Simon gets back in the game
Tuesday, Sep 8, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I told subscribers about this almost a month ago. AP…
Former Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon is running for state senate in southern Illinois’ 58th District.
The Carbondale Democrat made the announcement Monday at the Du Quoin State Fair.
Simon says in a written statement that she’ll “stand up for Southern Illinois’ families and their jobs.” The former teacher says she’ll also campaign on the issue of funding for education.
* From the Southern…
“When a governor messes with our rights to organize, I get angry. And because anger isn’t going to do much for me, I’m moving my anger into action,” Simon said. […]
“There’s so much at stake right now, we need strong unions,” Simon said. “The reason the governor is holding the budget up is because he wants to weaken the union rights in Illinois and I am entirely opposed to that.” […]
“I’m running to support our rights to organize, to preserve the hard-fought gains we have made before. I’m running because that governor is not hurting just us,” Simon said. “His refusal to budge on the budget is making it hard for working parents to just get by and stay at work.” […]
“That governor grew up in a life of wealth and privilege, he might not understand us, he might not care, but I am running to be a strong voice for Southern Illinois and one that [Rauner] can’t ignore,” Simon said.
Simon is being backed by the Senate Democrats.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 11:51 am:
She speaks the truth.
- Todd75 - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 11:51 am:
She speaks the truth on this one.
- Stones - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 11:52 am:
She’s probably better suited to the Legislative rather than the Executive branch.
- Anon - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 11:54 am:
Great. Another politician who’s calls i will need to ignore for the next year!
- walker - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 11:58 am:
Hardly from the downtrodden masses. Just sayin’.
- Nieva - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 11:59 am:
If the comments in the Southern are any indication She might want to reconsider…
- A Citizen - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 11:59 am:
“That governor grew up in a life of wealth and privilege…”
Oh my! A dem railin about wealth and privilege, blah blah blah. I don’t think Sheila honey was poverty stricken, please just get a more respectful tone in your pointless points.
- Tournaround Agenda - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 12:01 pm:
I wonder who the Republicans will run for the seat.
- WizzardOfOzzie - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 12:02 pm:
She ran better than almost anyone expected against JBT. She is also the Dems only hope of a downstate pick up (Sullivan’s seat will be almost impossibly to hold against Jill Tracy). Sheila deserves this opportunity and may actually pull it off.
- hakuna matata - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 12:03 pm:
So far, Sharee Lagenstein and Paul Schimpf have tossed their names in the race
- PravdaOnThePrairie - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 12:04 pm:
Can’t wait hear that sweet banjo playing in November after she loses by 15 points
- Bored Chairman - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 12:06 pm:
How can we miss Sheila when she wont go away?
- Call Me Crazy - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 12:22 pm:
If Rauner and GOP heavily fund her opponent to keep this seat Sheila will have a tough row to hoe. Conservative district where PQ lost big and where she doesn’t exactly match up philosophically with most of the voters. Plus a large part of it is in the expensive St. Louis media market so she will need some big money to compete.
- Not it - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 12:23 pm:
“Hey, she needs a job.”
- Blue dog dem - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 12:33 pm:
Dems blew it on this one….should have been looking into Monroe County for a chance. The district has gotten very conservative and Shiela won’t gain much traction out of the north. She is going to have to win Jackson County by 15% to overcome the rear end kicking she is going to get in Monroe and Randolph Counties.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 12:38 pm:
===Dems blew it on this one….should have been looking into===
Meh.
I think they figured it would cost too much to defeat her during a primary.
- VanillaMan - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 12:39 pm:
Even if you agree with him, Rauner has been such a bad politician, he will be an issue favoring the Democrats next year. Simon might as well catch a wave here.
- Blue dog dem - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 12:45 pm:
Whatever happened to collusion? Can’t these things be arranged behind closed doors? Any word if repubs are going to challenge JCII?
- siriusly - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 12:46 pm:
Happy to see her finally run for an office that matters.
- OneMan - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 12:51 pm:
== hat governor grew up in a life of wealth and privilege, he might not understand us ==
Us? I may not be from Southern Illinois, but I also didn’t have two parents who served in Springfield and one in the US Senate, not sure who this us you refer to is Ke-mo sah-bee
Nothing like railing against privilege when you grew up with a form of it.
- Blue dog dem - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 1:04 pm:
Just my opinion, Shiela is highly intelligent and very personable. Would love to have beer with her sometime. Just to liberal for that district. Better suited for Frisco, Seattle or ……the Windy City.
- pool boy - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 1:05 pm:
Even Rauner can’t get her elected. Time to move on.
- Team Sleep - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 1:10 pm:
She should’ve done this years ago. She could’ve easily made waves against Mike Bost in a presidential year.
I could see her winning this if Sharee Langenstein wins the GOP primary. Sharee is a nice person, but she is hyper-conservative. If she pulls off the upset, watch out.
I do have to agree with Walker and OneMan. That’s like my overweight self ripping on other overweight for being a tad bigger than me.
- Norseman - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 1:17 pm:
So the big campaign tactic is to drive through the district with sound trucks plastered with several Paul pictures and one tiny Sheila picture playing “Thanks for the Memory.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIRyvgfRkr8
- Arizona Bob - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 1:40 pm:
So she wants to increase the amount we spend on K-12 education per pupil from 17.8% (ranking 14th) above average to 20, 25 or 30% above average? She can explain to us how such overfunding hasn’t resulted in better than middle of the pack student outcomes according to NAEP? Will she explain why having teachers in Illinois rank 12th in average salaries hasn’t resulted in commensurate student outcomes? How about addressing the theft from suburban communities for schools using a formula that undervalues farm land when calculating EAV, thus creating a “need” to redistribute money from suburbanites so that farmers don’t have to pay the same fair share towards education as Cook County business owners?
I don’t think her “honesty” will let her discuss these key issues…..
- Blue dog dem - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 1:47 pm:
Not sure Shiela can get the blame for the under-evaluation of farmland assessment. This may be one of the few bi-partisan results coming out of Springfield in the last few decades.
- William - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 2:11 pm:
Nothing as pathetic as a perpetual candidate. No candidate “deserves” the opportunity to run for office. That’s laughable.
- Mama - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 2:20 pm:
I think she has a chance to win this one. AFSCME members should support her.
- Anon - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 2:29 pm:
If the campaign relies on paid canvassers and locking down the early vote, it will win. Unfortunately for her, there are some barriers for students registering to vote.
- Blue dog dem - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 2:38 pm:
It reads like the same old Dem playbook. Let’s lock up the public servants and kiddos vote. If we don’t reach out to the independents and conservative Union households with some realistic new ideas, we truly will be looking like Wisconsin, or Michigan, or Ohio…. Or ___-forbid, Indiana.
- Responsa - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 2:39 pm:
Lack of personal self awareness is a big problem for political candidates. Ms Simon (btw, did you know she is Paul Simon’s daughter
) is a classic case of perpetual, chronic, ongoing, non-self awareness by a candidate. Perhaps she’ll do better in her downstate local milieu than she has fared recently in her state-wide runs for office, but somehow I doubt it.
- nixit71 - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 3:08 pm:
“Some people say if you have an economic agenda that requires balancing the budget, you can’t have an agenda. I would argue precisely the opposite; that those who say we can continue indefinitely to borrow from our children and grandchildren and generations to come are eroding what we ought to do in education, in healthcare and in other things.”
Paul Simon, 1987
- Georg Sande - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 3:10 pm:
Simon’s candidacy is the badly needed humor source in this season of humorless policy inactivity. It’s clearly the funniest thing going on right now through her eventual loss in November of 2016 … so let’s enjoy the ride while we can.
- Apocalypse Now - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 3:14 pm:
Let’s see. How many elections has she lost?
- Demoralized - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 3:32 pm:
==Let’s see. How many elections has she lost?==
She’s following the Jim Oberweis plan. Maybe she’ll win one eventually.
- Kasich Walker, Jr. - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 5:22 pm:
I bet she could beat Alex Giannoulias in a statewide primary race for either comptroller or treasurer.
- Blue dog dem - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 5:47 pm:
That’s not funny. I wrote that guy a campaign donation. Maybe I’m the dummy…..
- Chicago 20 - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 6:26 pm:
=“That governor grew up in a life of wealth and privilege, he might not understand us, he might not care”=
He has to understand is, he has to care. He rides a Harley, he wears Carhartt’s, he belongs to a wine club, he owns eight homes, he spent $27 million of his own money to get a $120,000 job, geez I don’t know anybody else like that.
- oldhp - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 6:46 pm:
Where’s my Simon bumper sticker?
- pudge - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 7:10 pm:
I do not believe she grew up poor, she had a lot of advantages that we all sure did not. Poor girl, self pity should make a good laugh for all.
- A Citizen - Tuesday, Sep 8, 15 @ 9:40 pm:
…Where’s my Simon bumper sticker? …
More importantly - where is yer 69 Olds?