Betsy Dirksen Lobbyist, who has taken thousands from Mike Madigan’s cronies under federal investigation, keeps a tight circle of other fellow lobbyists, including her corporate lobbyist husband.
Betsy Dirksen Londrigan sure knows a lot of lobbyists. Betsy was a lobbyist and political fundraiser tied to corrupt politicians. Betsy’s husband, another lobbyist. He worked as a top aide to Rod Blagojevich. Yikes, that’s his campaign is bankrolled by her lobbyist friends. She’s taken thousands from lobbyists under federal investigation for corruption and a rape coverup. Lobbyist, family, lobbyist, friends, lobbyist money. That’s Betsy Dirksen Londrigan. The NRCC is responsible for the content of this average.
I really do not like this trend of dragging family members into campaigns.
* As an aside, the GOP can’t figure out if Rod is a bad guy or a good guy…
* Back to the ads. Press release…
Today, Rodney Davis’ campaign for Congress released a new ad titled “Pam,” which highlights Betsy Londrigan’s support for a government-run insurance plan that could force the closure of over half of America’s rural hospital, including 39 in Illinois. The ad also highlights Rodney’s record of strengthening rural hospitals and protecting coverage for pre-existing conditions.
Pam: As a nurse, I want the best care for my patients. That’s why I won’t vote for Betsy Londrigan.
Londrigan supports a government-run health insurance plan that could force rural hospitals to close and take away your choice of doctors. Betsy Londrigan’s liberal plans would jeopardize your family’s care.
Rodney Davis is fighting to strengthen rural hospitals and protect those with pre-existing conditions. Rodney Davis is on our side.
* Londrigan response…
Rodney Davis and his allies are currently airing misleading attacks against Betsy and her family in an attempt to distract voters from the fact that Rodney Davis’ own family received over one million dollars in PPP loans, which Davis repeatedly voted against disclosing to the public.
Davis voted against the TRUTH Act, which was intended to bring much-needed transparency and oversight of funds to the Paycheck Protection Program, as well as against the formation of a House committee to oversee coronavirus relief spending.
“Instead of explaining why he repeatedly voted to hide that his family took more than $1 million in PPP loans, Rodney Davis and his party bosses are airing misleading attacks against Betsy and her family,” said campaign spokeswoman Eliza Glezer. ”Davis’ allies are desperately trying to distract from his record of votes against transparency for the Paycheck Protection Program, but taxpayers in Central Illinois won’t fall for it.”
When asked about the President only paying $750 in federal income taxes, Congressman Rodney Davis brushed aside any concerns that many working and middle-class families in Central Illinois pay more in taxes, saying that “those are things [he’s] happy to address in Washington.”
But Davis has had his chance to address that in Washington and instead he voted for his party’s massive tax handout to the wealthiest Americans and big corporations.
Davis’ vote was also considered “a major victory for pharma manufacturers” and gave a tax break to the top five pharmaceutical companies to the tune of $42.7 billion – the same industries that bankroll Davis’ campaign.
“Either Rodney Davis is on the side of working families in Central Illinois or he’s with the wealthiest few that bankroll his campaign. Judging by his votes in Washington, we know where his loyalties lie. For Congressman Davis to claim otherwise is a bad joke and nobody’s laughing,” said DCCC Spokesperson Courtney Rice.
Video…
We asked US Rep @RodneyDavis how it's fair that @realDonaldTrump pays so little in federal income taxes. His answer? He offered to drop off your check at the Treasury Dept if you'd like to pay extra in taxes. pic.twitter.com/eIDLIPjH1K
After winning a slew of suburban state legislative seats long held by Republicans in 2018, Illinois Democrats are looking to expand their reach even further in November as renewed controversy swirls around their powerful leader, longtime House Speaker Michael Madigan.
Republicans for years have built their campaign strategy around vilifying Madigan, who has been speaker for all but two years since 1983, but it hasn’t paid off in a big way at the ballot box. This year, however, the GOP hopes its anti-Madigan message will resonate in a new way after federal prosecutors in July alleged that Commonwealth Edison engaged in a “yearslong bribery scheme” designed to curry favor with the speaker.
But Madigan, who has not been charged and has denied wrongdoing, is only on the ballot in his Southwest Side district, and Democrats are hoping to capitalize on a changing suburban electorate’s dissatisfaction with the name at the top of the Republican ticket: President Donald Trump. […]
“Voters across the state, and suburban voters in particular, are responding to the intersection of the pandemic, the economy and access to affordable health care,” [Senate President Don Harmon] said. “That’s been our message across the state. It’s resonating, especially in the suburbs.”
A snarky parlor game being played by some these days is guessing which number will be higher after the election: Membership in the Senate Republican caucus (currently at 19 with one on the bubble) or Madigan’s excess majority (currently at 14).
* Some of the spending has been horribly lopsided…
If you don’t subscribe to Scott Kennedy’s Illinois Election Data, you need to change that. Click here.
* Both parties are airing brutal ads. Here’s one from a week ago…
Script…
They’re called the Eastern Bloc, a group of ultra-right-wing extremists. And Seth Lewis is their newest recruit. Their agenda? Dismantle Planned Parenthood and block women’s health care, strip away a woman’s right to choose even in cases of rape and incest. The Bloc are for unlimited gun access and against vaccinations for school children. And they’ve removed life-saving COVID protections for essential workers and seniors. Seth Lewis’ agenda? Radical, bizarre, dangerous.
As focus of a local celebrity roast more than three years ago, Monica Bristow downed six shots of Fireball whiskey while listening to several roasters, one of whom said she “drinks all the time.” […]
However, one of the most controversial statements made by Bristow during the Jan. 19, 2017 roast, held as a fund-raiser for Pride, Inc. at Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey, was a joke she told about a retired teacher whose remains were found inside a vehicle in the Mississippi River in 2005, three years after her disappearance. […]
“About Miss Bricker. I was Miss Bricker’s favorite student…Miss Bricker was the one who met her end going into the river,” Bristow said at the roast. ”I shouldn’t do this but I’m gonna because I’ve had Fireball. She had no children so they’re not here.”
Bristow joked that Bricker was identified by lipstick on her teeth.
“I know it’s in poor taste,” Bristow said, “but I love that joke. God, I love that joke.”
Oy.
But will the HGOPs have enough cash to make sure people hear about it?…
That district is in the St. Louis media market, and those TV ads ain’t cheap.
