-By Doug Ibendahl
Are you upset about Illinois redistricting? Yeah me too.
But frankly I’m a lot less upset with the Democrats for doing the same thing Republicans would have done had we been in charge. We would have drawn maps favorable to our side too. We’ve done it before. Republicans shouldn’t kid themselves.
I’m a lot more disgusted with the awful GOP management that got us here. The new maps are the natural end result of all the rigged party conventions, endless lying to the rank-and-file, selfish misuse of the party franchise, and general unprofessionalism.
So much destruction has been done over the years by the likes of Tom Cross, Skip Saviano, Pat Brady, Randy Pollard, Andy McKenna, Judy Baar Topinka, Bob Kjellander, etc., etc., trying to prevent Republicans from voting – there was finally no party around to win the races necessary to give the GOP a seat at the map drawing table this year.
But after the blown opportunity at the polls last year, surely our officials are finally getting serious, right? Wrong.
In fact Tom Cross, Pat Brady and a few others have a brand new scam they hope will con at least a few gullible Republicans. If they can enlist even a handful of Judas goats to their side, they’ve got help in spreading misinformation intended to keep the rank-and-file disenfranchised and voiceless.
Sure, that means the GOP remains the minority party in Illinois with no end in sight. But guys like Tom Cross don’t care. They’re happy being medium sized ducks in a small pond.
The latest line from Tom Cross and Pat Brady is that we don’t need Senate Bill 35 because the Illinois Republican Party has adopted what they call a “compromise.”
But in fact our State GOP has done no such thing. In fact what we’re witnessing is Tom Cross’ most shameful lie yet. And that’s truly saying something.
Here are the facts on the “compromise” that Cross, Brady and a few others want to hang their hat on.
The Illinois GOP’s State Central Committee (the “SCC”) held its last quarterly meeting on March 9th in Springfield.
Here is the bylaw amendment the SCC passed in secret, in closed executive session at that meeting:
“The weighted vote for vacant precincts, and precincts not represented at the county convention, shall be allocated to each candidate based on the proportion of weighted votes they received from the elected precinct committeemen.” (See Article II.A.2 of the State GOP’s bylaws)
Folks, do not be played for a fool. That amendment is most certainly not a “compromise.” It’s incumbent protection, pure and simple. In fact the 19 current State Central Committeemen have only attempted to make a bad system worse…
Read the rest at RepublicanNewsWatch.com.