-By Warner Todd Huston
During the January 14 Republican meeting and candidate forum in Geneva Township a question was raised by speaker Chris Lauzen (R, Aurora), State Senator from the 25th State Senate District. That question focused on all the support not only from outside the district but outside the entire state that is streaming in to shore up the campaign for Congress of the young Ethan Hastert. Senator Lauzen questioned the propriety of all this outside money pouring into the 14th District when there was already a worthy, proven candidate in the person of Randy Hultgren running for that seat. (Note: I’d have gotten this reported sooner, but was waiting on a few sources to confirm events)
This is a question that I have echoed and one that has formed one of the main reasons why I chose to endorse Randy Hultgren for the 14th District instead of Ethan Hastert.
At the event, Senator Lauzen stood before the audience and wondered aloud if there was a candidate from the 14h District that deserved the voter’s support based on “merit” or should the voters lean toward the candidate of “privilege”? Lauzen wondered whether the voters should support a man with a record of service or whether that support should be bestowed on the candidate with a mountain of outside support? Lauzen was primed to ask this question because of a campaign flyer being passed out by candidate Ethan Hastert that advertised an upcoming appearance by Georgia Congressman Tom Price who was in Illinois to stump for Hastert.
“Who here could do this?” Lauzen asked referring to the flyer touting such a big name speaker from outside the district.
And isn’t that just the problem here? We have Randy Hultgren that is a proven vote getter in the very district in which he is now running for Congress. On the other hand we have Ethan Hastert, a young man with no record of public service in the district — and so no earned merit. Instead of relying on earned, local support, Mr. Hastert is relying on big guns from outside the state and high rolling contributors that appear to be engaged in pay back to former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, young Ethan’s father.
For all appearances, Hastert’s big money donors seem to be trying to buy this election for Hastert the younger because of their debt to Hastert the older.
Lauzen earnestly urged voters to support a candidate that fully deserved their vote instead of the candidate that seemed to be being forced upon them from the top. In his opinion no candidate being foisted on the district from the GOP establishment in Washington D.C. was as deserving as a candidate that had already spent a decade or more in service to the community.
As I said, I concur with this sentiment and this is why I endorsed Randy Hultgren for Congress for the 14th District.
Is Ethan Hastert better than Bill Foster the Democrat he seeks to replace in Congress? Most certainly. But has he earned our support? Were he the only Republican running for the seat my support for him would be unquestioning, but since there is a far more worthy candidate running already, my support goes to Hultgren.
A partial list of those in attendance:
Chairman Mark Wissing
Geneva Alderman Sam Hill
YR President Cody McCubbin
PC candidate Michael Foote
Several PC’s including Angela Kane, Mike Lau, and Mitch Bellon
14th Dist candidate Ethan Hastert and manager Dave Richmond
Kane County Treasurer candidate Bob Kovanic
State Senator Chris Lauzen
State Senator and 14th Dist. candidate Randy Hultgren
Jim Abbot, Geneva resident representing Mark Kirk
Dennis Cooke, Lt. Governor candidate
50th Dist. Rep candidates Bob McQuillan and Keith Wheeler
State Rep. Mike Fortner
Judge candidates- DJ Tegeler, Pat Rice, Kevin Busch
Craig Lee
Geneva resident Don Henry Sr.
Jeff Danklefsen, former 14th District candidate
Vicki Danklefsen
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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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