Unions Top the $1 Billion Club in California Political Spending

-By Warner Todd Huston

The California Teachers Association spent $211,849,298 on lobbying and political spending to get its way in California in 2009. Along with the CTA, the Calif. State Council of Service Employees and 13 other organizations spent a total of one billion dollars on political lobbying of the State House at Sacramento. All of these special interests have helped push California to the brink of insolvency.

But, according to the California Fair Political Practices Commission, the two unions mentioned above far and away top the spending of the other top lobbying spenders in California. The next closest in spending was the Big Pharma clocking in at $104,912,997 on its political spending with various and sundry Indian casino groups whose spending was in the less than $85,000,000 range.

Commission Chairman Ross Johnson said in a press release, “This tsunami of special interest spending drowns out the voices of average voters and intimidates political opponents and elected officials alike.”
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Unions Top the $1 Billion Club in California Political Spending”


8th District, Joe Walsh to Bean: Learn from Lipinski and vote NO

From the Walsh for congress campaign…

(LAKE ZURICH, IL)– Today, Republican Congressional nominee Joe Walsh called on his opponent, three-term incumbent Melissa Bean, to learn from her Illinois Democrat colleague Dan Lipinski and vote “NO” on Obamacare.

Illinois U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski, a Democrat who represents the 3rd district, has joined the ranks of other Congressional Democrats displaying the courage to vote with their conscience– not their party.
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8th District, Joe Walsh to Bean: Learn from Lipinski and vote NO”


8th District Walsh: Dirty Rangel Money Should Go to Charity Not Bean for Congress

From the Walsh for Congress campaign…

(Lake Zurich, Illinois) – Apparently, ‘I already spent it’ is a good enough reason for keeping dirty money, at least for Rep. Melissa Bean.

Bean is refusing to give back or to charity the $28,000 she received from Rep. Charlie Rangel who is under investigation from the House Ethics Committee for accepting lavish vacations from special interest groups with business before the powerful House Ways and Means committee while serving as chairman. He is also being investigated for failing to report assets, including his interest in a Dominican Republican guest unit, according to the Daily Herald.
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8th District Walsh: Dirty Rangel Money Should Go to Charity Not Bean for Congress”


Bean Defense for Refusing to Return Rangel Cash: “I spent it”

From the Palatine Tea Party…

(Palatine, Illinois) – March 5, 2010 – Melissa Bean has raised $1,004,549* and has $784,894* cash on hand as of Wednesday, January 13, 2010 and has to defend receiving $28,000 between 2005 and 2007 from the New York congressman Charlie Rangel. While other Democrats dump their cash, Melissa Bean’s spokesman Jonathan Lipman made this statement. “The money was given before Rangel was under investigation for ethics abuses. Plus, he says, the money has already been spent.”

So if we understand from Melissa Bean that as long as you spent the money, it’s okay?
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Bean Defense for Refusing to Return Rangel Cash: “I spent it””


Republican Challengers in Chicago Unite for March 4 Fund-raiser

CHIGAGO – February 25, 2010 – Four Chicago-based Republican candidates will host a joint fund-raiser on Thursday, March 4 at 6:00 p.m. at The Stretch, 3485 North Clark St. in Chicago. Illinois state hopefuls David Anderson, Adam Robinson and Scott Tucker will join federal candidate David Ratowitz in a mass muster of support for their individual General Election campaigns.

Admission to the event is two-tier: $30 covers cash bar and appetizers; $60 includes appetizers and open bar from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. The public is welcome; no RSVP is required.

Promotional opportunities are available for third-party organizations. Prospective event sponsors are asked to contact Caitlin Huxley, 312-841-0172 or CaitlinHuxley@gmail.com. Co-sponsors currently include Chicago Young Republicans and Illinois Log Cabin Republicans.
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Republican Challengers in Chicago Unite for March 4 Fund-raiser”


8th District: Joe Walsh Jumps in Fox Lake

From the campaign of Joe Walsh for Congress, 8th District…

Participates in Special Olympics Polar Plunge Charity Event

(Lake Zurich, Illinois) – February 25, 2010 –

Taking a break from his own campaign fund-raising, Joe Walsh, Republican candidate for Congress in the Illinois 8th, will be participating this Sunday in the annual Law Enforcement Torch Run Polar Plunge Charity Event to raise funds for the Special Olympics.
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8th District: Joe Walsh Jumps in Fox Lake”


Can Tea Party Help 8th District Candidate?

-By Warner Todd Huston


Republican Joe Walsh won his party’s nomination for the Illinois 8th District Congressional seat this February. He’ll face Democrat incumbent Melissa Bean in November. But as of right this minute he’s broke.

Mr. Walsh is fond of calling himself the “tea party candidate,” but with his empty campaign coffers this is an excellent time to ask the question: can the tea party groups that endorsed him help him raise money?
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Can Tea Party Help 8th District Candidate?”


Union Admits Buying Politician, Wants $ Back

-By Warner Todd Huston

When an average citizen donates money to a politician it is usually because that citizen believes in the politician and wants to help him have the war chest to conduct a campaign. Unions like to pretend that they donate to politicians out of the goodness of their hearts, just like common citizens do. Everyone knows, though, that they are merely making an attempt to buy them. A union in Alabama has as much as admitted that they were trying to buy a politician, but when he didn’t dance to their tune, these union folks demanded their contributions back.

Al Henley, secretary-treasurer of the Alabama AFL-CIO, seems to be a mite miffed with Alabama Representative Parker Griffith. You’ll recall that Griffith was the one-time Democrat who jumped the sinking Donkey ship and became a Republican late last year.

Apparently while he was a Democrat the AFL-CIO had no problem giving him campaign money. Now that he’s a Republican, though, the union has taken sudden umbrage at Griffith’s voting record. “Parker Griffith, we feel you have swindled us,” Henley said at a recent rally in Hunstville, Alabama.
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Union Admits Buying Politician, Wants $ Back”


Andy McKenna And His Big Money Obama Supporters

-By Warner Todd Huston

Former Illinois Republican Party Chairman Andy McKenna is trying to claim he is an “outsider businessman” and that he’s the only one not connected to Illinois corruption. But the facts seem to auger against McKenna’s claims.

For one thing, McKenna has been called out for ethics violations by his own party. On top of that, how does one claim to be an “outsider” when one was the head of the state party!? That’s a couple of major dents in McKenna’s claims right there.

But now comes info from the Ryan campaign that Andy McKenna also has a ton of donors and supporters that are big Obama supporters, too. Now, how can someone claim to be the conservative solution to Springfield if he’s getting hundreds of thousands of dollars from Democrat and Obama supporters?
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Andy McKenna And His Big Money Obama Supporters”


14th District Race: Sen. Lauzen Asks About All That Outside $$ For Ethan Hastert

-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.
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14th District Race: Sen. Lauzen Asks About All That Outside $$ For Ethan Hastert”


SEIU Wastes $1 Million on Coakley, Blames GOP

-By Warner Todd Huston

Michelle Malkin has a post that reports about the hilarious episode of union whining that is being laid out by the President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Andy Stern. He wasted $1 million of his member’s dues money trying to shore up Massachusetts loser “Marcia” Coakley but is he blaming the Democrats for this debacle? Nope, he’s mad at Republicans!

Why did Coakley croak? Why it’s because of those dastardly Republicans that have held up Obamacare, dontcha know?

From the SEIU website we get these hilarious words:
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SEIU Wastes $1 Million on Coakley, Blames GOP”


Another Fake Republican On the Ballot in Illinois

-By Warner Todd Huston

So, with a headline like that above perhaps you might imagine that I, a conservative, will launch into another attack on a Republican that just isn’t Republicany enough for me, right? You might think that this will be just another hard-line blogger attacking another “moderate” Republican, right? Well, by “fake Republican” I mean just that: fake.

Putting fake candidates on the ballot is a game that Chicago Democrats play in every election. Every election they put fake Republicans up against real Republicans in primary elections. What the Democrat Party does is put several shill candidates on ballots to drain votes from the real Republican candidate and to confuse voters. Sometimes Democrats even float fake Democrat opponents in order to make sure a particular Democrat wins by splitting away dissident votes to shill candidates.
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Another Fake Republican On the Ballot in Illinois”


Tea Parties: The Biggest Mistake We’ll Make in 2010

-By Warner Todd Huston

It’s the end of 2009, the “aughts” are over, and we are about to embark on a new year — and what else are they but the “aughts”? Well, besides mostly a horrible and thankfully passed decade. In any case, we are at the end of the year and that means two things: lists about this year and predictions for the next. I’ve chosen the prognosticator’s art for this piece with the subject of what will likely be our biggest failure or mistake in 2010: the Tea Party movement.

We all know that just saying the words “Tea Party” is enough to raise American’s blood pressure. Some will become suspicious or even enraged by imagining I am about to attack the Tea Partiers, some on the left will be filled with disgust even thinking about the Tea Partiers at all, and still others will get their blood up thinking about why the Tea Party movement started in the first place. For 2009 “Tea” and “Party” were two words that raised American’s passions in a myriad of ways, for sure. That won’t change in 2010.

But with the Tea Party movement we are likely headed for a huge mistake in 2010, one that I fear will stretch into 2011 and one that has the potential to hurt us all, right, left and center — but especially right.
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Tea Parties: The Biggest Mistake We’ll Make in 2010″


The Debt Limit Made Simple

The Heritage Foundation brings us “The Debt Limit Made Simple. This video takes you to the United Estates–a gated community in sunny Florida–to help you understand the impact of Congress decision to annually raise our nations debt limit without addressing the out-of-control spending that keeps us buried in debt.


The Lobbying Army in Congress for Healthcare

The Chicago Tribune has an excellent resource reporting the number of lobbyists that are involved in the healthcare debate as it winds through Congress.

For instance, did you know that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D, Nev.) has 13 of his former staff members now working as lobbyists for the healthcare industry? Our own Senator, Dick Durbin (D, Ill.) who is also the Majority Whip, has 8 of his former staffers lobbying for the healthcare industry and GOP Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has seen 5 of his staffers quit to lobby for healthcare.

The webpage is interactive and you can search by lawmaker and committee. You can also search by client and download all the data.

It is some very interesting info that you should check out.

The information was assembled by the Trib staff and the Medill News Service of the Northwestern University School of Journalism.


One Out in 10th Congressional District Race

-By Warner Todd Huston

There are still four candidates for the 10th District seat that is currently held by Mark Kirk (who is now running for Senate) but once there was five. Bill Cadigan has announced that he is no longer pursuing the nomination for the 10th. He reports that he just can’t raise the cash for the fight and is suspending his campaign.

Cadigan was endorsed by former State Senator Steve Rauschenberger and former Chairman of the Illinois Reform Commission Patrick Collins. He used to work for Congressman John Porter.

Cadigan has said he won’t be endorsing anyone at least until after Jan.1st.
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One Out in 10th Congressional District Race”


With Another $15 Million, Poizner is Poizner’s Biggest Contributor

-By Warner Todd Huston

California Insurance Commissioner and candidate for the GOP nomination for Governor, Steve Poizner, has announced that he’ll donate another $15 million of his own fortune to float his flagging Gubernatorial campaign making himself his biggest contributor.

Once the transfer is complete, Mr. Poizner will have donated a total of just over $19 million of his own cash to his campaign. And it should be noted that this is being termed a donation, not a loan.

Let’s be clear, though, Poizner is not the only major candidate for governor that is using his own fortune to fund his race. Chief opponent Meg Whitman has loaned about $15 million of her own money to her campaign, as well. It is expected that she will dip into her own pocket even more as the race rolls on.
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With Another $15 Million, Poizner is Poizner’s Biggest Contributor”


Reading What Isn’t There

-By John Armor

As an avid follower of and writer on political and legal subjects for almost fifty years, I’ve gotten on many mailing lists from all parts of the political spectrum. This week I received the “2009 Scorecard on Campaign Reform” from an outfit named North Carolina Voters for Clean Elections. Sounds like God, flag, and Mom’s apple pie, doesn’t it?

I had never heard of this organization before. But there is a standard process I use to smoke out the bias, if any, in any new organization I hear about. My knowledge was new; the organization is, apparently, ten years old.

Step one: Who is running the organization? Neither the Director nor any of the thirteen members of the Board, are known to me.

Step two: What are they trying to accomplish? They want public funding of all elections in North Carolina, trying to build from the bottom up, from city and county elections. Okay, maybe that’s good or bad. Depends on the details, which are not clearly laid out. It looks like a plea for laws that provide every candidate with the same amount of support after they have raised a small, trigger amount of money privately.
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Reading What Isn’t There”


A State Pensioner That Thinks He’s Blameless For Pension Mess

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Chicago Tribune printed a letter to the editor that perfectly describes the disconnect that state workers have between their pensions and the political process. These state workers stare wide-eyed in faux innocence pretending that they themselves, as individuals, are wholly innocent of the mess that is our state pensions are currently in.

But the truth is, the financial ruins that our states are in ARE the fault of state workers. It is their fault directly and without question. Their protestations of innocence is a lie. Sadly, it is a lie they tell themselves and they believe it.

Here is what former state employee Earl Shumaker of Sycamore, Illinois wrote to the Chicago Trib:
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A State Pensioner That Thinks He’s Blameless For Pension Mess”


Unions, Energy Industry Tops in Political Contributions

-By Warner Todd Huston

According to FollowTheMoney.org unions were some of the most generous with donations to political candidates and causes during the 2007-2008 donation cycle, the last cycle full reporting is known for. A close second place goes to the energy industry with Indian interests coming in third.

Out of the top 50 highest amounts given to political efforts unions donated $223,533,678 to political causes showing that, while unions make up less than 20 percent of the American work force, they account for some of the largest in political donations.

Unfortunately, many of those top donors are public employees unions meaning that our tax dollars are caught in a revolving door with tax money going to public employees who then turn around and donate some of that tax money right back to politicians and their campaign funds in order for those politicians to themselves turn right back around and pass laws that give public employees unions more money!
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Unions, Energy Industry Tops in Political Contributions”


Slap on Wrist for Senator Burris

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Senate ethics committee has “admonished” Senator Roland Burris for all the lies that he’s handed them in his testimony over his involvement in disgraced and impeached Governor Rod Blagojevich’s pay-to-play scandal in Illinois.

As Blago was making his last pass around the drain over his countless illegal activities as Illinois Governor he appointed Roland Burris to the Senate seat that Obama left behind when he won the 2008 general election for the big seat in Washington.

Burris claimed, of course, that he played no part in the cash for a senate seat scandal. The truth, though, seems to be a bit different than the gauzy world that Burris inhabits.
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Slap on Wrist for Senator Burris”


Dem. Senate Candidate Uses Palin Against Mark Kirk

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that Democrat Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias is trying to use Mark Kirk’s approach of Sarah Palin for an endorsement against him. Giannoulias is attempting to use the Kirk/Palin incident as a fund raising tool.

A few days ago, we reported that Mark Kirk sent a letter to Governor Sarah Palin challenging her to support his candidacy for the GOP nomination for Barack Obama’s old Illinois Senate seat. It seems unlikely that Kirk will receive Palin’s endorsement, though. Being far, far too liberal Kirk is hardly Palin’s sort of Republican.

But Giannoulias thinks that even the slightest connection with Palin will drive his fundraising. The Democrat sent the following email to his supporters (bold in the original):
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Dem. Senate Candidate Uses Palin Against Mark Kirk”


Wars and Dead Soldiers

-By John Armor

Late last week, in the dead of night. President Obama made an unannounced trip to Dover, Delaware, where he was photographed saluting some flag-covered coffins that were coming in from Afghanistan. There were about 18 coffins on this day. And afterwards, Obama said that this experience “would influence his decision” on troop levels and future policies in the war in that Afghanistan.

Well, first I fault the press. I’ve been saying for years that facts on war casualties, in Iraq, Afghanistan, or wherever, is defective. The national importance of casualties should be gauged by relative casualties in other, American wars. It’s called context. It is especially important in public issues involving deaths of Americans.

Is a disease or condition that kills ten children a year as worthy of public attention and millions of dollars of spending as a another disease that kills a thousand children a year? Put the question that way, and any sensible citizen or sensible politician will say, of course not. The focus and the spending should go where it will save the most lives, do the most good.

But that sort of question cannot be answered without the comparative statistics. Few things matter in the abstract. It is only when put in context that the importance of most fact can be weighed. By and large, the American press does not put death stories – civilian or military – in comparative context.

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Wars and Dead Soldiers”


New Stop ACORN TV Ad

Illinois state government is so mixed up with AORN and the SEIU but the people are left in the dark about the truth. One group wants to launch an investigation into just how much state money these corrupt politicians are giving to ACORN and the SEIU.

SayNoToACRON.com has launched a new TV ad to inform Illinoisans on the threat to their government and taxes.


Meg Whitman: A Big Lib Supporter?

-By Warner Todd Huston

Meg Whitman has had some bad days lately. After recently proclaiming herself a “darned good” conservative Republican, Senator Barbara Boxer’s staff revealed that Whitman was a Boxer supporter in 2003. Dangerously for Whitman, Senator Boxer is one of the most liberal members of the Senate.

According to Boxer aide Rose Kapolczynski, Whitman supported Boxer’s “Technology Leaders for Boxer” effort in April of 2003. A letter from Boxer’s office from 2003 features a quote from Whitman stating that she felt Boxer was a “courageous leader and friend of California’s technology industry.” (see image below)

This is just one more troublesome issue on top of her voting record — or lack thereof.
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Meg Whitman: A Big Lib Supporter?”


Why Obama Will Throw ACORN Under the Bus

-By Frank Salvato

The spotlight of scrutiny is shining brightly on ACORN these days and rightly so. Where ACORN’s defenders have the audacity to insist that the employees caught on undercover videotape giving advice to a perceived “pimp” and “prostitute” on how to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and internationally traffic in underage Guatemalan prostitutes were simply “a few bad employees,” anyone with a brain recognizes that the problem is systemic in the organization. But what some are misdiagnosing or not completely understanding is how President Obama could be so nonchalant about the issue in recent interviews. It’s because ACORN – for Mr. Obama – has served its purpose and just like Van Jones, Tom Daschle and the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, ACORN is about to be tossed under the bus.

In past articles and in many radio interviews, I have insisted that Barack Obama is just another Chicago machine politician, albeit a very successful one (If you don’t understand the phrase “Chicago machine” read the book Boss by legendary Chicago journalist Mike Royko). And like every good Chicago machine politician, Barack Obama is following the cardinal rules:

  • Do what you have to in order to get elected.
  • Once elected, consolidate as much power as you possibly can.
  • Reward those who helped you get elected.
  • Position yourself for re-election and your retention of power.

In each of the steps Barack Obama has performed so far he has done so in a most exemplary fashion.

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Why Obama Will Throw ACORN Under the Bus”


Reuters Leaves Out That Accused Swindler Was Big Democrat Fundraiser, Lobbyist

-By Warner Todd Huston

Reuters newswire service recently published a story reporting that accused swindler Allen Stanford has been moved to a federal lockup facility in downtown Houston in order “to be closer to his attorneys.” In fact in a fairly long story as wire copy goes, Reuters reports all sorts of details of Stanford’s alleged financial crimes and current status. There is only one little detail that Reuters seems to have forgotten to report. Allen Stanford was a major fundraiser and lobbyists for some of the biggest Democrats in the country.

There isn’t a single mention, for instance, that Stanford lobbied Congress for expanded tax rules spending over $5 million in lobbying fees. There was also no mention that he donated $28,300 to Charlie Rangel’s campaign (D, NY), that he donated heavily to Democratic New York Representative Gregory Meeks, and that he sponsored multiple trips to the Caribbean for Democrat members of Congress. (Details can be found at the Wall Street Journal)

The Antigua Sun newspaper even published a 2008 photo of a beaming Barack Obama standing next to Mr. Stanford.
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Reuters Leaves Out That Accused Swindler Was Big Democrat Fundraiser, Lobbyist”


The Curious Case of Linda McMahon

-By Warner Todd Huston

We seem to have a trio of sudden Republicans in the news these days. I say sudden because there is a lack of any long history on the part of these three candidates of being Republicans for very long before running for office. In fact, it seems that all three only became Republicans once they stepped up to run for office.

I’ve written previously about California’s Steve Poizner, gubernatorial candidate and current State Insurance Commissioner. Poizner had no public history of being a Republican prior to his attempts to run for election in the local and state elections he targeted once he got bitten by the politics bug. In fact, he had a history of donating big money to Democrats right up until the time he started to run as a Republican.

California has a second one, too. Meg Whitman has no Republican history prior to her running for governor there. Though she has no history of large donations to Democrats that I have seen, to be sure.
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The Curious Case of Linda McMahon”


Ill. GOP Minority Leader in Bed With Criminal ACORN?

-By Warner Todd Huston

Shockingly, it looks like Tom Cross (R- Oswego), the Republican Minority leader at the State Capitol in Springfield, has taken several large campaign donations from the criminal organization ACORN. Even worse, it looks like Cross indulged a quid pro quo to help the troubled community organization out on some of their favored legislative efforts.

Over at ChampionNews.net, Doug Ibendahl has uncovered some uncomfortable information about our Republican minority leader’s campaign coffers. Ibendahl has found that Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 880 donated $17,750 to Cross in 2003 and another $10,000 from SEIU Healthcare Illinois/Indiana PAC.

The SEIU is a public employees union that is closely linked with the troubled ACORN organization and SEIU Local 880 is close to ACORN, indeed. In fact, on the Local’s webpage you can see an email address it lists for contact info that settles the question. That email happens to be seiu880@acorn.org.
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Ill. GOP Minority Leader in Bed With Criminal ACORN?”