* Bill Brady and others took a little heat for appearing this past Saturday on the same stage as a very controversial activist…
Chicago immigrant rights activists and religious leaders are upset that the Republican candidate for Illinois governor, state Sen. Bill Brady, and other Republican politicians are scheduled to share the stage Saturday with a woman who is the founder of the Illinois Minuteman Project and has made controversial comments about immigrants, Catholics and Muslims.
Rosanna Pulido, who unsuccessfully ran for Congress, is scheduled to speak at a Tea Party rally in Bartlett this afternoon hosted by the Tri-Count-Teas. They also have invited Republican politicians, including state Sen. Randy Hultgren, a candidate for Congress in the 14th District , Angel Garcia, a candidate for Cook County Clerk, and Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica.
Click here for the press release announcing the event. We’ve been over this before, but here’s a sampling of Pulido’s comments…
Responding to the post by someone else: “Oh I don’t know, those pictures of dozens of men in mosques kneeling on prayer rugs with their heads down low always looks pretty funny to me,” [Pulido] says: It reminds me of my dog, smelling butts.” December 28, 2003
“Cardinal George is responsible for every illegal immigrant who dies while crossing the border coming over here because he is luring them.” March 23, 2008
Referring to the gay community: “Face it, its better to be in a meat packing town than in a fudge packing town.” (post #42), November 7, 2008
“Great! Now the gays can indoctrinate the other kids who are struggling, they will be told that they have gay tendencies and be lead along like sheep to the slaughter.” (post #3), November 18, 2008
Brady’s own speech can be seen by clicking here (Part 1) and here (Part 2). Pretty standard stuff. He didn’t address Pulido’s charges, but he entirely avoided talking about immigration.
* Meanwhile, Brady’s campaign has named state Rep. Ron Stephens chairman of Veterans for Brady/Plummer. From a press release…
Springfield, IL…On Sunday, a group of veterans and elected officials gathered at the Illinois State Fair to announce the formation of “Veterans for Brady/Plummer,” a volunteer organization of supporters who believe Bill Brady and Jason Plummer are the right choice to protect and preserve veterans’ benefits and opportunities over the next four years.
“Our fiscal problems at the state level have affected each and every person in Illinois, including veterans and their families,” said State Representative and U.S. Army Veteran Ron Stephens. “I’ve known Senator Brady for twenty years, and I assure you, veterans and their families will always be a top priority of his administration. We need a real advocate in the Governor’s office, someone who stands by his word and someone who will protect the interests of the men and women who so bravely protected our freedoms abroad.” Representative Stephens will be serving as chairman of “Veterans for Brady/Plummer.”
Really? Ron Stephens? The pharmacist who got busted for doing drugs several years ago, then nearly lost his pharmacist license after being popped for a DUI earlier this year? He has an honorable service record and I’ve always firmly believed that a simple (not aggravated circustances) DUI ought not be the end of the world. But Stephens’ misbehavior far transcends those two public sanctions, so putting him front and center ain’t exactly the best idea I’ve ever heard. Maybe the Brady campaign will help administer his random drug tests.
The revelation came after Kelly Klopp, the spokesman for 10th District congressional hopeful Robert Dold, accidentally sent an e-mail to a Daily Herald reporter Wednesday with instructions to “please get some positive comments up” in the comments section attached to a story about a Dold television commercial.
In the e-mail, Klopp suggested possible messages for the volunteers to post, including “Heard the ad and liked it” and “Nice to see the candidate talk about himself without just attacking his opponent.” […]
“Volunteers write letters to the editors for us, put up yard signs, hand out literature - we’re always encouraging supporters and volunteers to join the public debate,” [Klopp] said. […]
The Dold campaign uses college-age volunteers to post comments on the Web about the candidate, Klopp said. The team she intended to activate Wednesday is based at DePaul University, she said.
Yeah, well, there’s a fine line between encouraging supporters to join the public debate and downright deception. For instance, during the primary I posted Dold’s first TV ad. Here’s one of the comments…
- paul the blue lib - Thursday, Dec 17, 09 @ 3:09 pm:
Dold had a good ad, kinda energy like he is actually going to get some stuff done—not that I hope he gets anything done, but the ad is pretty good.
The message for politicians cuts more to the quick: When you do this, when you allow your campaigns to do this, it may just seem like standard electioneering, but it is fundamentally dishonest.
It may be a small lie, but it is a lie all the same. It tries to pretend that a testimonial is spontaneous when in fact it is orchestrated by the campaign. And that’s a falsehood.
It is fundamentally dishonest and inherently unethical.
You cannot gain the public’s trust by engaging in untrustworthy political practices.
* 10th Congressional District: Israel forum participation debated: “Dan greatly respects Protect our Heritage and shares their commitment to strengthening our special relationship with Israel. Unfortunately, the nature of the forum changed significantly from our original agreement, leading us to decline to participate in a situation that had become inherently unfair and uniquely weighted against Dan,” according to a campaign statement.
* Press release: Governor Quinn Celebrates Veterans’ Day at Illinois State Fair
* Brady wants him fired, but Quinn will have none of that…
Republican candidate for governor Bill Brady on Sunday called on Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn to fire the state’s prisons chief after an early-release plan was ripped in a report for saving money at the expense of public safety.
“I believe the highest obligation of any governor is to protect the interests of the public, the public safety. By allowing these releases to occur, Gov. Quinn failed to meet this obligation,” Brady, a state senator from Bloomington, said at a downtown Chicago news conference.
In Springfield, Quinn responded that he would not fire corrections chief Michael Randle, saying, “I don’t need a lecture from Sen. Brady.” […]
“I’m not going to change the director,” Quinn said during an interview Sunday at the executive mansion. “He did make a mistake. He took responsibility for it.”
All too predictable. The last time Quinn as asked about this was back in May, by my intern Barton Lorimor…
Quinn’s chief of staff, Jerry Stermer, said Friday he was present last summer and fall when the governor told Randle he was not to release violent offenders under MGT Push. Randle took responsibility for not supervising his subordinates closely enough to make sure they followed that dictum. As a result, he said, “It happened.”
That’s not what the subordinates have said. Judge David Erickson’s report did not go into any sort of detail about who actually put that MGT Push program into place. From everything I’ve been told, Randle backed it to the hilt. From Friday’s presser…
Quinn’s order conflicted with a law allowing some violent offenders to qualify for early release, and Randle said that, as director, he should have seen the conflict and suspended the program before anyone with a record of violence was released.
It all looks from the outside that Randle was a passive force. Again, that’s not what I’ve been told by the insiders.
Also, we still don’t know why Randle failed or refused to tell Gov. Pat Quinn about the program until the Associated Press broke the story. I have tried and failed to get an answer to that particular question for months. Too bad they didn’t hold Friday’s press conference in Springfield. Maybe we could’ve gotten to the bottom of things because the Chicago reporters let a lot of stuff slide Friday.
* Roundup and related stories…
* ‘Serious flaws’ in prison-release program: “MGT was a dismal failure. It was totally dysfunctional,” said Judge David Erickson, Kent College of Law… “Inmates did not have to do anything to earn their good time,” said Erickson.
* Bill Brady Wants Illinois’ Prison Chief Replaced: He said Quinn’s not removing Randle shows a lack of “moral responsibility.”
* Quinn picks new inspector general: Ricardo Meza, a former federal prosecutor, succeeds James A. Wright, whose dismissal on Friday was first reported by the Tribune. Meza is the Midwest regional counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, a long-established Latino advocacy group.
