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Champaign County Clerk Mark Shelden makes good on his threat to walk out of Jim Oberweis’ Lincoln Day speech.
Well, I did walk out, and a small number of people followed. I’m glad I did. One Oberweis supporter suggested that I won votes for Oberweis, and perhaps I did. I think that what I said in the last few days hopefully swayed some people and made people realize that Jim Oberweis is not the face we want to put on the Republican Party in Illinois.What was most fascinating was the Oberweis-Shelden debate prior to the dinner starting. One of his supporters, and a good friend of mine, brought Oberweis over to me, I’m guessing in an attempt to keep me from taking this stand. Instead what I got was confirmation of what I so dislike about Mr. Oberweis.
And Oberweis made an incredibly tasteless remark over the weekend.
Taking questions from locals in Downstate Godfrey, Oberweis was asked about federal government requirements placed on farmers to brand their animals. Oberweis reminded them about his tough stance against illegal immigration.“If we as a government can track all of our animals, why can’t we track our terrorists? Why can’t we track illegal aliens?” he asked.
The audience of about 150 people laughed and clapped.
Later, Oberweis said he was being facetious in making his comments about tracking illegal immigrants. “It was a joke. I was kidding. The U.S. Department of Agriculture thing, that is not something that the governor of Illinois is going to be involved with in any way,” he said. “It was a joke, for gosh sakes.”
UPDATE: The News-Gazette blog has a list of those who walked out on Oberweis: County Clerk Mark Shelden, Circuit Clerk Linda Frank, County Board member Deb Feinen and Savoy Village Board member Joahn Dykstra
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 10:54 am
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I don’t know why he even bothers…..
Comment by Lovie's Leather Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 11:02 am
$3 million dollars is hard to walk away from.
Comment by Schiznitz Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 11:16 am
He is so pathetic. Please just GO AWAY!!!! There are actually people in Southern Illinois that are ardently supportive of him. One-issue voters like Right to Lifers are going to be left far behind once Topinka’s train rolls into the Executive Mansion come November. I implore all Republicans who are not currently behind Judy, especially those who are behind Oberweis, PLEASE…PLEASE vote for JBT and at least give us a fighting chance. Voting for Jim Oberweis at this point is basically saying you don’t care about progress and you don’t care about this state or your fellow citizens. God Bless Mark Shelden.
Comment by heet101 Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 11:17 am
Judy said it best–he’s a moron
Comment by Anon Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 11:49 am
This speaks much more to the lack of class of these individuals than it does about oberweis.
Comment by you are ridiculous Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 12:08 pm
A better choice is Senator Brady. Blago is going to make toast out of Judy with the corruption issue.
Comment by anon Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 12:29 pm
Reagan Democrat/Reagan Republican, please make up your mind who you are before you post again.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 12:37 pm
anon 12;29 Blunder Boy has to many investigations going with his name on it.Plus it is already out there that there is nothing of substance.
Comment by DOWNSTATE Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 12:44 pm
I can’t believe I actually voted for Oberweis in the 2002 U.S. Senate primary.
Comment by Establishment Republican Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 12:51 pm
Heet101 - I just love the “vote for Judy because she can win” line of thought. Pro-lifers and conservatives should vote for her so she can call them all nut-jobs and kooks? We should vote for Judy so Bob Kjellander can have full access to the state’s bank account? So she can replace the Blago pay-to-play crew with her own pay-to-pay crew of Cellini, Kjellander, et. al.
If you want to vote for Judy because you like Judy, then do it. But don’t try to do it under the guise of progress. Just is as old school combine as old school combine gets.
Comment by Thom Yorke Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 1:00 pm
I also walked out. Of course I’m a nobody. I did congratulate Mark on his walk out but I felt it would have been better if he walked out after Looserweis started.
As for getting more votes for Oberweis, I doubt it. I personally don’t think it did much as there was a lot of people in the foyer anyway making a lot of noise.
And what killed me was that there were A lot of Oberweiss people in the foyer anyway while their candidate was talking. That was funny to me.
heet101. If you think that downstate conservatives will be voting for JBT, you got another thing coming. While I don’t go down there too often, these people are VERY CONSERVATIVE and a vote for Judy down there is like a vote for Blago or Bill Clinton, lol.
I do think Brady is the best candidate as he will have in mind the entire state instead of Chicago. I think JBT will do the same. While she may live in the governor’s mansion, she will be focusing her efforts in Chicago and most downstaters won’t go for that.
Why Looserweis is pulling so well downstate is a mystery to me. But I think no one really knows how well he’s gonna do but here’s my prediction: Looserweis or JBT, Blago will win another 4 years.
I think Brady will have the best chance in beating Blago as he doesn’t have the negatives that JBT or Looserweis or even Gidwitz has. Both conservatives and moderates are fighting for control in the party - the reason this is bloody. Whoever wins, will get that control, I think. We need a mainstream conservative to pull the party together, not a moderate who will diss the conservatives.
Comment by Central IL Stater Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 1:07 pm
Yorke, don’t go too hard on Heet101- they’re just repeating Dave Dierson’s arguments for Oberweis.
On the other hand, conservatives & pro-lifers should vote for Judy to get 1) a partial birth abortion ban, 2) a third trimester abortion ban, 3) a aprental consent law, 4) Joe Birkett as Lt.Gov., 5) Joe Birlett as follow-on Gubernatorial candidate, 6) Second Amendment protections for gun owners, 7) a brake on the Democratic General Assembly.
I know a lot of Second Amendment types who voted for pro-life Peter Fitzgerald in 1998 even though he was wrong on the assault weapons ban and wrong on other gun issues. Seems like some social conservatives can’t return the favor.
Those conservatives who will do all they can to defeat Judy in the fall in spite of the above cited progress are indeed nut-jobs and kooks. If the shoe fits, wear it.
Comment by Rick Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 1:13 pm
Like I wrote earlier, Reagan Democrat/Reagan Republican, please make up your mind who you are before you post again.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 1:25 pm
So, after 4 months of name calling, backstabbing, mud tossing, stomping and crying, you people are going to unite and throw Rod out of office.
Sounds good.
Comment by B Hicks Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 1:59 pm
Rick - come on, man. It amazes me that that there are some conservatives that just can’t get past the abortion issue to find the more important things. Our state is on the verge of being bankrupt, we’re drasticaly over taxed and we overspend like mad. Judy can run all the flashy TV advertisements calling herself a “fiscal conservative” she wants, but she can’t ignore the facts that she has constantly ok’ed more debt, more spending, more taxes, bigger government, etc. To think she’ll be a brake on the Democratic legislature is laughable.
Not to mention that the Judy pay-to-play crowd is just as pernicious as the Blago pay-to-play crowd. She takes campaign contributions from state contracts just like Blagojevich. That should be enough reason for anyone not to vote for Judy.
Comment by Thom Yorke Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 2:15 pm
Bill Brady has about as much name recognition north of I-80 as I do. Let’s face it the overly conservative act doesn’t play in Chicago or the burbs…and as much as you hate the north of I-80 crowd thats where a majority of the population lives. There stuck with you just as much as your stuck with them…check the vote counts from the last election in 02…Ryan lost by around 3,000,000 votes…Blago won Cook County by close to 3,000,000 votes…Brady is a great guy but as far as being “mainstream” conservative, perhaps if this were Texas that would be true, but it’s Illinois…What some of you consider to be mainstream I consider far right, so it’s in the eye of the beholder. The base will vote for a (R) no matter what, the moderates and swing votes (primarily democrat soccer moms) will either go for Blago or just not show if we put up someone whose main ideas revolve around a conservative social agenda. As far as trying to paint Judy as someone whose taking money unethically or under the table, I think someones been drinking too many milkshakes from the Oberweis Dairy. 3 millionaires vs. one career civil servant, cmon now. Taking money from those who have bid on contracts and won them, vs no-bid contracts aren’t even close! As someone who lived in the burbs and now lives in Central IL I have seen both types of “mainstream” republicans and with this “Demand” by certain central/southern IL Republicans to put up a social conservative is out of touch with the times and gurantees 4 more years of GROD. Then they wonder why people in Chicago and the collar counties don’t care about the rest of the state.
Comment by ISU REP Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 2:44 pm
And upstaters don’t understand the downstate. And so we are supposed to bend b/c those above I-80 say so. I don’t think so.
Comment by Central IL Stater Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 2:48 pm
I was going to post a response to the people who named me in their responses, but ISU REP has just laid out every one of my points before I could do it. BTW ISU REP, I am a fellow alum and appreciate the fact that someone from ISU is actually a conservative. Have fun battling the ISU Dems, they are a passionate group of students…that are unwilling to listen to any other side of an issue besides their own.
Comment by heet101 Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 2:50 pm
Central- I’m not saying bend i’m saying working together…Abortion isn’t going anywhere in IL not with the current General Assembly. Like I said I respect Billy Brady, he’s a good politician and has always been good to my school, that being said, we have to be realistic about who can beat Rod and start to steer IL in the right direction. You may not get all you want but isn’t something better than nothing. Unless you’re content with four more years of Rod. This is a problem many downstaters have thinking that people from north of I-80 are trying to control them or tell them what to do, I just simply ask you to look beyond your home county/region to the state as a whole, as much as I don’t like it were a liberal state. We need moderate/swing votes and your not going to do that with someone toting bible belt fire and brimstone. Granted I may be what you call a “liberal” Republican in your mind, I see myself as a Moderate. My concern isn’t social issues, I’m worried about the budget and people who are promising up and down to slice taxes who aren’t in touch with reality. The government doesn’t work for free. People always want more programs without paying for it i.e. Rod’s plan and at some point were gonna have to pay for it. As much as i’d like less coming out of my wallet (poor grad student) the fact is school’s have to be funded and roads have to built.
Heet: It’s getting better down here, I think the campus is turning slightly more conservative. It’s amazing if the rest of the state could learn to work together like the rural/urban Republicans do at ISU we’d be set and this state would be Red again. God will not smite any of you for voting for someone who is pro-choice. If I have kids from Kewanee believing in JBT theres hope for us yet!
Comment by ISU REP Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 3:06 pm
There is a slight difference between 3,000,000 and 300,000.
Comment by T.J. Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 3:23 pm
sorry, my mistake, but the point is still made.
Comment by ISU REP Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 3:35 pm
I thought that Blago barely carried Cook and the surrounding suburbs in the 2002 primary. In fact I can’t remember if he even got more votes than Vallas in those areas. Does anybody think he has picked up much support since then? I don’t see or feel that he has. Are there any poll numbers for this region that are fresh and accurate?
Plus, that endorsement from the Sun-Times Blago received read like a press release from the Blago camp. Weren’t most of the numbers mentioned shot down and proven false/inflated by many in the recent past?
Comment by Papa Legba Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 3:43 pm
You’re still missing the point. The hotel scandals, the ties to Bill Cellini, Bob Kjellander, George Ryan. Judy’s people get all frisky over the critical ads from Gidwitz and Oberweis. All that shows is their utter ineptitude and how unprepared they are to wage the battle against Rod Blagojevich. Without a doubt Blagojevich has all the dirt of Topinka and about $20 million to destroy her in advertisements. Mark my words: if she wins the nomination we’ll see nothing by pictures and tv clips of Judy dancing the polka with George Ryan, who will probably be awaiting sentencing at that point.
Judy’s the most unelectable this side of Jim Oberweis.
Comment by Thom Yorke Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 3:45 pm
THOM:
Then PLEASE enlighten us as to whom can beat Blago….I don’t know what fantasy world your living in but I would like to hear the rationale for this…
Comment by ISU REP Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 4:12 pm
The JBT primary campaign has not been a raging inferno, but when compared to the klutzes running the Oberweis campaign, the Topinka people look like Karl Rove’s shock troops!
The Topinka people don’t have their candidate backpedaling every day, aren’t being threatened by newspapers for fake ads, and don’t have fellow Republicans walking out on their candidate in protest of slimy tactics.
Comment by Bubs Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 4:22 pm
I implore those who support Oberweis not to throw away the chances of the Republican party this fall and support either Brady, or even Gidwitz.
Jim will be torn to shreds if he makes it to the general this fall and will take the rest of the party down with him. We can’t afford to throw away another election!
Please, let’s unite behind a viable candidate.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 4:43 pm
Anonymous 4:43. You make some sense. I so agree that support for Oberweis needs to be funneled elsewhere. If he wins, the party will be tanked. But then again, seeing Upchuckweis get his might be fun.
Comment by One more time Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 5:24 pm
Rich, I was impressed with your journalism but lately you have become highly biased. Maybe you never intended to be unbiased but it seemed like it to me and I definitely enjoyed reading it then. Just a thought.
Comment by Redfish Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 5:36 pm
why isn’t the St. Louis Dispatch headline that “Oberweis Is Gaining on Topinka” not listed. Maybe I just missed it?
Comment by Redfish Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 5:39 pm
From Finke’s latest column:
===If you visit Oberweis’ Web site, you will find him saying things that he doesn’t say in public. Like that old standby of media bashing.
“Despite misleading complaints by Judy Topinka and her supporters in the liberal press, every word that appeared in our ads appeared in the original newspaper stories,’’ reads one entry addressing an Oberweis ad that contained phony newspaper headlines.
“By giving voters an opportunity to compare what I stand for and what the public record shows Ms. Topinka stands for, we are doing what the liberal newspapers and news reporters so seldom do … expose the truth about a liberal incumbent politician they view as the favorite,’’ the entry continues.===
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 5:41 pm
I hope some of you Obie haters have a strong support group ready, because Obie IS going to be the Republican candidate for Governor.
Comment by Ditto2 Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 7:03 pm
ISU rep. Thom is right Judy can’t win and isn’t the person to lead the party or the state. You’re not even right on the moderate/conservative issues this time the right mix of issue’s to win with are conservative. The conservatives will stay home if Judy wins as they did when the other Ryan did. The argument that the moderate woman will vote for Judy over Rod isn’t even right. While downstate don’t like him look at the commercials moderates will vote for Blago because he has given their children free Healthcare and Pre-School. What we need is to hold our party together and attract the Democrat conservatives that Rod has attacked with his anti-gun/life issues to vote for our candidate which they will. That person to carry that message is Brady who will carry a heavy vote downstate and with his pro-business, tax and fee reduction platform will win in the rest of the state.
Comment by Anon Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 7:23 pm
Anon, wake up and smell the coffee, Brady can’t get out of single digits. If he weren’t so stuck on himself and really cared about pro-life pro-family issues, he’d get out of the way instead of helping JBT by being the designated spoiler.
Comment by Ditto2 Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 8:20 pm
Anon- your living in a dream world, how well has the conservative platform worked in IL. Let’s see two dem senators a dem general assembly, all the state wide office holders are dems EXCEPT JBT….Maybe it’s time you people get your heads out of the sand, you’ve been dragging the party down and freaking out voters into voting democrat.
GOOD JOB!! Those of us who believe in common sense and believe in good government rather than holier than are thou act. As I’ve said Brady’s a good guy but i’m sick of pandering to the right…You’ve cost us enough elections…Cross, Edgar, Lahood etc think Judy is good enough, so you need to SUPPORT the party….last time I check all those people were a pretty big deal or are they Dem’s in disguise too?
Comment by ISU REP Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 8:59 pm
New Trib poll shows Judy still ahead but Oberweis only up on Brady 21-15. That means Brady has been moving since the beginning of the year, even through a period of no ads during the Olympics.
Oberweis’ “two-person race” theory is now clearly fallacy. But if he continues to believe it….good. That’ll only help Brady. I expect his start flailing at Brady now, since Brady has received the endorsements of the State Rifle Association and Illinosi Citizens for Life PAC.
Is the ice cream melting? As a party, we can only hope!
Comment by FrustratedRepublican Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 9:41 pm
I soooo can’t wait for the primary election. I worked for a campaign once and the polls said that our candidate would receive 3-4% of the vote. However, on election day - we got nearly 28% of the vote.
ISU rep - some of us are sick of pandering to the left.
Comment by Marta Elena Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 9:48 pm
Let’s move this discussion over here.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Mar 13, 06 @ 9:56 pm