* Illinois Review has a post about some conservative backlash to GOP Chairman Pat Brady’s efforts on behalf of the gay marriage bill…
More conservative leaders within the Illinois Republican Party are voicing their dismay with party Chairman Pat Brady’s phone calls to Republican senators urging them to vote in support of legalizing same sex marriage.
“You can put me on the record that I want Pat Brady to step down due to his actions of supporting Gay Marriage, which is against the Illinois Republican Party Platform,” McLean County GOP Chairman John Parrot told IR. “How can he be a leader when he doesn’t any longer believe in what our Party stands for? I also question his position with his Church, which is outspoken against gay marriage. He has failed his belief of his Church’s teaching and he has failed his Party.” […]
Karen Hayes, another platform committee member representing the 1st Congressional District in Worth Township, spoke out in defense of the 2012 platform:
“Pat Brady has discredited himself as the head of the Illinois Republican Party and should step down now that it is clear he does not embrace a core principle of his own party’s platform–traditional marriage. If Chairman Brady wishes to redefine marriage for his own personal reasons, he surely must understand that his desire simply cannot coexist with freedom and good public policy as ratified and affirmed by the Illinois Republican Party,” Hayes said.
As we’ve discussed before, gay marriage goes against the state party’s platform.
* The Question: Should Pat Brady resign as Illinois Republican Party Chairman? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
…Adding… Let’s confine the voting to Brady’s gay marriage stance, please. Thanks.
- Posted by Rich Miller
35 Comments
- Raveenswood Right Winger - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 11:59 am:
Yes, solely on the party’s dismal performance in 2012. You too, Cross & Radogno from your “leadership” positions.
Any rational political party allows its members to hold minority views, particularly if they expect to survive in a changing world. So he shouldn’t resign.
- Just Observing - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 12:02 pm:
Ridiculous that anyone would expect 100 percent conformity to the party platform. The Brady opponents do not get that Brady is helping save the party.
- CircularFiringSquad - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 12:08 pm:
We have been “voicing dismay” for years, but GOPies still love the guy.
Now we need to embrace the obvious.
Keep Gags in place through at least 2014 maybe 2016. Think of all the good he can do in the governor’s race. Kirk’s replacement. The list is endless. Plus he still has all that trash the GOPies paid to print up last summer to unload
Stay Gags Stay!
Pleeeezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
No. He should hold or lose this post based on the totality of his positions. He is not advocating an issue that could be considered radical. A look at the polling numbers proves that. He should just figure “no comments from the peanut gallery” and stay his ground.
Let Parrot lead the party. That would be the best thing for the Democrats.
- Pot calling kettle - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 12:25 pm:
While I agree that no one should expect 100% conformity to the platform, this is a banner issue and the party chair needs to carry that banner. The Brady needs to promote the platform as agreed to or leave the Chair to someone who can. Either that or get the party to change the plank.
No, although I may be bias by my own opinions on the issue. I believe that parties should allow for more variance in opinion, instead of 100% conformity over riding a congressman’s opinions.
I thought platforms were usually cobbled together by the activists in the party so they would have something to do while the elected folk and lobbyists wheel and deal.
I think he’s trying to bring the ILGOP back in to reality. Speaking as a liberal but not a Dem, I think we need at minimum two viable parties to make things work.
Of course Pat Brady should resign. The case was already clear in light of his years of failure as state chair, and national committeeman before that. Brady is not a leader, is clueless about politics, and the IL GOP is now more irrelevant than ever.
This latest dustup over his sellout on a major gop platform issue is just confusing the issue. But yes, it’s just one more reason for him to go. If you want to make the case for why the gop should “evolve” on this issue, then fine, make that case. But what you don’t do is work on the sly behind the backs of your membership to help Barack Obama and the Democrats advance their agenda.
If Brady wants to be a gay marriage advocate, fine, do it. But he should do the right thing and resign first as party chairman. You can’t hold that title and at the same time work against the interests of a big majority of your membership on a major platform plank. The gay marriage angle where Brady is concerned has more to do with the evidence of continued dishonesty and disrespect that Brady exhibits towards Republican voters.
Maybe Republicans should change their platform. But that should be the choice of Republicans and not as a result of self-serving liberal commenters on a chatboard who are never going to vote Republican no matter how many issues a failed gop chairman decides to sell out on.
Sorry “Pot Calling Kettle”, but this is NOT a banner issue. Taxes, job creation and de-regulations are issues the GOP need to rally around. Brady knows moving on some of the other issues to be in alignment with the results from November is needed. He’s also knows the conservatives will not strike out on their own, as this will create 2 parties getting half the vote, and the Democrats taking the other half.
1 Doesn’t the party platform also oppose abortion in cases of rape?
2 Didn’t Mitt Romney not conform to 100% of his party platform? Did anybody call on his resignation from the Presidential race?
3 These people should at least be consistent.
Someone’s faith and “standing in their church” is their own and no one should be publically questioning someone’s stance in the church the way John Parrot did. That man should be ashamed of himself.
If we are ever to reach the point where individuals are allowed to disagree and not be disagreeable - we must allow our parties to be big tents. As a Dem, I recognize the difference in how I view gun ownership from how others do and we still exist in the same party. We need more, not less, of party leaders actually leading. Even when it’s not by our preferred views.
I voted no based on the response requested. Solely on his position on this bill he should not resign. He very clearly stated that this was his personal opinion and was made outside his role as party chairman.
It is ironic that posters on this blog ask for an end to the gridlock at both the state and national level and continuously ask why legislators cannot come to consensus to move government along; yet find fault with someone that does not adhere strictly to the party line. If everyone follows their party line in lock step you will get exactly what we have now. No discussions, no compromise, no solutions.
If you want the four leaders to make all the decisions and you want the rest of the lawmakers to follow the party line in lock step wqith no dissension then by all means do not allow any of them to think on their own and maybe find solutions to our problems.
Gay marriage should be dropped from the GOP platform. Its time to move on and accept what is inevitable. Brady is taking the right steps to move his party with the changing times and opinions
What ChicagoR said. The platform is wrong and they need to change it. And they need to reacquaint themselves with the historic principles of conservatism and stop trying to tell other people how to live their lives.
Living in the 21st century shouldn’t automatic disqualify someone from holding Republican Party office. It may be a big obstacle to gaining party office, but it shouldn’t be an automatic dis-qualifier.
Absolutely. Your an organization’s chairman. Your organization has a firm set of principles. You don’t agree with those principles and actively work against one of them. You’re supposed to follow those principles, even when you don’t believe in them. Hence the title of chairman. And if you didn’t like them, then you should have worked to have them changed when you had the chance. What is this - the Democratic Party?
When I heard that Brady said this, my first thought was that he would be resigning. He’s been a terrible party chief, both because he gets caught in obvious falsehoods so often, and because of his misguided missiles at Madigan which did nothing for his candidates.
On the other hand, he might be a decent human being outside of the Party role, as he showed today.
- I don't want to live in Teabagistan - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 2:47 pm:
Yes, he should step down. There is no room in the present-day GOP for freedom if it isn’t the flavor pedaled by Christian Evangelicals or the gun-toters.
Everyone who voted against civil unions was on the wrong side of history and now they are going to double down on that mistake.
A party leader should be judged on performance in fundraising, and getting his party elected. He does not need to lead nor should he be judged on policy, which he can influence, but not direct.
Yes. Not based on any moralizing over the issue but that as chair of his party he should be a leader capable of moving members or in lockstep with the platform.
A chair wouldn’t have allowed the issue to be a party plank. He’d've created an environment where there could’ve been differing opinions. Instead Brady has helped create chaos.
- Kane Conservative - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 4:19 pm:
Keep in mind, he has tried to resign in the past and no logical candidates seem to WANT the job.
Trying to move his party to the mainstream of Illinois voters is the most constructive thing he’s done as chair. Time will tell whether it’s as feckless in practice as his demonizing of Mike Madigan.
If he resigns or not doesn’t really matter. But I do ask how is the GOP going to be different than the Democrats. What is the point in having 2 parties if they are essentially the same in platform and voting.
If the voters don’t have a real choice in any of the elections, they will most likely stay with the evil they know - the party in charge.
The state of Illinois GOP has totally disintegrated since 2000. Is Mike Madigan truly a genius, or just smart enough to take advantage of the joke the GOP has become?
He should not resign because of this. Its this kind of reaction from the conservative, no-compromise, my way or the highway, wing of the party that has gotten the Illinois Republican Party into the position its in today. You’re not gonna win swing votes with such a hardline stance on an issue like this.
I usually vote for Republicans, and I think that some Republicans should be able to disagree with parts of the party platform. However, when the state party chairman disagrees with the platform, he shouldn’t tell many people that he disagrees with it.
I think that Chairman Brady should resign, for other reasons. During primary campaigns, the state party chairman should be neutral, but, before the last primary, Brady helped some primary candidates. He didn’t lead the party well, for the general election, since the IL GOP lost seats in the U.S. House, state senate, and state house.
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- Raveenswood Right Winger - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 11:59 am:
Yes, solely on the party’s dismal performance in 2012. You too, Cross & Radogno from your “leadership” positions.
- ChicagoR - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 12:02 pm:
Any rational political party allows its members to hold minority views, particularly if they expect to survive in a changing world. So he shouldn’t resign.
- Just Observing - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 12:02 pm:
Ridiculous that anyone would expect 100 percent conformity to the party platform. The Brady opponents do not get that Brady is helping save the party.
- CircularFiringSquad - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 12:08 pm:
We have been “voicing dismay” for years, but GOPies still love the guy.
Now we need to embrace the obvious.
Keep Gags in place through at least 2014 maybe 2016. Think of all the good he can do in the governor’s race. Kirk’s replacement. The list is endless. Plus he still has all that trash the GOPies paid to print up last summer to unload
Stay Gags Stay!
Pleeeezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
- bongofurry - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 12:14 pm:
No. He should hold or lose this post based on the totality of his positions. He is not advocating an issue that could be considered radical. A look at the polling numbers proves that. He should just figure “no comments from the peanut gallery” and stay his ground.
- Just Me - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 12:24 pm:
Let Parrot lead the party. That would be the best thing for the Democrats.
- Pot calling kettle - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 12:25 pm:
While I agree that no one should expect 100% conformity to the platform, this is a banner issue and the party chair needs to carry that banner. The Brady needs to promote the platform as agreed to or leave the Chair to someone who can. Either that or get the party to change the plank.
- Sunshine - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 12:26 pm:
He needs to work to change the party’s position or remove himself if he can’t support their position.
I still think that ‘marriage’ should be a religious/church issue and that all should be civil unions under the law.
If a person chooses to marry, in the eyes of the church, then fine. But keep church/marriage separate from civil union/government.
- Nyx - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 12:28 pm:
No, although I may be bias by my own opinions on the issue. I believe that parties should allow for more variance in opinion, instead of 100% conformity over riding a congressman’s opinions.
- chi - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 12:30 pm:
Shouldn’t someone in the IL GOP hold all of the views of its platform? And shouldn’t that person be the head of the party?
I agree with Brady’s position on gay marriage, I just think the GOP should sleep in the bed they make.
- cermak_rd - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 12:43 pm:
I thought platforms were usually cobbled together by the activists in the party so they would have something to do while the elected folk and lobbyists wheel and deal.
- Cheryl44 - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 12:45 pm:
I think he’s trying to bring the ILGOP back in to reality. Speaking as a liberal but not a Dem, I think we need at minimum two viable parties to make things work.
- just sayin' - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 12:45 pm:
Of course Pat Brady should resign. The case was already clear in light of his years of failure as state chair, and national committeeman before that. Brady is not a leader, is clueless about politics, and the IL GOP is now more irrelevant than ever.
This latest dustup over his sellout on a major gop platform issue is just confusing the issue. But yes, it’s just one more reason for him to go. If you want to make the case for why the gop should “evolve” on this issue, then fine, make that case. But what you don’t do is work on the sly behind the backs of your membership to help Barack Obama and the Democrats advance their agenda.
If Brady wants to be a gay marriage advocate, fine, do it. But he should do the right thing and resign first as party chairman. You can’t hold that title and at the same time work against the interests of a big majority of your membership on a major platform plank. The gay marriage angle where Brady is concerned has more to do with the evidence of continued dishonesty and disrespect that Brady exhibits towards Republican voters.
Maybe Republicans should change their platform. But that should be the choice of Republicans and not as a result of self-serving liberal commenters on a chatboard who are never going to vote Republican no matter how many issues a failed gop chairman decides to sell out on.
- Darienite - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 12:58 pm:
Sorry “Pot Calling Kettle”, but this is NOT a banner issue. Taxes, job creation and de-regulations are issues the GOP need to rally around. Brady knows moving on some of the other issues to be in alignment with the results from November is needed. He’s also knows the conservatives will not strike out on their own, as this will create 2 parties getting half the vote, and the Democrats taking the other half.
- Ahoy! - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 12:58 pm:
3 more things.
1 Doesn’t the party platform also oppose abortion in cases of rape?
2 Didn’t Mitt Romney not conform to 100% of his party platform? Did anybody call on his resignation from the Presidential race?
3 These people should at least be consistent.
Someone’s faith and “standing in their church” is their own and no one should be publically questioning someone’s stance in the church the way John Parrot did. That man should be ashamed of himself.
- justbabs - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 1:05 pm:
If we are ever to reach the point where individuals are allowed to disagree and not be disagreeable - we must allow our parties to be big tents. As a Dem, I recognize the difference in how I view gun ownership from how others do and we still exist in the same party. We need more, not less, of party leaders actually leading. Even when it’s not by our preferred views.
- Irish - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 1:07 pm:
I voted no based on the response requested. Solely on his position on this bill he should not resign. He very clearly stated that this was his personal opinion and was made outside his role as party chairman.
It is ironic that posters on this blog ask for an end to the gridlock at both the state and national level and continuously ask why legislators cannot come to consensus to move government along; yet find fault with someone that does not adhere strictly to the party line. If everyone follows their party line in lock step you will get exactly what we have now. No discussions, no compromise, no solutions.
If you want the four leaders to make all the decisions and you want the rest of the lawmakers to follow the party line in lock step wqith no dissension then by all means do not allow any of them to think on their own and maybe find solutions to our problems.
- Wensicia - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 1:10 pm:
Gay marriage should be dropped from the GOP platform. Its time to move on and accept what is inevitable. Brady is taking the right steps to move his party with the changing times and opinions
- Skeeter - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 1:16 pm:
Pat should resign and should be proud to resign.
The platform went off the deep end. Brady should get out in disgust over the views the party has taken.
- ChicagoR - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 1:30 pm:
“this is a banner issue and the party chair needs to carry that banner”
The fact that some think this is a “banner issue” for the GOP is exactly why they are a minority party, heading toward fringe party.
- Excessively Rabid - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 1:42 pm:
What ChicagoR said. The platform is wrong and they need to change it. And they need to reacquaint themselves with the historic principles of conservatism and stop trying to tell other people how to live their lives.
- Nick Kruse - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 2:01 pm:
Living in the 21st century shouldn’t automatic disqualify someone from holding Republican Party office. It may be a big obstacle to gaining party office, but it shouldn’t be an automatic dis-qualifier.
- Left Leaner - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 2:04 pm:
Absolutely. Your an organization’s chairman. Your organization has a firm set of principles. You don’t agree with those principles and actively work against one of them. You’re supposed to follow those principles, even when you don’t believe in them. Hence the title of chairman. And if you didn’t like them, then you should have worked to have them changed when you had the chance. What is this - the Democratic Party?
- walkinfool - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 2:45 pm:
When I heard that Brady said this, my first thought was that he would be resigning. He’s been a terrible party chief, both because he gets caught in obvious falsehoods so often, and because of his misguided missiles at Madigan which did nothing for his candidates.
On the other hand, he might be a decent human being outside of the Party role, as he showed today.
- I don't want to live in Teabagistan - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 2:47 pm:
Yes, he should step down. There is no room in the present-day GOP for freedom if it isn’t the flavor pedaled by Christian Evangelicals or the gun-toters.
Everyone who voted against civil unions was on the wrong side of history and now they are going to double down on that mistake.
- Cincinnatus - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 2:53 pm:
A party leader should be judged on performance in fundraising, and getting his party elected. He does not need to lead nor should he be judged on policy, which he can influence, but not direct.
- Hammer - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 3:10 pm:
Yes. Not based on any moralizing over the issue but that as chair of his party he should be a leader capable of moving members or in lockstep with the platform.
A chair wouldn’t have allowed the issue to be a party plank. He’d've created an environment where there could’ve been differing opinions. Instead Brady has helped create chaos.
- Kane Conservative - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 4:19 pm:
Keep in mind, he has tried to resign in the past and no logical candidates seem to WANT the job.
- steve schnorf - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 5:29 pm:
Today is the first time I’ve seen Pat Brady poll well on this site. So many people changed there minds about him in 24 hours?
- Sgtstu - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 5:34 pm:
It would be nice to know how many Dems have voted yes in this poll.
- Boone Logan Square - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 5:35 pm:
Trying to move his party to the mainstream of Illinois voters is the most constructive thing he’s done as chair. Time will tell whether it’s as feckless in practice as his demonizing of Mike Madigan.
- Ex Illiniwek - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 6:05 pm:
If he resigns or not doesn’t really matter. But I do ask how is the GOP going to be different than the Democrats. What is the point in having 2 parties if they are essentially the same in platform and voting.
If the voters don’t have a real choice in any of the elections, they will most likely stay with the evil they know - the party in charge.
The state of Illinois GOP has totally disintegrated since 2000. Is Mike Madigan truly a genius, or just smart enough to take advantage of the joke the GOP has become?
- Fred's Mustache - Thursday, Jan 3, 13 @ 8:24 pm:
He should not resign because of this. Its this kind of reaction from the conservative, no-compromise, my way or the highway, wing of the party that has gotten the Illinois Republican Party into the position its in today. You’re not gonna win swing votes with such a hardline stance on an issue like this.
- Conservative Veteran - Friday, Jan 4, 13 @ 6:32 am:
I usually vote for Republicans, and I think that some Republicans should be able to disagree with parts of the party platform. However, when the state party chairman disagrees with the platform, he shouldn’t tell many people that he disagrees with it.
I think that Chairman Brady should resign, for other reasons. During primary campaigns, the state party chairman should be neutral, but, before the last primary, Brady helped some primary candidates. He didn’t lead the party well, for the general election, since the IL GOP lost seats in the U.S. House, state senate, and state house.
- Cincinnatus - Friday, Jan 4, 13 @ 9:03 am:
I believe that Brady’s stance is meant to help clear the way for Schock to run for Governor.