It looks like 101st House District GOP candidate Scot England and his wife both flipped out a little this week. As Capitol Fax has already told you, the Democrats are spending about $400,000 in this district on behalf of appointed state Rep. Bob Flider, even though England, a former WAND-TV reporter, has raised only about $12,000 this fall. They’ve event sent a couple of senior staff into the race, probably because it’s so close to Springfield.

The Democrats have decided to crush this guy, for no particular reason other than they can. England had to quit his job to make the run and claims to have mortgaged his house and car and spent all of his savings - which was supremely stupid, frankly, but still sad. And this week he cracked. I usually have zero sympathy for candidates. Nobody ever holds a gun to a candidate’s head and tells them to run (some precinct workers are occasionally “persuaded,” but not candidates). They get what they get. But there’s no reason for this.

(No hyperlink because the story has already disappeared into the Decatur Herald & Review’s paid archives.)

DECATUR - Republican Scot England is denouncing attack ads state Rep. Bob Flider, D-Mount Zion, is airing this week, claiming Flider is using more than $200,000 in donations from the Illinois Democratic Party to try to buy the election.

England and his wife, Jayne, voiced their frustrations during a news conference Wednesday at the Decatur Civic Center.

Jayne England said her husband “is not boring” and is “a loving husband and father” who has spoken at more than 200 churches in the past six years. She said each morning before he leaves their Sullivan home, Scot prays for Flider.

“Now, he is trying to destroy my husband,” Jayne England said. “Those ads pale in comparison to the phone calls being made by Flider supporters. They range from lies about raising your taxes to more personal lies about our family. No matter who gets the most votes on Nov. 2, we know who the better man is.” [Snip]

Flider denied England’s accusations. He said Wednesday that England started running negative attacks on him six months ago and he has taken them in stride. [Snip]

England’s news conference ended with England following three Flider staff members, who were tape recording the event, out the civic center doors shouting at them to “go back to the hole you crawled out of and tell Julie Curry what I said.”