-By Warner Todd Huston
On the Ryan FaceBook page the claim was recently made that Jim Ryan was endorsed by the Illinois State Rifle Association’s political action arm for his 2002 race against Rod Blagojevich for governor. Au contraire, says the ISRA-PVF. They didn’t endorse anyone in 2002, they say.
The ISRA-PVF issued a news release to correct the record:
ISRA-PVF Calls Upon Illinois Gubernatorial Candidate Jim Ryan to Retract Endorsement Claims
CHICAGO, Nov. 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The following was released today by the ISRA Political Victory Fund (ISRA-PVF):
The ISRA-PVF is today calling upon Illinois gubernatorial candidate Jim Ryan to retract claims that he received the group’s endorsement during his failed 2002 run for governor against Rod Blagojevich. Such misleading claims have surfaced on Ryan’s social networking internet sites in recent days. Additionally, individuals have made reports to the ISRA-PVF that Ryan campaign staffers have made similar endorsement claims when questioned about Ryan’s stands on issues important to law-abiding Illinois firearm owners.
The fact of the matter is, the ISRA-PVF declined to make an endorsement in the 2002 race for Illinois governor as neither the Republican candidate, Jim Ryan, nor his Democratic opponent, Rod Blagojevich, were deemed suitable for endorsement.
On September 13, 2002, the ISRA-PVF issued a press release explaining why Ryan had not been endorsed. The reason was very simple, Ryan could not commit to 4 basic issues important to Illinois hunters and sportsmen. Those issues were as follows: a commitment to build 6 recreational shooting ranges; a commitment to ensure that federal wildlife grants were used for their intended purposes; a commitment to expand hunting and fishing opportunities on state-owned lands; and a commitment to end the practice of playing the state’s sportsmen as scapegoats for urban crime and violence.
When presented with this modest list of commitments, Ryan staffers summarily dismissed the request as “unrealistic,” yet expressed their hope that Ryan would be endorsed by the ISRA-PVF nonetheless. When these same staffers later learned that Ryan would not be endorsed, they went public with wild allegations that the ISRA-PVF was trying to rope Ryan into supporting an extremist agenda.
“Some things never change,” commented ISRA-PVF spokesman Richard Pearson. “The Ryan campaign’s habit of bending the truth is one of them. In 2002 we heard them lie about why Ryan wasn’t endorsed by us, now we hear them lie about receiving our endorsement. The truth is that firearm owners had no reason to vote for Ryan in 2002, and they certainly do not have any reason to vote for him in 2010.”
The ISRA-PVF is a political action committee affiliated with the Illinois State Rifle Association. A copy of our report is on file with the Illinois State Board of Elections, Springfield, Illinois.
This, of course, is the main reason why I cannot support Jim Ryan (or Bob Schillerstrom, for that matter). With Ryan’s stance against the U.S. Constitution like this, he cannot be trusted. If he can so blithely disregard one Amendment, what other parts of the law will he simply ignore because he doesn’t like it?
(Cross posted at RedCounty.com.)
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
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 Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, 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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