-By Warner Todd Huston
The Chicago Tribune filmed its interview with two GOP candidates for Cook County Board Chairman, Roger Keats and John Garrido.
You can see he video on the Chicago Trib Video pages, or watch it here…
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Video: Chgo Trib Editorial Board Interview With GOP County Board Candidates”
From the Kirk Dillard for Governor campaign…
Over the weekend, Republican candidate for Illinois governor Kirk Dillard won the endorsement of the St. Charles Township Republicans, expanding his support throughout Kane County.
“Senator Dillard’s leadership and plans to bring jobs to Illinois, balance the budget and clean up Springfield demonstrate he is the best candidate, and we are proud to endorse him,” said St. Charles Township Republican Chairman Ken Shepro. Dillard was also enthusiastic. “I’m delighted my friends in Kane County are backing my campaign, and it shows how my unique experience as former Governor Edgar’s chief of staff, my plan to make Illinois a “Destination Economy” and my legislative record are resonating with voters.”
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Dillard Gets More Kane County Support”
From the Walsh for Congress campaign…
For Immediate Release: 8th Congressional District Candidate, Joe Walsh, is thrilled to announce the support of two influential Tea Party organizations in the 8th district — Tea Party Palatine and the Lake County Tea Party — in his run for congress. Two weeks ago Walsh was endorsed by the Illinois Federation for Right to Life PAC.
“I am honored to have the support of two fine organizations comprised of selfless individuals who have chosen to engage in the political process rather than sit back and accept the status quo. These organizations and their memberships have ‘had enough’ and are working hard to take our country back,” said Walsh.
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8th District: Joe Walsh Picks up Tea Party Groups Endorsement”
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.
-By Warner Todd Huston
The Associated Press asked the Illinois Gubernatorial candidates where they stand on both taxes and state spending this week. Interestingly, they asked what programs the candidates would cut to save money. With this question it was telling that the Republicans had specific programs that they’d cut while both Democrats dithered, hemmed and hawed on any cuts. Nearly all of them said “Medicaid spending” should be cut, but that doesn’t really answer to the question in my opinion. Of course Medicaid spending should be reformed as it is filled to the brim with waste and fraud, but no one is going to cut the program and cutting of programs was the question.
The AP’s questions on spending can be seen on the CBS Channel 2 website.
The AP also did one on taxes and that one can be seen on bnd.com, here the GOP contenders are interesting for one thing all but one of them said they’d hold the line. Only Dan Proft said he cut the state income tax. Naturally, both big spending Democrats (Dan Hynes and Pat Quinn) said they’d raise taxes.
In any case, both these AP pieces really shows the difference between the GOP and Democrat candidates. The Republicans want to cut spending and at least hold the line on taxes rates if not cut them and Democrats want to hike taxes and spend, spend, spend.
And let me say this about Dan Proft. He is always dead right on his answers to these issues. His points on these two AP pieces are perfect pitch.
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Ill. Governor Candidates on Taxes and State Spending”
Robert Dold is facing Party favorite Beth Coulson for the nomination for the 10th District Congressional seat that Mark Kirk is giving up to run for the Senate. Coulson is a liberal Republican, so it may be a situation of anyone but Beth.
From the Dodge for Comptroller campaign:
The Ford County Republican Organization voted Thursday night to endorse Jim Dodge, Republican candidate for Illinois Comptroller in the February 2, 2010 Republican Primary.
“I believe he has the intellect and the confidence to do the job and the ambition and integrity to follow through on the tough decisions that need to be made for the state,” said Eric Thompson, Ford County GOP Chairman. “Our organization sees that Jim Dodge embodies these characteristics that make him the right candidate for Comptroller.”
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Jim Dodge Beats Out Topinka For Another Endorsement”
From the Cook for Lt. Governor campaign:
(Orland Park, IL) – Lieutenant Governor Candidate Dennis Cook announced today that he has received the endorsements of Cook County and Palos GOP Chairman Lee Roupas, and Cook County Commissioner and Orland Township Chairman Liz Gorman.
Cook, Consolidated District 230 School Board President, said it is a great honor to have the endorsement of these two well-respected members of the Republican Party.
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Lt. Governor Race: Dennis Cook Gets Two South Suburban Republican Endorsements”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Republican south-sider Isaac Hayes has a tall order on his hands; face and defeat Chicago machine favorite and incumbent Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. But Hayes has added a new education adviser to his campaign staff that shows that he is serious in his effort to defeat Jackson and offer the voters a starkly different choice.
Joining the Hayes campaign in the role of Education Policy Director is Phylicia Lyons, President of School Choice Illinois.
Founded in 2006 School Choice Illinois is a policy group that has dedicated itself to pursuing vouchers, tax breaks and increasing the reach of charter schools all in an effort to give parents more options besides the failing public schools with which to educate their children. SCI feels that current laws stifle and prohibit parents from seeking more effective schools and its goal is to explore and create sustainable education policies that work for our kids.
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2nd District: Isaac Hayes Adds Phylicia Lyons as School Adviser”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Jerry Agar is a Chicago area radio host and a member of the Illinois Policy Institute, a free-market centric policy center. Agar also has a column on the IPI website often centered around a list of one type of another. Today’s piece is titled, “10 Ways to Stop Political Corruption in Illinois.”
He begins:
Since 1970, more than 1500 individuals have been convicted, and the cost to Illinois taxpayers is estimated at $500 million a year. If we had that money back, instead of just watching an endless perp-walk, we would be in much better shape on several levels.
Agar goes on to list his ten points, but most of them seem to have an aspect of government transparency to them — such as number ten, “Appoint the Sunshine Commission”
Now, I have to say that I agree with an effort at state transparency. DuPage County has done a fantastic job putting all its business transactions, funding, and accounts online for everyone to see. This sort of thing can lead to two things. One, that govt officials might feel less likely to waste and steal tax money if their accounts are so easily discovered by the voters, and two… well, two is that the voters can see what their government is doing.
Still, transparency is not the only thing we can and should do to clean up government. We, the voters, need to be far more careful of who we vote into office in the first place. Being an informed voter is even more important than transparency.
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Ten Ways to Stop Illinois Corruption”
-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”
-By Warner Todd Huston
I meant to mention this story yesterday and didn’t get to it. I guess the reason why I wasn’t so all fired up to highlight it is that it all seemed as no surprise, it seemed like ho-hum news.
Don’t get me wrong, certainly it is big news that Gubernatorial candidate Andy McKenna is being investigated by the State Party over possible misuse of party money to fund his own first poll to ascertain whether or not his run for Gov. would be viable. No question that this is interesting news on several levels.
It is interesting, for instance, that the state GOP would even bother to investigate their fair hared boy in the first place, so, yes, that is interesting right there.
But it isn’t startling that Andy McKenna might be suspected of doing something underhanded. Here’s what happened:
Back in the summer when McKenna was still the Illinois Republican Party Chairman the party funded a $28,000 poll to flesh out the standing of the various folks on the Republican side that were close to announcing or had announced their intent to run for the party’s nomination for governor.
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GOP Questions McKenna’s Use of Party Funds for His Own Polling”
-By Warner Todd Huston
The good folks over at icarry.org have compiled a nice little list of statements about the Second Amendment made by our candidates for Governor. On a veto of the so-called assault weapons ban, they found four GOPers stongly in favor, one is wishy-washy, and two oppose it. And on concealed carry they found three Republicans support it and three are against it.
Here is what icarry.org posted:
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How the Candidates for Gov. Stand on Guns”
Roger Keats is the candidate for Cook County Board President that is supported by the Cook County Republican Party. Linda Shelton has an extensive interview with Keats as well as a compilation of the positions he taken on his website. (Campaign website www.keatsforcook.com/)
It looks like Mr. Keats is trying to run of an anti-corruption/boost the economy platform.
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Cook County Board: Interview With Roger Keats”
A Statement from Representative Peter Roskam:
President Obama’s decision to relocate Guantanamo Bay’s inmates to my home state of Illinois is a misguided decision that will ultimately be regretted. Proponents of the decision have failed to prove how this move will make America safer. Let’s be clear: the Administration is not closing Guantanamo, they are simply moving Guantanamo to Illinois.
The multi-million dollar Guantanamo facility will be left dormant while U.S. courts extend an invitation to expand their reach into national security affairs. The move from a military tribunal to U.S. civilian courts will treat individuals who committed an act of war against the United States as common criminals. It flies in the face of logic, long precedence, and assumes the military is not capable of fairly administering justice.
Illinois deserves a better Christmas present than hardened terrorists.
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Peter Roskam: Illinois Deserves Better Than This”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Representative Luis Gutierrez (D, IL) will introduce another stab at “comprehensive immigration reform” this month and it’s been given another one of those Orwellian names that you know means the opposite of what it says in the title. Gutierrez is calling this mess the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security and Prosperity Act of 2009, or the CIR ASAP — in other words Comprehensive Immigration Reform ASAP.
The simple fact of the matter is that, regardless of the name, this legislation will do nothing whatever to help our security or our prosperity. In fact it will damage both.
In his press release touting this bill, Gutierrez said the following:
“We have waited patiently for a workable solution to our immigration crisis to be taken up by this Congress and our President,” said Rep. Gutierrez. “The time for waiting is over. This bill will be presented before Congress recesses for the holidays so that there is no excuse for inaction in the New Year. It is the product of months of collaboration with civil rights advocates, labor organizations, and members of Congress. It is an answer to too many years of pain —mothers separated from their children, workers exploited and undermined security at the border— all caused at the hands of a broken immigration system. This bill says ‘enough,’ and presents a solution to our broken system that we as a nation of immigrants can be proud of.”
This morning I spoke to Representative Brian Billbray in that nation’s capitol and found him chagrined by the whole thing. Billbray is the Chairman of the Immigration Reform Caucus and is from California’s 50th District which is situated in the San Diego County area.
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Rep. Brian Billbray: Rep. Gutierrez is Creating the Next Wave of Illegal Immigration”
From the Rosanna Pulido campaign:
Rosanna Pulido, Citizen Candidate for the Illinois 5th Congressional district seat is strongly opposed to the Amnesty Bill legislation being introduced by Representative Gutierrez of the 6th district.
Pulido states that, ‘with one in ten Illinoisans laid off of work ,unemployment rates at the highest level in decades and millions of Americans facing tough financial choices, the last thing our country needs is another short sighted politician trying to fix a real problem by throwing hardworking taxpayers money at it.’
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Gutierrez Illegal Amnesty Bill to Cost Illinois Tax Payers Jobs and Will Raise Taxes”
From the Walsh for Congress campaign:
Lake Zurich, IL, December 14, 2009 : Joe Walsh, Republican Candidate for Congress in the 8th Congressional district has announced his strong opposition to the Obama administration plan to move terrorist suspects from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to Thomson, Illinois. The facility at Thomson, Illinois is an underutilized state prison that the state of Illinois has offered to the federal government for purchase.
“I am opposed to moving terror suspects from Guantanamo Bay to Thomson, Illinois. This move is being touted as a great economic development issue for Illinois but I find it really pathetic that our state would be painted as so desperate for jobs that it would become the home to terrorists. The local impact on jobs is terribly overblown. This is a political move pure and simple. I am also concerned that the same stigma and international attention, mostly negative, could become focused on Northern Illinois,” said Walsh.
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8th District: Joe Walsh Opposes Thomson/Gitmo Move”
From the Mitchell campaign:
Gurnee, IL-Republican State Representative candidate Paul Mitchell today extended his congratulations to his opponent, State Representative Sandy Cole (R-Grayslake) of the Illinois 62nd District, on her endorsement by Planned Parenthood Illinois Action (PPIA), the non-partisan political and advocacy arm of Planned Parenthood of Illinois. The endorsement was announced by PPIA on December 10th, 2009.
“I know that Mrs. Cole is too modest to make a big deal of this,” said Mitchell, “but I just think every Republican primary voter in the 62nd district would want to know about this endorsement.”
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62nd District State Rep Race: Mitchell Congratulates Opponent on Planned Parenthood Endorsement”
From the Ratowitz campaign:
“His grassroots campaign is firing on all cylinders, aiming well beyond the February Primary to retake Illinois’ 5th Congressional District for Republicans in November.”
CHICAGO – December 15, 2009 – U.S. House candidate David Ratowitz (IL-5) has received the official endorsement of renowned conservative activist Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica in his run for the Republican nomination in the February 2 Primary Election. Peraica has released the following remarks:
Tony Peraica Endorses 5th District Challenger David Ratowitz”
First time candidate Phil Collins, who is vying for the 17th District State Rep seat, is celebrating an impressive number of endorsements.
On Nov. 30, Collins was endorsed by the Illinois Conservatives Facebook Group. He was also endorsed by Jim Leahy, the executive director of the Republican Assembly of Illinois and by David Smith, the executive director of the Illinois Family Institute. He also picked up the endorsement of the Evanston Conservative, a great blog that is published by Gary Karlin; Eric Wallace, Randy White, and the Chicago Minuteman Project. And last week, his campaign was endorsed by the Illinois Federation for Right to Life and the Illinois Conservative Action Network.
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17th State Rep Race: Phil Collins Celebrates Endorsements”
-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”
Press release from the Put-Back Amendment campaign:
The Put-Back Amendment is the only amendment that will bring real reform to Springfield. It enacts 8 year term limits so we no longer will have lifetime politicians who hold a death grip over the state. It ensures fair elections by ending gerrymandering, reforms ballot access laws and allows independents full access to the ballot. It promotes real legislative reform by requiring 7-day public viewing of all legislation and 25 of 177 legislators can force an up or down vote on any legislation so leaders can no longer exercise complete control of the legislative process.
You can learn more about the amendment here. To get this on the ballot, we need 500,000 signatures and we need your help to gather them after the New Year.
Jim Oberweis, Other Political and Civic Leaders Endorse Put-Back Amendment!
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Endorsements for Put-Back Amendment Grows”
From the Mitchell campaign:
‘This morning, everyone here at Paul Mitchell’s campaign office is in a celebratory mood,’ said a campaign volunteer.. ‘The list of endorsements is growing; we’ve just added four conservative groups to the endorsements list, with more to come!’
‘These four endorsements,’ says Mitchell, ‘show my credibility to my socially conservative base, my fiscally conservative allies, and to the reform/912/tea party movement.’
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62nd District State Rep Race: Paul Mitchell picks up Four Group Endorsements”
From the Jim Dodge for Comptroller campaign:
AFSCME’s inflexibility is part of state’s budget problems
(DECEMBER 13, 2009 Orland Park, IL) Jim Dodge, Republican Candidate for Illinois Comptroller calls The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees’ endorsement of his opponent an illustration of ‘business as usual.’ Judy Baar Topinka was the only Republican endorsed by AFSCME which has also backed others in the past such as former governor Rod Blagojevich and Alexi Giannoulias. This election season they are backing only Democrats and Judy Baar Topinka.
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Topinka’s Union Endorsement is ‘Business As Usual’”
If you have ‘HAD ENOUGH’ with the direction our country is heading, please join me for a WALSH CHRISTMAS RALLY!
Together we can plan the next 6 weeks to win on February 2nd to take the challenge to Melissa Bean in November 2010.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Hackney’s Restaurant
880 N. Old Rand Rd.
Lake Zurich, Il
5:30P to 9:00P
Joe Walsh to speak at 6:30PM
(Free soft drinks & munchies, cash bar for beer/liquor)
This is an Open House event. Bring family, friends, neighbors who have ‘Had Enough’. Come join ‘Boots on the Ground’ to volunteer for the next 6 weeks and election day.
Together we become a Winning Team!
Wheeling Assessor, Dan Patlak, gives you some needed info about your property tax bill in Wheeling Township.
Dan emailed me to let me know of this helpful video service.
Even though our campaign is well under way, I’m still working hard as the taxpayer advocate in my position as the Wheeling Township Assessor. I was recently featured in a video with State Senator Matt Murphy giving information regarding the current round of tax bills and what you can do about them. In this position is has been my pleasure to help thousands of people to lower their tax burdens. I have learned the ins and outs of property taxes and am now ready to fight for taxpayers Cook County Wide at the Cook County Board of Tax Review.
Dan is also running for the Cook County Board of Review.
-By Warner Todd Huston
The folks at ChampionNews.net have endorsed Jim Dodge for Illinois Comptroller. And they aren’t shy about saying what they think of the other two candidates, William Kelly and Judy Baar Topinka, either: they’re “clowns.”
ChampionNews.net is a conservative organization out of Chicago run by long-time area conservative Jack Roeser. Roeser ran for Gov. as an outsider Republican and got 26% of the vote in 1994. That was amazing considering the lock on power the good old boy GOP network had back in those days (and still does). Today Roeser is a businessman employing over 500 employees and a conservative activist. Additionally, the ChampionNews folks have a Sunday morning radio show on Chicago’s WIND AM 560 radio from 8AM to 9AM.
The folks at CN.Net have confidently endorsed Jim Dodge for Comptroller saying he is the “only credible and corruption free candidate.” But their endorsement of Dodge is more an indictment of William Kelly and Judy Baar Topinka. In the posting headlined “The race for Illinois Comptroller: Candidate vetting for dummies,” they pulverize Mr. Kelly’s campaign. They promise to do the same to Topinka in a future posting.
The folks at CN.Net are plainly not fans of Mr. Kelly’s TV work calling the shows “inane” and they say that his past radio work was “the radio version of a train wreck.” They paint Kelly as an “unserious person running for a very serious office.” But all that isn’t want is interesting to me in their piece, really. No what is interesting is this:
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Champions Endorse Jim Dodge for Comptroller, With Kelly Shocker”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Tonight I attended the TAPROOT Christmas event and listened to 15 Republican state-wide and DuPage County candidates all of whom came to address those gathered at the Hilton in Lisle to hear them speak. From Gubernatorial candidates, Senate candidates, judges and local county folks to… is it right to say Lt. Gubernatorial candidates? If so, it sounds odd… anyway, it was a whirlwind session of candidates and a good time was had by all.
If it could be said that there was a theme of the day then it had to be jobs and the economy. Every candidate had something to say about the subject that weighs so heavily on all of us.
15 candidates is a lot of folks to hear from and each got about 5 or 10 minutes to lay out their case and then a few minutes for questions. We were pleased to hear from two candidates for governor and there were quite a lot of candidates for Lt. Governor, as well, three in all. Three Senate candidates appeared, two Comptroller candidates, one Sec. of State candidate, one Congressional candidate, two judges and a DuPage County commission candidate.
Appearing in order were:
I know, phew!
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TAPROOT: Christmas Candidate Forum”
By Warner Todd Huston
Former Governor Jim Edgar has “proudly” endorsed Beth Coulson to take the 10th District seat that Mark Kirk is leaving behind in his run for Senate. The Coulson campaign celebrates the endorsement:
“As governor, I worked closely with Beth Coulson,” said Edgar. “I find her to be a person of tremendous talent, integrity and compassion. The same qualities that have made her an effective state legislator will make her an excellent member of Congress. The 10th District will be well served by electing Beth Coulson to Congress.”
Coulson, one of the most liberal Republicans in the state, is vying for the GOP nod in a crowded field in the 10th.
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Edgar Endorses Liberal GOPer Beth Coulson for 10th District”