86 Comments - the wonderboy - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 9:57 am: Absolutely…though Illinois is unlikely to become an “R” state in conventional terms. How? Start developing the next generation of leaders and getting them elected to local positions. The old guard must be willing to hand over some control, power, and positions to the younger Republicans in the state. The party must look towards tomorrow and accept that the voters have rejected the current Republican mucky mucks and their consistent failures in terms of policy, ethics, and leadership. - Little Egypt - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 9:58 am: Perhaps but only with a lot less talking and a lot more doing. The party won’t be rebuilt in one election cycle so they need to get busy and in a hurry. Time’s a wasting. - IL Elephant - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 10:03 am: The IL Republican Party will rebound of course, its success will depend on the leadership and, as “the wonderboy” pointed out, on encouraging younger leaders to take the helm. The Republicans ran IL for 30 years and they got fat, dumb, and happy. The leadership became lax and the organization did not challenge itself to improve. Now we see the results of this debacle and it looks like Chairman McKenna understands what he is facing. - Skeeter - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 10:06 am: First, Illinois Republicans need to realize that Illinois is not Georgia. Moderates do well in Illinois and the far right is crushed. They also need to start focusing on issues that matter. They spend far too much time focusing on things that don’t make a difference (example: Rep. Schakowsky’s husband). People care about jobs and the budget and clean air and clean water. They don’t care what somebody’s spouse is up to, especially when the GOP gov. was recently convicted. The Republicans also need to start building a better ground organization. Too many in Illinois have zero contact with the GOP. As I’ve said many times here, I have no idea who my GOP Committeeman is. Unless you are out talking to the people, you just can’t win elections. - Siyotanka - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 10:11 am: The flow of politic’s is like waves in the sea. One rises up, builds, and comes down. We saw it with the Repubs. You’ll see it with the Dems, starting Washington this cycle. You’ll see resurgency of the Repub’s in the States…and then again in Washington. It is a cycle…as the people get fed up with one party…another gets swept into office to “start over…clean up” or whatever. The machine needs to be cleaned, oiled and newer parts installed. Only then when the timing is right will the wheels turn… - Crimefighter - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 10:15 am: How can the party rebound, by first replacing party leaders with TRUE conservatives that WANT to win and get rid of these country-club half-hearted republican by name only losers. - Fan of the Game - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 10:17 am: It will happen because of action on issues that matter. That is the only thing that really moves votes. - Highland Online - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 10:20 am: The ILGOP needs to concentrate downstate & down the ballot. They’ll find conservative ex-democrats (like myself)looking, just itching, for a reason to vote/support GOP candidates. - Patriot - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 10:30 am: It does not matter. Cook county Democrats will always have the votes necessary to control state politics. - Capitalist Pig - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 10:33 am: The only way to start the turn is to replace the moderates with true repubs who will hold to their conservative convictions, educate the pop on the lunacy of socialism and let the libs/socialists/sp’s hang themselves…they always will if you give them enough rope. Education is the key. Until people realize what they are actually getting with a nanny state, they won’t vote it out. - Anon - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 10:37 am: 1. Rebuild your party structure, by decentralizing with some teeth. Stop seeing the ILGOP as the end-all, and give power to elected County Chairmen, or break the state in to regional councils to develop local issues and put the power at the local level. 2. Target the business community, not the conservative community. 3. Defend the middle class. 4. - Justice - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 10:38 am: There is always hope…I think the Republican Party can be summed up with “Grand Old Party.” The leaders for the most part were once grand, but now are old and out of touch. There are precious few new young faces in the party. Combine that with the party members themselves looked the other way when corruption abounded at all levels, within the party. George Ryan wasn’t the beginning of this and he won’t be the end. It appears to me that the GOP has been filling their pockets as fast as they can and essentially forgotten about the next generation. This must change. New ideas are at a minimum, and new recruits even lower. Whatever happened to the Young Republican organization. It has all but faded into the past. People will move toward becoming Independent, Green, or Democrat, or as experience has shown us, they simply won’t vote. The GOP has a long road ahead and they need new blood. They must get the young voters involved or they will continue to fail. Pointing fingers at the corruption going on now doesn’t buy them jack. They need to reinvent themselves in the image of todays voter….of course that isn’t a lot since most don’t bother to vote. Can we blame them? Where are the new ideas, the energy, the charisma, the galvanizing message? It’s there and just needs to be cultivated. - Ken in Aurora - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 10:38 am: Reinvented, not salvaged. Once they dump the hard right agenda and become more right of center moderate, they will appeal to many more voters. Patriot, I would like to think Cook County will lose some of it’s iron grasp of Springpatch once Daley is gone. I’m not seeing any replacements in the wings that could have such strong control. Chicago will always be a heavy, but hopefully not to the extent it now is. Good riddance - that Chicago and Cook can control the entire state is revolting. - Bill - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 10:40 am: No,it can’t. - Anon - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 10:41 am: 4. Find somebody with the guts (more like safe money) to take on either the Mayor or the Speaker, or both, in the media. 5. Defeat SB6000 (which is just a ploy by conservatives with big money and e-mail lists who figure a primary vote can be swayed by hysterical e-blast demagoguery.) - pickles!! - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 10:41 am: Two word: Peter Roskam! - Skeeter - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 10:43 am: Regarding the comments from “Capitalist Pig”: Every time a Republican mentions “socialism”, the party loses voters. It is tired and boring language that makes the party seem like a bunch of loons. - Anon - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 10:45 am: 6. Listen to Mark Kirk and his Suburban Agenda - the suburbs are where you are losing your grip. It’s not perfect, but it is a smart idea. 7. Stop scaring the bejeezus out of the average voter with arch-conservative candidates who have the same breadth of vision that God gave to moles. - Ken in Aurora - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 10:46 am: OK, Skeeter - how about “nanny state”? ;) - Skeeter - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 10:47 am: Anon 10:41 makes a great point: If the Republicans ran a high quality prosecutor (or a financial guy with credibility) against Daley, it might just do the trick. They need somebody like Guiliani or Bloomberg. How about Fitzgerald or Zell? Zell is not the youngest, but those two could really turn the Chicago GOP around. - Capitalist Pig - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 10:47 am: skeeter, Call it socialism or secular progressive or loony left wing. I don’t care. It’s all the same. It’s the redistribution of money from the middle to the lower classes and the power shift from the private sector to the government sector. I don’t care what you call it. Just don’t call it healthy for democracy. - Levois - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 10:47 am: Find a way to get rid of the country club mentality and then make inroads in the populous regions in the state. Such as Cook County, they need to have a bigger presence in Chicago and Cook County. Just to give out one idea. - Patriot - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 10:48 am: “Moderation in all things, including moderation.” - Skeeter - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 10:49 am: Ken In Aurora, I think that as long as the phrase is not used in a ridiculous manner, it could be a good line. This weekend there was a letter to the editor in the Chicago Tribune accusing Chicago of being a “nanny state” because it closed beaches due to e coli. If Republicans are going to use the phrase in that way, then it will lose its punch. It needs to be used where it really will connect. - Fire Ron Guenther - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 10:54 am: Concentrate on downstate races in 2008-there are lots of swing voters who are experiencing buyer’s remorse over supporting Blago previously, not to mention a lot of angry consumers fed up with their energy bill. - Captain America - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 10:56 am: Sounds like there was a health dialogue between grass roots Republicans and the leadcership. We don’t have opportunties like this in the Democratic party. The periodic Democratic conventions are a farce in terms of meaningful grass roots particpation. Only moderate Republican candidates can win Statewide elextions for important offices. I listend to that NPR program,What Do You Know,know this weekend, featuring Patrick Fitzgerald - it was hilarious. Given the dearth of high profile Republican political leaders in Illinois, I honestly believe the fastest way for Republicans to rebuild their party is to draft Patrick Fitzgerald as their Republican candidate for Governor. Despite my personal liberal Democatic orientation, we need vigorous competition between the two parties to avoid problems like the current stalemate in Springfield and the Todd Stroger situation in Cook County. The Democratic Party bosses would not have selected Todd Stroger as his father’s successor, if there had been a credible moderate Republican opponent. - Patriot - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 10:59 am: Illinois needs a “freedom of choice” party which will support abortion rights, gay rights, gun rights, etc. Illinois politicians are focusing too much on the denial of citizens’ rights. - Capitalist Pig - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 11:02 am: and on the bonus question….of course you ban gay marriage. It’s the right thing to do. I don’t care if we are governed by lib dems or lib repubs they are all in the same category. No conservative can give on this core principle and still call themselves conservative. Just doesn’t work. - Gene Parmesan - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 11:10 am: The GOP needs to move back toward its libertarian ideals and stop pandering to the right wing religious fascists. The GOP needs to embrace personal freedom, federalism, restraint in govt spending, and govt accountability. I know Bush and other Republicans have had a lot of success running to their base and energizing the religious right into a monster voting block, but they also scared off a lot of secular conservatives and moderates in the process. And the Ronald Reagan schtick just doesn’t work anymore (though I question if it ever did). A blind man can see through this abhorrent tactic. - Old Elephant - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 11:13 am: “Pickles” has the best suggestion. Parties get revived by people, not things, and Roskam is the perfect one to do it. Conservative, but neither self-righteous nor scary. Bright, articulate, honest, youthful. Not afraid to compromise on policies, but never on principles. - Yellow Dog Democrat - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 11:16 am: Can the Republican Party be salvaged in Illinois? The answer to that question is State Rep. Patricia Lindner, State Rep. Joe Dunn, State Rep. Paul Froehlich and State Sen. Bill Peterson. It’s the greatest evacuation of the Republican Party since three Republicans died in office. Adding… The article also claims that the state Republican Party is now supporting a statewide referendum asking whether voters want gay marriage banned. So, here’s a late bonus question: Is that wise? I can’t think of a smarter strategy…for Democrats. The efforts to get that referendum on the ballot will fall massively short once again, so the Republican Party can claim another massive defeat. Speaking of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory: gay marriage is already banned in Illinois. At the same time, Democrats will use the issue to shore up support among liberals and make the case to younger voters that Republicans are mean, hateful people. “Will and Grace” first aired in 1996 and is part of our culture now. Can’t wait until Sean “Just Jack” Hayes - a suburban Chicago native - hits the Democratic fundraising circuit. Thanks Andy McKenna! - Capitalist Pig - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 11:17 am: Gene, When was the GOP ever libertarian? You would like to create a libertarian party out of one that has always been based on Christian ideology. - Ken in Aurora - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 11:28 am: “Illinois needs a “freedom of choice” party which will support abortion rights, gay rights, gun rights, etc. Illinois politicians are focusing too much on the denial of citizens’ rights.” This is so correct it needs to be said again. Bravo! - Gene Parmesan - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 11:29 am: CP: The GOP has and does share libertarian values. They value protecting individual freedoms such as the right to bear arms, right to privacy, etc. “You would like to create a libertarian party out of one that has always been based on Christian ideology.”– Absolutely, religious fanaticism is dragging down the Republican party. The gay marriage issue is a perfect example of what is killing the Republican Party. This issue is great at getting the religious right into a salivating fervor, but it turns off secular conservatives, libertarians, and moderate republicans. Look at all of the support Ron Paul is getting from young conservatives/libertarians. - pickles!! - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 11:31 am: The republicans are stuck in this Draconian past, the good ole’ boy network of Pate, Lee Daniels, The Ryans, Hyde, Edgar Ect. Until they get more modern, and moderate, there not going anywhere. Future stars of the party Include Roskam, MArk Kirk, Dillard, and DUaphe County Board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom. They need to put the old school ways behind them, and work for a better future. The Republians, just like the Sith, will rule the state once again, but it may take 10 or 20 years to do so. - VanillaMan - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 11:37 am: The big question isn’t “how” - it is WHY! Why should the Republican Party in Illinois be revivied? What credibility does this party have to ask for votes? What do they have to show after 30 years of state leadership? Is Illinois really better off after 30 years of Thompson-Edgar-Ryan, or would it had been just as well off with Stevenson-Netch-Poshard? The 70’s-90’s in Illinois was not a conservative era. The men in office were not conservative. While other states cleaned house and started fresh, Illinois under GOP control shuffled it’s feet, seemingly unaware of history. While states like North Carolina, Texas and Florida used these years to reform education, taxation, infastructures and build a pro-business environment, Illinois sat back and watched the world go by. So what good was the GOP during this era? Illinois’ Republican Era was a throwback to a pre-Reagan Rockefeller Republican ideology. James Thompson had more in common with John Anderson than Ronald Reagan. Politically he was successful, as was the GOP - but little was accomplished to steer Illinois towards the 21st Century. Today we see our state on the short end of the Bush economic boom. We see Chicago becoming more dependant on a Midwest economy than a Global economy. We see Chicago business leaders selling landmark financial businesses to NYC and international organizations. We do not see a city booming - we see a city stagnating and struggling to maintain itself. So the GOP had it’s chance and it blew it. Now that the Democrats are in charge, the State will continue to slide towards Blue State Miasma, a land where the population ages, welfare raises, taxes increase and government programs escalate to meet nanny-state demands from voters. Illinois had reached a tipping point and it has chosen a path where politics focuses on fights over a shrinking pie, instead of how to create new ones. It has chosen a path of government growth instead of business growth. After 30 years of GOP leadership, Illinoians want to believe that everyone can have a free ride paid for by rich people that live somewhere in Chicagoland. So, while a two party system is preferable to a broken down Soviet style we currently have, the ILGOP of old doesn’t deserve a second chance as long as it pretends to be Democrat-Lite. - Capitalist Pig - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 11:47 am: Ryan and Edgar both governed as moderates to some degree. Moderate in IL just means that you give in to the dems more often. Which means you raise taxes, help create more crappy social programs and promise to rid the world of all its evil by throwing more tax dollars at the problems. Moderate=somewhat socialist. Still doesn’t work in the end and the public sees this when it’s presented to them in an intelligent way. This is what the left never understood about Reagan. He wasn’t a different type of conservative, he just knew how to communicate conservative ideals so that the majority of Americans could understand them. Joe Sixpack is a conservative folks. - Patriot - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 11:47 am: Well said, VanillaMan. - paddyrollingstone - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 11:56 am: As to whether the Republican Party can be salvaged in Illinois, my answer is yes, but with some caveats. Given the demographic trends of Illinois as well as the national trends of the Republican Party, I think that the Illinois GOP in the future will be leaner than in the past. An obvious, but important point. I do not think we will see the GOP as it was in the past, controlling the legislature, the Governship and the constitutional offices. Some of those, sometimes, but they are not the majority party here and probably never will be again. I don’t think we will be like Massachusetts (where, for example, the partisan breakdown of the Senate is 34Ds-5Rs and the House is 141Ds-19Rs)but we are headed for more Democratic dominance, with breakdown periods where the GOP can get elected. Massachusetts, for instance had a 16-year string of GOP governors. Time will tell. - Team Sleep - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 11:57 am: The Financial Times released a poll that shows a decent amount of Americans are dismayed by the current economic structure of this country and of business in general. Americans are populist, and it seems to me that the national party and the GOP Congressman and Senators are out-of-touch with this fact. When a poll comes out in support of health care or free trade and employment concerns, GOP officials and “consultants” are quick to ignore it. Yet the American people certainly care enough about it and voted the GOP out of power last year. And we’ll have a Dem president because the national party probably won’t get it. If you need further evidence, see Mitt Romney’s speech on Drudge Report. The state GOP needs to as much as it can to NOT mirror the national GOP. We need to be moderate and worry about staying within our budgetary constraints and keeping taxes and costs down as much as possible. We also must be concerned not just about employers but also about employees. It’s okay to have a heart sometimes. As for the grassroots, a lot of the problems will be solved once some of the old guard passes away or retires. At that point - unless the party’s officials continue being greedy and don’t want to give up power, which is a good possibility - younger professionals and laborers might become interested in committee posts and chairmanships. Too many George Ryan lackeys and pals are still in important positions and still hold too muc power, both in the party structure and in the lobbying sector. I can tell you from experience that our party leaders and state central committeemen (and women) are not helpful and could seemingly care less about our candidates. Many GOP reps and senators are also not as helpful as they can be. Captain America and I are again in agreement. Peter Fitzgerald would be a great candidate for governor. To me, anyone who is willing to thumb their nose at the party leaders is someone that we should support. If McKenna the Cardboard Cutout wants to prop up a candidate, we party faithful need to support someone else. - steve schnorf - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 11:58 am: I’ve said for 10 years we need to stop defining ourselves by what we’re against rather than what we’re for. What is the Republican position on health care, property taxes, public school funding, jobs, the sorts of issues people really care about. If we continue to believe that we can resurrect the Republican party by being anti gay and other such positions, we will become a very powerful party in about 30 or 40 counties that represent about 10-15% of the state’s population. Downstate is already red, and probably will become somewhat redder in the next 10 years, but the battle is won or lost in Cook, Lake, McHenry, DuPage, Kane, Will, Winnebago, Rock Island, Peoria, Madison and St Clair, Champaign, Sangamon, still Macon, but not as much as before, McLean, and a handful of others. Running up 60-40 majorities in the rest of the state doesn’t cancel suburban Cook anymore, much less Chicago. Remember, Keyes, running against a real liberal, didn’t carry downstate counties that Bush did. You can be too conservative even for downstate. - cermak_rd - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 12:05 pm: The GOP stayed moderate because the IL voters preferred it that way. Every time a hard right conservative has won a primary for a statewide contest, they have lost the general. Al Salvi comes to mind. The conservatives got what they wanted with Alan Keyes, a hard right loon and he got crushed at the polls. So believing that the secret to winning power back in IL lies with highly conservative wing of the party is inane. Edgar was successful because he was fiscally conservative but not scary conservative. I might add, in 1994, his conservative challenger Jack Roeser was also crushed during the Republican primary. As Skeeter said, IL is not Georgia. It is not Florida, Texas or North Carolina. We have far fewer religious right citizens than those states due to trends in immigration going back to the 1800s. We have a different ethnic makeup also going back to trends in immigration from the 1800s and internal migration in the 1900s and newer ongoing trends in immigration. - Team Sleep - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 12:06 pm: I would also like to iterate my opinion that Glenn Poshard being elected in 1998 would have been good for the party. We could have regrouped and faced a realization of not being in power. But having Ryan in office for four years was not beneficial to us and wound up being a ten penny nail in the coffin. - Team Sleep - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 12:09 pm: Steve, St. Clair County is a lost cause. I don’t think a Republican candidate will ever win that county in my lifetime. East St. Louis routinely polls 95% for Dems, and they vote in great numbers. I would say it’s impossible. - steve schnorf - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 12:10 pm: For the record, I believe George Ryan was a very good Governor. I don’t see much in the way of scandal around him during his term, and I see a lot of good things. Some one needs to tell me who has done more for Illinois in the past 20 years than Illinois FIRST did. - steve schnorf - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 12:13 pm: In St Clair, the issue for a Republican is not that they win, but what they lose by. Same in Quad Cities, same in Cook, same in Chicago. For a D, how much they lose by in Sangamon, Champaign, McLean, etc. - Anon - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 12:13 pm: VM- You are very good at knocking things down. What exactly to you propose to build up? - steve schnorf - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 12:14 pm: and, as I forgot to mention, turnout. - Anon - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 12:44 pm: It is also all about leadership. Check the D-2s: from 1/1/07 to 6/30/07, a SINGLE Chicago Republican organization, the 42nd Ward Republican Organization under Eloise Gerson and Rich Gordon, not only raised more money than the entire Cook County Republican Party, they spent more money than the entire Cook County Republican Party, and they have more cash on hand than the entire Cook County Republican Party, even after renting a suite on LaSalle Street some months before the Cook GOP leadership managed to find a spot. It shows what can happen when one political group has good leadership, and another does not. - RMW Stanford - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 12:47 pm: Yes the GOP can be salvage by focusing on building up a new generation of leaders and candidates, the conservatives and moderates will have to understand that they have to work together. The Gay marriage thing is a bad idea, we can not rebuild the party on the basis of being anti-gay, nor should we. The Republican party should focus on Government issues, controlling and reducing state spending, reducing taxes and the size of Government, and making the economic climate in Illinois more suitable for growth, because economic growth, not expanded government program is what is going to help the people of Illinois - Skeeter - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 12:59 pm: With regard to the Anon 12:44 comment: Actually, it shows all that is WRONG with the GOP. I’ve lived in the 42nd since 1998. Married, kids, Catholic and a pretty decent income. My household would be fertile ground for the GOP. However, I am still waiting for any contact from the 42nd Ward GOP. I’ve never heard from them and its been nine years. Until the 12:44 comment, I didn’t even know who the GOP Committeeman is (and after reviewing the D-2s, I’m still not clear as there appears to be a second GOP organization in 42). Nine years and somebody like me who actually cares about politics hasn’t heard of you? They must be doing something wrong. - RMW Stanford - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 1:13 pm: “Actually, it shows all that is WRONG with the GOP. I’ve lived in the 42nd since 1998. Married, kids, Catholic and a pretty decent income. My household would be fertile ground for the GOP.” Your right on that, the GOP can not afford to pretty much completely abandon Cook County, even if there is a little or no chance of winning the County outright, ever vote that is picked up there hurts the Democrats. - publius - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 1:13 pm: i was a republican after the goldwater debacle—few were—-i was a republican after watergate—few were—these things run in cycles—i believe the the illinois gop wins when it supports intelligent moderates for office—jim thompson brought us thirty years of gop ascendancy—patrick fitzgerald would be an excellent leader to follow. - the Patriot - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 1:20 pm: To be blunt, NO WAY! www.ilgop.com in the Chairman’s update still makes the case. We are still boasting about winning the Carbondale Mayoral Race on 4-18-2007. There has been nothing for the chairman to talk about since April 18, 2007. Who is in charge of this guy. That in and of itself is a JOKE. When Mike Madigan gets discouraged about his party, he has to go to that website and see how on top of things the opposition is, and just laugh his head off. Try not to drink milk while looking at our website Mr. Speaker, seeing it shoot out your nose is not professional. - Chris - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 1:38 pm: There isn’t a lot of hope if they want to talk about gay marriage and such nonsense. There is hope if they can convince someone like Gen. David Grange to run for Senate against Durbin. Otherwise, the Oberweis like folks who want to follow a conservative agenda that maybe 30% of the population, and less than 25% of the population that votes, believes in; they’re toast. They have to draw in new talent - it shouldn’t be hard considering that to be truly successful in the Democratic party you have to either be born into the right family or marry into one - the vast majority of us are ripe to talk about a meritocracy here in IL. I think an independent movement has a better chance than does any of the current Republican efforts though. The national image of Republicans doesn’t help their cause and there isn’t anyone in the state Republican field that would light a fire under me. I prefer to vote for the democratic good will and people who have no idea on how to accomplish that good will. But Blago will get indicted eventually - Stroger is all but done - and Daley will eventually die. And somehow I think the Repubs will still come up short. - Anon - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 1:40 pm: Skeeter- The “42nd Ward Republican Organization” is not currently the ward organization (until after the February 2008 primary election for the new Committeeman term, anyway.) GOP Chairman Liz Gorman “unappointed” Eloise Gerson as 42nd Ward Committeeman, to install a crony. (The “new” committeeman raised a whopping $1,200 by 6/30/07, compared to Eloise’s $29,000.) The whole episode speaks volumes on the current leadership and direction of the Cook GOP. As far as not hearing from the local GOP, I suggest you send your address to Eloise Gerson, although your stauch support for Democrats would appear to make that a useless gesture. She has already sent out thousands of mail pieces across the ward, attended community meetings and conducted a successful boat cruise on the lake and Chicago River. There is a thin pulse of a meaningful GOP in Chicago - mainly out of groups like the 42nd Ward - but the active types gave up on Gorman’s leadership when Eloise Gerson got the ax. They gave up on Gorman’s new secret ally, Chicago GOP Chairman Clark Pellett (a/k/a “Dr. Do-Nothing”) long ago. - Truthful James - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 1:41 pm: The Illinois Republican Party will be in the doldrums until it settles on issues which appeal across Party lines and across racial divides. There are several issues which which would do that, but there is no interest in the Party leadership, which appears to be interested only in perpetual self adoration. It is handicapped by the inability of the State leaders to raise money. The Presidential, Senatorial, and Congressional Campaign Committees of the Republican Party send national leaders into the State to vaccuum up the donations, and spend the money in “more important” states. We get the blue ice falling from the latrines in Air Force One as it passes overhead. The State Chairman watches the money go out and recently suggested that candidates for statewide office should be self funded. There are good people at the township level outside of Cook County who are attempting to recruit Committeement for long vacant Precincts. It is hard to do when the State party appears to use the mushroom growing method for its troops in the trenches — keep them in the dark and feed them manure. The current circus tour by Chairman McKenna is nothing more than a papal visit without the benefit of a blessing, let alone indulgences. The single issue conservatives would rather shout down from their mountain tops about the purity of their vision and refuse any compromise necesary for political victory. On the other side of the coin we have the old guard which profits from the Democrat administration and certain committemen like Skipper Saviano who appears to be the bride of his Democrat counterpart. Issues and money will bring the volunteers and thus the party back to life. But everybody appears to want instant electoral victory on their pet projects alone. The pieces do not fit together and there is as yet little glue. - Skeeter - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 1:49 pm: Anon 1:40: I shouldn’t have to send my name to the GOP Committeeman. That’s the problem. She should be out there speaking to the voters. As I’ve said — nine years, and no word from her. The only time I heard of Gordon was when he ran for Alderman and on the day of the election, I saw his name on the ballot. Never heard of him other than at that time. Maybe she should check her mailing list. She has a lot of donors from outside Chicago on her D-2. Are you sure she knows where the 42nd is? - Team Sleep - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 1:58 pm: TJ is right. The party has suffered from pretty bad leadership and has not had great workers over the past few years. Now, though, I hope they can capitalize on some staff defections and some new leadership. But I think McKenna is a stiff who needs to either step down or bring as many important Republicans together as possible (Kirk, LaHood, Shimkus, Radogno, etc.). Politics is, in this state at least, a zero sum game. If we want to win, we have to band together like the Dems do and get to work. Conservatives need to either work with the party or step aside. If not, they need to be pushed. If conservatives can’t see what the national party has done to our 2008 chances and beyond, they’re going to keep dragging us down. - Tek - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 2:12 pm: Wait a minute…there’s a Republican Party in Illinois? This is news to me. - Jerry - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 2:33 pm: Team Sleep: Dems band together? wha? News to me. The Dems need to get their acts together or they’ll hand Illinois back to the GOP on a silver platter. Both parties need to be reformed. Both the Dems and Reps are riddled with corruption. We need to explode the leaderships of both parties and start over. I’m a Democrat, but most of the Illinois Democratic Party is an embarrassment to me. The Governor, the Speaker, the Senate President, the Mayor, the Cook County President, several members of our Congressional Delegation, 40 to 45 of the Chicago Aldermen. All embarrassing. Of course, the entire IL Republican Party is an embarrassment. Your best chance of becoming relevant is to blow up your party and get to work rebuilding ASAP. - Reality - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 2:37 pm: Nothing will change. The Democrats approach it as a business; the Republicans, for the most part, treat it as a hobby. Examples are legion. - GOP'er - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 2:57 pm: The State GOP can’t advance with McKenna at the helm, he’s simply lost the trust of Republicans. There have just been too many lies and too many broken promises. Is McKenna really behind the Protect Marriage thing this time? I’ll believe it when I see him actually doing something, instead of just mentioning it in front of a small group of conservatives. - fedup downstate dem - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 3:38 pm: I would consider voting for a fiscally conservative Republican, who is also a social moderate. Ethics in government, better enducation and environmental protection (remember Theodore Roosevelt?) are my top priorities. I’m not interested in gay-bashing and inserting religion into our science classrooms. Speak to me GOP. I’m listening. - Belle - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 3:40 pm: Not with the present bunch of leaders. They miss what is actually important to voters. The whole gay marriage thing is so yesterday. It’s wrong to even bring it up. They should be trying to get the ‘today’ issue of banning illegal immigrants passed. - Yellow Dog Democrat - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 3:51 pm: Schnorf is right: we know the Illinois Republican Party is against higher taxes, against reproductive rights, against gay rights, against affirmative action, against publicly-funded social programs. What does the Illinois Republican Party stand FOR, other than fat lobbying contracts for their insiders? - Disallusioned - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 4:11 pm: No the GOP can not. 1) They do not have any up and coming good candidates althought people will start throwing names around like Bill Brady or Rutherford. Bottom line no statewide winners. 2) Old guard will not get behind any newcomers they will never give up control until the party is on life support and its close now 3) Andy McKenna has already shown after last election he is not the man for the job. - Bull McCabe - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 4:36 pm: The Republican Party needs to ask themselves hard questions like: * what is a conservative? It used to mean “fiscally responsible”, now it means “anti-gay” and “Christian, family values”. * What happened to the party of Ronald Reagan? Instead of “less government intrusion”, the Republican Party in Washington is all about more government rules and less rights for people. Don’t believe me, see “Patriot Act”. It reminds me of a (paraphrased) line from a movie (I can’t remember which one): “the (government) is so far up my ass, I can taste brill cream” * What separates the Republicans from the Democrats? Not much, other than the wedge issues designed to energize the base. You get the idea, the Republican Party has lost their way. Especially in Illinois. - Objective Dem - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 5:15 pm: I find it funny that people are proposing Patrick Fitzgerald as a Republican candidate. First off, why does anyone assume he is a Republican. Second, he isn’t married and I don’t see the ideologues voting for a grown man who is single. Third, his sponsor ex-Senator Peter Fitzgerald had to fight to get his nomination through and then was literally run out of the state by the republican establishment. And I don’t think the prosecution of Scooter Libby won him many friends in the Republican party. - Plutocrat03 - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 5:38 pm: Like an addict or a drunkard, the Illinois Republican party must hit rock bottom before building a foundation and rising like a phoenix. The current State leadership such as JBT and BobK need to admit their failures and simply leave. Their take of the party has been to have a veneer of Republicanism while taking care of the good old boys network and then mismanaging what is left. We will be paying for the Thompson, Ryan, Edgar pork for decades to come. Rummage around the party’s membership and you will find a number of individuals who actually believe in the guiding principles of minimal taxation and smaller government. They are there, just go look. - Objective Dem - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 5:43 pm: The Republicans use to be known for strong fiscal management. Then Reagan ran up the federal deficit, Clinton got it under control and Bush ran it up again. Anyone under the age of 50 now views the Republicans as unable to manage the budget and the Dems as fiscally sound. Ryan’s over extension of the budget in Illinois reinforces this idea, with mixed results from Blago. It will be hard for the Republicans to win back the perception of being fiscally prudent. And its not going to happen if they keep working at lowering taxes for hedge fund managers (who pay capital gains taxes for their management fees) and the super rich. It may get them money for the campaigns but ultimately it won’t get them many votes. - Ben - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 6:45 pm: Dan Patlak wrote a pretty good tome on the Republican Party with an analogy with Campbells soup–it still may be posted on the website Prarie run by Fran Eaton. - JBTOWEL - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 6:57 pm: Ronald Krol used to work under the executive director of the ILGOP. He would be awesome. - Holdingontomywallet - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 6:59 pm: Sure, the Republican party can rebound. They need some new faces and they need to be more aggressive in the campaigns. The Democrats have only been in power for a short time and they are leaving a bad taste in the mouths of the voters. They campaign on middle of the road issues and then show their true colors when they get into office. The public has seen enough. The Republicans have a great opportunity, but they need new blood and they need to expose the Democrats for what they are. Stop taking the criticism from the Dems and point out the failure of the Dems - that shouldn’t be very difficult. - Team Sleep - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 7:54 pm: Objective, I agree - but don’t forget what Spratt, Obey and Pelosi have in store for the country: tax hikes AND increased federal spending. I have read over some of the Congressional Dem budget and it will not be cheap to balance the budget…within four years, if not longer. Families of four are looking at a reduction in tax breaks and the child tax credit will be gone. Oh, the marriage incentive tax will be gone. Looks like I decided to get married and have a kid at a good time! HA! Pluto, JBT won three statewide campaigns and built a pretty good base of supporters who went all out for her last year. She had a good set of regional treasurers and dedicated employees. I will agree that Bobbo K needs to go, but he’s not the only problem. - Anonymous - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 8:33 pm: Steve S. @ 12:10 - Illinois First was the biggest pork barrel initiative this state has every seen. Had we taken that surplus of 6-10 billion dollars, and held it for a rainy day (like now) we wouldn’t be facing such a budget deficit (maybe). Everybody had their hand out for this brief infusion of cash, and every politician made such his district got its share. Every little town got a new $100K+ fire station to house their 30-year old trucks, high school tracks got black-topped, school auditoriums got new sound systems, football fields got lighting systems, senior centers got new roofs, city parks got new facilities, and the list goes on and on and on…. - Arthur Andersen - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 9:37 pm: Objective Dem, I agree with you re: Patrick Fitzgerald as the savior of the ILGOP, but for slightly different reasons. As you say, no one knows his political leanings, and he didn’t make some friends by going after Scooter (though I think in the long run throwing Dick Cheney’s right hand man in the clink will prove to be politically astute) but I don’t see him as the Jim Thompson type of wheeler-dealer who also happened to be a pretty good US Attorney. Fitzgerald is a different kind of guy-I don’t see him as having the fire in the belly for elective office. He likes the job he has and he’s darn good at it, so one would have to wonder why he would want to take on this task, even if a change of administration forces him to look for work. YDD, the fat lobbying contract “plank” in the party platform seems to be pretty bipartisan after 4 plus years of Blago. Holdingonto., if “pointing out the failure of the Dems” was all it took to win elections, we would all be over at the Mansion dancing to Governor Topinka’s accordion. Well, maybe all of us but Bill. He would at least be invited. - polisci - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 9:50 pm: Topinka losing cleared a lot of deadwood. When Hastert goes, that’s a lot more. McKenna I don’t think has ever been “there” to begin with. He just needs to get out of the way. The key is to get better people in to replace these knuckleheads who have run the party into the ground and eaten all the young out of fear of competent competition. - Loyal Whig - Monday, Jul 23, 07 @ 11:03 pm: The Republicans relive Groundhog Day every four years. In 2010 we will again see the Edgar Watch and the hard right doing the “if only we ran hard conservatives, not me tooers, we would win. The national party has forsaken Ill. GOPers. What works in Alabama does not work here. The gay marriage referndum is a joke. Many people have gay relatives or friends. What has happened to the Il. GOP is not surprising. When you write off blacks, hispanics, women, minorities of other races and religions, gays. etc, you become a party of old white males. Politics is addition, not subtraction. No matter if individual dems get indicted-other dems will take their place. - Honest Abe - Tuesday, Jul 24, 07 @ 12:03 am: Maybe the IL GOP needs to embrace Reaganism twenty-eight years after the rest of the USA got on board with the program. - polisci - Tuesday, Jul 24, 07 @ 12:18 am: Loyal Whig, name one person who ever said your made up quote, “if only we ran hard conservatives…” I’ve never heard that. I have however heard a lot of people say, “let’s not run another George Ryan crony from the old days.” And your observation, “Many people have gay relatives or friends.” Maybe, but most don’t think they should get married. The GOP has done better in every state that pushed the project. Wisconsin which is much like a smaller version of IL passed their’s last year. Their GOP also had the only pick-up from a Dem incumbent in a statewide race, anywhere last Nov. - Truthful James - Tuesday, Jul 24, 07 @ 7:35 am: Illinois First was generous to a fault. Taxpayers even got projects which the citizens did not want and voted against at referendum. See Jersey County Schools - Captain America - Tuesday, Jul 24, 07 @ 7:47 am: I’ve read the negative feedback rearding my Patrick Fitzgerald trial balloon.Of course, I have no idea if Fitzgerald would actually be interested in running for elective office. It may be counterintuitive.(If some were not so blinded by ideology , they would recognize that he did exactly the right thing in pursuing, indicting, and convicting Libby, who defintely perjured himslf multiple times and obstructed justice on behalf of the Vice President.) The point is,Republican leaders hsould have the foresight and wisdom to recruit talented candidates from outside the existing pool of political “wannabes” to rebuild the party. The old cliche about “thinking outside the box” seems entirely appropriate. The Illinois political system is systemically corrupt from top to bottom: Democrats and Republicans: Chicago, downstate, and suburbs; state,muncicipal,county governemnts;,executive , legislative, and even the judicial branches of governement. Nothing seems to be on the square in the Illinois body politic. What better person is there to run on a platform of cleaning up Illinois government from top-to-bottom, than Patrick Fitzgerald? Fitzgerald would be a strong law and order candidate. He strikes me as a moderate Republican. He would not be an ideologue. He’d have instant credibility with the public, running on an anti-corruption platform. He’s honest, he’s fearless, and as far as we know he’s available. But no one is asking. I wonder why? Couple a Fitygerald candidacy with a strong moderate blue chip Republican candidate for Cook County Board President to run against Todd Stroger in 2010, the Republican party would be on the rebound. Let’s clean up the systemic corruption in Illinois. I’ve given the Republicans a platform,if not a candidate. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Jul 24, 07 @ 9:24 am: The GOP “phoenix” needs to burn and be reborn from the ashes. The entire “leadership”, and I use the word loosely, needs to go. As long as the current deadwood constipates he system, there won’t be room for new growth. To get back on track, the GOP is going to have to support common sense solutions to the issues Illinoisans care about. Most Illinoisans couldn’t care less about gay marriage and gun control unless it hits them in the pocket book. As long as Roe v Wade is law, there’s little point in debating abortion at the state level. Immigration policy should be simple. Enforce the law of the land, both the letter and intent, with local law enforcement, and use all legal means currently available to protect the person and property of the citizens of Illinois from harm by illegal immigration. On Health care, we need to create a program that provides access while demanding responsibility. Medicaid HMOs and a state voluntary pool for large group coverage for those with uncertain employment benefits makes sense. This should be the same pool to which all state employees, TRS, SURS employees should be required to belong. Let them deal with the same conditions that those of us funding their current deals must endure. Make the means-based cost to participate and elegibililty requirements sufficient to discourage Illiniois from being the nation’s dumping ground for the chronically ill. Create a system that will fairly distribute education money from state sources to those that need it most, but include checks and balances to prevent abuse of that funding. Create state law that will prohibit schools, universities and other public agencies from approving contracts they can’t afford under normal revenue growth. History has shown that when a massive infusion of funding is given to public schools, the primary result is disproportionate wage and benefit inflation, not more or better educational services. Between 1991 and 2005 state funding per pupil in Illinois increased at about double the rate of inflation. Local and federal funding increased much faster. All this excess funding did was create a rapid ramp up of expense and waste that created the financial mess we’re experiencing today. We need to also change pensions for new employees to reasonable levels comparable to those being received by the avearage Illinoisan taxpayer. Create a 401K program for new TRS and SURS employees, and do everything that can be done to minimize pension expenses, such as ending the early retirement program. No reasonable taxpayer would complain about ending a program which gives a $120,000 per year high school counselor a $90,000 “subsidy” for the rest of their lives at he age of 55 while students can’t get decent textbooks and are having sports, music and art programs terminated to pay for it. The “Reagan Democrat” solution is the only viable choice for the GOP in Illinois, but it won’t move forward under the current leadership. Creating a strong base and organization would be a threat to GOP leadership’s power, so they scuttle every attempt to allow one to grow. A strong base might not go along with the sell outs the GOP leadership has been giving to the Dems and the special interst for decades now, and they’d rather get the piddling Dem handouts than take a chance that they’ll be forced to act in their constituencies’ best interests by a strong and active grassroots base. - Salesninja - Tuesday, Jul 24, 07 @ 9:24 am: The Illinois GOP needs to do much to repair the damage done over the years. 1. Reinstate the direct election of State Central Committeemen. If they keep screwing up like they have been for party infrastructure and elections, lets vote for people who will get the job done and start winning elections. Democrats are more serious about winning, albeit more corrupt, their infrastructure is fine. Keep doing the same things get the same result, fix Republican infrastructure and get a different result. 2. Anyone standing in the way of change (wanting to keep the status quo) and happy with the way the ILGOP is with both arms tied behind their backs needs to go, from the IL Chairman, RNC National Committeeman from Illinois, to any state central committeemen to any elected official. Go and join the Democrats, just like Paul Froehlich, because you probably are one. 3. Stop hunting conservatives. What is this cease and desist letter sent to Raymond True of RALC and similar organizations that are run by conservatives. Wake up! 3/5 of the voters in Republican Primaries are conservative. You’ve alienated your base. Now you have to EARN THEIR TRUST. Hard to do once its been compromised. How is the ILGOP and statewide candidates supposed to get donations for the campaign if this Republican Party hunts its own? I won’t give money to any candidate unless they prove to me they won’t hunt conservatives (my best bet, true conservatives). Fine, let the moderates stay, but you need to run quality conservative candidates that will energize the primary voters and get your base re-energized. Stop attacking conservatives, ok. Maybe contribute to a few conservative organizations like RALC, just to show you want to bury the hatchet and repair the party, ok. - Anon - Tuesday, Jul 24, 07 @ 1:23 pm: Salesninja- The moderates won’t stay under those conditions. And you can’t win a thing without them. So be sure to turn off the lights before you lock up the last GOP office. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.