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Guv’s contributor in trouble.

A very nice tribute to Ben Kinningham. Go read the whole thing. Also, Dick Durbin had some nice words for Ben on the floor of the US Senate this week. (Great retirement party last night, too.)

Hiram reports that Citizen Action endorsed Tammy Duckworth.

Sen. Sandoval wants money earmarked for veterans to go to veterans.

Sen. Dave Luechtefeld and Rep. Mike Bost endorse Bill Brady, calling him “a young Jim Edgar.”

Jack Roeser, on why he hasn’t dealt with $51,000 in fines by the State Board of Elections: â€œIâ€™m damn busy.â€

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Feb 1, 06 @ 1:12 am

Comments

Bycracky!

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Feb 1, 06 @ 2:19 am
Rich:

Your link to the Brady story does not work. I went to the home page of the newspaper, clicked on local, then local news archive, and found the article was dated Jan. 31.

Thought I would post the procedure in case anyone else wanted to read the article.

How important is this endorsement for Brady? It surely helps him way downstate but wouldn’t there be a tendancy to support the only downstate candidate? I would think he would really love to have some endorsements from the collar counties where the Republican votes are denser.

Brady’s TV ads are now running on local TV–ie., Peoria stations since BLM-NOR does not have a local station.

Nice to see something else besides Gitwitz ads. Those have been running since last year. My mailbox gets a Gidz flyer about once every ten days.

Comment by Nearly Normal Wednesday, Feb 1, 06 @ 8:06 am
Actually the Milkman is playing quite well south of I 80. In driving around Southern and Central IL one would assume that the race is between two candidates. Have yet to see ANY Gidwitz signage. Only a meek presence of JBT/Birkett signage, and they are very hard to read.

Comment by SouthernILRepub Wednesday, Feb 1, 06 @ 8:15 am
That endoresement is huge because of the annoying and I stress annoying southern field operation of Milkman!

Comment by SouthernILRepub Wednesday, Feb 1, 06 @ 8:16 am
The headline of the story may turn out to be a bigger deal than the endorsements, which are a huge deal in southern Illinois. Bost and Luechtefeld are highly respected in their districts and Brady getting their nod will help him immensely with people that don’t know much about him.

The “A Young Jim Edgar” headline however will make it’s way around the entire state if the Brady camp is smart. That could get the attention of a lot of voters - especially in the suburbs - who also still don’t know a lot about him.

Probably the fact that some sitting legislators are standing up against Topinka, a sitting statewide office holder and the frontrunner, is pretty bold and might get a little attention too.

Comment by FrustratedRepublican Wednesday, Feb 1, 06 @ 8:55 am
I almost laughed at portions of the Citizen Action endorsement release. It is clear to me that the hands and stench of its former leader, convicted felon Bob Creamer (Congressman Jan Schakowsky’s husband) are still evident.

The endorsement of Duckworth in the 6th CD was no surprise, since Rahm Emanuel and Schakowsky have doing whatever is possible to advance each other politically. Quite frankly, Illinois and the nation would be better off without either of these two opportunistic hyprocrites.

The endorsement of Barrett Pederson in the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District race is another sick joke. As Democratic Committeeman for Leyden Township, Pederson has done little more than roll over and play dead like a good lap dog for the GOP Committeeman, Rosemont Mayor Don Stephens.

Citizen Action managed to endorse Rod Blagojevich for re-election. I only hope that they do as well on his behalf in March as Creamer did four years ago when he took several hundred thousand dollars as a consultant to the Blagojevich campaign and then sat on his hands while Paul vallas trounced Rod on the lakefront and in the suburban areas of Schakowsky’s district.

Citizen Action even endorsed John Stroger for re-election as Cook County Board President. My God! Stroger is a man whose entire career has been an insult to good government groups; he just lost out on the endorsement of the Democratic Party of Evanston by a mere 83% (90% for Forrest Claypool, 7% for Stroger). For Citizen Action to back Stroger is clear proof that this is an organization that could use another look from the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Prosecutors might even wonder how Citizen Action managed to endorse two of the strongest allies in the General Assembly the notorious (and misnamed) Hispanic Democratic Organization, State Senator Martin Sandoval (12th) and State Representative Edward Acevedo (2nd).

I could go on, but what’s the point. Voters should simply repudiate these choices on March 21.

RANDALL SHERMAN
Secretary/Treasurer, Illinois Committee for Honest Government

Comment by Randall Sherman Wednesday, Feb 1, 06 @ 10:00 am
The entire article is also available on Brady’s site …
http://www.bradyforgovernor2006.com/news/0106/southern_013106.html

The Hanover Township endorsement was big for Brady and I think you’ll start to see some others come in for him from Jim “Family Taxpayer Network” Oberweis’ backyard as well.

Comment by YNM Wednesday, Feb 1, 06 @ 12:28 pm
It should say something that the state legislators will not back Topinka. If she cannot garner support from the republicans how will she fair against Madigan and Jones.

Don’t be fooled by the Milkman’s appearance. He will fall. Especially when people from both sides figure out he flip flops on key issues like abortion.

He has limited grass roots organization. Very few Big O signs are in people’s yards. He just has sign people run around and throw them up along the side of the road. It doesn’t take support to do this, just cash for the signs and a few guys to put them up.

Comment by the Patriot Wednesday, Feb 1, 06 @ 1:36 pm
It is revealing that JBT’s money comes heavily from outside contributions, while Oberweis’ money comes mainly from himself and Jack Roeser.

Comment by Bubs Wednesday, Feb 1, 06 @ 2:08 pm