-By Warner Todd Huston
Last April current gubernatorial candidate Andy McKenna was the Chairman of the Illinois Republican Party. At that time Party money paid for a poll to determine what the level of support was for the various Illinois Republicans that were considering, or might consider, a run for governor.
McKenna is now admitting that his name appeared on that poll at his own bidding and this was a violation of the pledge he took upon taking the GOP chairman’s seat. Like all other Chairmen, McKenna pledged to work for the party and not his own candidacy once he took the GOP chief’s role.
McKenna now admits that he directed that the poll include his own name despite that he pledged not to push his own candidacy while he was the GOP Chairman. Soon after the poll was conducted McKenna quit as party chief and then announced his own run for governor. This is all in contravention to his pledge to work for the party.
One month ago the state party decided to investigate McKenna’s action and today this tepid response was issued by the party:
The State Central Committee of the Illinois Republican Party has concluded that Mr. McKenna should not have done so without prior Central Committee approval and disclosure. Mr. McKenna had no intent to violate the spirit or the intent of the Party’s by-laws and he sincerely apologizes for having done so.
Well, maybe it isn’t completely tepid in that it actually happened at all. Brady should be given some level of kudos for even starting the investigation in the first place. That in itself is a step, no matter how small, away from the good old boy’s network that affords them license for every infraction or criminal action.
Still, I think Brady should have gone farther and demanded that McKenna repay the $25,000 the party spent on the poll back in April.
Andy McKenna is a prime symbol of all that is wrong with the Illinois GOP.
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Chairman Brady, McKenna Owes the Ill. GOP Twenty-five Grand”
This afternoon the Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability voted 7-4 to 
There had been a rumor going around that the Wauconda Republican organization headed up by Bob Cook was going to withdraw its endorsement of Bill Kelly for Comptroller over the revelations concerning the rather outrageous videos featuring Kelly that had been making the rounds. It was thought that some of the Wauconda folks had become embarrassed by the videos. Well the organization recently met yet the rumor mill swirled a different way afterward. After the meeting the withdrawal rumor was modified to one that said the organization was merely not going to put out any Kelly literature and would replace it with that of another candidate.
Now that a new year is upon us and the February 2nd primary election is just 27 days away, the people of the 10th District will soon have the opportunity to bring change to Washington by electing a new Congressman who will stand up and fight on issues such as ethics and government transparency. As President Obama enables Congress to trample public interest by hiding behind closed doors during the final talks of the health care bill, it becomes even more evident that we need to elect Congressional leaders committed to open and accountable government.
In her Jan 5 column the Washington Post’s Sally Quinn just reported a “rumor” that Presidential Chief of Staff 
You see folks, “Turbin” Durbin knows better than you do. He just knows that you just need terrorists to be living amongst you, ya just gotta have ’em. This is the sort of creep Illinois has repeatedly elected to office.
It’s pass the dutchie for three GOP candidates for governor. The Chicago Tribune 
Jim Dodge is currently a trustee on the Orland Park Township Board serving in that position for the past 13 years. In Orland he chairs committees such as the Finance/IT and Recreation board as well as the Public Works and Economic Development boards. He was once vice-chair of the Cook County chapter of Ill. Young Republicans and in 1994 was elected Chairman of the Orland Township Republican Organization. His full bio can be seen here: 
United Press International is 
Fran Eaton has a very good bit of reporting in the