Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Shaw loses again in fight to control state party

Posted in:

Illinois

An attorney for an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican State Central Committee says his client may go to court to try to reverse a decision by the Illinois State Board of Elections — a move that could affect who becomes the next state GOP chairman.

State Board officials said they had no choice under law Thursday but to certify the results of county conventions held previously across the state that elected a member of the state central committee from each of the state’s 18 congressional districts. Those 18 will decide — by a weighted vote of GOP ballots cast in the March primary — whether to keep Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s handpicked chairman, Cook County Commissioner Tim Schneider, or opt for challenger Lake County GOP Chairman Mark Shaw. […]

John Fogarty, the legal counsel for the state GOP, dismissed Boulton’s criticism that vote tallying at the county conventions lacked safeguards.

“These are political elections. They are not any type of election that the state can come in and force, order with election judges and the like. These are county conventions and the counties are perfectly able to conduct these elections in the manner that they see fit,” Fogarty said.

* WCIA TV…

The results showed State Senator Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet) won. He could be the deciding vote, but critics say the process was rigged.

According to Matt Dietrich, a spokesman for the State Board of Elections, ISBE has no legal authority over the party rules.

“All we are able to do under state statute is accept the results when the party gives them to us from their county conventions and certify those results, which are then used to elect the state chairman,” Dietrich said. […]

“Sen. Rose and the 17 other members of the State Central Committee will be seated at the upcoming meeting and will cast their votes for party chairman,” ILGOP spokesman Aaron DeGroot stated. “We look forward to completing this important party business and focusing our efforts to defeat JB Pritzker and Mike Madigan in the upcoming November election.”

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, May 11, 18 @ 10:20 am

Comments

===…and Mike Madigan…===

LOL

Mike Madigan is running unopposed.

Maybe look into that.

Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, May 11, 18 @ 10:23 am
Somewhere, Vladimir Putin is smirking.

Comment by GA Watcher Friday, May 11, 18 @ 10:24 am
===Somewhere, Vladimir Putin is smirking.===

Why? Putin supports Rauner?

Elaborate.

Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, May 11, 18 @ 10:25 am
Why all the fuss?

After Rauner, and many other Republicans get beat this Fall, Schneider will end up resigning in shame and the conservatives will take over control of what’s left of the party.

Comment by Soapbox Derby Friday, May 11, 18 @ 10:49 am
Lost the Gov race, AG race, Minority leader race, state rep races, and the state central committee races. Now grasping at straws for the state party chairman. You would think that after awhile, they realize they aren’t going to win.

Comment by ste_with a v_en Friday, May 11, 18 @ 10:50 am
These Committeemen should be elected by the voters. There is absolutely no reason for this nonsense.

Comment by Grand Avenue Friday, May 11, 18 @ 10:51 am
No way to run a railroad- this ENSURES a split party going into the fall, power moves like this will not mend the fences- bad form

Comment by Elliott Ness Friday, May 11, 18 @ 11:22 am
If you believe Ives and her crew that the goal is to “Kirk” Rauner… then all this is doing is ensuring the Raunerite Partty is not united.

The rest is noise.

The end game is to beat Rauner. This continued fracture helps that, Shaw losing or not.

Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, May 11, 18 @ 11:25 am
The IL GOP has been rigging these internal votes for decades. Republican bosses abandoned direct elections for the state central committee specifically for the purpose of making the rigging easier. And not only has Bob Winchester been a direct beneficiary and defender of that rigging in the past, his lawyer is directly connected to some of the most outrageous rigging at the Cook County GOP convention, particularly 2 years ago when on THE DAY OF THE COUNTY CONVENTION they notified 13 Chicago ward committeemen who had been elected in a real election the month before (2016 GOP Primary) that they were “fired” and couldn’t participate in the convention that night. They were all banned at the county convention again this year. A majority of those 13 were black. They purged vast majority of black GOP party officials in Cook. Winchester’s lawyer defended that scheme in circuit court, and lost. But the 13 still aren’t being recognized by the IL GOP. A card carrying Nazi got a free pass though on Republican ballot to November. Breathtaking dysfunction.

Comment by just an fyi Friday, May 11, 18 @ 11:31 am