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Sandy Wegman: Team Player or Self-Interested Opportunist?

-By Warner Todd Huston

Incumbent Kane County Recorder of Deeds Sandy Wegman has before claimed that she is a “team player” for the GOP. Her actions, however, make that out to be a lie. The last time Wegman tried to get out of her dead end clerk’s job was when she ran for Lt. Governor in 2006 despite that she had no party backing. In fact, her run then likely took votes away from State Senator Steve Rauschenberger who also ran for Lt. Governor that election, the only candidate that had a chance to beat Joe Birkett for the nod. (She got a measly 13% to Steve’s 30%)

A team player in 2006 would have dumped her own effort in order to back either Rauschenberger or States Attorney Joe Birkett the only two in the race with any party backing at all. Instead she stayed in causing the race to look uncompetitive.

Now we get another example of Wegman’s party averse opportunism, once again seemingly intended to hurt former Senator Steve Rauschenberger. She has inexplicably launched a late “write-in” bid for the State Senate seat of the 22nd District in opposition, once again, too a Rauschenberger candidacy.

Wegman’s cynical opportunism comes just as Rauschenberger faces an odd but vexing petition challenge forced upon him by the Democrat Party aimed at keeping him from appearing on the primary ballot as a Republican.

Rauschenberger, famed locally as one of the “fab five” conservative block of GOP Senators from the 1990s, left his seat in 2006 to run for higher office, losing that bid. He has decided, though, to try to reclaim his former Senate seat but is facing a messy petition challenge. As it happens, Rauschie pulled a Democrat ballot last election in order to help elect his sister win an Elgin Council seat. This, say the local Dems, means that he is no longer a Republican. As idiotic as this challenge seems, it has a stupid precedent created by the moron Illinois GOP itself that launched a similar challenge, and won, against a Democrat in the past. (And this is but more proof that the petty petition situation in this state is bad for everyone)

Rauschie has worked with several GOP locals and has arranged that one of them may substitute themselves on the ballot and, should they win, will step back and give the position to Steve. Additionally, Rauschenberger may try to run as an independent.

And this is where party crasher Sandy Wegman comes in. Without working with the party, Wegman has thrown her hat in the ring as a write-in candidate. If she persists in this challenge, we will likely see Democrat Mike Noland keeping the 22nd District seat. Just as her bid helped doom a conservative from taking the GOP nod for Lt. Gov. in 2006, now she will doom the citizens of the 22nd District from suffering under a Democrat once again.

Some Republican Wegman is. With “Republicans” like her who needs Democrats to work hard to win office? Democrat incumbent Mike Noland may as well relax from his presumed intentions to campaign much this election. He has Wegman. All he has to do is sit at home watching TV and Wegman will make sure he gets elected.
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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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