Another Senate candidate?
Friday, Jun 11, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller
* If he’s telling the whole truth about his money and his petitions, it might happen. We know almost nothing about this guy, however, so remain circumspect until he shows all his cards…
A new candidate is planning to enter the wild race for the U.S. Senate, and he might make a difference if he spends the $1 million of his own money that he’s promising.
Mike Niecestro, a west suburban mortgage broker with little political past, describes himself as “a disgusted Republican” who’s unhappy with the two major-party nominees in the contest: Democratic State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias and, in particular, North Shore congressman Mark Kirk, the GOP nominee.
M. Niecestro claims he already has roughly the 25,000 signatures he’ll need to get on the ballot as an independent, and plans to double that by the June 21 deadline.
Perhaps even more important, he says the $1 million is ready and that he’s already raised $100,000.
Subscribers know about another possible candidate as well who might balance out whatever impact Niecestro has on Kirk. Here is Niecestro’s website, so you can take a look for yourself.
* Carl Nyberg profiled Niecestro a while back…
On May 1st, Niecestro plans to inventory his signatures and then hire professional signature gatherers to complete his petitions. He expects to spend $30-40,000 on this. He has $1 million of personal wealth he has set aside for this campaign.
Niecestro says his supporters mostly come from people he’s met in his 29 year career as a mortgage banker. He says in those 29 years he’s helped 7,000 families. He has a database of 700 supporters.
Niecestro describes himself as a lifelong Republican who has become disillusioned in the last ten years.
Niecestro said NAFTA was the worst thing that has happened to the United States because of the loss of jobs.
Niecestro has set a contribution limit of $500 per individual.
…Adding… In case you’re wondering…
QUINN FOR ILLINOIS PUBLIC SCHEDULE FOR SATURDAY, JUNE 12 AND SUNDAY, JUNE 13
At 10 a.m., Saturday, June 12, Governor Quinn will speak at the Oak Park Democratic Party Membership Meeting at Unity Temple, 875 Lake St., Oak Park.
At 1:30 p.m., Saturday, June 12, Lt. Gov. Nominee Sheila Simon will attend the Metropolis Annual Superman Days Celebration, Market St., between 6th and 10th Sts., Metropolis.
At 6:30 p.m., Saturday June 12, Lt. Gov. Nominee Sheila Simon will attend the Shawneetown Bicentennial Parade, Lincoln Blvd., Shawneetown.
At 5 p.m., Governor Quinn will speak at the Democratic Party of Evanston Annual Meeting at Beth Emet Synagogue, 1224 Dempster, Evanston.
I’d like to see Brady do this, too, as well as Giannoulias and Kirk.
- Wumpus - Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 2:48 pm:
I knew unity could not last too long.
A mortgage broker? Were the BP exec and trial attorney too busy to run for office?
- 47th Ward - Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 2:53 pm:
The more the merrier. Especially this year.
- Deep South - Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 2:58 pm:
It’s a sure bet no one in the south has ever heard of this guy. But hey, as 47th Ward says, the more the merrier.
- Downstater - Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 3:04 pm:
Indepedant and third party candidates are the magnet for disenchanted voters. However, they tend to pull equally from both parties. Hence, he’ll be hard pressed to impact the outcome of the race.
- wordslinger - Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 3:09 pm:
If I had the signatures and a million bucks, I would. Why not? I think plenty of people are ready for another option.
- Peggy SO-IL - Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 3:16 pm:
This will throw the election to Alexi.
- WRMNpolitics - Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 3:28 pm:
Mortgage Broker? Wonder how many no-doc and non-prime mortgages are in his past?
- Chathamite - Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 3:29 pm:
Just glanced at his website, too conservative for me
- Chathamite - Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 3:30 pm:
By the way… could this cause a potential runoff between Kirk and Giannoulias in the fall?
- Rollin' - Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 3:31 pm:
Ah good. Another Blair Hull-esque candidate that would have no real connection with every day Americans. I don’t blame him though, with the way Alexi and Kirk are running this race looks like it’s pretty much up for grabs.
- John Bambenek - Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 3:34 pm:
Do I have time to file?
- Conservative Veteran - Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 3:39 pm:
According to www.politics1.com, these other candidates are in that race:
“Randy Stufflebeam (Constitution) - Ex-State Party Chair, Retired USMC Veteran, Church Activist & ‘06 Gov. Nominee
LeAlan Jones (Green) - Freelance Journalist & Author
Mike Labno (Libertarian) - Engineer & Construction Manager
John Blyth (Independent) - Health Insurance Agency Owner & Ex-Bricklayer
Will Boyd Jr. (Independent) - Greenville City Councilman, Minister & Ex-Democrat
Michael Dorsey (Independent) - Attorney
Stan Jagla (Independent) - Businessman & ‘08 US Rep. Candidate
Eric Wallace (Independent) - Apostolic Minister, Businessman & Conservative Activist
Bob Zadek (Independent)”
However, Dr. Wallace isn’t running.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 3:44 pm:
Well, then that should tell you something, CV. Until they get their petitions approved, there are only three candidates in this race. Dem, GOP and Green. Period.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 3:46 pm:
Chathamite, please do a little Googling before posting here. We do not have runoffs in Illinois.
- Carl Nyberg - Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 3:54 pm:
Dorsey is out of the race too.
Blyth and Jagla didn’t respond to multiple attempts to contact them.
Stufflebeam, Labno and Zadek seem reasonably serious.
Will Boyd failed to get on the ballot as a Dem, so the burden of proof is on him to show that he’s serious.
- Chathamite - Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 4:11 pm:
Rich, noted.
- Anonymous - Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 4:55 pm:
people touched on this the other day, but now its official…. Guv is a slob! All those nice red Polo’s today at the Hawk’s rally, even Hizzoner, but not the Guv. A far too small t-shirt.
- Obamarama - Friday, Jun 11, 10 @ 5:55 pm:
From his website:
Freeze all government hiring for the next 24 months
Reduce the government workforce by 10%
It drives me nuts when politicians propose things like this with round numbers. Why exactly two years? Why not 28.5 months instead? Why 10% instead of 7% or 11% (or zero)?
The answer is that these policies were not well thought out. It is just like a campaign, if someone says that their win number is 100,000 or their fundraising goal is 250,000 it tells me they are ball parking, or worse yet, just guessing.