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* UPDATED x1 - Durkin responds * If you thought statewide and congressional races are crazy…

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* As I’ve been telling subscribers for a couple of months now, the advertising in state legislative races has been truly vicious, particularly the stuff from the House Democrats. For example…

District 59 Republican challenger Leslie Munger is denying claims that she supports pedophiles working in schools, a misinterpretation that she says incumbent State Rep. Carol Sente is spreading through a call center.

Munger said she learned about the claims when a supporter and resident of the district copied a voicemail message and shared it with her. The person who left the voicemail said that Munger opposes a recently adopted law that would help keep pedophiles from working in schools, and reminded the voter of a Buffalo Grove teacher who was recently arrested on charges of producing and receiving child pornography, according to Munger. […]

“These attacks are completely baseless and are a result of my desire to stop the unfunded mandates Springfield keeps passing, imposing increased costs and higher property taxes on our communities,” Munger said in a statement responding to the voicemail message. “My opponent is spreading these lies against me because she cannot run on her record.”

Munger said a search of the national sex offender registry only costs $5 and background checks cost between $7 and $15. She said she supports the checks and would not repeal that law, but surmised that the caller may have been referring to her opposition to “unfunded mandates.”

When you say you’re against “unfunded mandates,” you should say right at the start you don’t mean “good unfunded mandates.”

But, yeah, wow, what a nasty hit. The danger for Sente is that this creates a North Shore backlash. And, frankly, that’s as it should be.

Subscribers have audio of the robocall and the full script.

* The House Democrats also love to bring national issues into state races because people tend to understand national stuff more than state stuff and because the House Democrats are actually responsible for the bad state stuff and they can more easily blame Republicans for all the lousy national Congressional stuff. I’ve given subscribers numerous examples of this, but here’s an Illinois Review piece from today…

Tuesday, West Suburban Patriots released copies of the campaign ads that have filled voters’ mailboxes in the 46th House districts they say are “blatantly false” about their organization’s efforts.

“Heidi Holan’s Tea Party friends know she will grant their dangerous wishes,” one mailer said, with “Cut Social Security” and “Slash Medicare” as two wishes from an Aladdin’s lamp.

“Heidi Holan and the Tea Party agenda are Bad News for Illinois Seniors,” the reverse side says.

The West Suburban Patriots are very upset about the impression the mailers leave with their neighbors.

“At no time, nor in any manner has our organization ever advocated ‘cutting funding from Social Security or Medicare or slashing guaranteed medical coverage and benefits that senior citizens rely on, etc.’ To state such is a blatant lie,” the press statement said.

* The Republicans are not happy with these hits, but they take them in stride and fire back when necessary.

There’s just no way to prepare yourself to run against these House Democrats because they grab things out of thin air and throw it at you.

I mean, they’re using an end-of-session budget press release by House GOP Leader Jim Durkin to claim that a bunch of GOP candidates support raising politicians’ pay, which is an absolutely crazy concoction. I’d tell you more, but I want a subscription check first.

* Anway, when Dan Proft’s Liberty Principles PAC took a page from the House Democratic playbook, Rep. Scott Drury (D-Former Federal Prosecutor) filed a $9 million lawsuit…

Drury alleges that around Oct. 1, Proft, Liberty Principles PAC, Neerhof and his campaign produced and distributed campaign mail and cable ads that falsely portrayed Drury as “a proponent of local school funding cuts — which he is not,” the suit stated.

Drury was also portrayed as unethical and a political “sheep” who does the bidding for others, the suit stated.

Proft, reached by phone Monday night, said Drury’s suit is “frivolous.”

“The idea that Scott Drury thinks that a disagreement over policy in a political campaign is something to be litigated shows how insulated he is from the need for public discourse in this state,” Proft said.

* Basically Proft did what the HDems are doing elsewhere, claiming that because his party leaders want something, Drury does, too. In this case, it’s Sen. Andy Manar’s school funding reform bill…

* And check out part of Drury’s lawsuit. Click for a larger image…

OK, first of all, this is an uncoordinated (by statute) independent expenditure by Proft, so I don’t understand why Drury’s opponent is getting dragged into this lawsuit.

Secondly, Proft’s PAC has done this very same hit on several other Democrats and they haven’t gone screaming to the judicial branch with $9 million lawsuits.

* Should political attacks be based on hard facts? Heck yes they should. But since when has that ever happened? I’m in no way condoning Proft’s hit, just like I don’t condone the HDems’ multiple falsehoods, but, baby, that’s just part of life in the bigtime.

If you want to fight this, then battle it out on the proper playing field. Don’t run crying to Lady Justice.

* Man, it’s just too easy to sue somebody in this state. And, please, keep that in mind before you comment on this particular post. There’s an angry lawyer out there on a sacred Mission of Truth, and that type can be an extremely dangerous beast when provoked (and I’m not in any way comparing Rep. Drury to an animal, it’s just an expression meant to be slightly humorous, so please don’t sue me, Scott).

*** UPDATE *** From House Republican Leader Jim Durkin…

“Mr. Drury should back up a little bit and grow a thicker skin. His response gives new meaning to the term “overreaction.”

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 12:31 pm

Comments

People get paid to produce campaign ads like this.
Imagine!

Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 12:32 pm
Politicians who file defamation suits better have strong suits.

I don’t see Drury being accused of violating the law in a criminal sense.

My understanding of defamation law is that the conduct has to be criminal.

If Drury has filed a bogus defamation suit, he should have his law license pulled. Illinois courts are far too permissive of politicians filing bad faith defamation suits.

Comment by Carl Nyberg Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 12:36 pm
It may be easy to sue, that doesn’t mean it’s easy to win.

Comment by VM Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 12:37 pm
I live in the 46th and I have never received more direct mail for a race of any kind as I have from Deb Conroy against Heidi Holan. It actually pushed me toward Holan, I mean if Madigan and the Dems are throwing the kitchen sink at her, she must worry them.

Comment by Lunchbox Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 12:38 pm
I live the 46th and have not received that flyer, but, I have gotten numerous fliers from Holan that contain far worse facts about Conway. And my biggest question? what does being a State Rep have to do with funding SS and Medicare?

Comment by Cable Line Beer Gardener Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 12:39 pm
===that doesn’t mean it’s easy to win.===

Except some folks define “winning” as forcing the other side to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal bills. So, yeah, it often is pretty darned easy to “win.”

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 12:40 pm
There is a big difference between what Proft did and what Madigan does.

Madigan’s mail is very careful - it says things like “Munger’s allies support… ” Or “supports a bill that would… ” and makes a technically true, but spurious, connection.

Profts’s mail, on the other hand, calls SB16 Drury’s plan and explicitly states that Drury supports it

Comment by AlabamaShake Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 12:41 pm
But… let me be clear - Drury filling a lawsuit is just silly. But also unsurprising coming from him.

Comment by AlabamaShake Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 12:42 pm
Perhaps I should feel blessed to live in a unnoposed house race district and a congrssional race where the opponent is ’some dude’–just saying.

Comment by train111 Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 12:42 pm
Speaking of suits, it appears Eddie Winters continues to pursue the case against Ed Smith.

I hope Smith goes for sanctions when that one is over.

Comment by Carl Nyberg Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 12:46 pm
I think Werid Al said it best…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeXQBHLIPcw

Comment by OneMan Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 12:46 pm
Two Thoughts:
Times V. Sullivan…. public official=malicious intent+clear falsehood. False light is somewhat easier to prove but still a high bar. Liklihood of success? Chad Grimm has a better chance.
Second, Is this the first foray by the former federal prosecutor into a first amendment fight within the state court system? This may open up his resume, “Former Federal Prosecutor and Cook County Civil Litigator”

Comment by in the know Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 12:46 pm
I’m not an expert in defamation, but this may be a SLAPP. It seems aimed at preventing Proft et al. from engaging in constitutionally protected speech.

Comment by Gooner Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 12:47 pm
Drury has a solid suit, and Sente is on solid ground.

Who the heck are the West Suburban Patriots? I will need more to see Heidi’s side of things. But Madigan’s crew is usually pretty careful in its attacks. My guess is they can back it up.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 12:51 pm
I’m told that for two election cycles in a row, when Dems poll the burbs, the hit that tests consistantly near the top is when they tie their GOP opponent to the Tea Party.

Comment by T.R. Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 12:52 pm
Drury filed a 104 page lawsuit? He is my State Rep. but isn’t he giving some very free publicity to his opponent? And the Manar bill according to my door-to-door work is VERY unpopular in my region, which would explain a 104 page lawsuit by a nervous Democratic State Rep.

Sente should have denounced the “Munger Supports Pedophilia” garbage, which went way way way over the line. Too late now. By supporting it, the disgust factor now goes even higher than through the roof.

Reminds me of when now Senator Link was falsely accused by certain Republicans that were too smart to listen to sound advice of not paying child support. Link rebutted it with his ex-wife and daughters and won what was then a safe Republican seat.

Comment by Louis G Atsaves Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 12:52 pm
You have no credibility if you claim someone supports pedophiles working in schools. It’s stupid, crazy and disgusting — put the weights on those three however you want.

First Schneider is profiting from the Iranian nuclear program, now pro-pedophiles in schools.

Is there some big “Gullible” sign on the North Shore electorate? How does anyone think this stuff flies up there?

Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 1:05 pm
Drury is completely disingenuous. If you look at all of the mail the Dem Party is sending, despicable is too kind of a word. There’s no relationship to the truth. In many areas, not used to the “bare knuckle” approach the party uses in the city and the county, there will be backlash– especially against Dems who are sending this mail on actively canvassing campaigners. Heidi Holan has been going hard since last September (13 months ago). Thousands of people have already met her, formed an opinion.

When they see an obviously “over the top” spurious mailer, it hurts their candidate more IMO. There are wicked one’s in that district photo shopping her head on other bodies. The Dems have polled the issues and tied their opponents to whatever polls badly. There’s no regard for the truth. Some of these areas just find this kind of thing distasteful. We’ll see how it goes. But, that’s the game when you run against them. Their whole game is run up the other person’s negatives from the top of the ticket on down.

That’s how we got where we are. So Mr. Drury, tighten your jock and talk to your Leader. That’s who you ought to be suing.

Comment by A guy... Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 1:13 pm
I would guess Sente will get smacked by backlash too. They pride themselves on being more civilized up there.

Comment by A guy... Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 1:14 pm
When the party organization puts out mail, the candidates usually sign off on them. In those cases, the candidates are responsible for mendacious hit pieces.

Neither political party has the moral high ground here. Both are willing to exaggerate, mislead, and basically lie their way to victory.

Comment by Anon Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 1:14 pm
@Rich:

===that doesn’t mean it’s easy to win.===

Except some folks define “winning” as forcing the other side to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal bills. So, yeah, it often is pretty darned easy to “win.”

Absolutely right. I may have misunderstood your point, then. I thought you were saying that people should keep in mind how easy it is to sue before using the lawsuit in any argument on this post. I was seconding that opinion by pointing out that suing is easy, winning is hard.

Comment by VM Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 1:20 pm
===Anon - Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 1:14 pm:

When the party organization puts out mail, the candidates usually sign off on them. In those cases, the candidates are responsible for mendacious hit pieces===

Wrongo. When the party pays for the mail, quite often the candidate sees it when it arrives in their mail box. There’s often no “sign off” in these target races with newer candidates or short term incumbents. Their job is to show up and shut up. And they do.

Comment by A guy... Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 1:21 pm
I’d never heard about the West Suburban Patriots.

They are, according to them:

–West Suburban Patriots is an independent group of concerned citizens. We are active in Dupage County and beyond. We spontaneously began in response to the United States government accelerating it’s 100-year incremental descent into tyranny and losing sight of the fact that it serves at the will of “we the people”. The principles of this movement are Fiscal Responsibility (reduce spending & lower taxes), Constitutionally Limited Government, and Free Markets.–

“Spontaneously” arose to the “100-year incremental descent into tyranny.”

Ah yes. 1914. The good old days. Just lemonade and apple pie all day long — for a very select few.

Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 1:58 pm
I’m fairly pro-Dem, but I totally agree with Durkin. Mr Drury needs to grow up. He’s too much like Gordon Maag from a few years back. Another jilted self-important attorney who has nothing better to do than sue.

Comment by train111 Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 1:59 pm
Durkin: Short and sweet. Stay frosty.

Comment by walker Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 2:00 pm
In my southeast corner of Lake County, personal attacks on candidates fail miserably and can boomerang on the accuser. That is why I am so amazed at the Sente “my opponent is a pedophile” charge and her willingness to stick to it in the face of some serious heat.

Drury around here has developed a reputation for being thin skinned and lecture folks more often than talking to them. His lawsuit, even if on solid grounds (and I don’t know because when I saw it ran 100 pages I stopped reading on page one), will not be seen in a very nice light no matter how hard the spin on any accompanying press releases.

The Schneider/Dold race got ugly last time (voted to drill for oil in Lake Michigan, oh, my, gosh!) and veered from the usual Kirk vs. ____ races of the past 10th District. The 10th is not used to that kind of ugliness but it worked for Schneider last time. Schneider’s sneering actress and kid using flash cards TV ad is about as negative as one can go before the disgust factor sets in. I hope the NRCC did their homework on that Iran ad, because for every person who likes it, there will be another who dislikes it. I don’t see a strong upside to that ad for Dold.

Comment by Louis G Atsaves Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 2:01 pm
I received the same “-70%” mailer on behalf of the Glenn Nixon campaign against incumbent Kate Cloonen.

Comment by W.S. Walcott Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 2:29 pm
=== “Mr. Drury should back up a little bit and grow a thicker skin. His response gives new meaning to the term “overreaction.” ===

This from a guy whose mentor is threatening to sue himself.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 2:37 pm
Who is representing Drury in his lawsuit? If he drafted his own Complaint and filed it (and is preparing to brief it), I would say that it’s probably not a good use of his time with the election less than a month away unless there’s some sort of political strategy built around the Complaint.

Comment by Jimmy Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 2:38 pm
== claims that she supports pedophiles working in schools ==

smh. Where do we go from here, Rep. Sente?

The backlash on this one may be real.

Comment by Formerly Known As... Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 2:51 pm
Jimmy:

From the looks of it, his father Larry Drury has filed the complaint.

Comment by Drury & Drury Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 3:05 pm
===“Mr. Drury should back up a little bit and grow a thicker skin. His response gives new meaning to the term “overreaction.”===

I love the way Durkin goes about his business.

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 3:14 pm
Does anyone have a link to the full Drury complaint?

Comment by anon al Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 3:17 pm
Drury’s new campaign song is out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t8kAbUg4t4

Comment by Jimmy Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 3:23 pm
How about in the 75th district where D challenger, Martha Shugart, uses the tag line on her signs “Someone you know, someone you can trust”. She is running against incumbent R John Anthony. Her signs imply you cannot trust Anthony, the only black Republican in the Illinois House. She was a former Republican alderman and has now decided to run as a Dem in this race. Trust? I think not!

Comment by Bee Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 3:26 pm
I cannot believe it, but Drury is a bigger tool than Ives.

Comment by SonofSuperAbe2014 Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 3:49 pm
1. Of course it’s coordinated. These groups just bank on no one proving it. 2. It’s not Proft - it’s Dick Uihlein’s money. But for Uihlein - there is no Proft. 3 - All the Dems need to say is that the ad comes from Larry Dominick’s political operative so - who cares?

Comment by anonymous Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 4:12 pm
There is a law of diminishing and negative returns in political campaigns Up to a certain frequency, raising the number of mailings is likely to have positive results on election day. But if the number of mailings increases to such a point as to be harassing (say, three mailings a day) there is likely to be a voter backlash.

Likewise, the harder the hit, the better the result–up to a point. If the allegations become extreme, if they are both horrendous and unfounded, a backlash is to be anticipated.

There is a “sweet spot” in campaigning. It’s not a game of pure brute force.

Comment by Quiet Sage Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 4:39 pm
I received a push-poll the other day. Initially it was disguised as pro Rauner questionaire type, then drastically turned on State Senate Candidate Neil Anderson, who is running against Mike Jacobs, the third Jacobs to hold the seat. There was of course the Social Security and Medicaid scare, but this push poll accused Anderson of everything but killing kittens. The poll was done by a st louis firm.

Comment by the oracle Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 6:35 pm
I don’t think it is defamatory. I have read it carefully, and I think it is capable of an innocent construction: that the candidate supports a bill that has passed the Illinois Senate, SB 16. If that would diminish the candidate’s reputation and standing in the community, then there are a lot of state senators who have already messed themselves up.

The mailer also says that the candidate will support the bill so that party bosses will fund his campaign. The allegation is not a false statement of fact because it is not a statement of fact, whether true or false. My impression is that SB 16 has not yet been debated in the house, much less voted on. The allegation, speaking as it does of a future event, is not a statement of fact as all forward looking statements are necessarily speculative by their nature.

Comment by Anon III Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 7:27 pm
Drury is a smart man with a smart team. If he is filing a lawsuit, he has purpose to it and knows his constituency will respond well to it.

Comment by Anon Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 8:17 pm
..and most people may not know that Scott Drury is a former prosecutor….

Said nobody ever!!!

Comment by 1776 Tuesday, Oct 7, 14 @ 10:02 pm