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* The Ottawa Times has been reporting lately about the “top down” process to replace retiring Democratic Rep. Frank Mautino. Turns out, however, as most of us who do or watch this process for a living know, it goes both ways…
State Republican officials say they’re asking state representative candidate Jacob Bramel to end his campaign to clear the way for a former candidate who announced months ago that he would not run in the 2016 election.
Bramel, though, vowed Monday to move forward.
He met with Republican Jerry Long, last year’s candidate for the 76th District House seat, and two GOP officials late Sunday afternoon near the pool tables at Shakers Lounge in Ottawa. They requested he abandon his campaign.
Reached by cellphone Monday, Long, a union truck driver and a small business owner, barely allowed a reporter to introduce himself before saying that he was declining to comment. In 2014, Mautino narrowly defeated Long by 336 votes.
Bramel said Long asked for the meeting at the bar, but Bramel didn’t know that two representatives of the House Republican Organization, Joe Woodward and Anthony Sarros, would be there as well.
You may disagree with it, but the chamber leaders have been picking candidates in targeted races for decades. It’s pretty universal.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 11:34 am
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What we are again seeing is a belief that government should be ran like a discount department store. Citizenship has been replaced by consumer/taxpayers who think that government leaders should respond like marketers to their demands.
We have a government ran by people who think this way, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that after a generation of being told that government should be run like a private business, that many Illinoisans are complaining that they can’t just shop around like they are at Big Lots.
Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 11:48 am
Long has stated that he wasn’t going to seek Mautino’s seat again, but in a recent “Soapbox” column in The Ottawa Times, he wrote a scathing criticism of why Frank Mautino shouldn’t be auditor general. It left me scratching my head.
I guess Long bowed out before he knew Mautino would be vacating his seat.
Comment by Streator Curmudgeon Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 11:50 am
It’s obviously the money rather than the endorsement that counts. Potential candidates compete for the leader-controlled campaign funding, when they’re not recruited first. It goes both ways.
Comment by walker Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 12:00 pm
=== … Long, a union truck driver … ===
… Long, a former union truck driver, now a strong Rauner financed anti-union candidate…
There, I fixed it for you.
Onced purchased, you stay purchased.
Comment by Norseman Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 12:06 pm
One of the most telling lines of that article for me - “They asked Bramel, a Marseilles resident, to dissolve his campaign, saying they would outspend Bramel in the primary campaign, Bramel said. If Bramel won the primary, the House Republican Organization would not support him, Bramel said.”
Apparently for HRO it is not about winning and adding seats, it is all about control; voters and districts be damned.
Comment by Been there, done that Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 12:24 pm
Politicians and their supportive interest groups skew the political process and try to control who gets into office???? Say it isn’t so!!!
Grow up people.
Comment by Chicago Cynic Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 1:06 pm
That’s…interesting. But what Woodward said is true. Given how close Mr. Long got to a long-term and long-time incumbent - and one who followed directly in the footsteps of his father - why not support him?
Been There - your point is valid, but I remember Speaker Madigan doing very little (if anything) to help Sam Cahnman when he defeated Chuck Redpath in the 2006 primary and doing very little (if anything) to help Sexy Alexi after he beat Paul Mangieri in the 2006 primary. I remember hearing rumblings that he might not have supported Winston Taylor in 2012 if he had taken out Sue Sherer, although we’ll never know about that.
Comment by Team Sleep Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 1:21 pm
=== it is all about control===
Meh.
They want a candidate who did extremely well last time, so they may have laid it on a little thick.
Plus, this is a presidential year. Mautino received 17,409 votes during last year’s off-year race and Long received 17,072. In 2012, he got 28,113 votes while his GOP opponent received 16,407.
The presidential trend is not the GOP’s friend in that district. So they need a candidate who can build on what he received last year.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 1:35 pm
I know people on this site don’t like to bring national politics into this, but the NRCC and DCCC are equally or more so heavy-handed in this stuff.
Comment by Team Sleep Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 1:42 pm
Long ran on the premise that Mautino was under the control of party leaders. You would think he would support the independent.
One thing I hope Long insists on is some $$$ to pay off his $20k + debt from last time. The republicans sent a lot of stuff into the district, but gave Long pretty much nothing in cash support.
Comment by Pot calling kettle Tuesday, Nov 3, 15 @ 7:01 pm