The race for 2nd District Illinois state representative is heating up.
Theresa Mah’s campaign is accusing supporters of opponent Alex Acevedo of bad behavior at a recent event. Congressman Luis Gutierrez and other Latino leaders gathered in Pilsen on Monday to endorse Mah.
In a campaign email, Mah claims an “angry mob… shouted racial slurs and tried to physically intimidate” her supporters.
The Acevedo campaign strongly denies the allegations.
* The video indicates otherwise. Click here. A Google translation of the Hoy article…
Just when Gutierrez arrived, a group of demonstrators carrying approached placards saying: “Shut up chachalaca”, “Cardenas HDO”, “Latinos United,” “The people sold will be defeated,” among others, and planted front the place where the announcement would be made Mah support.
The interruption came to the degree that Gutierrez decided to move the conference across the street, but in the end only made some statements to the newspaper Hoy.
“I have more than six calls Acevedo begging my support. I had to say no. You can see why I said no, I would not associate with people who do not believe in democracy. They do not allow freedom of expression, “said Gutierrez. […]
Then, Gutierrez walked away while he was followed by the group booed Gutierrez said [was in] fear for his life.
A woman who kept shouting “shut up chachalaca” declined to be identified and declined to comment.
A “chachalaca” is defined by SpeakingLatino.com as an “eloquent but dishonest person.”
Republicans insisted the state’s lack of funds means the measure was a false promise, noting various court orders and laws have put Illinois on track to spend billions more than it is taking in this year.
“I have never seen a more tragic case of playing games with young people’s lives,” said Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon. Righter argued Democrats were following Madigan “like lemmings, right off the cliff.”
That prompted a fiery response from Sen. Kimberly Lightford, D-Maywood, who accused Republicans of blindly following Rauner’s orders to repeatedly vote against spending bills.
“All we hear from you is ‘womp, womp, womp, womp,’” Lightford said. “I don’t even know why you come to the Capitol. Why do you even show up?”
Yeah, we’re getting so close to a resolution. If only Madigan would just step aside.
Right.
* Related…
* Charlie Wheeler: Budget Fix Needs Statesmanship, Not Magic Tricks: No one should expect Democrats would abandon organized labor and not just because they fear retaliation from House Speaker Michael Madigan, as Rauner and his PR minions like to suggest. Anyone could be the speaker, and most Democrats would continue to believe that working men and women should be able to organize to safeguard their workplace interests. It’s in their DNA. In fact, plenty of Republicans share that belief, including the three GOP chief executives who preceded Rauner.
The 12th Ward Democratic Committeemen campaign got hotter today, as the Muñoz and Cardenas campaigns lobbed charges of vote buying at one another while allies of one campaign launched an attack website.
Incumbent 12th Ward Democratic Committeeman and State Senator Tony Muñoz’s campaign released a letter to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office alleging vote buying by the campaign of challenger and 12th Ward Alderman George Cardenas. The letter was accompanied by a video showing what seems to be a Cardenas campaign worker handing out books and Cardenas’ palm cards to voters outside the 12th Ward early voting polling place. The book, Red Rising by Pierce Brown, is part of a post-apocalyptic trilogy in the same genre as the Hunger Games.
“If donating a book constitutes voter fraud, then the Senator is guilty of the same thing for handing out tax rebates at the polling place,” responded Cardenas campaign manager and 15th Ward Ald. Raymond Lopez. “I don’t think of what he’s alleging as voter fraud.”
Lopez’ comments referred to a flyer distributed by Muñoz’ 12th Ward Democratic Organization promoting a property tax rebate seminar scheduled for this Saturday at the McKinley Park Field House, the same location as the 12th Ward’s early voting polls.
…Adding… From Tom Shaer, Deputy Assessor for Communications at the Cook County Assessor’s Office…
This seminar is one of over 125 standard Taxpayer Outreach events which the Cook County Assessor’s Office annually does for many community organizations and elected officials in all townships.
All aspects of property valuation, assessment, the appeal process and exemptions will be covered. No ‘rebates’ are being offered and qualifications for all exemptions are subject to State of Illinois statutes governing such exemptions.
* The letter to the state’s attorney is here. And here’s the video…
* The alleged inducement is kinda bizarre. From Amazon…
A lot happens in this first installment of a projected trilogy. Darrow, living in a mining colony on Mars, sees his wife executed by the government, nearly dies himself, is rescued by the underground revolutionary group known as Sons of Ares, learns his government has been lying to him (and to everybody else), and is recruited to infiltrate the inner circle of society and help to bring it down from within—and that’s all inside the first 100 pages. This is a very ambitious novel, with a fully realized society (class structure is organized by color: Darrow is a Red, a worker, a member of the lower class) and a cast of well-drawn characters. Although it should appeal to all age groups, there is a definite YA hook: despite being a veteran miner and a married man, Darrow is 16 when the novel begins. If told well, stories of oppression and rebellion have a built-in audience, and this one is told very well indeed. A natural for Hunger Games fans of all ages.
I’m figuring somebody had a bunch of free copies laying around.
* Meanwhile, from a blast e-mail by state Senate candidate Angelica Alfaro, who claims to be taking the high road…
We’re now less than two weeks from primary Election Day here in the Second Senate District. Normally this would be a time for optimism for the future of our neighborhood and state.
But, wouldn’t you know it, the other side in this race has nothing but negativity to offer. No optimism in sight, just personal attacks on me and my campaign, with no vision or ideas to fix our state’s problems. For a race as serious as this one, I am disappointed that the other side has nothing positive to offer.
We need to ensure the Second District has a Senator in Springfield who will fight for all of us, not simply call people names. Can I count on your vote before Early Voting closes?
My opponent – Omar “Machine-O” Aquino – will do anything to get elected, including his endless attacks on me. He even gave a campaign job to a convicted felon. His godfather, Political Machine Boss Joe Berrios, was fined for ethics violations – for putting his family on the government payroll.
But Machine-O’s desperation doesn’t end there. He even supported tax hikes on hardworking families in our district, all while his own family got a 50% property tax break (even though an identical building across the street didn’t). All thanks to his godfather, Political Machine Boss Joe Berrios. The rest of play by the rules. Machine-O gets political favors from his godfather Political Machine Boss.
His desperation sticks out like a sore thumb compared to the honest, hardworking families of the Second Senate District.
My neighborhood-focused campaign needs your vote. I voted early already, but join me and Vote Early today.
The choice in this election is crystal clear. Don’t get stuck with a political hack like Machine-O, doing the bidding of his Political Machine Boss godfather.
* Mayor Rahm Emanuel was almost speechless when he was asked about a comparison of Gov. Bruce Rauner to presidential candidate Donald Trump…
The mayor was reacting to a question from a public radio reporter who said an Illinois delegate for Trump to the Republican National Convention told her there are similarities between the two men. “A Trump delegate said that? He clearly didn’t get the talking points,” Emanuel said.
“This is the first time at a press conference I’d like to say I’d like to go off the record,” Emanuel said with a laugh as a dozen media members surrounded him on a stage after an expansion announcement at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. […]
“Let me say, let me answer that question with a non-answer but a bigger point. Let me, here’s what I will say: If you think Donald Trump — I don’t think Bruce Rauner, I’m not going to speak for him, would see that as a compliment,” Emanuel said. […]
“The reason I’m opposed to Donald Trump’s candidacy, there’s a lot of reasons. One particular is because he is not only dividing the Republican Party, it’s exactly how his presidency will be in dividing the United States,” the mayor said. “And I won’t say but you know, Illinois right now, while it had its divisions before, they have been exacerbated of late. And I would hope that we come together and move forward, and what I say by that, particularly as it relates to education of our children.”
