* Mike Boland didn’t just lose his “top staffer,” the kid was basically Boland’s only staffer…
Mike Boland’s top staffer has resigned from his congressional campaign citing “strategic differences.”
Auston McLain, Mr. Boland’s campaign manager, who left the campaign Monday, said Tuesday, “Mike and I continue to be great friends. He did not wish to see me go, and there is not an ounce of harsh feelings on either side.”
Mr. Boland, a former state representative, is one of six Democrats seeking their party’s nomination for U.S. Congress in the 17th Congressional District in the 2012 elections. The others are Greg Aguilar, Cheri Bustos, Eric Reyes, state Sen. Dave Koehler, D-Peoria, and Freeport Mayor George Gaulrapp. […]
Mr. Boland confirmed Tuesday that Mr. McLain’s resignation was “friendly” and “amicable.”
Boland has good name recognition in the district, but he’ll need more than that. This latest move means we can cue the increased speculation that Boland ends up running for state Senate against fellow Democrat and longtime enemy Mike Jacobs.
* Boland had to deal with a bit of a controversy earlier this week…
A Quad City candidate for Congress says he did nothing wrong when he solicited campaign donations via e-mail from teachers at Blackhawk College last month, even though he is on the Board of Trustees at the school.
In a memo obtained by News 8, a union representative for faculty named Joan Eastlund wrote to members about the e-mail blast, saying ‘’as a trustee, Mike Boland will be in the position to vote directly on the retention, tenure and promotion of faculty members. This presents a clear conflct of interest.'’
The union asks that Boland recuse himself from voting on all personnel hiring, promotions, and firings. […]
Boland says five thousand e-mails were sent in the blast for contributions, those received at Blackhawk College just a small portion of the group.
‘’It’s copied after Obama, what he did in 2008. Getting those massive small donations'’, Boland said. ‘’It’s obviously political'’.
* In other news, former Democratic state Rep. Jay Hoffman released poll results of 400 likely voters taken August 10-15 which he says show he has a good shot against Republican incumbent Tim Johnson. From a press release…
The generic ballot question showed this district to be a tossup with 43% favoring a Democratic candidate and 43% favoring a Republican.
The initial trial heat, prior to providing respondents with any information about either candidate, showed Johnson leading Hoffman 44% to 33%, which can be attributed to his higher name recognition. However as respondents learned more about each candidate Hoffman gained considerably and moved ahead of Johnson. […]
Respondents were read a bio of each candidate’s accomplishments followed by a series of likely criticisms and when the respondents were then asked their preference between Jay Hoffman and Tim Johnson the respondents preferred Hoffman 43% to 42%. Respondents were specifically told about Hoffman’s former ties to Rod Blagojevich as well as his vote for a temporary income tax increase. For Congressman Johnson the respondents were told about his support for President Bush’s budgets and fiscal policies as well as his votes in favor of corporate and business interests.
The Hoffman campaign refused to release the exact wording of the negative pushes. That’s usually the case. But just keep in mind that polls can be gamed that way.
* React…
A spokesman for Johnson discounted the poll’s findings.
“I think you have to take into account who did the polling and what they were asking,” Johnson spokesman Phil Bloomer said. “Tim voted against Bush’s budgets for several years. This is not something new for him to vote against these budgets just since President Obama has been in office.”
Asked if Johnson’s campaign has done any polling, Bloomer said, “Not that I’m aware of.”
* Johnson’s new district includes several college campuses, including UIUC, ISU and UIS. So this can’t hurt…
About two years after he first called for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson, R-Urbana, now appears to be gaining the support of his constituents. […]
Johnson said he doesn’t believe his constituents “are one iota safer because we’re losing thousands of American men and women, and hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians in Afghanistan and Libya and Iraq.”
“I have consistently voted in appropriation after appropriation and bill after bill to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan and Libya,” he said. It was at that point and during other statements about defense spending that Johnson received his only sustained applause during the meeting.
* Johnson might have some problems with these ideas, however…
Johnson also suggested gradually raising the retirement age to strengthen Social Security and Medicare, and said he was willing to look at revenue measures, not just budget cuts, to reduce the federal deficit.
* Other stuff…
* Kinzinger campaign kickoff Saturday in Ottawa: “The exact district won’t be known until we hear the court ruling (on the new state redistricting map). If the Democrats’ map upholds, he’ll run in the 16th. If it’s the Republican map, it’ll be the 11th,” said Kinzinger’s Press Secretary Brook Hougeson.
* Quigley, Gutierrez, Schakowsky to hold hearing on DOMA
