* From Phil Kadner’s Sun-Times column on Adam Kinzinger…

It was during an editorial board interview at the Daily Southtown, where I worked at the time, and the other four GOP candidates were older men who hated Nancy Pelosi. Well, maybe hated is too strong a word. But they made it clear they despised her and wanted voters to know they believed she was some sort of demon out to destroy all that was good about America.

Kinzinger was different. He said he had come back from Iraq and Afghanistan with a different view of the country. People in the military of different races, different economic backgrounds and different religious faiths had all worked together for one end. Their purpose was to achieve a mission, to succeed, and politics didn’t matter. He would try to work with Pelosi.

That’s what he wanted to bring to Washington, unity for the good of the country.

Kinzinger’s older opponents questioned his commitment to Republican values. But he calmly stood his ground. Something had to change in America, he said, if the democracy was going to survive.

I was impressed, and the newspaper endorsed him.

* CNN last week…

Nearly 230 Republican members of Congress told the Supreme Court on Thursday that it should overturn Roe v. Wade and release its “vise grip on abortion politics.”

The new brief is the latest filing in a dispute that will be heard next term and represents the most significant abortion-related case the justices have taken up in nearly a half a century. The 6-3 conservative court, bolstered by three of former President Donald Trump’s appointees, could gut, or invalidate court precedent, and that’s what the GOP lawmakers are calling for.

“Congress and the States have shown that they are ready and able to address the issue in ways that reflect Americans’ varying viewpoints and are grounded in the science of fetal development and maternal health,” lawyers for 228 Republican lawmakers, including leadership in both chambers, told the justices.

At issue before the court is a Mississippi law that bars most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. There is no exception for rape or incest. The court will render its decision by next June, in the lead up to the mid-term elections.

The brief is here.

* Politico last week…

“Congress and the States have shown that they are ready and able to address the issue in ways that reflect Americans’ varying viewpoints and are grounded in the science of fetal development and maternal health,” lawyers for the Republicans told the justices.

Signing on from Illinois: Reps. Mike Bost (IL-12), Rodney Davis (IL-13), Mary Miller (IL-15), Adam Kinzinger (IL-16) and Darin LaHood (IL-18).

In recent months, Kinzinger’s Republican credentials have been questioned as he has called out Trump for his role in the attack on the Capitol and for serving on the House panel investigating it.

The Illinois Republican’s support for ending Roe v. Wade is a reminder that he really is a conservative.

* Personal PAC…

While U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger was standing up to Trump’s big lie about the 2020 election, he enthusiastically added his name to a right-wing brief to the U.S. Supreme Court asking that Roe v. Wade be overturned—-with no exceptions for rape and incest!

The brief Kinzinger put his signature to is full of unscientific, anti-abortion propaganda and lies about women, doctors, pregnancy and abortion. This should come as no surprise as Kinzinger, Representatives Rodney Davis, Mike Bost and Mary Miller all have 100% anti-abortion voting records and were part of the 228 right-wing members of Congress who pledged their deep desire to have abortion become illegal, dangerous and deadly again for millions of American women, including those in Illinois.

With more than 20 states and counting already having passed “trigger laws” declaring that when (not if!) Roe is overturned, abortion will be illegal, this is no time to look past Adam Kinzinger’s big lie about the ability of women to make reproductive health care decisions for themselves. We must stand together to keep Adam Kinzinger and all his anti-abortion allies from outlawing abortion in our Illinois.

…Adding… Press release…

Minooka businessman Michael Rebresh has announced his candidacy for Illinois’ 16th Congressional District against incumbent Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R):

“I’m a father, a husband, a successful businessman of more than 23 years and, unlike Joe Biden, I actually DO drive an 18-wheeler,” Rebresh says. “I’m also a longtime Minooka resident and a staunch conservative Republican who supported President Trump in 2016 and 2020 - not based on his personality but based on his policies. That’s why today I am announcing that I’m running for Congress in Illinois’ 16th Congressional District.”

Rebresh says that he is the only announced Republican challenger to Kinzinger who lives in the district. “The people of the 16th congressional district DESERVE true representation and they cannot get that representation from carpetbaggers looking to profit from a quick political opportunity,” he said

But Rebresh says the worst offender is incumbent Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who has used his seat for his own gain – not the people’s. “He is a handpicked loyalist of Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,” Rebresh says. “While doing Nancy’s bidding and furthering his own interests, he ignored the riots that devastated Illinois’ cities and towns last year and failed to recognize the local thin blue line we all count on.”

Rebresh says that Kinzinger viciously attacked President Trump for the last five years and has ignored the concerns of the residents of the 16th district over and over again. He says that residents are concerned about their kids returning to school with mask mandates and theoretical political agendas being taught in the classroom. Rebresh also says that Kinzinger knew the risk that the Byron and Dresden nuclear power plants would be shut down a year ago, costing residents their jobs and causing energy costs to skyrocket, and did nothing.

“We can and must do better than Rep. Adam Kinzinger and, if elected to represent the people of the 16th Congressional District, I will,” he says.

Rebresh is the owner of Azamon Logistics and a longtime resident of the Minooka area where he lives with his wife, Sherry, and their three young children, Wyatt, Holly and Brett.