Julie Schmitt (Green) running for 20th District seat on the Kane County Board
I live a stone's throw from Mayor Schock's incredible growing Elgin so I'll be watching Schmitt's race closely. Stories about her here, here, and here.
If Schmitt chucks some of the Green's Bush-derangement-syndrome and instead hit on themes of development and growth out here, she could advance the Party....
....at least with me.
7 comments:
A few facts about the Kane County Board 20th district, which is northeastern Elgin. The district is currently represented by Jesus de la Isla, who is an appointed incumbent facing his first election campaign. de la Isla is being challenged by Cristina Castro in the Democratic primary on February 5th.
The district is a very strong Democratic since the 2001 redistricting. In the 2004 election, longtime County Board Member Jack Cook was defeated by a healthy margin by Marlena Fox, who was forced to resign due to job responsibilities, and is why the Democratic incumbent is an appointed incumbent.
The Republicans' only hope for reclaiming this county board seat rests in Larry Wegman, who is the husband of Kane County Recorder Sandy Wegman, and unsuccessfully challenged Jack Cook for Republican nomination many times. Larry Wegman is a political gadfly who will finally be the Republican nominee by default, given the other Republican candidate, illegal immigrant basher Richard Bennett, has just been ruled-off the ballot due to problems with his nominating petitions.
This will be a 3-way General Election on November 4th where the eventual winner of the Democratic primary will be the strong favorite.
Wegman's and the Republican's only hope is Green Party candidate Julie Schmitt's presence on the ballot siphoning enough votes away from the Democratic nominee (either de la Isla or Castro). The precincts within this district have a heavy concentration of Hispanic voters, who will be voting strongly Democratic in the Presidential Election on November 4th.
Schmitt's and Wegman's ability to make the bulk of these voters ticket-splitters is problematic at best.
You make the false assumption that Greens take votes only from Democrats. That's patently false. Greens energize NEW voters, would would not otherwise vote; and all you need do is look back to the 2006 election here in Illinois in order to prove that Rich Whitney took his votes equally from Democrats AND Republicans. As fiscal conservatives and advocates of decentralization, Greens aren't just some further left of the Democrats party, you know.
There was a story recently about Green Party ward bosses in Chicago. Dennis Kucinich calls himself a "Green Democrat." If there really were such a thing, and the Greens really did have ward bosses, patronage, and a political machine, this is what it might look like. (Warning, contains offensive language. Viewer discretion advised.)
Anonymous 10:01AM, you are correct, I made a false assumption that Greens take votes only from Democrats. However, I disagree that Greens energize NEW voters, and your arguement about the 2006 Illinois governor's race is not pursuasive.
Illinois voters were disgusted with BOTH the Democrat AND Republican nominees for governor in 06. The Greens and Rich Whitney had little to do with the Greens becoming an "established party" in Illinois. It was more voters not wanting to vote for either Blagojevich nor Topinka, and voting for Whitney gave them a clean conscience.
As for Kane County Board District 20 in 2008, the same equal level of disgust with Democrats AND Republicans could give Green Candidate Julie Schmitt more votes from Republicans. There are Republicans who would never vote for Larry Wegman due to his goofy candidacies over the years for Kane County Clerk and his past failed Kane County Board challenges against Jack Cook, as well as his 1 uneventful term on the Elgin Township Board (1993-1997).
Even though Larry's wife, Kane County Recorder Sandy Wegman, is genuinely popular and well on her way to a 3rd term in next year's elections, Larry does not share the same level of popularity and respect that his wife has earned over the years, and her past seven years as recorder.
And then, Larry Wegman has the daring to put his face on his campaign signs, and Larry Wegman's mugshot is one that would scare away voters (hint for Wegman, do NOT use your picture on your signs).
Dundeebloger, well, you're simply wrong. Even Al From, Chair of the Democratic Leadership Committee wrote in Blueprint Magazine in 2000, that according to their own Democratic exit polling, Bush would have beat Gore by 1 percentage point had Nader not run, because Nader energized NEW voters, who would have not otherwise voted and many of them changed their minds and voted for Gore at the last minute. All you need do is talk to any Green to find out that most Greens have never been Democrats nor Republicans--I certainly was never a Democrat before being a Green. You can ignore the evidence, so long as you know that you're ignoring it. It's a lie.
I'll look for the YouTube videos of the debates for the Elgin City council debates. The two issues were development and crime. Those were everyones concerns.
I think Schmitt could gain many GOP voters who would be concerned about the growth in the West and if it will lead to neglect in the East. It's a natural for the Greens. And there will be GOP voters receptive to limiting growthing out West if they think it means abandoning the eastern side of Kane.
I wouldn't be surprized if Schmitt pulls more from the GOP then the Dems... depending on how she campaigns.
If she gets bogged down in some of the Greens national issues, forget it, but if she sticks with local issues of growth, sustainability, and I suggest crime too... she could really get a start at building a party in Kane County.
"The Greens and Rich Whitney had little to do with the Greens becoming an "established party" in Illinois. "
Now I've heard everything. As a Green though, I'll accept your position that the other two parties are simply too incompetent to get us thrown off the ballot, keep us out of the media, and convince people to not vote for us. And if the corporate parties are too incompetent to stop the rag-tag Green Party, which had no money, little name recognition, no paid employees at the time, and had the ballot access laws stacked against them -- then what the hell ARE the Republicans and Democrats actually capable of accomplishing???
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