* Yesterday, I received a call from a Republican operative [Doug Ibendahl - see update below] who said he’d seen a Tom Swiss campaign billboard on Chicago’s West Side. Swiss is a former Cook County Republican Party executive director who is running in a Democratic primary in a majority black district. Swiss is white. Click the pic to see a larger version of Swiss’ billboard…

* My initial, humorous reaction in reply to the operative’s subsequent e-mail with the billboard pic was that this looked like the John Stroger “fisherman” ad in reverse. Stroger’s TV ad for Cook County Board President featured a white fisherman and the joke was back then that lots of voters thought the old white man fishing with his grandson was actually Stroger. Here’s the e-mail I sent…

It’s like the old John Stroger fisherman ad in reverse. lol

Notice the “lol.”

After I sent that e-mail, I scrolled down and realized there was a pic of a second billboard…

* So far, Swiss has managed to fly almost completely under the Chicago media’s radar screen despite the obvious news potential of his campaign - a white Republican operative running as a Democrat in a black majority House district. Chicago media is notorious for ignoring state legislative races, which is one reason I’ve been able to establish my niche. I wrote about Swiss in the subscriber version way back on December 2nd…

(T)he longtime Republican Swiss has filed to run in the Democratic primary against appointed incumbent Derrick Smith, who got the seat when Annazette Collins was appointed to the Senate. A recent blast e-mail from the Illinois Log Cabin Republicans stated that Democrats often insert Republican plants into Chicago races and went on to claim: “It’s time to turn the tables and use their same tricks against them! This year we have a lifelong Republican supporter running as a Democrat.”

In his own e-mail, which was date-stamped May 24th, Swiss dismissed the majority African-American district’s residents as “extremely low information voters,” and said he had three paths to victory. Branding and get-out-the-vote were his first two goals.

His third goal, however, may raise some eyebrows. Swiss wrote that he planned on “hiring people’s yards to place a yard sign for $5.”

Swiss would neither confirm nor deny last night that he wrote the e-mail, saying only that he was “running as a Democrat to serve the public and bring sound judgment to Springfield. I don’t believe that patriotism is a party label. William Lipinski, Dan Lipinski, Richard M. Daley and even Speaker Madigan can each be fairly described as Conservative Democrats. I look forward to the race.” Swiss also did not answer a question about the ethics of paying for yard sign placements.

Swiss promised to run an “extremely aggressive” campaign in the e-mail, adding that the race “could possibly be the least expensive State Rep. seat pick up for conservatives.”

* I had planned to reach out to Swiss again today about the billboards and to see how he was doing with his paid yard sign placements, but at 12:21 this morning several reporters including myself received this blast e-mail from the Swiss campaign…

DEMOCRAT MACHINE PLANS SMEAR CAMPAIGN ON REFORMER TOM “JOBS NOW” SWISS

Tom Swiss, reform candidate for the Democratic Nomination for State Senator in the 10th District, announced today that multiple sources have warned him of a coming Democrat Machine racist smear campaign against him to be unleashed to incite Black voters. It is to be run through press and blog sites friendly to the Machine, such as Rich Miller’s “Capitol Fax”.

“I don’t care if someone is black or white. I care that families are suffering and people are going hungry from a lack of jobs stemming from the fiscal catastrophe that is Illinois,” stated Swiss. “The current regime cares a whole lot more about votes than jobs.”

Swiss stated that he had been tipped off that the campaign would start almost immediately, and accuse Swiss of trying to misrepresent himself as African American. “I’ve never hidden who or what I am,” said Swiss. “I’ve also never waivered from my deep concern that we need to restart economies in Black neighborhoods before they are overcome by poverty and gangs. It is not a race issue. It is a people issue, and the only long-term answer is business development, starting right here in the 10th District.”

He sent out a correction 21 minutes later noting that he was running for the House, not the Senate.

If the Republican who sent me the billboard photos consents, I’ll post his name later in the day. I wanted to get this post up, however, because I am the one clearly being smeared by a candidate who has already apparently boasted about planning to pay for yard sign placements in a district populated with “extremely low information voters” and whose ally has all but admitted that the candidate is a GOP plant.

* Also, just for snicks, you may remember this Tom Swiss story from 2010…

Visitors to ChicagoGOP.com may have gotten a bit of a surprise today — for much of the afternoon, the lead item on the site featured a provocative picture of a bare-chested woman wrapped in a bed sheet. […]

A phone call and email to Tom Swiss, who Blessing said runs the unofficial site, were not immediately returned.

*** UPDATE *** The Republican who called me about the billboard yesterday was Doug Ibendahl. He sent me this statement…

Anyone who knows me knows I’m completely against these dishonest games. As a Republican I know this nonsense hurts the Republican Party. We don’t win over Democratic voters by lying to them right out of the box. I don’t know what Tom Swiss is, but he’s not a Democrat as his signs claim. This goof has been embarrassing the GOP for years. The good news is Swiss is officially out of the Republican Party now.