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Apparently, things are already heating up in the 6th CD.
It’s early in the Peter Roskam and Tammy Duckworth 6th Congressional District match-up, but that isn’t stopping her from taking a swing at her Republican opponent over the departure of Tom Delay from politics.Duckworth, an Iraq war veteran, on Tuesday criticized Roskam, a state senator from Wheaton, for ties to DeLay, the scandal-plagued former U.S. House majority leader.
Duckworth, a Hoffman Estates resident, noted that Roskam got his start with DeLay and received contributions from him.
A Roskam spokesman dismissed the criticism as irrelevant.
“It’s tiresome,†campaign manager Ryan McLaughlin said. “He worked for Tom DeLay for eight months, 21 years ago.â€
DeLay, who announced his resignation from Congress Tuesday, was indicted on charges of misconduct related to campaign funds, part of an investigation into corruption involving lobbyists.
Roskam was a legislative aide to DeLay in the 1980s.
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 6:30 am
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duckworth will lose the election with 46% of the vote. if she keeps picking silly things like this to talk about the margin of loss will increase.
Comment by ron Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 7:28 am
I love to watch democratic desperation. It’s pretty humorous.
Comment by Lovie's Leather Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 7:56 am
Wow, talk about complete lack of perspective. A few sentences after McLaughlin point out that Roskam’s tenure as a staffer for Delay was on 8 months, they say:
“Roskam was a legislative aide to DeLay in the 1980s.”
I usually expect better from the Daily Herald.
Comment by grand old partisan Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 8:09 am
Roskam has bigger shortcomings aside from being a towel boy for Tom DeLay. His chicken hawk infatuation with 50 cal weapons and the NRA is scary.
Comment by Pete Granata Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 8:28 am
Is this even newsworthy?
Comment by Just Observing Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 8:32 am
HAHAHAHAHAHA, thanks for the laugh Pete!! Let me know when you’ve got more DCCC talking points to share.
Comment by Tony Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 8:35 am
Let’s see here shouldn’t Tammy start working on getting know in a district that doesn’t even live in? Are all of the people who voted for her primary opponets on board yet?
The GOP is strongly united for Peter. He has a huge financial advantage at this time. He is well know in the district and has served the area in Springfield. I predict that Rahm & Co. will not play well in DuPage or suburban Cook. I am glad that the Dems are talking about real issues that voters here are concerned about.
Comment by Remember when... Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 9:02 am
“What’s a ‘Tom DeLay’” — Pete Roskam
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: The Roskam/DeLay link hasn’t been overstated — there is no question that Peter Roskam’s strong ties to Tom DeLay have bookended his political career:
–> 20 years ago, Peter Roskam’s life in politics began in the office of Tom DeLay.
–> Just last fall, less than a week before Tom Delay was indicted for his part in a criminal conspiracy centered on his campaign fundraising, DeLay hosted a $500 per plate campaign fundraiser in D.C. for Peter Roskam.
Since his criminal indictment, DeLay has been a little preoccupied with raising money for his defense fund — it’s still in the red — but he remains the alpha and omega of Peter Roskam’s political life.
Comment by So-Called "Austin Mayor" Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 9:06 am
She needs to keep pound this point. Polls are showing that voters are feed up with business as usual in Congress and tying Roskam to Delay will score major points with those in the middle.
Comment by Bluefish Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 9:46 am
Austin Mayor:
If Delay is the “the alpha and omega of Peter Roskam’s political life” because he worked for him for 8 months and has benefited from his assistance in fundraising, what does that make Henry Hyde to Roskam, since he worked for Hyde for the same (if not a longer, I’m not exactly sure) length of time after he left Delay’s office, and since Hyde has also helped fundraise for him in this race? Perhaps the Beta and co-Omega? What are your thoughts?
Comment by grand old partisan Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 10:04 am
The strangely smug Roskies are clearly best buds with Delay, Hastert, and the other Bush league bumblers who have wrecked absolutely everything they’ve touched.
The Roskies don’t care about reform or change. They like things in Washington just the way they are right now. Voters can easily see that Roskam’s response to the problems at hand is to blindly rubber stamp the radical Republican attack on middle-class America. That makes the 6th CD as good a place as any to ask voters if they want more of the same Delay-style politics and Bu.Sh. hypocrisy in the future.
Reality-based people have had enough of these know-nothing wing nuts. The last thing the country needs is another Bush-brained yes-boy cheering on the destructive crass conservative forces of ignorance, greed, and bigotry.
The Roskies can feel free to grab onto Bush’s bumper because that bus is headed right off the cliff. Moderate Republicans and independents are hopping off to save themselves and the country. The radical right has gone too far and now the vast middle class clearly sees the danger of more reckless GOP ‘leadership.’ That’s why the majority of voters want a Democratic House of Reps ASAP.
The Dems are speaking out and working on behalf of everyone the cranky conservatives want to leave behind and forget. Americans don’t need to suffer any more of the insensitive, unfair, and unwise conservative doctrine of “every man, woman, child, student, parent, consumer, sick person, disabled person, soldier, veteran, worker, retiree, senior, minority, and immigrant for themselves.” They know the GOP has abandoned them.
Voters in the 6th CD are going to have a clear choice in November. They can go with a Bush/Cheney/Hastert/Delay bat boy, or they can go with the one who is clearly and sincerely on their side, Major Tammy Duckworth.
Comment by Anon Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 10:57 am
Duckworth meeds to rename her opponent “TomDelayAidePeter Roskam”, and use that every time she talks about him. That moniker will only be more powerful as Delay is convicted.
Comment by Coloradem Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 11:12 am
Looks like Rahm’s hand picked candidate has no real agenda of her own, only go negative (right out of the Rahm playbook).
I’d like to know what makes Duckworth on “their side”?
Comment by Tony Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 11:20 am
Duckworth just following the Party’s Playbook. Not a wise move.
Delay I know little about. Henry Hyde and Clyde Savings and Loan I know lots about. That bothers me more then Delay.
But get down to it, and the case Duckworth needs to be making is the National Security one. If Bush fumbled in Iraq, is the administration capable of fumbling with Iran?
Because that’s the threat facing us… and I fear talking about Delay is a way of dodging some very hard decisions that will be on us sooner rather than later. Decisions we dodge at huge risk.
Comment by Bill Baar Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 11:49 am
All politics is local
Comment by Tip O'Neill Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 11:52 am
Read the papers in 1997 and 1998…DeLay was behind Roskam running for Congress the first time. Now Roskam is running from the truth.
Comment by John H. Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 12:36 pm
Perhaps Peter Roskam should bring up the fact that Rahm Emanuel made tens of millions of dollars through insider deals on Wall Street and that Jan Schakowsky’s husband was just sentenced to five months in prison. I’m sure Schakowsy (or at least her PAC) gave money to Rahm and the DCCC. How much of that money is tainted?
Comment by Team Sleep Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 12:48 pm
geez John… who would we expect Delay to have supported in 97 and 98 or any other years….
Comment by Bill Baar Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 12:49 pm
Tribune staff reports
Published April 5, 2006, 12:38 PM CDT
A leading Democratic consultant and the husband of a congresswoman from Chicago’s North Shore was sentenced today to five months in a federal prison after he pleaded guilty to engineering an elaborate check-kiting scheme.
Robert Creamer, husband of U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), also was ordered to serve 11 months of home confinement and three years of supervision after his release from prison.
“First and foremost, I want to apologize for my actions,'’ Creamer, 58, told U.S. District Judge James B. Moran while Schakowsky looked on sorrowfully from a front-row seat. She has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
Comment by George Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 12:55 pm
I’m a Dem, but this is the dumbest issue ever… voters are not going to fall for tying Roskam in with Delay just because he worked for him 20 years ago for a period of eight months. In politics you can always draw convoluted connections between anyone. I don’t live in the district, but as an outsider I thought Cegelis was amateur hour and the whole Rahm/Duckworth thing I was turned off by — she won’t sell in the 6th. Roskam is going to sail to a sweet victory.
Comment by Just Observing Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 12:57 pm
The issue isn’t that he worked for him 20 years ago, the issue is that DeLay held a fundraiser for Roskam ten days before DeLay was indicted and provided him support in primary in 1998 and donated money to him, yet Roskam denies they have much contact. Roskam has also taken money from the ROYB Fund which is tied up with ARMPAC and TRMPAC including having the same officers–of which two are under indictment in Texas.
Comment by ArchPundit Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 1:07 pm
Archpundit, I don’t know how to say this any less condescendingly, but are you new to politics or something? Politicians – particularly those in party leadership – host fundraisers for other members of their own party all the time. They lend support to members of their own party in competitive districts all the time. That doesn’t mean that they are all the “alpha and omega†of each other’s careers. And, (even though you admit it does matter, for the sake of everyone else I’ll say) the fact that Roskam worked for Delay briefly a long time ago doesn’t mean much, even when combined with the fundraising.
The Roskam-Delay connection IS being overblown. As I said on Illinoize, use the connection that is there if you want. But stick to the facts about it. I mean, for crying out loud, for your own sake, stop overplaying what might have been a pretty good card in your hand. Now that it’s been shown this early, and the GOP has enough time and money to rebutt it, you might as well throw it away.
Comment by grand old partisan Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 1:26 pm
sorry, Arch, that should have said “does not matter”
Comment by grand old partisan Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 1:27 pm
==want. But stick to the facts about it.
What fact did I get wrong?
Roskam is taking money from people in the middle of one of the biggest Congressional Scandals ever. That’s an issue. I don’t mind that you are in denial about it, but it’s going to be amusing as indictments start hitting these people and Roskam keeps saying he doesn’t have anything to do with all of these people who gave him money and backed him.
Anyone who has been paying attention has known for over a year that DeLay was at the center of three independent federal investigations and one state investigation. If Peter Roskam wants him as a friend, fantastic, but he doesn’t get to claim he has nothing to do with him.
Comment by ArchPundit Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 1:37 pm
DeLay will be too busy running the AccordianGal campaign to Help Petey in the fall
Comment by Reddbyrd Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 1:59 pm
Sorry Arch, that particular comment should have been more specifically directed at people like who try to portray exaggerated claims like “he remains the alpha and omega of Peter Roskam’s political life” as some sort of undisputable fact. Or make pointless, bizarre, and ridiculous things like “DeLay will be too busy running the AccordianGal campaign.â€
My most sincere apologies for lumping you in with such nonsense. The facts you are cited are verified and undeniable. But I would certainly take exception with the notion that they represent some sort of extraordinarily close bond between the two.
Comment by grand old partisan Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 2:14 pm
I will look forward to the impeached former president coming into town to raise money for Tammygirl.
Delay is going to run JBT’s campaign? Talk about ouch of touch.
Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 2:22 pm
Fair enough–I wouldn’t put them as best buddies for sure, but political allies–and this is a political fight
Comment by ArchPundit Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 2:24 pm
To what extent has Roskam received support from DeLay supporters?
Comment by Carl Nyberg Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 4:46 pm
“Alpha and omega” means “beginning and end”, i.e. from the beginning (1985) to the end (current) of Roskam’s political career.
Sorry if anyone found that expression too confusing.
Comment by So-Called "Austin Mayor" Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 5:05 pm
The fact of the matter is, Roskam could lay all of this to rest just by giving back the money he raised from DeLay. I suspect the reason he hasn’t are both personal — he and DeLay really are friends — and political — he doesn’t want to offend DeLay’s ultra-conservative political base, which is also his political base.
Frankly, I don’t think it’s unfair to expect someone to repudiate an indicted public official whom they have political ties too. If it is unfair, it still has happened alot throughout recent history, on both sides of the aisle. Ultimately, the voters will decide if it is relevant or not.
If I were Duckworth, I would certainly keep up the criticisms, but she needs to point out that the connection isn’t decades old, it’s lifelong.
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 5:39 pm
“To what extent has Roskam received support from DeLay supporters?”
Not to a greater extent than he has recieved support from all other Republicans, including Henry Hyde.
Comment by grand old partisan Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 6:59 pm
I would like to confess that, 21 years ago, I worked as an intern for Rod Blago…no Dan Rostenkow…no, I caddied a golf game for Bill Clinton and met Jan Schakowski’s husband. Maybe Tammy Duckworth will attack me, too, but at least I have cleared my deeply dark secret.
Comment by BobHansen Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 7:15 pm
“Ultimately, the voters will decide if it is relevant or not.”
I couldn’t agree more. But my guess is, when presented with all of the facts in their proper context, they will see it as largely irrelevant.
Comment by grand old partisan Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 9:09 pm
Marni Pyke, Daily Herald reporter, ought to be ashamed of herself for that weak piece of back-and-forth reporting.
Poor showing for the Herald but at least they have time to actually do some research. There’s this new-fangled thing called the Internets — Marni oughta try it some time. It’s got research sites like FEC Info and Open Secrets and Fund Race plus those annoying bloggy things with political commentators like Larry who’ll do the research for you here and here.
Welcome to 2006 Marni.
Comment by ME Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 9:42 pm
This issue is ridiculous, though admittedly par for the course from a national Democratic party that remains stubbornly out of touch with reality.
Also–I’ve been meaning to get this out in the open for a while: I have enormous respect for Duckworth as a veteran and, yes, as an American heroine. But–as our party’s own military figures-turned-politicians have shown (read: U.S. Grant)–good soldiers do not necessarily make good political leaders. If Duckworth were running in any other district, I would really give her a second look (though I think her stance on social issues would probably drive me away). But when she was hand-picked to run against Roskam–whose leadership and character is desperately needed in Washington–I have to draw a line. He ought to have been elected when he ran for Congress in 1998; it is in the interests of the state–and the nation–to make sure that he gets there this time.
Comment by Defensor Pacis Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 10:18 pm
Anon 2:22pm - Careful with the sexism (a la “Tammygirl”). This century, that sort of thing tends to backfire.
Comment by That's a yellow card Wednesday, Apr 5, 06 @ 10:22 pm
Duckworth doesn’t seem to know about us. God bless her, but she needs to learn about our area, and how WE feel. She seems to be uninformed, used by the leftist national Democrats, and she needs a few years to study the area she wants to represent before she can run a serious campaign.Maybe if she moves here and lives here for say, 10 years or so?
Comment by Ted Thursday, Apr 6, 06 @ 9:37 pm