* Art Jones, a perennial candidate who was a leader of the American Nazi Party, filed this morning to run as a Republican in the 3rd Congressional District. Jones won 26.5 percent of the vote against Democratic incumbent Dan Lipinski last year.

But, unlike last time, Jones will likely have to defeat a Republican primary opponent. Will County Board Minority Leader Mike Fricilone filed his petitions to run last week.

* Jones was spotted at the Board of Elections today checking petition signatures…

Ugh.

…Adding… As expected, Jones examined Fricilone’s petitions today.

*** UPDATE 1 *** More rerun weirdness…

Also filing again today is 9/11 "truther" and general conspiracy theorist Bill Fawell, again seeking the IL-17 GOP nomination.

He was disavowed by local GOP'ers in the district after he won the nomination by default in 2018 and people looked at his past writings. https://t.co/sW7OWpigcr

— Chris Kaergard (@ChrisKaergard) December 2, 2019

*** UPDATE 2 *** ILGOP Chairman Tim Schneider…

The Illinois Republican Party vehemently condemns Arthur Jones’ candidacy. His racism and bigotry have no place in our party or American politics. As we did in 2016 and 2018, we will oppose his candidacy in every way possible.

       

48 Comments - Oak Parker - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 10:19 am: At least he has an opponent in the primary. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 10:21 am: Will the Raunerites and IPI folks still running the ILRaunerites let this stand? They did last time. Just sayin’ - Oswego Willy - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 10:23 am: I’m sure the national GOP will get right on it, like GHWB did with David Duke… Sure, I won’t hold my breath… - Bruce (no not him) - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 10:25 am: ” I hate Illinois nazis” - Demoralized - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 10:28 am: The fact that 26.5 percent of the voters voted for him last time is disturbing. - FormerParatrooper - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 10:33 am: I suppose he doesn’t know that the 4th Infantry Division fought Nazis. Also that the Army did as well. He is wearing a 4ID pin on an Army hat. How does a guy like this get enough signatures to even be on a ballot? - SSL - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 10:34 am: Now there’s a crazy dude if ever there was one. Did someone drop him on his head as a baby? - Nick Name - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 10:35 am: If I were Mike Fricilone I would not assume an easy primary victory. - Steve - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 10:37 am: OW So you seem to be associating the entire GOP with Nazis. This is like associating the entire Illinois Democratic party with sexual harassment . Or associating RICO with Anne Burke. Or the entire organized labor movement with the Chicago Mob. - mcdouble - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 10:37 am: Someone should request his petitions and make it public who circulated them. Also perhaps signed. I bet no one tells someone who was asked to sign that it was for a Nazi. - Sean - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 10:38 am: The only difference between him and President Trump is that he says out loud the things President Trump and his ilk wish they could say. We cannot forget President Trump employs Stephen Miller, a man with more public ties to white nationalists than Art Jones. So again, what’s really the difference? - Oswego Willy - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 10:42 am: - Steve - Go Hee Haw at someone else. One has zero to do with another. Thanks. - Jocko - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 10:53 am: ==checking petition signatures== Is the candidate’s petition public record? If so, I hope there are more than a couple residents sweating this fact. - Lucky Pierre - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 10:56 am: Will the Raunerites and IPI folks still running the ILRaunerites let this stand? They did last time. 100% false slander OW you should be ashamed https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/05/bruce-rauner-vote-for-anybody-arthur-jones-695411 - NeverPoliticallyCorrect - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 10:57 am: -Oswego Willy- Your comments are clearly a jab a the national Republican party to intervene in a state district race. Steve’s point is clearly on point with regard then to holding the Dems accountable for their lack of accountability with the issues he raises. - Ok, Boomer - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 11:01 am: Will either of the candidates who ran in the 3rd as Independents be filing to run in the GOP primary? I hope so. Justin Hanson has strong but evolved conservative chops. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 11:01 am: === Your comments are clearly a jab a the national Republican party to intervene in a state district race.=== It’s a federal race, for Congress. Do ya want me to pull the GHWB quote again or we gonna just agree that presidents and the national party, in the past, rejected National Socialists who ran. As for the Raunerites, they sat back, didn’t “know” this guy ran last time, until he filed, and still, the focus was it in defeating or stopping these type of things from happening. ===… point is clearly on point with regard then to holding the Dems accountable for their lack of accountability with the issues he raises.=== He can Hee Haw all he wants, don’t drag me into his ridiculousness - Steve - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 11:04 am: OW -It’s a federal race, for Congress.- But, you are bringing Bruce Rauner. Ok… got it. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 11:07 am: Rauner ran and funded the state party, the ILRaunerites, and that included candidate recruitment. You support having a National Socialist as the nominee? They were lazy and ineffective to the task. You buy a party, you own things like this. Jones himself bragged about “snookering” the ILRaunerites. - Ok, Boomer - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 11:10 am: OW, hypocrisy seems to be a component of the underpinnings of today’s GOP. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 11:18 am: === hypocrisy=== I frame it as the folks who understood you can’t have National Socialists running in primaries are now overrun by folks who think Charlottesville is “both sides”, and the “national pride” is race driven. Since 1965 when the parties clearly flipped for those who see race as a purity test, the fight in the GOP has been to disinfranchise racism, now it’s embracing racism openly in some circles, with such muted pushback, “both sides” is the narrative they want. - Just Another Anon - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 11:22 am: @ Rich Miller I think OW has gone beyond the tolerable limits of the comment policy. I would say his comments are beyond uncivil. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 11:28 am: === Will the Raunerites and IPI folks still running the ILRaunerites let this stand? They did last time. 100% false slander…=== Let’s look at that cite… From *your* link; === Rauner had stopped just short of Cruz’s call to vote for a Democrat, saying merely that voters should write in a candidate in November=== So… even with a National Socialist, Rauner couldn’t say Lipinski is better? Its confusing, really. Then this… === “To the voters of the 3rd Congressional District: vote for anybody but Arthur Jones. Nazis have no place in our country and no one should vote for him,” Rauner said via Twitter. “For the media or anyone else to suggest I think otherwise is offensive and irresponsible.”=== How Mr. Jones saw it? Maybe your beef isn’t with me, but with Mr. Jones? === “I snookered them,” Jones boasted after learning the state GOP had failed to mount a third-party challenge.=== “Exactly right” - Steve Rogers - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 11:28 am: I don’t always agree with OW, but he’s spot on with this one. The state and national GOP turned a blind eye to this race two years ago, and allowed a Nazi (to repeat, a Nazi) win a GOP primary in a Congressional race. What are they going to do this time? And “Art Jones” is a pretty good American name, just like “Mark Fairchild” and “Janice Hart” are pretty good American names. - A guy - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 11:28 am: If you meet very minimum standards, anyone can file. He’s not the only filer this time. The party did encourage another qualified and decent person to run on the GOP side. I’m sure this kook’s petitions will be reviewed and if there’s a way to disqualify him it’ll be done. Two names Willy; Hart and Fairchild. It’s possible for people to sneak through. A lot of GOP folks helped Dan last time against this embarrassing creep in the General. 26% voting a straight ticket with little knowledge of who all the candidates are is shamefully high, but I’d wager it’d be higher on the other side of straight party voters. He’ll be much easier to dispose of this time. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 11:32 am: - A Guy - If “whataboutism” makes it cool for you… wow. Says more than you realize. - Ok, Boomer - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 11:35 am: OW, you are dead on. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 11:36 am: For all the “whataboutism” folks… GHWB on David Duke, quoting the sitting President George HW Bush === “When someone asserts that the Holocaust never took place, then I don’t believe that person ever deserves one iota of public trust. And when someone has so recently endorsed [N]azism, it is inconceivable that such a person can legitimately aspire to leadership — in a leadership role in a free society. And when someone has a long record, an ugly record, of racism and of bigotry, that record simply cannot be erased by the glib rhetoric of a political campaign. So, I believe that David Duke is an insincere charlatan. I believe he is attempting to hoodwink the voters of Louisiana, and I believe that he should be rejected for what he is and what he stands for.”=== When the current president disavows Mr. Jones, lemme know. - Amalia - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 11:40 am: Illinois Nazis clip on a loop. - AlfondoGonz - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 11:40 am: -A Guy- “26% voting a straight ticket with little knowledge of who all the candidates are is shamefully high, but I’d wager it’d be higher on the other side of straight party voters.” Let me put this through my translator… “More than 1/4 of the electorate blindly voted for a Nazi with an (R) next to his name, but I’ll posit, based on nothing, that D’s are worse.” - JS Mill - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 11:50 am: =So you seem to be associating the entire GOP with Nazis. = Just 26.5% then. Is that better? =But, you are bringing Bruce Rauner. Ok… got it.= Ask Aaron Shock about that one and see what he has to say. Or do you think he was a member of the Illinois State United States House of Representatives? Lol. - Lucky Pierre - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 11:51 am: How is it that a National Socialist a Republican again? - Rich Miller - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 12:06 pm: ===How is it that a National Socialist a Republican again? === You’re either very stupid or dangerously disingenuous. Try reading a little history about the origin of that name. - ike - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 12:21 pm: Rich - lucky just likes to play dumb. He knows better - @misterjayem - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 12:22 pm: “You’re either very stupid or dangerously disingenuous.” Both. – MrJM - Grandson of Man - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 12:22 pm: GOP voters think Trump is a better leader than Abe Lincoln. Jones has a place in the party of Trump, as do candidates like Roy Moore of Alabama. - SOIL M - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 12:26 pm: How is it that a National Socialist a Republican again? Because He filed and ran once, and filed a second time and is running again as a Republican. The only way to prove to him that he does not represent what you believe to be Republican values is to defeat him. Hopefully someone will defeat him bad enough that he doesnt try again. In my opinion, anyone who believes in any type of Socialism, by any name, does not represent the values of the Republican Party. Totalitarianism, in any form, by any name, does not in anyway represent Individual Freedoms or Personal Liberty. But for some reason way too many people put them together. - Captain Obvious - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 12:34 pm: A word to those incensed by Willy’s nonsense: just do what I do. When you see his name at the too of a comment, simply skip over it. It’s not like you will miss anything important and you will have more time to read and consider the more relevant comments. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 12:40 pm: - Captain Obvious - Thanks for making a comment about me… exposing how you ignore me. It’s obvious you think about me, lol Has the RNCC said anything yet? I dunno, but have they? This made national news last time, you’d think a White House political arm would use this chance to flex its muscles to push back against both “whataboutism” criticisms they get, at the least? This is a slam dunk if you stand against racism, and still, I read lots about “what can ya do” or “what about” or even “we fought but… “ When people show you who they are… - DuPage Saint - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 12:59 pm: As to the other nut, Fawell, at least he moved out of DuPage. Maybe George Ryan could talk to him - Soccermom - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 1:40 pm: Amalia — my thought exactly - Oswego Willy - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 2:14 pm: === As we did in 2016 and 2018, we will oppose his candidacy in every way possible.=== Narrator: they failed to get a 3rd party candidate up and running. My hope is that the Raunerites help that other candidate that filed and it works in the primary. Good luck. - Fixer - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 2:32 pm: The next 12 months are going to be wild. - Pundent - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 2:55 pm: =His racism and bigotry have no place in our party or American politics.= I think he meant “state” politics. At the national level they refer to this as the base. And therein lies the problem for the GOP nationally. They’ve allowed themselves to be hijacked by the likes of Art Jones. - Maryjane - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 3:29 pm: “His racism and bigotry have no place in our party” This from a current Republican is surprising. I recall G.H.W. Bush espousing this enlightened attitude years ago regarding David Duke et al. ‘Thought they were all retired or dead by now. Oh well, I did, nazi, that coming…. - Grandson of Man - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 3:39 pm: “His racism and bigotry have no place in our party” If only Jones toned it down enough. Then he’d be welcome with open arms. Try dog whistles instead. - OpentoDiscusssion - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 5:58 pm: When will this guy disappear from the political scene? Basically he is just another publicity seeking grand stander. Of course he has no monopoly on that matter. - PublicServant - Monday, Dec 2, 19 @ 8:46 pm: The GOP can can be vehemently outraged all they want. Words are words. The kooks know which party to call home. Just sayin… Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.