Another Democrat - Will County State's Attorney Jim Glasgow - Endorses Republican Tom Cross For Treasurer

The Illinois Treasurer's race has seen a pretty visible momentum swing towards Tom Cross and his campaign to bring integrity and balanced budgets to the office of State Treasurer this week.

First it was four newspapers endorsing him over Mike Frerichs.  (Daily Herald, Quincy Herald-Whig, Northwest Herald, and today the Peoria Journal Star)   Those are the only four papers who have endorsed candidates in the race thus far, and Cross has secured the trust of the editorial boards at every paper so far.

But, just this morning on WJOL in Joliet, (as you can see above via Tweet from @WJOL) Tom Cross made a joint appearance with Will County State's Attorney Jim Glasgow where Glasgow endorsed Cross' campaign.

It is interesting not just because Glasgow is a very popular public official in Will County who does a good job as prosecutor (can you say Drew Peterson?!?) , but also because he is a Democrat.

That makes three public officials - who are Democrats - to jump in with Tom Cross:  Former Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner, and now Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow.

The Democrat party is abandoning Mike Frerichs and standing with Tom Cross who has worked to build bridges across parties and will work for all of Illinois as Treasurer.

Mike Frerichs Continues To Distance Himself From Governor Pat Quinn?

File this under: Mike Frerichs further distancing him from Pat Quinn this election.

First it was this tweet from Mike Frerichs - candidate for Illinois Treasurer - where he listed the "Winning Democrat Team" but failed to list Governor Pat Quinn.  Check out the photo he posted, too!

But...the Frerichs team continues with that same idea this weekend as they posted a photo of some of his fellow ticket-sharers on the Democrat side, but once again stays as far away as he can from Pat Quinn.

He shows himself (of course!) along side Congresswoman Robin Kelly and Senator Dick Durbin.    But...where's the Governor?  Nowhere to be found:

 
Is Pat Quinn that big of a drag on these down-ballot races?

Must be.

But...to be totally fair:  Governor Pat Quinn has some smart folks running his race.

They're thanking their lucky stars that Frerichs is avoiding him.

They've seen how the Frerichs Vortex took down Ann Callis already. They want to stay as far away from the Vortex as possible for fear it drags down the Governor!

Illinois Speaker Mike Madigan Skips Democrat Day At Illinois State Fair

That is all.

DuPage Democrats Website Down

Must have been all that traffic, right?

Dem Watch: Illinois Democrats Hosting 2nd "Day of Action" This Saturday Across Illinois

Lead by United States Senator Dick Durbin, the Illinois Democrats are hosting their 2nd (of this summer) "Day of Action" this weekend.  You can see the image/flyer below:

The tool is hosted on http://events.dickdurbin.com/events and allows folks to narrow their options for participating via their zip codes.

Did you had one of these folks come through your neighborhood last time?

As has been publicly noted, there's a HUGE enthusiasm gap between the Democrat faithful and the Republican rank and file members.  The Dems - in Illinois - have lots of ground to make up this cycle.

Be on the lookout for the Democrats in the communities listed above.  Will be interesting to see what the outputs for these "Days of Action" are for the party.

Dem Watch: How About That Benton Cook III?!?

Photo via the Sun-Times

Let's call it his third bit of bad luck, shall we?

First,  Benton Cook III - the husband of Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown - got wrapped up in Governor Pat Quinn's Neighborhood Recovery Initiative.  You remember that crooked program, right?

Cook became a lightning rod for criticism of Quinn’s Neighborhood Recovery Initiative following Chicago Sun-Times reports that he was hired to help supervise $2.1 million in anti-violence grants despite having a felony conviction for writing bad checks. Cook didn’t work directly for the state, but for a not-for-profit group that paid him $146,401 in salary and benefits over 22 months out of the state anti-violence funds.

His second bit of bad luck? Benton Cook III has been telling tall tales about his credentials:

Separately, state regulators filed a complaint against Cook last month accusing him of misrepresenting himself as a licensed clinical psychotherapist and offering psychotherapy services on a website. Cook is fighting that complaint, saying he never offered such services. 

On his resume, “Benton Cook III PH.D” says he did “doctoral studies in clinical psychology” at the Jacksonville Theological Seminary and was a “professor of psychology” there between May 1999 and May 2004. He also says he has a “masters of humanities in psychological counseling” and a bachelor’s degree in “religion and biblical studies” from Aspen Theological Seminary.

And now?  His third bit of bad luck?  He's been on the dime of his wife's campaign for years:

Before he was paid more than $146,000 for work on Gov. Pat Quinn’s scandal-plagued anti-violence initiative, Benton Cook III says he spent four years as a “media production director” for political candidates. 

His biggest client, as it turns out, was his wife, Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown, records show. 

Brown’s campaign fund paid the video production company based at her husband’s then-South Side home nearly $90,000 over a four-year period ending in 2010, according to Illinois State Board of Elections records. The business, Gideon Video Productions, doesn’t appear to have been licensed with the state of Illinois, the city of Chicago or Cook County.

Just a string of bad luck, right?  Those pesky reporters from the Chicago Sun-Times should stop digging around on him.  

Same as it ever was.

All Politics *IS* Local: @RepJackFranks And His Ice Cream Socials

Over on the McHenry County Blog, Cal Skinner notes that State Representative Jack Franks announced his set of "Ice Cream Socials" across his district. 

From the release:

Warm summer nights in McHenry County often bring together friends and neighbors for refreshing ice cream and lively conversation. In the spirit of that tradition, state Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo, will host four Ice Cream Socials in July. 

The Ice Cream Socials will be held in conjunction with community events across McHenry County. Audience members at the Wonder Lake Ski Show, band concerts in McHenry and Woodstock, and patrons of the annual Fay’s BBQ Fundraiser for the M.O.R.E. Center in Marengo will have the opportunity to engage with Rep. Franks while enjoying a free cup of ice cream.

State Representative Jack Franks is taking the campaign seriously this summer and is doing what good politicians need to do:  go to where the people are and not forget about why they're elected.  Too often we see "Potomac Fever" from our Congress-people and on occasion we see the same "Sangamon Fever" out of our State Representatives and State Senators.

Franks, for all his flaws including his support of Speaker Mike Madigan, understands retail politics and works his district hard each year.   We need more hard-working elected officials who work as hard back home.

How Dare They! Obama Library Starts With Shady Tricks

This is almost too rich to believe.  

There are some folks in the Illinois legislature that are pushing forward a bill that would put $100 Million of public money - our money - toward building the Barack Obama Presidential library.

Now...the merits of spending taxpayer money on the Presidential Library aren't what we're really interested in discussing here.  But what we want to talk about is the process that the Democrats in Illinois are taking to get us (us = everybody in the State of Illinois) there.

Yesterday...The House Executive Committee meeting in Chicago today voted, by an official tally of 9-0, to authorize using state money for the library.

Yep.  Nine to Nothing.  The problem?  Only five representatives were there.

From WBEZ:

Nine representatives were recorded as voting for the bill, even though there were five lawmakers in attendance at the hearing. That is because Rep. Bob Rita (D-Blue Island), who chairs the Executive Committee, employed a procedural move. 

Rita used the attendance record from a previous hearing that occurred Wednesday as the vote for the presidential library cash. House Speaker Michael Madigan, who sat in on today’s hearing, clarified Rita’s maneuver, saying the attendance would serve as nine votes in favor of the library, even though the previous committee hearing was on a possible Chicago casino and not related to a presidential library. 

No Republicans attended Thursday’s hearing on the presidential library. 

Rep. Ed Sullivan (R-Mundelein) was marked as voting yes on the measure, even though he did not attend Thursday’s hearing and was working at his non-legislative job. He had attended Wednesday’s hearing on gambling expansion. 

Sullivan said he was under the impression Thursday’s hearing was only to hear testimony about the presidential library, and no votes would be taken. 

“They’ve broken the trust and I think they’ve done something illegal,” Sullivan said of the procedural move. “The legacy of a potential Obama library shouldn’t start out as a result of an illegal act.”

 So...the Democrats want to start this whole process of getting this Library stood up with this farce?

From the Ed Sullivan:

In a stunning violation of House rules, Illinois House Democrats used a subject matter only meeting today to advance legislation aimed at steering $100 million in public funds towards luring the Obama Presidential Library to Chicago. 

“The legacy of the Obama Presidential Library shouldn’t be kicked off in a cloud of controversy,” stated State Representative Ed Sullivan (R, Mundelein). “Not only was the meeting a misrepresentation, so was the false roll call taken.”

Sorry Guys. It's Not Going To Happen

We've said it before: Voters in Illinois are smart enough to not get caught up in all the distraction techniques being thrown at them from Democrat Boss Mike Madigan and his toadies Pat Quinn and Treasurer's Candidate Mike Frerichs.

We'll be doing our part to remind voters leading up to November.  But, we need your help.  Go "Like" our Facebook page right now and tell your friends to tune in.

Don't Be Distracted By The Flailing About of Illinois Democrats

Last week, we told voters to not get distracted from the issues by Governor Pat Quinn's "class warfare" and Speaker Mike Madigan's "Millionaire's tax" and the Chicago Tribune agreed with us. 

Now the Morris Daily Herald is reminding voters the same thing.  In a piece called:  "Don't Get Distracted" they lay out the case against Governor Pat Quinn, Speaker Mike Madigan and Democrat State Senator Mike Frerichs:

Illinois’ dire fiscal situation is well-documented.

It’s public pension systems are underfunded by more than $1 billion.

The state ended its last fiscal year with more than $7 billion in unpaid bills.

Illinois has the nation’s second-highest property taxes, the fourth-highest corporate tax rate in the industrialized world, and the fourth-highest workers’ compensation costs in the nation.

It has the second highest unemployment rate in the country, and the worst credit rating of all 50 states. 

These are the facts, and they aren’t pretty. 

These also are the issues that voters must focus on as the campaign for governor now turns to two people – Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn and Republican challenger Bruce Rauner. 

In the months leading up to the Nov. 4 general election, expect to hear tons of campaign rhetoric from both sides. A lot of it will be nothing but noise, meant to distract voters from the issues that matter. 

But don’t be distracted. Tune out the nonsense and focus on each candidate’s plans to return Illinois to a fiscally solvent state.

Take the advice, voters.

Sorry.  Just testing you...

A Look at How Voters Feel About IL Treasuer's Candidate Mike Frerichs And His Prattling On

Funny how people can perceive things differently.  Especially in politics.

Let's look at our first this is/this is post here on the Truth Team.

This is how Democrat (Union Stooge) Candidate for Illinois Treasurer Mike Frerichs MUST think (based on his actions) that the voters in Illinois who follow his Facebook page feel about his constant prattling on with his whereabouts and what-have-yous.

And...this is how they actually feel about having to read the endless supply of his self-important-puffery and photos of his stumping here-and-there...

Democrat Mike Frerichs Doesn't Care About You

Those of you who have been following the Truth Team probably remember this #ThrowbackThursday post where we showed how Democrat candidate for Illinois Treasurer Mike Frerichs was so bad at actually representing people in his district that one prominent business owner took to his own sign to try to get "Tax Hike Mike's" attention.

If you haven't read the piece, head over here to check it out.  We'll wait for you.

Ok...you're back?

Well...get this:  apparently the good Democrat State Senator doesn't want any constituents to leave him messages on voicemail.  He must not want to be bothered with representing the people of Illinois when he has 'big important things to do' (that he can post on his Facebook wall).

We were sent this exchange that was posted on Mike's Wall.   Speaks pretty strongly to how Mike Frerichs thinks about the people of Illinois, doesn't it?  He doesn't want to talk to you.  Only wants a website form submission.  Must be too tough to actually deal with people, eh Mike?

And he wants to be our State Treasurer?

Dem Watch: Democrat Treasurer's Candidate Mike Frerichs and Money Laundering

It didn't take the readers of the Illinois Truth Team long to submit some LULZ around Democrat Mike Frerichs and his alleged involvement in what seems to be a money laundering scheme involving Democrats at various levels of the Party.

You can read the original story about Mike Frerichs being involved with a scandal at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources here on our site.

Enjoy!

Who Wants to Talk About Bert Miller's Track Record on Donations?

Congressional Candidate Darlene Senger called Bert Miller - one of her opponents - on the carpet for his history of donating to Democrats this week.

From the Illinois Review:

Republican candidate for Congress Darlene Senger has called on her opponent Bert Miller to explain what she calls his "long and lengthy record of Democrat donations," citing (below) donations Miller has made to Democrats such as Rod Blagojevich, Mike Madigan, and Barack Obama.

(emphasis, ours)

So...who wants to talk about Bert Miller's record?  We know one guy!

Dem Watch: UniteBlueIL says Illinois "Too Red" for Democrats Liking?

This is rich. No excuses. MT @UniteBlueIL: IL still very red in terms of counties. Needs to turn around if there's hope for reform in ILGA
— John Bambenek (@bambenek) January 18, 2014

As John Bambenek points out, the fact that @uniteblueIL says that the reason why we can't get Illinois

on the right track and to produce real reform and results is because there are still way too many Republican counties.

I guess the fact that the Democrats have super majorities in both the Illinois State Senate and the Illinois House - AS WELL AS - the Governor's mansion isn't enough?  

Far easier to blame the Republicans than actually to look in the mirror and see what your own problems might be first.  

"Great Crowd" for Treasurer Candidate Mike Frerichs

 

We were sent these two screenshots from a tipster who follows Tall Guy Mike Frerichs on Facebook.  They sent over this line:  "Guess we have different interpretations of great crowds!  LOL!"

Have to agree with the tipster.  We count six people in one of the photos if we're being generous with the folks on the edges of the images.

If you have something you see and want us to cover, send it over to tipthetruthteam@gmail.com.

Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios Cuts Staff...

But...AMAZINGLY....none of those cut were part of his family.  Mark Suppelsa points out this (inconvenient) truth.

Even though the Cook County Ethics Board fined him $10 grand for hiring family and told him to fire them. He didn't and hasn't paid.
— MarkSuppelsa (@MarkSuppelsa) November 13, 2013

Thank God for patronage.

Mike Frerichs: You Are Preposterous

Mike Frerich's hometown newspaper, the Champaign News-Gazette called him out for his shenanigans today.  In an editorial they say:

Here's a little history lesson Frerichs hopes people don't remember. Illinois is a solid Democratic state. Democrats control the governor's office, both houses of the Legislature with veto-proof majorities, and the Supreme Court. 

Republicans last controlled both houses of the Legislature in 1994. They last controlled one legislative chamber, the Senate, in 2003. They last had a Republican governor — George Ryan — in 2003. They're out of power and out of luck, hoping somehow to win back public confidence and begin playing a significant role in the formulation of public policy. 

But they're not there yet. In fact, they're not even close. That's why Frerichs' characterization of Cross is preposterous. 

That's not to say that Republicans wouldn't have messed up the state as badly as the Democrats if they had held power over the past 10 years. After all, voters turned their backs on them for a reason. 

But Cross and the GOP didn't create the current mess because they didn't have the opportunity to do so. They were out, and the Democrats, of whom Frerichs is one, were in. Cross has his flaws. Most politicians do. But Frerichs' rhetoric was so over-the-top that he must have been confusing Cross with Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan.

Dem Watch: Tax Hike Mike Frerichs Seeks Big Money from Unions

Tax Hike Mike Frerichs - Democrat for Illinois Treasurer - was in the news this weekend based on the amount of money he's been raising for his campaign from Union Bosses and Trial Lawyers.

From the Champaign News Gazette:

Mike Frerichs has reported labor union-related itemized contributions (more than $1,000) from: Illinois AFSCME, $10,000; the South Central Illinois Laborers Political League, $10,000; the Cook County College Teachers Union, $5,000; and the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 841 in Terre Haute, Ind., $5,000. Non-union contributions included $2,500 from the Illinois Trial Lawyers and MidAmerican Energy, an Iowa-based electric and natural gas utility.

Is this who we want running the Illinois Treasurer's Office?  Someone beholden to Unions and Trial Lawyers?  On the take for thousands of dollars from these guys?  

Not so fast, my friend!

$117M Down the Drain Because of Pat Quinn?

If the State of Illinois is doing so poorly in terms of financial position, why are we wasting $117M because of inaction?  Seems Governor Pat Quinn hasn't taken action quick enough to figure out who *should* be getting Medicaid and who *shouldn't*.  The legislature passed a measure that would take away state health care from people in Illinois who aren't eligible.  And thus...shouldn't be getting it.   By making sure only the right folks are getting Medicaid, that leads to savings.

In fact, the budget in Illinois is based on a bunch of these little 'savings'.  The only way we get back some of that $80+ billion in debt is $100 million at a time.   The plan details are here on the House GOP governmental page.

Too bad Pat Quinn couldn't take time away from practicing his DNC speech for President Obama that he couldn't get his administration to act faster.