Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

He swings, he misses!

Posted in:

Illinois

* Republican congressional candidate Randy Hultgren blasted away at Democratic Congressman Bill Foster yesterday for taking money from Maxine Waters…

As Bill Foster continues to evade concerns about his close relationship with corrupt Democrat colleague and donor to his campaign, Charlie Rangel, a new round of charges from a House Ethics panel reveal that Foster is sitting on even more controversial contributions.

Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters has been charged with abusing her position of influence to steer bailout funds to a bank with ties to her family. Waters has given Foster at least $1,000 […]

“By holding on to these dirty campaign contributions, Bill Foster is sending a clear message that he has no issue with the culture of corruption in Washington,” said Hultgren For Congress Spokesperson Veronica Vera.

Trouble is, Hultgren’s opposition research doesn’t appear to be up to snuff. Congressman Foster’s campaign responded with a humorous press release…

Hey Mon! You Got the Wrong Guy.
Hultgren Campaign Apparently Believes Jamaican Man on Left Represents the 14th District of Illinois

(Batavia, IL): Today, the campaign of U.S. Rep. Bill Foster responded to challenger Randy Hultgren’s latest desperate attack by informing Hultgren’s struggling campaign that it was Gary Foster of Jamaica – not Rep. Bill Foster of Batavia – that received a contribution from Congresswoman Maxine Waters.

On Monday, August 2, the Hultgren for Congress campaign issued a scathing yet embarrassingly false press release condemning Rep. Bill Foster for taking a contribution from Rep. Maxine Waters of California. The only problem was that the contribution was to Gary Foster, a Jamaican politician described in press reports as “the Jamaican Obama,” instead of 14th District Congressman Bill Foster, a scientist and successful businessman.

Brandon Pinette, the Campaign Manager for Bill Foster for Congress, said, “Many people had told us to expect this kind of thing from State Senator Hultgren, especially after his baseless attacks on Ethan Hastert in the primary, when he sent out mailings attempting to tie Denny Hastert’s moderate Republican son to “human trafficking.”

Oops.

Also, according to the Foster campaign, the Rangel contributions were donated to the Northern Illinois foodbank March 1st, 2010.

* Meanwhile, as we’ve already discussed, the DCCC has ~~purchased~~ reserved millions of dollars in TV time in three Illinois congressional districts. Here’s a handy chart to see where the money is being spent.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Aug 4, 10 @ 10:34 am

Comments

Wow…just wow.

Talk about derailing your own campaign a month before Labor Day. That is really pathetic.

Comment by A.B. Wednesday, Aug 4, 10 @ 10:38 am
Perhaps Hultgren is seeking the Congressional seat for the optician benefits! He apparently needs it!

Comment by fedup dem Wednesday, Aug 4, 10 @ 10:42 am
I hope Hultgren continues his calls on Gary Foster to return the money that Maxine Waters has given him.

Comment by Reggie P Wednesday, Aug 4, 10 @ 10:45 am
I don’t know that they’ve made an accurate negative hit in the primary or the general thus far. This is just poor at any level of politics.

Have they done anything well, yet?

Comment by ugo Wednesday, Aug 4, 10 @ 10:46 am
Ugo, no they have not made an accurate negative hit. This is why Bill Foster will be reelected in a bad year for democrats.

Comment by Heartless Libertarian Wednesday, Aug 4, 10 @ 10:48 am
Just keep runing with this. You have momentum, no need to stop.

Comment by Wumpus Wednesday, Aug 4, 10 @ 10:49 am
what is a member of congress doing giving money to a foreign parliamentarian?

I thought the dccc money was reserved not bought?

Comment by shore Wednesday, Aug 4, 10 @ 10:53 am
Randy is dandy…what a goof! That’s what he gets for hiring kids to run his campaign

Comment by fox valley guy Wednesday, Aug 4, 10 @ 11:07 am
He needs to just run with that. Straight up say Foster moonlights as a Jamaican spy and he will take the fight against the foreign menace to Congress. Work marijuana and free trade into it too. “While Bill Foster’s been in Congress we’ve lots DOZENS of jobs to Jamaican growers…”

Comment by Dirt Digger Wednesday, Aug 4, 10 @ 11:10 am
So after Hultgren loses will the GOP actually put up a decent candidate in 2012 or will they insist on going 0 for 3? (this might help if decent candidates would run in the primary as they’ve gone 0/4 on that one too)

Comment by Bakersfield Wednesday, Aug 4, 10 @ 11:26 am
“Who is that behind those Foster-Grants?”

Comment by Pat Robertson Wednesday, Aug 4, 10 @ 11:43 am
Although once 2012 rolls around, the districts will get re-drawn. Perhaps the 14th will largely stay intact, but it’s also possible the area will be scrambled up forcing a lot of movement…

Comment by John Galt Wednesday, Aug 4, 10 @ 11:57 am
“Randy Hultgren - What’s he smoking mon?”

Comment by Campaign Slogan Wednesday, Aug 4, 10 @ 12:06 pm
It’s amazing to me that a Dem is setting down roots in that formerly GOP bedrock district.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Aug 4, 10 @ 12:14 pm
Where is ChopperJim Oberweis when we need
Fire,Aim,Ready

Comment by CircularFiringSquad Wednesday, Aug 4, 10 @ 12:17 pm
you didn’t post the story but I think the key paragraphs are

http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=NDJkMjAxOWNjZGNkNTM3YTE1NTRlNTIwMTAyNGY2NmM=

“” “What they spend is totally fungible, so no real money is risked; they just ‘placed’ the buys, and they can change them on a moment’s notice. . . . As these ‘dead candidates walking’ head back to their districts, they now have a feel-good press release to wave in front of donors and activists to show they’re going to fight back. It’s a smart but transparent move. The bad side of this ploy is when they cancel the buy.”

One GOP consultant looked over the list and chuckled that the DCCC expects to spend $3.5 million in the Chicago media market, almost $3 million in the Philadelphia market, and $2.1 million in the Portland (Ore.) market. Needless to say, these are all traditional Democratic strongholds. Of course, most of the advertising is aimed at more competitive House districts in the suburbs of those cities, but the Republican consultant notes that these are all areas where an appearance by President Obama would normally be a great, and perhaps sufficient, advantage for an endangered Democrat. “If that’s really the case, they’re going to spend a fortune in places they shouldn’t have to,” he says.”"

Comment by shore Wednesday, Aug 4, 10 @ 12:21 pm
If I were Hultgren, I would counter-respond with “Given the Congressman’s record, we might as well have been represented by the Jamaicaian politician on the left….”

Comment by Conservative Republican Wednesday, Aug 4, 10 @ 12:23 pm
Not sure about all of this, but if you check the FEC website - FOSTER, G. WILLIAM (BILL) VIA BILL FOSTER FOR CONGRESS COMMITTEE - received $1,000 from CITIZENS FOR WATERS on 8/25/2009.

Is that the guy from Jamaica? And what is Maxine Waters doing donating money to a Jamaican politician in the ifrst place?

Also, there is no FEC record of Waters contributing to a “Gary Foster.”

Comment by Passing Through Wednesday, Aug 4, 10 @ 12:56 pm
Any truth to the rumor that Hultgren also confused Ethan Hastert with prominent character actor Dennis Haysbert?

Comment by Jake from Elwood Wednesday, Aug 4, 10 @ 1:05 pm
Passing through- Look at the actual reports from Maxine Waters and Bill Foster for the 3rd quarter of 2009. Neither report shows a disbursement or contribution. Your should check your facts before you start defending Hultgren.

Comment by Brandon Wednesday, Aug 4, 10 @ 1:16 pm
also for passing through. It shows up on the FEC website because there is no gary foster because he’s not a federal candidate so the FEC just attributed to Bill Foster since he’s the closest possible candidate

Comment by Brandon Wednesday, Aug 4, 10 @ 1:19 pm
PT, you made the same mistake that Hultgren’s campaign made.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Aug 4, 10 @ 1:30 pm
Looks like I did, Rich.

A quickie follow up – though not relevant to Foster or this particular site – Can a federal candidate cut a check from her account and give it to a foreign national?

Comment by Passing Through Wednesday, Aug 4, 10 @ 1:54 pm
I was pretty sure we weren’t supposed to directly try to influence foreign elections - isn’t that what we complain about the Chinese (and others) trying to do? Whether it’s permissible or not, it is classic Maxine Waters. I grew up in California, and she’s been an embarrassment as long as I can remember. She was a leading supporter of the idea that crack was a CIA conspiracy aimed at destroying African Americans, for example, and had some “interesting” views on the origins of HIV/AIDS. However, she’s in an extremely safe district and she has it wired up on the local Dem side, so short of a much bigger mess than she’s in now she’s not going anywhere. Sort of like trying to pry Bobby Rush out of his seat on the south side of Chicago.

Comment by Berkeley Bear Wednesday, Aug 4, 10 @ 2:45 pm
No Randy No Cry - Marley, enhanced by VanillaMon

No Randy no cry
No Randy no cry
No Randy no cry
No Randy no cry
Cause I remember when he used to sit
In the Senate in Springtown
Becoming one of the hypocrites
Mingle with the lobbyists he meet
Good friends he have, Oh, good friends he have lost
This Election Day
In this great future,
You can’t forget your past
So dry your tears, I seh
No Randy no cry
No Randy no cry
Op Research got it bad!
No Randy no cry

I remember when he use to claim
That Foster had friends in DC-town
And then his staff would make the fire lights
I seh, log would burnin’ through the nights
They say Foster hooked up with Waters
Of which that is true!
Unfortunately for them
They gave the wrong mon his due,
So now you got to pray!
Everything ’s gonna be alright
Everything ’s gonna be alright
No Randy no cry
No Randy no cry
I seh little Senatah’
Don’t shed no tears
No Randy no cry.

Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Aug 4, 10 @ 3:04 pm
Shore: The key info in that National Review blog piece is that it is written by Jim Geraghty, longtime NRO headcase fond of writing improbable predictions made by unnamed Republican “consultants.” The funniest example was in 2006 when he kept citing an anonymous Republican pollster he called “Obi-Wan” to confidently predict Republicans would hold both chambers until about a minute before they lost the House. He even ran with the metaphor after the election, declaring something like “Obi-Wan is currently battling the Jedi Council.”

As to the actual content, this “GOP consultant” (if he even exists) has no understanding of how media markets work whatsoever. All of the ad buys in Chicago and Philadelphia are not actually aimed at either city. Nor does a presidential visit do anything like a 1,000+ point ad buy. Obama visits Chicago and it’s 30-90 seconds on the evening news. An ad buy is a week or more of Republican candidates getting bludgeoned every time all the major channels go to commercial break.

Comment by Dirt Digger Wednesday, Aug 4, 10 @ 3:24 pm
You cant blame him for seeing this on the FEC website FOSTER, G. WILLIAM (BILL) VIA BILL FOSTER FOR CONGRESS COMMITTEE - received $1,000 from CITIZENS FOR WATERS on 8/25/2009 and then thinking that she gave Foster dough. Still doesnt change the fact that he took 14 grand from Rangel, he’s been under a cloud for years. Come on guys, Foster is just excited because he doesnt want to run on his record.

Comment by Oswego Joe Friday, Aug 6, 10 @ 10:58 pm