8th District Health Care Forum April 8th

From the Walsh for Congress campaign (8th District)…

Please join Candidate for Congress Joe Walsh and an expert panel in a public forum to discuss the recent health care vote and and how it will effect the lives of 8th district families and businesses. Unlike the private forums held by Rep. Bean behind closed doors, all concerned 8th district residents are invited.

What: Health Care Forum
Sponsored by: Candidate for Congress Joe Walsh
When: Thursday, April 8, 2010
Time: 7 – 8:30 pm
Where: Wauconda American Legion, 515 South Main Street, Wauconda, IL

Panelists:
Dr. Arie Friedman, MD, Pediatrician, Premier Pediatrics, S.C.
Dr. George W. Christy, MD, Cardiologist, Advocate Christ Medical Center
Peter Fotos, Director of Government Relations, The Heartland Institute
Joe Fehsenfeld, President CEO, Midwest Printed Circuit Services, Inc.
Joe Walsh, Candidate for Congress, Illinois 8th district

For More Information Contact: Whitney Schlosser
whitney@joewalshforcongress.com
217-638-3543

http://walshforcongress.com/


Illinois Rep. Halvorson: Tea Partiers are ‘Fringe’

-By Warner Todd Huston

Attention citizens of Illinois 11th Congressional District. If you have attended a Tea Party event or are inclined to support them YOU are a “fringe” element according to your Representative, Debbie Halvorson.

Halvosron’s office told CBS News Channel 2 in Chicago, “The voters in the 11th District are not easily influenced by the rhetoric of fringe organizations like the tea party.”

On the other hand, Halvorson’s opponent is very appreciative of the support he’s gotten from tea party groups. Adam Kinzinger (www.electadam.com) has been very much in touch with the tea party movement having attended some events and worked with them to get the word out there about his campaign.

But the solid fact remains, Illinois, that your representative in Congress dismisses you as a fringe element. I’d say that this flies in the face of the facts on the ground when we have protests that country over that regularly turns out thousands of attendees.

Just as in its day the anti-war groups represented a sizable number of Americans and just as they had their effect on the debate about the war on terror, the tea party groups represent an even larger swath of everyday Americans who are similarly having their own effect on the public debate.

But here is the very eft-wing Halvosron pooh-poohing a sizable number of her own constituents saying that they are “fringe” and not worth worrying about.

vLike many Democrats she may well ind just how mistaken she actually is in November. But even now it is looking like she should be paying attention as the latest poll shows Mr. Kinzinger is leading with a large majority.
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Illinois Rep. Halvorson: Tea Partiers are ‘Fringe’”


Ill. Rep. Hare Buying Stock in Wool Industry

-By Warner Todd Huston

A few days ago Rep. Phil Hare told some of his constituents that he didn’t care about the U.S. Constitution and that he was going to help push through Congress Obama’s un-Constitutional take over of our healthcare anyway. Unfortunately for Hare he was being video taped as he said it.

Today it has been revealed that Rep. Hare has invested heavily in the U.S. wool industry. To that end he’s made a nice little video for us where he addresses this whole Constitution thingie…

You are wondering about the “wool,” right? Well, obviously he’s invested heavily in wool because he’s trying to pull an awful lot of it over the people’s eyes with THIS little extravaganza of back peddling!

In his video Hare laments the “gotcha” form of politics that resulted in his first YouTube special. All I can say is they can’t have “gotcha” unless there was something to “got,” there Rep. Hare!

But ya gotta give the Hare credit. This was a quick like a bunny video posted to try and stem the tide of his plummeting reputation. And just before the Easter Bunny makes his rounds, Hare lays this egg on us!

Finally, I am thankful to Hare for his military service. But I am compelled to note that General Benedict Arnold served us well for several years, too.
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Ill. Rep. Hare Buying Stock in Wool Industry”


The Democrats ‘Mob Banker’ With $20 Million in Loans to Criminals

-By Warner Todd Huston

It is bad enough that current State Treasurer and Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias is now well-known as the mob’s favorite banker with revelations of his $20 million in bad loans to various mobsters and convicted felons — so much money that his family bank is now about to go belly up over it all. But what is worse is that the Illinois Democrat Party purposefully backed this shady operator as its 2010 candidate for Senate!

Illinois Democrats are so arrogant that they imagined that they could pick the dirtiest candidate they could find, one with a possible criminal history worse than that of their recently resigned knife wielding Lt. Gov. candidate Steve Cohen, and the voters would just mindlessly go to the polls and vote the party line. And perhaps they are right. We’ll see.

The Chicago Tribune recently reported that Giannoulias’ failing bank loaned the $20 million to Michael Giorango and Demitri Stavropoulos even as they were about to be trundled off to serve federal prison sentences.
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The Democrats ‘Mob Banker’ With $20 Million in Loans to Criminals”


Tea Party Express Rolling Into A Town Near You

From Adam Andrzejewski’s For The Good Of Illinois

April 5 and 6, the Tea Party Express will be stopping in Illinois.

First stop, Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield at 6pm on Monday.

Second stop, Davis Park in Rockford at 2:30pm on Tuesday.

The Tea Party Express is a national bus tour, which hosts tea party rallies all across the nation. The bus launched from Sen. Harry Reid’s hometown of Searchlight, NV on March 27th and will conclude in Washington, D.C. on Tax Day – April 15th.
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Tea Party Express Rolling Into A Town Near You”


Hayes on the Unemployment Report

From the Hayes for Congress campaign (2nd District)…

CHICAGO – The Republican Nominee for Illinois 2nd Congressional District Isaac Hayes released the following statement today:

“For the past year, Americans have suffered the collateral damage of unemployment due to a deaf ear from partisan ideologues who were more concerned with taking over the health care industry than putting people back to work. Still it appears Democrats haven’t gotten the message as they are now seeking to take over the energy industry. This administration’s number one priority should be jobs, jobs, jobs. Americans recognize this political power grab at their expense and they will deliver pink slips to Congressional Democrats in November.”

For more information on Isaac Hayes’ run, please go to: www.isaac4honesty.com


Walsh Will Put District’s Interests Ahead of Party Interests to ‘Repeal, Reform and Replace’

From the Walsh for Congress campaign (8th District)…

This week, Investor’s Business Daily asked, “Are Republican leaders getting rubbery-legged about repealing the massive new multitrillion-dollar entitlement program the president and Congress just passed into law?”

Certainly, many are not including Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) who has already introduced legislation to repeal Obamacare.
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Walsh Will Put District’s Interests Ahead of Party Interests to ‘Repeal, Reform and Replace’”


Ill. Rep. Phil Hare Just Doesn’t Care About the Constitution?

-By Warner Todd Huston

Well, here is Democrat Phil Hare so perfectly fitting the profile of a left-wing hack. He fits perfectly that stereotype of the Democrat that doesn’t care about our laws, our traditions, our safety or our Constitution.

Don’t believe me? Listen to his own words: “I don’t worry about the Constitution.”

When asked where in the Constitution Phil Hare finds the power to take over the economy, our healthcare, and any other thing he feels that he’s smarter than us to take over, Congressman Hare admits that he doesn’t care about that silly old Constitution thingie.

He’s more interested in the, “I care more about the people that are dying everyday that don’t have healthcare.”

Gosh he likes us, he really likes us. Of course, neither he nor any other Democrat has been able to prove that people are “dying every day that they don’t have healthcare.” But, you know…

My favorite is when he claimed that he read this 8,100 page bill “three times.”

And when he was called on that obvious lie, he stomped out the door. Poor lil fella. Of course, the TRUTH is that there is no way on earth that he’s read the entirety of a 8,100 page bill any “three times.”

All I can say is Vote Bobby Schilling in November! (17th District)

www.bobby2010.com/


Illinois, Tell Speaker Madigan to Open the Books!‏

From Adam Andrzejewski’s For the Good of Illinois…

On March 24, House Leader Tom Cross joined me in calling for a forensic audit of state spending. House Resolution 1057 requires the Auditor General to begin a forensic audit of state spending covering the Blagojevich/Quinn administrations.

We introduced HR 1057 with four goals in mind:

  • Stop Governor Quinn’s Income Tax Hike
  • Cut Spending
  • Eliminate Waste
  • End Corruption

In 2007, Auditor General William Holland issued a report indicating that the State of Illinois “…does not have a comprehensive, consistent inventory of programs.” This report highlighted that state government is so cumbersome and disorganized it could not prepare a list of programs it funds and operates on a daily basis.

Speaker Madigan, Open The Books!
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Illinois, Tell Speaker Madigan to Open the Books!‏”


Ill. Policy Institute: Working for the man‏

A “First Step”
If you thought the passage of the expansive new health care bill was a pretty big deal, you might want to hold on to your hat. On the “Today” show, President Obama recently told Matt Lauer that it was simply a “first step.” You can watch by clicking here.

Workin’ For the Man…
Each year, the Tax Foundation releases the dates of Tax Freedom Day, which reveals how many days of the year we spend working to pay off state, federal, and local taxes. Here in Illinois, it falls on Sunday, April 11, meaning we work 101 out of 365 days just to pay taxes. Ouch.
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Ill. Policy Institute: Working for the man‏”


Walsh to Obama: I’m Going For It

From the Walsh for Congress campaign (8th District)…

(Grayslake, Ill)– “They’re actually going to run on a platform of repeal…My attitude is, go for it… If they want to have that fight, we can have it.” – President Barack Obama, speaking on the GOP in Iowa last week

This is the typical, single-party combative nature of this administration and those starry-eyed individuals who follow it like my opponent, Rep. Melissa Bean.
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Walsh to Obama: I’m Going For It”


GOP’s Hayes: Coastal Drilling Long Welcomed News

From the Hayes for Congress campaign (2nd District)…

CHICAGO: The following statement was released today by Isaac Hayes, GOP Nominee for Congress in Illinois’ 2nd district, in response to President Obama’s announcement to open American coastlines to oil and natural gas drilling.

“The President’s announcement to allow drilling along America’s coastline is long welcomed news. The off shore drilling ban has been an unwanted and unneeded moratorium on energy exploration. For years, Republicans have pushed for energy independence by utilizing the vast resources God has blessed our nation with. While I am pleased that America’s plea for freedom from dependence on sponsors of terror is finally being heard, I am cautiously optimistic that this is not a smoke screen for a soon to come cap-and-trade bill jammed down our throats.”

http://www.isaachayesforcongress.com/


Walsh: ‘I’m NOT A Career Politician’

From the Joe Walsh for Congress campaign (8th District)…

With just 48 hours left before our quarterly filing deadline, I am asking you today to contribute $ 20.10 to our campaign for Congress to commemorate this historic year in which we take our country back.

We are going to take it back from those in Congress like my opponent, Melissa Bean, who have built their careers by serving special interests rather than their constituents’ interests.

We are going to take it back from those who seek to contract our personal freedoms and expand government’s control over our lives.
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Walsh: ‘I’m NOT A Career Politician’”


LAST CHANCE TO REFORM ILLINOIS: Put-Back Petition Deadline Extended to April 19th!‏

From the Putback Amendment effort…

For months, the campaign for true reform of Springfield has taken heart in every county in the State of Illinois. Voters on all sides of the political spectrum are fed up with the culture of corruption in Springfield. The Put-Back Amendment provides the only constitutional way to reform state government without waiting on entrenched political insiders to “permit” reform to take place.

The Put-Back Amendment is the only amendment which enacts term limits for legislators, ends gerrymandering (where politicians draw maps to ensure their reelection), ensures fair elections with crucial reforms to end political games in keeping people off the ballot, and decentralizes legislative power so no longer will the two legislative leaders have complete control of the legislature. More information on what the Put-Back Amendment does is available here.
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LAST CHANCE TO REFORM ILLINOIS: Put-Back Petition Deadline Extended to April 19th!‏”


PROillinois: New Pension Plan Idea Debuts

MADIGAN PENSION BRIDGE NOT FAR ENOUGH

PROillinois New Grassroots Campaign to Unshackle Local Governments From Unfunded State Pension Mandates

(March 30 – Northbrook, IL) Runaway government employee pension costs is the hot topic, with average taxpayers and the press starting to take notice of this looming public finance disaster. A more dramatic, yet simple pension reform effort known as “the PROillinois plan” is gaining momentum, and is being promoted by a grassroots group of Illinois residents and local government leaders who want to put an end, once and for all, to the unworkable Springfield practice of dictating to local governments the retirement benefits paid to local government employees.
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PROillinois: New Pension Plan Idea Debuts”


Dems Chose Fmr Senator’s Daughter for Illinois Lt. Gov.

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Democrat State Central Committee has chosen Sheila Simon, daughter of former Senator Paul Simon (no not the singer), as its choice to fill the Lt. Governor slot recently vacated by Steve Cohen.

Sheila Simon has no real electoral track record in the state, but success is not a prerequisite to fill the Lt.Gov’s chair, after all. Since the position is practically powerless and useless, anybody could take it when all is said and done.

Chicago Trib reporters Rick Pearson and Ray Long amused me with the first two paragraphs of their piece announcing the choice, though.
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Dems Chose Fmr Senator’s Daughter for Illinois Lt. Gov.”


Onion Skewers King Daley

-By Warner Todd Huston

This just in, The Onion News Service has just skewered Richie “King” Daley for his newest effort to “modernize Chicago’s outdated graft programs.”

The Onion did a masterful job satirizing the corruption of Chicago in this post, I have to say. The stuff they put in Mayor Daley’s mouth is classic.

“It’s been business as usual for too long in Chicago, and now it’s time to find more efficient ways to misuse authority for personal gain,” said Daley, who has served as Chicago’s mayor since 1989. “We must modernize our illegitimate activities right now, today, before it becomes impossible for public officials to act in my best self-interests.”

While this may be funny to folks outside of the Chicago area, it is all too easy to believe for those of us sentenced to dwell in “King” Daley’s corrupt little world.

Kudos to The Onion for its satire, but shame on Chicago for allowing the corruption that is so easy to satirize.
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Onion Skewers King Daley”


I’ll Be on Chicago’s WGN Radio on Saturday Morning, 10AM

-By Warner Todd Huston

In connection with my ChicagoNow.com Publius Forum site, I have been asked to wing it on down to the WGN radio studios this weekend.

I’ll be in studio with host Sarah Spain on Chicago Now Radio starting around 10AM central time.
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I’ll Be on Chicago’s WGN Radio on Saturday Morning, 10AM”


Government Is Not Our Friend

-By Warner Todd Huston

Small-government conservatives have always been suspicious of government. Whether city, county, state or federal all government is looked on as a troublesome but necessary evil that must be tightly controlled and oft times opposed. This anti-government attitude, of course, is a complete mystery to socialist Democrats. They just don’t understand why conservatives mistrust government and why they eye it suspiciously. So, looking for a way to explain in real terms why conservatives loathe government is sometimes not an easy task as the ideas are often very esoteric. Thank God the corrupt governments in Barack Obama’s Illinois are always there to supply a ready example of why government is often the enemy of a free people.

In that mien, here is another perfect example of how government often does not serve the voters, how it does what ever it wants to do despite the voters, and how government often thinks it knows better than the very voters that it is supposed to serve.

In 2009 the Illinois State legislature in its Springfield-based capitol passed a video gambling law that for the first time legalized video poker machines across the state. The progress of this law was very contentious with most Republicans and some Democrats standing in opposition to this immoral legislation and a sop to the opposers was put in the bill as sweetener to assure passage. An “opt out” clause was put in the bill so that those conservative districts that were so opposed to video gambling could exclude themselves from allowing the immoral act of video gambling in their jurisdiction.
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Government Is Not Our Friend”


Fox News Chicago Digging Deeper on Illinois Pension Mess

-By Warner Todd Huston

My friend Lennie Jarratt was featured on Fox News Chicago last night. The subject was the $85 billion dollar deficit that the Illinois finds its public employee pensions confronted with. Fox News reports that every Illinois citizen would have to fork over $6,600 to instantly solve the problem. And what has caused this problem? Unions.

Lennie has some great lines in this piece and he’s right on. He is right that education in America has become “legalized theft.” Here are some of his main points:

  • Getting a public sector job is like hitting the lottery
  • The way schools levy is legal theft
  • We have the highest property taxes in the Midwest
  • Nearly all of the top 50 public sector pensions in IL are educators
  • Killing jobs and forcing people to leave the state further cutting state revenue
  • Within 4-6 years most public sector retirees are making more than when working

Illinois isn’t the only state in this union-made morass. Nearly every state in the union is in this mess.
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Fox News Chicago Digging Deeper on Illinois Pension Mess”


Roskam: Healthcare Bill’s Enormous Costs to Illinois Manufacturers John Deere and Caterpillar

From Congressman Peter Roskam’s Office (6th District)…

Roskam: “When two pillars of the Illinois business community, Caterpillar and John Deere, are forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in new costs for next year alone thanks to the health bill, it sends an ominous message about Illinois’ economic future.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Peter Roskam released the following statement today following the John Deere company’s announcement that the new healthcare legislation signed by President Obama this week will increase their taxes by $150 million in the first year, after Caterpillar announced it would cost them $100 million in their first year:
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Roskam: Healthcare Bill’s Enormous Costs to Illinois Manufacturers John Deere and Caterpillar”


Hayes: Open Letter to Jesse Jr. ‘No Leadership, No Integrity’

From the Hayes for Congress campaign (2nd District)…

CHICAGO: The following is an open letter released today by Isaac C. Hayes, GOP nominee for Congress in IL-2, in response to Jr.’s “moment of truth” on news radio WLS 890am.

Yesterday morning, Mr. Congressman, you told Dan Proft and Bruce Wolf, who were guest-hosting the Don Wade and Roma Show on WLS, “There’s probably going to have to be a significant reform of other social programs as the Federal Government assumes more responsibility for health care for the nation’s people, there are other social programs that are probably going to undermine some elements of social cohesion, there’s no doubt about that.”
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Hayes: Open Letter to Jesse Jr. ‘No Leadership, No Integrity’”


Walsh to Bean: How is raising their taxes doing small businesses ‘due diligence’?

From the Walsh for Congress campaign (8th District)…

“This is about doing due diligence on behalf of small businesses and families that I represent in the 8th District,” -Rep. Melissa Bean, on her vote for Obamacare, March 23, ABC Link

Perhaps as part of her “due diligence”, Rep. Bean should have considered talking to actual small business owners in the district or small business trade associations like the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).
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Walsh to Bean: How is raising their taxes doing small businesses ‘due diligence’?”


Illinois: Landmark School Choice Bill Could Get Vote Soon

From the Illinois Policy Institute…

SB 2494 passed out of committee just moments ago. This bill, sponsored by the Rev. Sen. James Meeks, would create a pilot school voucher program for students in struggling Chicago public schools.

This new power for parents promises that many children can enroll in schools that are better able to meet their needs. It promises that surrounding public schools will improve, and it promises that everyone in Illinois, as taxpayers, will benefit.

This is landmark school choice policy in the making.
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Illinois: Landmark School Choice Bill Could Get Vote Soon”


Dold: Healthcare, an Historic Missed Opportunity

From the Bob Dold for Congress campaign (10th District)…

The healthcare bill recently passed by Congress and signed into law by the President is an historic missed opportunity that will adversely affect the 10th Congressional District and chill the creation of new jobs. While nobody disputes that healthcare reform is needed, this legislation is the by-product of a corrupt and partisan process that ignored the voices of job creators throughout our country. By more than a 2-to-1 margin, Americans have voiced their opposition to this bill. Unfortunately, their voices fell on the deaf ears of Congress. When presented with an opportunity to work together and craft reforms with consensus, the U.S. Congress chose politics over policy.

I have always supported healthcare reform. Specifically, I have advocated the merits of addressing medical malpractice costs, and have promoted consumer-driven care as a means to reduce costs and expand coverage. However, this new healthcare reform addresses neither of these issues. This legislation threatens to bankrupt our great nation through tax increases, and places new and expensive burdens on small businesses. In short, this legislation does not address the root cause of the problem – healthcare is too expensive. Instead, it simply shifts the burden on to businesses, taxpayers and seniors.
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Dold: Healthcare, an Historic Missed Opportunity”


Obama Supporter’s Racism Cop Out

-By Warner Todd Huston

If you want to see the ignorance of the left, below is a good video to see it in. In it a woman that supports Obamacare makes all sorts of accusations that everyone is a racist in a confrontation at a small protest outside of Illinois Representative Jan Schakowsky’s Chicago-area offices. Another portly woman whines about the fact that she might be expected pay for her own healthcare and her equally portly boyfriend calls people names and asks what’s wrong with “a little socialism?”

The video shows that the only people filled with hate, the only ones resorting to name-calling and ignorance are the Obamacare supporters. But the you’re-all-racists lady is the most typical example of the left’s empty-headed line of attack against anyone that dares to nay-say their communist ideas.

One of the ignorant things this woman did was dismiss the Holocaust. It is infuriating, of course, that this chubby chider in purple was so dismissive of the Holocaust because there once was slavery. To her, slavery was worse than the Holocaust. A disgusting display of ignorance, of course. It is also a sad display of ignorance that this woman really thought that her “ancestors” were brought to Evanston, Illinois to work a “plantation.” This foolish woman doesn’t appear to know the history of her own people. There WERE no slave plantations in Evanston, Illinois so it is impossible that her ancestors were brought to Evanston to work plantations for white folks.
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Obama Supporter’s Racism Cop Out”


New Cook County, Illinois Republican Group Has First Meeting

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Republican Assembly of Northern Cook County held its first meeting this week in Des Plaines. 10 people attended and three candidates for office spoke to the group.

Cook County Board President candidate Roger Keats spoke as did 8th District Congressional candidate Joe Walsh. Cook County Board of Review candidate Dan Patlak also attended. Keats told the group that he’s the best candidate for Cook County Board President because “Alderman Preckwinkle is closely tied to corrupt politicians, including Speaker Madigan and Mayor Daley.”

Also in attendance was Jim Leahy, the executive director of the Republican Assembly of Illinois and Jerry McDaniel, the chairman of the Illinois Conservative Action Network.
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New Cook County, Illinois Republican Group Has First Meeting”


Kinzinger Tops Polls in 11th District

From the Adam Kinzinger for Congress campaign (11th District)…

Adam Kinzinger is currently holding townhalls across the district and after Wednesday night, he will have held 11, Debbie Halvorson, who voted yes for healthcare, has held zero. This is the first poll conducted on the Congressional Level after the Healthcare vote.

NRCC Memo
Adam Kinzinger currently leads on the ballot test 44%-38% over Congresswoman Halvorson, with 16% of voters undecided. Among high interest voters (8-10s), Kinzinger’s lead improves to 49%-35%, with 13% undecided.
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Kinzinger Tops Polls in 11th District”


Illinois Ranks At Bottom of Best Business Climates in America

-By Warner Todd Huston

Illinois ranks a dismal 45th place in state rankings for the best business climates in the country according to a new study by the Institute for Legal Reform.

The study finds Illinois trailing the rest of the country in legal fairness with a litigation climate that is bad for businesses. Two Illinois counties, Cook County and Madison County, were also found to be the most unfair litigation climate in the nation.

In the press release, ILR says that Illinois is a “jackpot” state.

“Home to two of the most notorious jackpot jurisdictions in America and known for imposing expansive liability, Illinois has rolled out an ‘unwelcome mat’ to business,” said Lisa A. Rickard, president of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform. “Illinois needs more jobs, not more lawsuits. Yet, even with an unemployment rate higher than the national average, the state’s anti-business legal climate discourages economic growth at a time when it needs it most.”

This ease at filing and constant upholding of frivolous lawsuits is reprehensible and decimates Illinois jobs just at a time when we need more jobs because of this bad economy.
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Illinois Ranks At Bottom of Best Business Climates in America”


Secret Back Room Deals is NOT Democracy!

-By the Illinois Conservatives FaceBook Group

Turns out, yes he can. President Obama has shown the country that yes, he can do the secret backroom deals and kickbacks that he promised to eschew. That yes, he can confuse and complicate a process and fog it over with last-minute “emotional pleas.” Yes, he can force Americans to buy a product. And yes, he can orchestrate a government take-over of 1/6 of the American economy.

While President Obama once campaigned on transparency and bi-partisan cooperation, he and Nancy Pelosi have shown us that not only is it politics as usual with them—but on a bigger, more jaded and oppositional level than we’ve ever seen.
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Secret Back Room Deals is NOT Democracy!”