GOPUSA ILLINOIS Daily Clips - June 13, 2008
ILLINOIS REPUBLICAN PARTY
-- Illinois GOP Chairman's Summary of the 2008 Illinois Republican Convention in Decatur
http://weareillinois.org/connect/newsDetail.aspx?newsID=3965
-- 2008 Platform of the Illinois Republican Party
http://www.digitalvictorycms.com/_uploaded/161447-2008%20IRP%20Platform.pdf
GOPUSA ILLINOIS
-- Additional 2008 Illinois Republican Party (IRP) state convention documents and video clips that GOPUSA ILLINOIS hopes the IRP will soon post on its website - Dave Diersen
www.gopillinois.com
-- Weighted vote that each State Central Committee (SCC) member has
-- All rules (other than Roberts Rules of Order) that governed each aspect of the convention
-- List of all delegates, alternate delegates, elected officials, candidates, and party leaders who attended the convention broken out alphabetically and by county
-- List of convention exhibitors and vendors
-- List of reporters who covered the convention
-- The 60-page convention handbook and a detailed index of its contents (elected officials, party leaders, maps, advertisers, etc.)
-- Chairman, co-chairmen, members, motions, resolutions, reports, minority reports, and meeting minutes for each convention committee (arrangements, at-large delegates and alternates, presidential electors, credentials, platform and resolutions, and national committeeman and national committeewoman)
-- Video clip of speeches made at the June 5 early bird reception
-- Video clips of the June 6 training sessions and committee meetings
-- Video clips of the June 6 County Chairman's Association meeting and the June 6 SCC meeting
-- Video clips of speeches made at the June 6 welcome reception and June 6 welcome dinner
-- List of June 6 hospitality rooms
-- Video clip of speeches made at the June 7 breakfast brunch
-- Convention floor plan that includes the number of chairs and location for each county delegation
-- Detailed agenda for the general session
-- Video clip of each segment of the general convention including: Chairman McKenna opening remarks, Deb Detmers Credential Committee report, Tolbert Chisum Rules and Procedures Committee report, Gene Dawson Platform and Resolutions Committee report and votes, Joe Birkett address, Jack Dorgan At-Large Delegates and Alternates report, Steve Sauerberg address, Randy Pollard County Chairman's Association report, John McCain telephonic address, Tom Cross address, Frank Watson address, Ron Smith Presidential Electors Committee report, Bobby Peterson National Committeeman and National Committeewoman Committee report and votes, DuPage County delegation walkout, Aaron Schock address, Henry Hyde Leadership in Excellence Award presentation
-- Video clip of national convention organization meeting
ILLINOIS REVIEW
-- Illinois GOP responds . . . Part 3 - Fran Eaton
http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2008/06/il-gop-respon-3.html
(THE ARTICLE: Chairman McKenna’s opening remarks at Saturday’s convention included a surprise public reprimand of former Governor Jim Thompson for appealing to President Bush for a commutation of former Governor George Ryan’s federal imprisonment and a scolding of the DuPage County chairman Bob Schillerstrom for urging three of his DuPage County senators to vote in support of the RTA sales tax increase. “The gloves are off. We’re being criticized by the DuPage people for not being on message. It’s hard to have a message of lower taxes when Republicans are pushing to raise taxes,” Heffley said. “They want to attack Andy, and that’s what they’re doing, we’re going to push back. Putting those three on raising taxes kills our message for less government and lower taxes.” "Those three" Heffley was referring to are DuPage County State Senators Kirk Dillard, Dan Cronin and John Millner, who supported the RTA tax increase this spring. “If the DuPage County chairman allow Democrats to take votes off of a $100 million tax increase, and use our Republicans to make the votes instead, that hurts us in elections, that’s unacceptable,” Heffley said. “There’s a very big schism right now with DuPage,” Heffley said. “They trash Republican leadership in the House and Senate, they trash Andy. They’re unhappy because they hold no leadership positions. And the third thing is there’s a big division between Schillerstrom and Brian Sheahan, who’s a personal friend of Andy’s, and who Andy did calls for in the primary.” Schillerstrom, Heffley said, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to get Sheahan off the DuPage County Board this spring. Both Sheahan and board member Debbie Olsen oppose home rule and have vowed not to raise taxes. Sheahan was re-elected despite Schillerstrom’s efforts, and the dispute continued through the convention this weekend, resulting in the convention walkout after the committeewoman vote. “As for Jim Thompson, to go out there and defend Blagojevich and then also and the need to pardon George Ryan after we finally put that behind us – we’ve been getting killed over George Ryan – since 2002, now you’re going to have a Republican governor go out there and talk about doing this?” Heffley said. Rather than express displeasure while reading the At Large Delegate Committee’s list of recommended national convention delegates, McKenna chose to include his dissatisfaction in his opening remarks. If the recommendations would have gone to the floor for a vote, Heffley said, there was concern that the vocal and organized Ron Paul delegates would have moved to have their candidates included. And it was the Ron Paul delegation that the IL GOP was instructed by the national convention to keep from taking over the proceedings and why security guards were brought into the convention floor. . .More tomorrow on Illinois Review. com . . .)
-- Illinois GOP responds . . . Part 2 - Fran Eaton
http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2008/06/il-gop-respon-2.html
(THE ARTICLE: As those applications came in for national committeeman and committeewoman, one name was mistakenly listed as an at large national convention delegate candidate – that of 26 year old attorney Ryan Higgins. Due to the oversight and misplacement of his application, Higgins’ name was not circulated as a candidate for national committeeman along with Pat Brady and Steve Rauschenberger’s. The committee did allow his name for consideration Friday afternoon during the nominating committee’s deliberations, but Higgins received no votes. (Note: IR hopes to publish Higgins' surprising nomination speech later today) Was the IL GOP’s position neutral on the national committeeman’s race? “Absolutely,” Heffley said. “None of us had ever met Pat Brady up until a few weeks before. He came out of nowhere, encouraged by McCain Illinois campaign chairman Jim Durkin. Several weeks before, heavy hitter names like Ray LaHood and Bob Schillerstrom were out there, and we didn’t really know what would happen.” LaHood got out before the convention, and Schillerstrom didn't submit his name. “I can assure you that between the two guys, Pat Brady and Steve Rauschenberger, there was no preference. We have great respect for Senator Rauschenberger and his great work on the budget. It’s pretty easy to see that he’s sorely missed there now," Heffley said. "Having said that, there were some things done that were not helpful,” Heffley said. “First, Bernie Schoenberg’s [State Journal-Register] column about the senator now being a lobbyist wasn’t helpful. With the controversy about [retiring national committeeman] Bob Kjellander, that wasn’t helpful. But maybe even worse was wrapping himself in [Family Taxpayer Network’s] Doug Ibendahl . . . that killed Steve in that race. I know two people who switched their vote because of it. And some people downstate are still upset about Steve's affiliation with Ron Gidwitz in 2006.” Was it true that Heffley made calls in support of one of the nominees over another? “No,” he said. So Brady wasn’t the establishment’s favored candidate? Why did Bob Kjellander embrace Brady in victory after the nominating committee picked Brady? “I’ve talked to both Bob and Pat, and they both deny that report vehemently,” Heffley said. “As a matter of fact, Brady continuously bashed Kjellander’s behavior when he told people why they should elect him. The party remained neutral in both the national committeeman and committeewoman races.” The national committeewoman’s race was a little stickier for Heffley, as he managed Kathy Salvi’s congressional primary race in 2006, and is admittedly still a big fan of Salvi. Despite that fact, Heffley insists the party remained neutral in that race as well. “Besides Kathy, we had two state central committeewomen competing in that race – Carol Smith Donovan and Demetra DeMonte. Andy is accountable to the state central committee.” Tazewell County Chairman DeMonte won the committee's nomination on the second vote, surprising Old Guard-linked committee members who were fairly confident Donovan would emerge. On the second ballot Donovan garnered eight of the 19 members’ votes and DeMonte won 10, the amount needed to be the nominee. “I can tell you that any of those elected, Andy would be proud to attend Republican National Committee meetings with, and to have them represent the state of Illinois,” Heffley said. "Now he's actually looking forward to those meetings." Other committees that received less media attention were more controversial, Heffley said. “I’m actually very proud of the platform that was voted in. We think Gene Dawson did an outstanding job and the people who worked on that committee were great. We knew Dawson would give everyone a fair hearing, and that was important to Andy.” The platform committee was the center of controversy over whether the party would endorse direct elections of state central committeemen. Currently, Republican precinct committeemen and county chairmen elect state central committeemen within the party hierarchy. A legislative effort, SB 600, was stymied and the possibility of changing back to direct elections was then left to the IL GOP platform committee. After committee discussion, the direct election plank addition failed 11 to 8, making the official committee recommendation against opening the votes to IL GOP primary voters. Because the vote was so divided, a minority report was filed, encouraging the convention to reconsider the vote on the floor. The convention delegates accepted the platform committee’s recommendation without direct elections. Has Chairman McKenna ever publicly stated his thoughts on direct elections? “Yes, Andy is not for direct elections. He's concerned about Republicans spending money to get a non-paying position such as state central committeemen, and he’s concerned about undermining the authority of county chairmen,” Heffley said. But most disturbing to Heffley was the at large delegates’ committee meeting headed by state central committeeman Jack Dorgan. Beforehand, McKenna told the committee chairman he wanted to express opposition to two names on the at large delegates' list – Jim Thompson and Bob Schillerstrom. On Friday afternoon during the committee meeting, the chairman did not recognize McKenna’s desire to speak through a procedural move. Thompson and Schillerstrom will be representing Illinois at the national convention this August. “Chairman McKenna was not allowed to speak in his own committee. Friday afternoon was bad,” Heffley said. More coming on the DuPage controversy, conservatives' future in the party and the "Stop Ron Paul" orders from the national level . . .)
-- Illinois GOP's Jason Heffley responds . . . for himself - Fran Eaton
http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2008/06/il-gops-jason-h.html
(THE LETTER: First of all, I would like to thank Fran and the entire IR Team for the forum. We have certainly had our differences in the past but Fran quickly accepted my offer and spent countless hours traveling out to meet me, conducting the interview and organizing it into an actual story. I know that some of my answers will be met with skepticism and cynicism. However, I want you all to know that my answers are sincere and given based on the facts as I know them. I hope that the interview provides all of you with a better understanding of the process and how everything was put together. . . I know several people have expressed opinions or recommendations on how something could or should be done differently. I can assure all of you that your comments and recommendations are taken under consideration. However, everyone needs to remember that ultimately we are a Party that follows the rules. In addition, there are several competing interests that must be protected and respected including the interests expressed on IR. We honestly did our best to improve on past conventions while following the rules and procedures that are in place. Could we have done better? Probably. Did we make great strides? Absolutely. Finally, I know not all questions or concerns will be answered. Fran did a very thorough job and spent over two hours of her time asking questions but there is a lot of ground to cover. I would encourage everyone to wait until the entire story is posted and if you still are confused, bothered or unclear about something, please send me an email or post those questions here. I will do my best to go back and explain everything to the best of my ability. I will not, however, respond to personal attacks about any of our state central committeemen, county chairmen or Chairman McKenna. Everyone at the Party worked incredibly hard to put together that convention. I hope explaining why things happened the way they did will go a long way towards mending hurt feelings. Ultimately, we need to re-focus our energy on the Democrats and November. Thank you all for you consideration. Jason Heffley, Executive Director, Illinois Republican Party)
-- Newly Elected Illinois Republican National Committeeman Pat Brady Attacks Corruption - Cal Skinner
http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2008/06/newly-elected-i.html
-- Ryan Higgins: Illinois GOP's future - Fran Eaton
http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2008/06/il-gops-future.html (Includes audio clip)
-- Time for Springfield news lapdogs to turn on their master - Fran Eaton
http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2008/06/time-for-spring.html
CHAMPION NEWS
-- Serving with the “Sign Police” at the State GOP Convention - Mark O. Stern
http://www.championnews.net/article.php?sid=1032
(THE ARTICLE: As a committee member at the recent GOP State Convention, I witnessed firsthand a lack of advance notice on important issues, lack of communication among delegates, and ability to rig votes to advance the agenda of the "in" group. None of these things happened by accident. As a result of this kind of confusion, insider supporters of Carol Smith Donovan (who ran for National Committeewoman), including current National Committeewoman Mary Jo Arndt, were heard to complain that they weren't told what the rules were. Supposedly, Mrs. Arndt was also refused permission to address the convention. I say, welcome to the world of the Illinois GOP grass roots! It was poetic justice that the arcane, closed process championed by the insiders worked to such an extreme that neither an incumbent State Central Committeewoman nor one of the top 3 GOP officials in the state could even figure it out or get a chance to speak. Maybe now that some insiders have been bitten, they'll understand why, if we want to return to relevance as a party, we need to start by operating fair and open conventions, where floor discussion is actually allowed, committees are identified publicly in advance, and agendas and rules are posted on line for all to see. I served on the Committee on Arrangements at the State Convention. Thanks to the excellent efforts of Macon County GOP Chairman Jim Gresham and many volunteers, most of the work was already done. Our committee had only one job: to approve any convention signage. I knew that the State Central Committee's Convention Committee on Rules and Procedures had ruled at its May 14, 2008 meeting that "all convention signage, other than Illinois Republican Party signage, shall be approved in advance by the Committee on Arrangements." Thus, anyone who wanted to display signs needed our permission. But most of my fellow committee members had no idea what our job was, and until I arrived in the meeting room, I did not know who the other members of the committee were. Our committee was chaired by Roger Claar, 13th District State Central Committeeman who, to his credit, allowed discussion and audience comments. We had 19 seats - one appointed by each State Central Committeeman - but only 10 members present, barely a quorum. The committeemen from Congressional Districts 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 12, 13, 16, and 17 either didn't appoint anyone or their appointee didn't show up. Maybe if State Central Committeemen had to answer to Republican primary voters, they would make more of an effort to fill these slots. But I digress. Chairman Claar presented a resolution to allow only McCain and Sauerberg signs at the convention - including anywhere on the hotel grounds as well as the convention hall. At most conventions, supporters wave or post signs while their candidate speaks - part of the fun of a convention - or just to publicize their candidates. So, I moved to allow a reasonable number of signs for any Republican candidate, like Peter Roskam, Mark Kirk, or Aaron Schock. Despite vociferous objections that this would lead to "chaos" and that "everyone already knows all the other candidates, so they don't need signs," my amendment carried, 6 to 4. However, it did not have the 10 votes needed under the rules to advance it to the full convention. Chairman Claar then brought back his original resolution. I could have voted no, and it would have failed. But, Chairman Claar had in front of him a stack of blank appointment notices signed by State Chairman Andy McKenna, allowing him to name anyone to the committee, with no prior notice, regardless of the district where that person resided (even though the state party had disqualified regular delegates who didn't reside in the district from which they were appointed). Had I voted no, Chairman Claar could have simply appointed as many additional committee members as necessary to advance the "official" resolution. Thus, I did not prolong the fight, and the restrictive resolution passed. Despite this, no McCain or Sauerberg signs were ever distributed, and other candidates' signs were allowed to remain on the grounds. The only person adversely affected was Carol Smith Donovan, State Central Committeewoman for the 7th Congressional District and candidate for National Committeewoman. Donovan supporters passed out signs during the voting for National Committeewoman, which were promptly confiscated by the sergeants at arms. Her supporters later staged a noisy walkout. But I have no sympathy for her - her delegate on my committee voted against my motion to allow signs! Mark O. Stern is a Wheaton attorney and activist, specializing in public school accountability issues.)
-- Republican money, metrics, and lines of communication - John Biver
http://www.championnews.net/article.php?sid=1033
MCHENRY COUNTY BLOG
-- Ethics Section of Illinois Republican Party Platform - Cal Skinner
http://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/ (Scroll down)
-- Frank Watson Tosses Out Red Meat - Cal Skinner
http://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/ (Scroll down)
-- Part 5 - Notables at the Illinois Republican Party Convention - Cal Skinner
http://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/ (Scroll down)
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
-- ENTIRE FRONT PAGE: A little whitey lie Campaign no longer ignoring Internet rumors about speech by Michelle -- it's launching Web site to push back - Lynn Sweet
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/1003772,CST-EDT-sweet13.article
-- Impeachment memo is all about winning - Rich Miller
http://www.suntimes.com/news/miller/1003251,CST-EDT-miller13.article
DAILY HERALD
-- DIERSEN HEADLINE: The Daily Herald outrageously blames the "mess that is the Republican Party" in Illinois on "Republican conservatives and liberals (undermining) each other at every turn" and "the Senate campaign fiasco of Alan Keyes" and "the Operation Safe Road saga that led to the conviction of former GOP governor George Ryan," when in fact, it should blame the Illinois news media's bias against conservatives and against conservatism and those Illinois Republican Party elected officials and party leaders who have shown by their words, actions, and/or failures to act that they a) reject important planks in the Illinois Republican Party platform and/or b) are involved in politics for personal gain
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=206896&src=
-- DIERSEN HEADLINE: OUTSTANDING: Mark O. Stern v. Wheaton-Warrenville School District 200: Appellate Court rules in Stern's favor and rejects the District's claim that any document contained in a personnel file is per se exempt from FOIA
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=206663
RULING: http://www.state.il.us/court/Opinions/AppellateCourt/2008/2ndDistrict/June/2070424.pdf
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
-- Rezko's letter should put Obama, governor on alert - John Kass
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass-13-jun13,0,1570658.column
-- Obama's rumor fight goes online - Christi Parsons
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-obama-smearjun13,0,3104696.story
ABC7
-- Obama web site confronts rumors - Andy Shaw
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/politics&id=6200951 (Includes video clip)
CBS2
-- Obama's Campaign 'Fights The Smears' On Website FightTheSmears.Com Combats Outrageous Obama Rumors - Mike Flannery
http://cbs2chicago.com/politics/obama.rumors.muslim.2.747070.html (Includes video clip)
-- Unions: Impeachment Memo A "Distraction" - AP
http://cbs2chicago.com/politics/unions.impeachment.memo.2.747252.html
-- OUTRAGEOUS, VERY SAD, BUT NOT SURPRISING: The rest of the world does not want America to put its interests first. Outrageously, very sadly, but not surprisingly, the rest of the world wants America to put the rest of the world's interests first.
http://cbs2chicago.com/politics/world.view.election.2.746801.html
HERALD NEWS
-- Did Rezko have hand in airport bill? 11th District Congressional Campaign Allegations - Patrick Ferrell
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/heraldnews/news/1003524,4_1_JO13_11AIRPORT_S1.article
BLOOMINGTON PANTAGRAPH
-- Gov. Edgar indifferent on speaker's memo - Kartikay Mehrotra
http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2008/06/12/news/doc48509ced60fbe736544965.txt
CRAIN'S CHICAGO BUSINESS
-- Chicago is losing its middle class: report - Lorene Yue
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=29797
OTTAWA TIMES
-- Ozinga doesn't plan to move into 11th district - Edward Felker
http://mywebtimes.com/archives/ottawa/display.php?id=361530
SUBURBAN LIFE
-- DuPage County Board to oversee anti-crime funding - Dan Petrella
http://www.mysuburbanlife.com/villapark/news/x513606252/County-Board-to-oversee-anti-crime-funding
CHICAGO DAILY OBSERVER
-- With friends like these - Don Rose
http://cdobs.com/archive/our-columns/with-friends-like-these%2C1247/
ASSOCIATED PRESS
-- Obama site confronts rumors - Nedra Pickler
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hNiz4P0du8Ns7bKLYjDX8rss1GBgD918IB900
CBS NEWS
-- McCain, Obama Reach Out To Women Voters Washington Post: McCain Seeks To Cut Into Traditional Democratic Advantage - Juliet Eilperin
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/12/politics/washingtonpost/main4174779.shtml
BOSTON HERALD
-- GOP Chairman Robert M. "Mike" Duncan scrutinizes Obama’s relationship with controversial figures - Steven Thomma
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/national/politics/2008/view/
TOWNHALL
-- The Enlightened Obama? - Sandy Rios
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/SandyRios/2008/06/12/the_enlightened_obama&Comments=true
HUMAN EVENTS
-- Barack Obama: A Candidate in Search of a Resume - Gary Bauer
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=26983
(FROM THE ARTICLE: It was off to the Illinois capital for Obama. But during his eight years in the state senate, Obama didn’t distinguish himself either. As Illinois State Senator Dan Cronin told ABC News, “It’s not so much what he did, but you have to sort of look at what he didn’t do in many respects. There were no bold solutions, no effort to stand up to the Chicago public schools or the unions. There really wasn’t, and there were opportunities to do so.” And when those opportunities presented themselves, he often ducked. In fact, he voted “present” over 130 times. Why such flaccidity? Because, according to former Illinois State Senator Steven J. Rauschenberger, Obama “ . . . has always had his eyes on the prize. And it wasn’t Springfield.” Rauschenberger told the New York Times, “If he [Obama] deserves to be president, it is not because he was a great legislator.”)
REAL CLEAR POLITICS
-- Obama's Change: What? When? How? - Gary Andres
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/06/obamas_change_what_when_how.html
-- Why a McCain Win May Be Bad for GOP, Good for Democrats - Stuart Rothenberg
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/06/why_a_mccain_win_may_be_bad_fo.html
POLITICO
-- Obama moves DNC operations to Chicago - Ben Smith
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0608/Obama_moves_DNC_operations_to_Chicago.html
