* Recruit a candidate to run against a popular sitting congressman and stuff like this can happen…
* From one of Dan Proft’s papers…
Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner is publicly preaching party unity on the campaign trail.
But behind the scenes, Rauner is quietly leading an effort to purge conservatives from the Illinois Republican State Central Committee, which governs the party.
At issue: the re-election of current Illinois GOP Chairman Timothy O. Schneider of Bartlett, a close ally of Rauner and a sharp critic of State Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) in the recent gubernatorial primary.
“He’s in trouble,” a source close to the situation told Prairie State Wire.
Lake County GOP Chairman Mark Shaw is mounting a strong challenge to Schneider, sources say.
Republican precinct committeemen gather at their county conventions this Wed. to nominate and elect eighteen State Central Committee members, or one from each Illinois congressional district.
State Central Committee members will meet in May to select the state party chairman.
* Meanwhile, Gov. Rauner called Rep. Ives a “fringe” candidate last December and then continued to dismiss her for months on end. The Republican Governors Association’s communications director predicted the day before the March 20th primary that Rauner would “win easily.” In the days leading up to the primary, Rauner himself compared his race to the one Gov. Jim Edgar faced before winning a second term - but Edgar won that GOP primary by 50 points.
So, he deserves most of what he’s getting these days…
Rauner won election over hapless Pat Quinn by less than 5 percentage points. He’ll need every vote he can touch to have a chance against Pritzker.
“There have been some tough conversations in private between the governor and legislators and activists,” said a Rauner campaign official. “And maybe they don’t agree with the governor on this issue or that issue, but at the end of the day people will recognize the stakes of this election are very high. We’re trying to build bridges.”
Bridges are nice. But right now, Illinois Republicans need to deal with that wall, particularly its base.
The problem for Rauner is the primary is over and he needs to be pivoting toward the center. Appeasing “fringe” (his word) elements of his “base” is counter-productive. And trying to use the “Because… Madigan!” argument doesn’t work so well at the moment because he used it so blatantly (and falsely) against Ives.
Any ideas?
- Ducky LaMoore - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 2:25 pm:
===Any ideas?===
Start with being a higher quality human being. Show a little contrition to Ives. Believe it or not, you actually need her. Actually propose a balanced budget. Stop playing Governor Dress-up. Stop comparing Madigan to the mafia. You are trying to do the same thing, you just aren’t very good at it. Own the Quincy debacle and actually do something about it. Quit dropping g’s.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 2:25 pm:
===Any ideas?===
Got a couple, but the likes of - Louis G Atsaves - made clear long ago, Raunerites don’t want Republicans, like me.
Funny, that’s what this Post is all about.
I’ll let the Raunerites figure it out. They know where to find “me”, or as I like to say, non-Raunerites.
- Annonin' - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 2:27 pm:
Get his former consultant Stu Levine out there telling the GOPies he knew both Blagoof and GovJunk and clearly GovJunk is THE Best. How about Pat Brady toutin’ GovJunk? Jimryan?
- A Jack - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 2:28 pm:
Is Rauner likely to listen to any ideas?
- Been there, done that - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 2:28 pm:
Breakdown after the last primary (haven’t seen the breakdown for this one yet) - biggest chunk of the SSC weighted vote is in the 18th, but that one is safe for the Raunerites. The second largest chunk is in the 16th, so it is no wonder they are going after that one with gusto.
- wordslinger - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 2:29 pm:
–“He’s in trouble,” a source close to the situation (Dan Proft) told Prairie State Wire (keyboardists in Bangalore who take dictation from Dan Proft).–
- Iggy - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 2:38 pm:
=Get his former consultant Stu Levine out there telling the GOPies he knew both Blagoof and GovJunk and clearly GovJunk is THE Best. How about Pat Brady toutin’ GovJunk? Jimryan?=
Was any of that English? do you think this is funny? are you trying to make a point? ugh. my brain hurts
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 2:44 pm:
===I’ll take a Raunerite over a Proftstitute any day.===
That… is why you fail.
Neither are for building anything.
- Arsenal - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 2:46 pm:
I dunno, if John Kass is out there sounding the alarm, maybe everything’s OK.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 2:47 pm:
===…questioning their “judgment and political acumen”===
LOL
…
LOL
Ives got 48% of the vote.
Keep up.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 2:50 pm:
I’d suggest recognizing that Raunerism isn’t based on anything seemingly Republican.
It’s easy to see who the phonies are, you know, when they sign letters.
- vanilla ice - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 2:54 pm:
== That… is why you fail. Neither are for building anything. ==
You are right…which is why they both have to go.
- Rino18 - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 2:55 pm:
State Senator Rezin (R), didn’t sign the letter. I could have sworn she was Rauner’s bulldog in North Central Illinois.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 3:00 pm:
===…which is why they both have to go.===
Preaching… Choir…
They don’t need “me”, both sides see no use for me.
If they both implode the party, I’ll be around. Hopefully you will too.
- Pot calling kettle - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 3:04 pm:
==State Senator Rezin (R), didn’t sign the letter. ==
Long signed the letter and his sign crew spent the Jan-March putting up signs for Marter and Ives. The Long-Ives-Marter sign trios were on corners all around the district.
I guess Long assumes his supporters won’t see this letter.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 3:21 pm:
===The problem for Rauner is the primary is over and he needs to be pivoting toward the center.===
Rauner was framed, as I stated in my own interpretation, as an Uber-left, costal, limousine social agenda liberal in the primary.
Rauner decided that instead of pivoting Right, he exacerbated a failure to come Right by calling a conservative “Madigan’s favorite Dem”…
===Appeasing “fringe” (his word) elements of his “base” is counter-productive.===
… and never should’ve been a part of all this, but allowing himself (Rauner) be framed as a liberal, and calling Ives “Madigan’s favorite Republican” almost required this need for Rauner to fix his bought party, another misstep… “get in line” type of fixing the party.
===And trying to use the “Because… Madigan” argument doesn’t work so well at the moment because he used it so blatantly (and falsely) against Ives.===
Short sided campaign management ignorance.
This is not the smartest team Rauner fielded running his primary campaign… so…
… you get these problems.
- walker - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 3:34 pm:
The toughest challenge in changing our political culture, is not destroying corruption, or removing the impact of money. It is diminishing the top-down power flow within political parties.
- Try-4-Truth - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 3:40 pm:
Imagine if Speaker Madigan pulled something like this??? There would be no Republicans left… All of their heads would explode simultaneously.
- 19th ward guy - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 3:42 pm:
Yes. Mark Shaw, a Plaintiffs lawyer—-a line of work detested by most fiscal conservatives and for a party whose platform specifically calls for tort reform—-that is a great pick by the geniuses at IPI. It would be funny if it weren’t blatantly stupid.
- Steve Rogers - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 3:55 pm:
Any ideas?
This implies there is some positives to be gained by pivoting. I don’t think it matters if he pivots to the left of Nancy Pelosi, becomes more extreme than Ives, or lands squarely as a centrist. Rauner failed. That’s all that matters.
- Skeptic - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 4:02 pm:
Labor Peace + Balanced Budget = Reelection
That [reelection] is a prospect that gives me the chills, but fortunately it’s about as likely as getting chilled in you-know-where. Nevertheless it’s an honest suggestion.
- Earnest - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 4:09 pm:
>Any ideas?
Fight fire with fire: develop a graphic featuring an anchor labelled BVR to neutralize Madigan’s media shop.
- Langhorne - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 4:10 pm:
Rauner will do his usual–all messagin’ all the time.
Look at all the positive pops he got from — rev estimate, balanced budget, no new taxes. The sabotage comes later.
- Boone's is Back - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 4:41 pm:
I’d love to be a fly on the wall in that state GOP meeting. I have a feeling it’s gonna be like the Lords of Scotland meeting with Robert the Bruce…
- vanilla ice - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 4:49 pm:
==I have a feeling it’s gonna be like the Lords of Scotland meeting with Robert the Bruce…=
The meeting with Robert the Bruce and those Scottish lords already took place…in 2013 when the Proftlings were put on the Rauner payroll.
- Alex Ander - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 7:15 pm:
When almost half of your voting base of your party is against you, any kind of olive branch is crucial. Instead, he’s beating those people with that branch.
- Anonymous - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 7:46 pm:
“Any ideas?”
Savor it.
– MrJM
- Anon Nice - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 7:51 pm:
Mark Shaw couldn’t even get Republicans to vote for Jeremy Wynes over Doug Bennett but he’s going to lead the state party? Good luck with that…
- Anonymous - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 8:12 pm:
It’s nice to see a pig wallow in the mud and then try to sell a silk purse to someone.
I like my pork well done with plenty of barbecue sauce.
- Anonymous - Monday, Apr 16, 18 @ 9:22 pm:
Peter Roskam is a trial attorney so was Matt Murphy they seemed to do just fine as Republicans?
- VanillaMan - Tuesday, Apr 17, 18 @ 8:19 am:
I never took his money, voted for him in the primaries, yet hoped he would accomplish something.
Rauner failed spectacularly.
Out he goes.
I am not voting for the Worst Republican Governor in America.
There is nothing he can say because there is nothing that he accomplished.
- Can - Tuesday, Apr 17, 18 @ 8:34 am:
==Any ideas?==
Move to Italy.