Stuff that passes for controversy
Thursday, Jun 23, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From a newspaper article entitled “Campaign sign controversy in Monroe County”…
Those who saw the Democratic party mobile sign parked a mere 100 feet outside the office of state senate candidate Paul Schimpf (R-Waterloo) at the edge of the Rural King lot in Waterloo last week can attest that the race is indeed getting hot.
Chad Goldschmidt, the husband of Monroe County Coroner candidate Cassy Diehl Goldschmidt (D-Waterloo), owns the truck that has the mobile sign attached. The sign in Waterloo remained in the parking lot for a few days until Schimpf’s office contacted the property owner to confirm whether the truck could remain there.
Thursday, the landlord for Schimpf’s campaign office visited the site and concluded the truck was on her property, at which point she asked Chad to move the truck elsewhere. He complied, moving the sign to the vacant Michael’s on Market lot just up the street.
Since the sign is a mobile advertisement, there is no ordinance that would allow Waterloo city officials to request he move the truck from Michael’s or any other location in the city
* And then there’s this column entitled “Get a load of this phone call I got about Gov. Bruce Rauner the other night.” Rep. Marty Moylan, who has been a Tier One target forever, is doing robocalls ridiculing the governor for claiming his administration is “doing heroic things” during the budget impasse…
So, I shouldn’t have been too surprised to hear that call the last night. But I don’t even live in one of those two dozen or so targeted districts where millions will be spent by Rauner and his Republicans and Madigan, Cullerton and their Democrats waging war and trying to win seats.
And for what? The legislative districts were drawn by Democrats and already have produced supermajorities. Madigan could win a few more that might make it easier for him to override Rauner’s vetoes, or Rauner might win a few back, but not enough to shift the legislative tide toward his party.
So why is Moylan paying for calls to criticize the governor in June? He isn’t considered to be vulnerable. And maybe that’s just it. He isn’t considered vulnerable and he has money to spend. He did vote for Madigan’s budget that was $7 billion out of balance. The budget that even a majority of Senate Democrats couldn’t bring themselves to support. Moylan’s been a loyal Madigan member and a long-time union worker. Illinois Sunshine shows me he’s got more than $577,000 available and his top donors are Madigan and his Democratic Party of Illinois and a variety of unions.
So Madigan’s up to the same tricks as Rauner. He and the unions are roughing up Rauner even in areas that aren’t all that critical to them. Already. In June.
* Um, who says he won’t eventually be targeted? Everybody expects the playing field to expand beyond where Team Rauner is now.
And did anybody happen to notice this last night?…
That’s on top of the $2.5 million that Rauner gave Proft’s group a few days ago.
Liberty Principles PAC went after Moylan in 2012 and then again in 2014, when Rauner won that district by 13 points.
Plus, Americans for Prosperity has been whacking Moylan over the property tax issue and, perhaps more importantly, UNITE HERE has blasted him in a TV ad with stuff that could easily be used against him this fall.
* I get the frustration with starting campaigns in June. It’s just crazy. But it’s happening all over the place right now. So, we better get used to it.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Jun 23, 16 @ 10:14 am:
That’s an additional $4 million to Proft.
There’s boatloads more where that came from.
The only way Democrats, Labor, and Social Service groups can compete is at the street level and at the internal levels to ensure their constituents vote(?)
- Man with a plan - Thursday, Jun 23, 16 @ 10:16 am:
Liberty Principles lost campaigns that the Dems didn’t even fight back in. Another $4 million? It just goes to show how much money these two have. At some point there has to be a diminishing return though. When McCann’s district got bombarded by mail from Proft, it just turned them off. Let’s see if they have a better plan this time.
- Blue dog dem - Thursday, Jun 23, 16 @ 10:36 am:
Thats the petty a.. that Schimpf is. Next up pledge of allegiance in school, followed up by strong stance on transgender bathrooms and last but not least a commitment to require sex offenders to register daily. Not once has he delved into the “MATH” problem the state finds itself in. But I haven’t heard Shiela solve any problems in basic arithmetic either.
- anon - Thursday, Jun 23, 16 @ 10:40 am:
So Moylan won by 13 points in 2014. This year should be better year for Democrats, with Clinton enjoying a big lead over Trump in the Land of Lincoln. It won’t be easy to overcome Moylan’s advantages in a district that steadily gets more diverse.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Jun 23, 16 @ 10:43 am:
===So Moylan won by 13 points in 2014===
Improve your reading comprehension, please. Rauner won Moylan’s district by 13 points.
- DuPage Bard - Thursday, Jun 23, 16 @ 10:49 am:
There has already been mail out in many targeted races and robocalls have been going since end of May. Not sure how people think the campaign is just starting in June, it’s been going on throughout the suburbs since May.
- Amalia - Thursday, Jun 23, 16 @ 11:13 am:
don’t know who is running against Moylan, but there is a combine going up there that usually satisfies those already in power.
- Formerly Known As... - Thursday, Jun 23, 16 @ 11:41 am:
Ugh.
June may become the new =start=, but that doesn’t mean we have to like it lol.
As for Mr Goldschmidt, it may be a nuisance but if he is following the rules then so be it.
- TryApril - Thursday, Jun 23, 16 @ 12:09 pm:
You think starting in June is bad? I’ve been doing campaign work since April.
- Retro G - Thursday, Jun 23, 16 @ 12:28 pm:
I’ve also liked Doubek’s stuff, but if she doesn’t know that Moylan is a target I have to question he Springfield acumen.
- The Captain - Thursday, Jun 23, 16 @ 12:35 pm:
Robocalls are so cheap now they’re practically free. The unit cost has come down and also the voter files have fewer phone numbers on them now that land lines are disappearing so calling a district costs next to nothing. You should be able to do a 30 second robo to 20,000 numbers for less than $250. You could do that once a week for the rest of the campaign and it would basically cost you in the neighborhood of a thousand a month.
In 2012 most state rep races fell somewhere between about 15,000 - 50,000 total votes with the contested races on the higher end. If you take out primary voters of either party and just communicate to only general election voters a target universe of about 20,000 - 30,000 calls seems about right, possibly narrower if you have a message that is geared towards a subset of that universe. So it really is that cheap to robo swing voters in a house district.
- Way Down Here - Thursday, Jun 23, 16 @ 1:06 pm:
I hope the Monroe County Democrats park Goldschmidt’s sign truck at every Schimpf event, every GOP event, and park a second one in front of local GOP headquarters. Funny.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Jun 23, 16 @ 1:15 pm:
Geez, just think how much Uline and Rauner could give to Proft if they weren’t victims of Illinois “collectivism economy.”