44 Comments - Oswego Willy - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 11:58 am: Dear Chairman Dorgan, Cannoli for you. We need more in My Party like you, and more like this, please. The “Caine” is better off with a new “Captain” on the Bridge. - Raymond - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 12:01 pm: It turns out that Dorgan is one of those Republicans who likes to win elections. - wordslinger - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 12:04 pm: Geez, if the IMA doesn’t pass the purity test in some GOP minds, they can go down to Toy’s R’ Us and get the tent from the Malibu Barbie Goes Camping set. That will be big enough. Malibu Barbie and other Malibu Barbie Goes Camping accessories not included. - Powell - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 12:05 pm: I get what Jack’s trying to say, but I think an appearance before the City Club may have been better used to articulate some policy/value propositions between GOP and Dem instead of discussing the party’s internal open wounds. Because the takeaway here ain’t good for the GOP. - Bill White - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 12:08 pm: The ultimate single issue litmus test the GOP faces is the “no tax increases, ever” pledge. - Oswego Willy - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 12:10 pm: - Powell -, How so? Where is the bad “takeaway”? Chairman Dorgan, by discussing the issues that have led to the ILGOP to be where it was when he took over, and how he sees the ILGOP, and that some in My Party are willing to lose …to be “Right” … casts the perfect light … the bright, shining, hot, white, light … as to why “some” don’t mind losing, and why some, like Mr. Dorgan, see “adding” leading… to winning. Make that two Cannoli, Chairman Dorgan. - Veritas - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 12:12 pm: $2000 to Democrats!! That’s chump change compared to the hundreds of thousands Rauner has given to Dems. - RNUG - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 12:17 pm: OW … someone in the ILGOP is ACTUALLY listening to you! - Powell - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 12:20 pm: OW- I think comparing the ILGOP factions to that of a 60 year, violent and seemingly unresolvable situation between Israel and Palestinians does not give one the takeaway that the ILGOP is on a path towards success, much less resolution. Maybe a different metaphor would have provided a light at the end of the tunnel. - Oswego Willy - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 12:25 pm: - RNUG -, Very much respect. Very. Much. I am not the one being listened to; The voters, the loses, the bad press, the grandstanding, the Slytherins, the Litmus Testers, the Blood Oathers … the Veto-Proofed General Assembly… The message is being listened to, not me, with respect, again, - RNUG -. Chairman Dorgan is one the ILGOP’s brightest at winning, and understands far more about it then a Dope like me could even speak to it. This statement and statements by Chairman Dorgan are about someone understanding all I listed above and about a thousand more than I could even fathom. I am not even in the equation, as I should not be, but the message, that is what is winning, and those factors above weigh much heavier on the Chairman of the Illinois Republican Party than some Dope from Oswego. Kind words and thought - RNUG -, but I am not a factor in what good happens, or even in the bad that DID happen, and we are all better off in My Party with Chairman Dorgan understanding that …. adding … is the purpose of a party … not reducing. - Anonymous - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 12:30 pm: =lengthy battle for control of the state party between a moderate GOP faction and a conservative faction= With all due respect, Mr. Pearson, I would like to believe that this is not a “control” issue. We’re the ILGOP which is comprised primarily of Moderates and Conservatives. It’s the obvioulsy ineffective few who see running the GOP as a power trip who are trying to take control by declaring it as one or the other. - Oswego Willy - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 12:34 pm: - Powell -, Let’s be real honest here. My Party is nowhere near any type of resloution if you have members of the HGOP thinking … not even doing … thinking … primaring another member of their own Caucus in a safe seat is “helping”, then to mislead anyone that the light at the end of tunnel is close, would be disingenuous. I do not write for Chairman Dorgan, nor do I know who does, and for all I know, that could have been a remark out of hand. I get your displeasure at the comparison, and I will leave it up to others closer to all of this to visit your remarks. I will say, I applaud Chairman Dorgan’s job performance, and where he wants My Party to be going, and where we need to be. I will leave it there. - Anonymous - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 12:36 pm: And, BTW, my comment has absolutely nothing to do with Mr. Dorgan. Also, I know it’s a “volunteer” position so we need to be grateful to anyone who is willing to try their hand at leading a somewhat dysfunctional little family. However, I don’t understand how it suddenly became the big, powerful ego trip that is has recently. And we, as Citizens, should probably nip that. I’m sure it’ll stop alot of the bickering. - Rich Miller - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 12:37 pm: ===for all I know, that could have been a remark out of hand=== Looks like it was a react to a question. They ask a lot of questions at the end of the speech. - Perceval - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 12:41 pm: Chairman Dorgan is so focused on winning elections that he even has won them for Democratic friends while a Illinois GOP State Central Committeeman. Specifically, he recently acted to keep a young, vibrant female candidate off the ballot against a Democrat state legislature ally on the Northwest Sise of Chicago. It is an incident well and widely remembered in Chicago Republican circles. As a result, Chairman Dorgan’s credibility among Republicans in Chicago is shaky at best when he makes this pronouncement, as it obviously does not apply to all Republicans. - 4 percent - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 12:41 pm: Let’s do a quick comparison: Chris Balkama gave a whopping $160 to an anti tax group in 2011 had now donated an extraordinary $500 more to two GOP groups since deciding to run. Bert Miller has given well more than $120,000 to Republicans and business groups (IMA, Naperville Chamber, DuPage Business Council) and a total of $2,000 to Democrat candidates. And if he gave to Obama in 2003 then that would have been in the Congressional race against Bobby Rush, not in the Senate or Presidential Race if I’m correct. Not much of a comparison. Bert’s been a stalwart helping the GOP and Chris is a “johnny come lately.” - Anonymous - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 12:45 pm: = I’m sure it’ll stop alot of the bickering.= And very likely make the “frat boys” less popular–though I personally don’t understand why anyone would chase that lot in the first place. - Roamin' Numeral - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 12:50 pm: ==And if he gave to Obama in 2003 then that would have been in the Congressional race against Bobby Rush, not in the Senate== Obama won the US Senate seat in 2004. - AFSCME Steward - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 12:50 pm: Here’s the problem. This is nothing but talk. he same Tea Party extreme right-wingers will win nominations because the party leaders don’t back more moderate candidates and use all of the party’s resources to win. The GOP in its current state is very unlikely to atttract new voters into the primaries. This takes effort. This takes reaching out to former GOPers and moderates. Words are words. What actions are being initiated to back up these words ? “People who believe in one single issue, and will fall on the sword and lose an election because of one single issue, I don’t think are good political thinkers,” he said. “I really don’t. I respect what they say. I respect what everyone says. “But because someone’s different or means something (different) or comes from a different part of town and they want to be Republican, the only thing I can say to them is, ‘Welcome.’” - Ghost - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 12:56 pm: === Chairman Dorgan’s credibility among Republicans in Chicago is shaky at best ==== Burn the witch! as long as the GOP can keep those people out of its party everything will be great! OW I am pretty sure you are one of those peple now…. - Oswego Willy - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 12:58 pm: - AFSCME Steward -, Agreed. Proof will be in the Pudding, but that Pudding, is not the “instant” kind. Going to take a load of preparation, ingredients, elbow grease, the right temperature and length of time to cook … that Pudding. I like the recipe. A recipe is a good place to begin making that Pudding. Agree with you - AFSCME Steward -, but I will wait to see how Chairman Dorgan makes the Pudding in the kitchen, as we all … are watching. - hisgirlfriday - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 12:58 pm: Just took a gander at Balkemas campaign filings and took me 5 minutes to notice one of his max individual donors is old Martin Ozinga III. Will Balkema returning that tainted money from a former Blago donor? As for Dorgan, anyone else see that goofy story about the national GOP trying to line up a super Midwest GOP coordinated primary including Illinois for 2016, despite the GOP having no control over the primary process here? Perhaps Jack should give Reince a call explaining things? - Anonymous - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 1:06 pm: =as we all … are watching. = lol My, my. That sounds so…”ominous.” - 4 percent - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 1:30 pm: @Roamin… Thanks for clarification - I couldn’t remember. - dupage dan - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 1:36 pm: I appreciate Dorgnan and his desire to air the laundry and get back on track. I am uncomfortable with the comparison of the ILGOP trouble with that of the Palestinians and the Israelis. Help me out, Chairman. Which one are the Palestinians? I can accept the comparison as a rhetorical flourish - I just think there were better ones he could have used. Keep up the good work. Let’s find good candidates for the ILGOP and get it back on track. - wordslinger - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 1:37 pm: – As a result, Chairman Dorgan’s credibility among Republicans in Chicago is shaky– And the credibility of Chicago Republicans is solid. Going to take a lot of work there. The state party’s neglect over the years of maintaining any sort of real political organization in the city or county has left much of Cook to the Kooks. Wasn’t always that way. I got on this guy’s list somehow. Here’s the 11th Ward GOP Committeeman. Definitely doesn’t need a big tent. More like a big net. https://www.facebook.com/VoteSegvich45 - Anonymous - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 1:41 pm: Mr. Kirk has also been criticized recently (again) regarding his turn of phrase on a foreign policy issue to the extent that an article questioning his role as a GOP rep on foreign policy is spreading. I wish he’d stop that. Many–at least in the past, seemed to agree with many of his positions on foreign policy. Continuing to support someone who says things like that makes this “awkward.” - Anonymous - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 1:42 pm: Sorry. That obviously should have been “makes thiNGs ‘awkward.’” - Been There - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 1:49 pm: === comparing the ILGOP factions to that of a 60 year, violent and seemingly unresolvable situation between Israel and Palestinian==== Lighten up. He was asked a question and gave a sarcastic remark. He wasn’t comparing any group to either the Israel’s or Palestinians but to the seemingly impossible job of reconciling between the two. - Oswego Willy - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 1:54 pm: There was a time, indeed, when you had powerhouse GOP Organizations. The issue then became like a good farm, once you let the soil go, the farm quickly follows. Demographics, Patronage armies dwindling, and not backfilling those Organizations with leaders who could keep the lights. The Organizations never evolved. They just went away. You can’t build upon new “leadership” tasked to make a party grow, that has as their mantra “like minded REpublicans” What? “liked minded Republicans”? How about Republicans? Some of the building out there is more about weeding out diversity than adding. Tons of work to do. The fields have tall plants but are they the stalks of growth, or the weeds strangling those other who hope to grow in the field? Talking about what ails My Party, can lead to what can cure My Party. - Anonymous - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 2:03 pm: =“liked minded Republicans”?= Willy, you obviously missed the memo. Most of us do in fact know that we have more in common than we don’t. That’s been going for quite some time now–and I’m not talking days, months, or years. Our leadership *generally* over the last decade has been suffering from “savior” syndrome–and that’s what been hurting u. - Anonymous - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 2:04 pm: Sorry. Obviously: “that’s what HAS been hurting uS.” - Anonymous - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 2:20 pm: And when the heck did the GOP EVER have a “farm?” That is not in accordance with our values. For those lucky enough, we have “mentors”–and then good luck trying to pry the scepter out of their hands. It’s who we are. - Anonymour - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 2:51 pm: There are Republicans in Chicago? Who knew? - Anonymous - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 3:02 pm: Oh, dear. Looks like someone’s having a tizzy fit. Again. - dupage dan - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 3:05 pm: I wonder who Dorgnan is? And, why can’t I spell his name correctly? - Anonymous - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 3:11 pm: I once thought he might be Oswego Willie, but very quickly realized that that can’t be right. - walkinfool - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 3:15 pm: The City Club is filled with GOP insiders. I think this was a good forum to air some challenges for the Party. Dorgan appears less idealistic and less ideological than his two recent predecessors — and more about winning. Looking good so far, but we shall see. - Oswego Willy - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 3:16 pm: Do. Not. Feed. Trolls. - formerpolitico - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 3:20 pm: GOP needs to return to its libertarian roots - and get the government out of our bedrooms, places of worship, personal choices, etc. - reformer - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 3:24 pm: Republicans who would disqualify a candidate for donating two grand to Dems ought to be riding Rauner out of town on a rail for donating many ti es more to Dems. How about a single.standard instead of a flagrant double standard that kicks out a small donor while giving a giant donor a pass? - Anonymous - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 3:40 pm: =Dorgan appears less idealistic and less ideological than his two recent predecessors — and more about winning. = So we’re calling that “idealism” and “ideology?” Mhmmm. Yes, you’re right. We should focus more on winning. - Anonymous - Friday, Nov 15, 13 @ 5:12 pm: lol Looks like Tom’s on his way to visit, Willie. - tax attorney - Monday, Nov 18, 13 @ 9:26 am: Hey there! I’m at work browsing your blog from my new iphone! Just wanted to say I love reading through your blog and look forward to all your posts! Keep up the superb work! Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.