasm.
On the state GOP website, there is also a listing of county party organizations. Listed there, at least, are the email addresses of most of the county organizations. Amazingly not all 102 party organizations even have email addresses for contact. Seriously. Some county party organizations have not even posted an email contact!
Yep. That’s our state party for you. Long live the Illinois GOP.
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as NewsBusters.org, RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, TheRealityCheck.org, RedState.com, Human Events Magazine, AmericanDailyReview.com, and the New Media Journal, among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events and is currently the co-host of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Conservatism” heard on BlogTalkRadio. Warner is also the editor of the Cook County Page for RedCounty.com.
He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of PubliusForum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston
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