Careful what you say
Tuesday, Dec 3, 2013 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From a press release…
WARRENVILLE, Illinois (December 2, 2013) – Today in Springfield, Adam Johnson filed his nominating petitions with 1,500 signatures, the maximum number allowed by law, to run for State Representative in the 42nd Illinois House District. Johnson, born and raised in the district, is a graduate of Wheaton-Warrenville South High School and Harvard University. Adam currently works in the office of the DuPage County Clerk and resides in Warrenville with his wife Kathy and their two-year-old son.
By filing his petitions today, Johnson will be taking on incumbent Republican State Representative Jeanne Ives, who veteran state house reporter Rich Miller described on August 9, 2013 as “perhaps the least influential member of the Illinois House.” Shortly after filing his petitions in Springfield, Johnson said: “I am running because our district deserves unifying representation that seeks common ground solutions rather than divisive rhetoric that pits neighbor against neighbor and brings us no closer to solving our state’s problems.”
I honestly didn’t remember writing that and I couldn’t find it with my site search, either. So, I used Bing and realized that it was a comment, not a post.
Turns out, I was trying to calm down a commenter who complained that Rep. Ives “introduced at least five ALEC model bills this year.”
My response…
She is perhaps the least influential member of the Illinois House. So, it’s not even a nice try.
And even then, so what? She’s very, very conservative. Wouldn’t you expect that from her? She doesn’t have the right as a legislator to use those ALEC models?
So, I was kinda sorta defending her in an admittedly back-handed way and now I’m in a press release.
Such is life.
But I wasn’t wrong.
* Speaking of new candidates, Marc Zalcman filed yesterday to run against Rep. David Leitch in the Republican primary. From his “short term goals” pledge…
As your State Representative, I would also direct great energy to make conservative and grass-roots Reagan-Republican politics relevant again throughout our State. As a minority party member, it will be my duty and my honor to recruit people in other legislative districts – particularly Democratic districts – to run for office on a reform-Republican ticket. I will make it my business to find those who are interested in taking on the corrupt, liberal, Chicago-Democratic establishment or those who also want to take on ineffective Republicans and offer these new reformers all the help I or my organization or like-minded colleagues and friends can offer. […]
If elected, the rest of the Illinois will know the name Zalcman in a very short time and know I am a true reformer, not a nest-builder, which we are all-too-used-to seeing and paying their way.
A real humble guy that one.
- RNUG - Tuesday, Dec 3, 13 @ 6:35 am:
Rich,
LOL on being quoted. I’m always surprised when I find myself reading my CapFax comments in various newspaper blogs and letters to the editor.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Dec 3, 13 @ 7:16 am:
“Careful What You Say”
Indeed.
For that reason I am going to go slow.
When Leader Durkin was elected, unanimously, by his Caucus, there was an overwhelming feeling of togetherness that EVERY member expressed that the HGOP was unified, and together … together, the 47 members were working for a future…. a fututer of 55, 55, and 60. Together.
If this very specific Primary Run against Jeanne Ives is for thinking Rep. Pihos’s district needs a “Purer” member to represent them, then I can NOT be any more for this.
Rep. Ives lacks the understanding that a Caucus of Rep. Morrison and Rep. Sullivan means majority in 60 districts. More Jeanne Ives, means more Minority Status. More of the Same, means less of a Caucus.
If Rep. Ives is not pleased that she got Primaried for taking on Rep. Pihos,… “and alot of other things”, then maybe next time Rep. Ives will think long about taking on a member in her Caucus, as a Freshman.
You want to defend yourself, Rep. Ives…
“Breen” it on.
I would really enjoy March 18th to find that the 42nd House District finds itself with a Nominee that is geared towards 60, and not a Slytherin Republican who in one breath supports Leader Durkin, all the while making sure “Purity” is more important than Colleague.
The “other side” of the coin is quite plain too.
Rep. Leitch deserves ever resource available to his campaign as Rep. Leitch works to retain his sest from a gentleman who feels that taking on other GOP members is part and parcel of running for a seat in the General Assembly.
Usually you have to wait until you can get on the Floor of the Illinois House and applaud the Confederate wearing uniforms before you start attacking other GOP members on the subject of “Purity”.
Leader Durkin and HGOP “Paid Volunteers”, you have an obligation to retain Rep. Sandack, Rep. Sullivan, Rep. Pihos, and in the very same vain, you must take Rep. Ives to task, making it quite clear that being “alone” in a Caucus, is not things of legend, but very real, and I hope Rep. Ives feels the chill.
Both prongs are important. Retain and Discipline. Rep. Ives should know about discipline, as a West Point grad, it should not come to her as a shock that actions have ramifications.
My only wish today, is if Rep. Pihos could do me a favor and give Rep. Ives a Cannoil for me. How delicious would that “gift” be.
I will be watching the 42nd District Primary very closely. Leader Durkin, “Paid Volunteers”, make it clear, going off the Reservation against a colleague, is not acceptable, no matter how you feel that message needs to be delieverd, I support Leader Durkin’s decisions to make this point very clear.
- Arthur Andersen - Tuesday, Dec 3, 13 @ 7:19 am:
RNUG, such is the price of being knowledgeable.
- MrJM - Tuesday, Dec 3, 13 @ 7:41 am:
I feel your pain, Rich. My compliment to a friend/candidate was truncated, pulled out of context and made the centerpiece of a slanderous piece of oppo lit.
She forgave me, so maybe Jeanne can find it in her heart to forgive you.
–MrJM
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Dec 3, 13 @ 7:55 am:
That’s quite a list of “short-term goals” for the Mighty Zalman. Just wait until he gets warmed up and starts taking the long view.
What’s he running for, again, generalissimo?
Do not try to stop him; you can only hope to contain him.
- train111 - Tuesday, Dec 3, 13 @ 7:56 am:
Last fall in the West Chicago Mexican Independence Day parade, Adam Johnson was running for DuPage County Board Dist 6. Now he seems to have flip-flopped and decided to run against Ives. Why??? Running for County Board in northwest DuPage seems easier to me than running against Ives in Wheaton. Just my thoughts though–perhaps he knows something I do not.
- DuPage Rep - Tuesday, Dec 3, 13 @ 7:58 am:
Whatch for things to get nasty in the 42nd. Jeanne has her crew of Milton Township employees and “community activists” as volunteers. She also had a boatload of people that can’t stand her, namely former colleagues on the Wheaton City Council except one. She also had a lot of haters on the local school board and park district. No surprise she is hated in Springfield.
- Son of SuperAbe - Tuesday, Dec 3, 13 @ 8:20 am:
Ives voting record and shall I say series of “intemperate” statements will certainly be prominent in the primary campaign
- Ravenswood Right Winger - Tuesday, Dec 3, 13 @ 8:58 am:
@OswegoWilly: Any basis in fact for your implied statement that Ives is behind Breen’s challenge to Pihos?
- walkinfool - Tuesday, Dec 3, 13 @ 8:59 am:
When all is said and done, wanting to serve the public, and willing to stand an election, are good things. Better if they’re not ego-inflating as well.
From a GOP caucus point of view, Ives can be destructive.
But so what? You should see some of the shenanigans in the Dem caucus.
Fight for all your incumbents, unless they’re under indictment.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Dec 3, 13 @ 9:08 am:
- Ravenswood Right Winger -,
It is implied for those like Leader Durkin and others who are far closer to the issue to judge for themselves what needs to be done.
I guess Ives has come out for Pihos?
- Bill - Tuesday, Dec 3, 13 @ 9:16 am:
Marc Zalcman “grass-roots Reagan-Republican politics” ?
What in the heck are those politics? Trickle-down economics, missiles for mullahs, cash for contras. Grass-roots, my eye.
How old is Marc Zalcman?
- Jeff Trigg - Tuesday, Dec 3, 13 @ 9:32 am:
Leitch hasn’t had an opponent since the early 1990s. About time.
- Pat C - Tuesday, Dec 3, 13 @ 9:41 am:
A real humble guy that one.
And humbleness is such a common characteristic among politicians.
I would say he’s going the Jack Franks route. And why not, works well for JF.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Dec 3, 13 @ 9:52 am:
- Jeff Trigg -,
The HGOP needs another “Purity” primary like Bruce Rauner needs another House.
Leader Durkin and the HGOP has an obligation to support Rep. Leitch, and if “Super Pure” Zalcman wants to take on Republicans too, then he is going to get his wish straight away.
- Pat C -,
How about Zalcmam serve one day in Springfield first, then become an annoying “all knowing” Freshman second? It’s one thing to have ego, it’s another to just bd disagreeable except to those you agree with 100% of the time.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Dec 3, 13 @ 10:03 am:
Interesting article about Johnson’s early work on the McCain 2000 campaign - http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2000/1/19/voter-by-voter-mccains-volunteers-reach/?print=1
- DuPage Rep - Tuesday, Dec 3, 13 @ 10:12 am:
As much as I hate to admit it, Mr. Willy is right on both Ives and Zalcman. Now if he will only get over his unhealthy Tom Cross fixation…
- Norseman - Tuesday, Dec 3, 13 @ 10:14 am:
All the SMART politicians read and quote Rich Miller. The others are called right-wing Republicans.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Dec 3, 13 @ 10:14 am:
- DuPage Rep -,
I haven’t said “Boo” about Cross in quite some time. Maybe it’s not me who is fixated on something(?)
- Jeff Trigg - Tuesday, Dec 3, 13 @ 10:18 am:
OW- I don’t care what the HGOP needs. The people of Illinois need more political competition and more choices on their ballots. Its called democracy. With competition the HGOP will either improve or get beat, so they probably do need more competition for their own good. If only more independents were able to get on the ballot in Illinois, who knows, the HGOP might have a little more power.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Dec 3, 13 @ 10:54 am:
- Jeff Trigg -,
Well, that is the difference between your take and mine;
You are concerned with Independents so much that you can’t see that Zalcman sounds insane, so you would rather have his “Purity” be a …choice … than save that Dopey money used to defeat him and use it for competeive seats that could be in play.
Run them all, I say it all the time, but choices have ramifications, and since “Super (not yet) Freshman” Zalcman wants to run against everyone, congratualtions, you get the HGOP right off the bat.
- wheatonite - Tuesday, Dec 3, 13 @ 10:56 am:
It should be noted that Jeanne did not get chosen with a “majority” vote… note thses numbers from the last primary in March 20, 2012.
Laura M. Pollastrini 3,015 19.85 %
Chris Hage 4,738 31.19 %
Jeanne M. Ives 5,436 35.78 %
Dave Carlin 2,002 13.18 %
Note.. Jeanne’s 5,436 vers the sum
of the other candidates, which is 9,755
Clearly Jeanne has no magical mandate from the 42nd. In fact, looking at her history (very short history) on the Wheaton city council, It was clear, that Jeanne was a lone ranger, tail gunner… Jeanne needs to learn to play well with others, other wise you get kicked out of the sand box
- DuPage - Tuesday, Dec 3, 13 @ 11:12 am:
Jeanne Ives, you might want to look for another job.
- paddyrollingstone - Tuesday, Dec 3, 13 @ 11:26 am:
“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”
“No work is insignificant. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.”
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
That being said, I am sure that Adam Johnson is the only Harvard graduate in the DuPage County Clerk’s Office
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Dec 3, 13 @ 11:49 am:
The person who calls for less divisiveness is extremely divisive in that call. It lacks sincerity. To be non-divisive is to say “I’m for motherhood and apple pie”. Well I guess that’s Ives position so he can’t say that. Maybe he wants motherhood be be reversible.
- Matt Jones - Tuesday, Dec 3, 13 @ 12:17 pm:
No one works harder for constitutents nor works to elect other HGOP members than Dave Leitch. His recent contribution of $15k to the HGOP is likely more than Zalcman will raise for his entire campaign. I’ve had the “pleasure” of observing Mark Zalcman around the Peoria Courthouse and can’t say much about his advocacy skills in that arena and can’t imagine how much better he could be in this one. And Mark, before you try “reforming” the GOP, by recruiting candidates to reestablish the Reagan revolution, perhaps you could try doing something, ANYTHING, to assist the local party. How many campaigns have you worked on, contributed to etc? How many petitions have you circulated, or checked prior to filing? How many election days have you spent checking precincts for irregularities? Have you ever done ANYTHING to help ANY GOP candidate other than YOURSELF? As a 20+ year veteran of the local political circles in and around Peoria, I will go on record as urging you to man a post and earn your right to criticize those who actually toil in the arena.
- Toure's Latte - Tuesday, Dec 3, 13 @ 12:23 pm:
Yawn. When the entire ILGOP are back benchers it’s a bit much to single out a back bencher for being a back bencher. Ives and Connelly don’t gel, and his pal Sandack had a famous meltdown rant at Ives. A personal war on one woman, and another sign the GOP is better at fighting itself than fighting to gain more seats in the GA.
Loved Madigan’s $18 watch crack. It might be worth it to elect Rauner just to watch Madigan slice and dice him.
- shore - Tuesday, Dec 3, 13 @ 12:33 pm:
Zalcman is such a great name I hope it does grow.
Fantastic that someone quoted you from a comment. Excellent research job.
- Son of SuperAbe - Tuesday, Dec 3, 13 @ 12:39 pm:
Latte, you are a chucklehead like your namesake. In Jeannes Ives world if your not pure than she is sure that you are not on her team. It is a good way to keep the super minority status.
- bored now - Tuesday, Dec 3, 13 @ 3:10 pm:
how much influence does a republican back-bencher have??? least influential might apply to more than one…
- Soccermom - Tuesday, Dec 3, 13 @ 3:23 pm:
Apart from everything else, Zalcman is a hyphen abuser.
If you’re interested in ALEC, take a look at this: http://gawker.com/the-secret-misspelled-comeback-plan-of-americas-creepi-1475818190