Dold, Shilling, Senger, Bost Announced by NRCC "Young Guns" Program

Yesterday, the National Republican Congressional Committee announced their first round of ‘On the Radar’ candidates ahead of the 2014 elections. The Young Guns program supports and mentors challenger and open-seat candidates in races across the country.

This 'On the Radar' stage is the 1st round.  Think of it like American Idol.  You can see the process laid out on the GOPYoungGuns.com site.

From the press release:

“These 36 candidates all provide a stark contrast to their liberal opponents, whose support of ObamaCare and this Administration’s big-government, job-destroying agenda has taken a toll on the American people,” said NRCC Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR). “With ObamaCare’s bad policies and botched rollout affecting families across our nation, and our country diving deeper into debt each and every day, it’s time to bring real change backed by conservative principles and priorities to Washington. I am confident that these candidates will continue to work hard for their communities and their campaigns as we head into the 2014 election year.”

This is particularly good news for Darlene Senger.  She's running in a contested primary for the Illinois 11th Congressional District, but getting this nod says that she has the organization in place and is doing everything right in terms of moving her campaign in the right direction.  The advise/counsel part of this is invaluable and Darlene Senger getting this recognition is going to help her fundraising, we would think.   Illinois Review covers the Senger angle and gets Katie Prill of the NRCC to discuss the Senger race in particular.

At the end of the day, Darlene Senger has (what appears to be) the support of the program.  See her "page" here on their site.    We don't see Burt Miller or Chris Balkema up there...

Bruce Dold and Bobby Shilling are both on the "Former Member" list, so they appear to be on a different track.   We'll be watching them and their campaigns closer this Spring.

Poll: Tom Cross Leading Bob Grogan for Illinois Treasurer By Large Margin

Battleground Polling is out with a memo this morning filled with results from their latest poll of Illinois voters.  While there are a large amount of undecideds in the race for the GOP Nomination for Illinois Treasurer, Battleground Polling found that Former Illinois House Minority Leader Tom Cross has a commanding lead among all voters.  He has more than 2x the support and is leading 27% to just 13% for Bob Grogan.  And, Tom Cross' lead amongst the hard core "Tea Party" members is even bigger.  From the memo:

Undecided voters also are leading the way in the contest for the Republican nomination for State Treasurer, with 60% of voters still undecided. Of voters who have made a decision, former House Minority Leader Tom Cross is opening up a lead over Dupage County Auditor Bob Grogan, with Mr. Cross earning the support of 27% of voters, and Mr. Grogan earning the support of 13% of voters. 

“Certainly, Tom Cross is in a solid position as we move into the winter campaign season,” said Cook. “But, with 60% of voters still undecided, Bob Grogan still has room to pick up more support as the campaign moves into full swing.” 

Among Tea Party members, Tom Cross expands his lead over Bob Grogan to 31% to 9%.

The full results of the poll can be found here.

Bruce Rauner Wins Palatine Township GOP Endorsement

Last night, the Palatine Township GOP organization endorsed Bruce Rauner in the Governor's race.  Significant because Palatine Township is in Cook County but also because Rauner absolutely STOMPED everybody in this race.  It was interesting to see it play out over Twitter last night.

First, Senator Kirk Dillard tweeted about the "Huge Crowd" at 10:13 PM.

Huge crowd tonight at #Palatine Township's Republican Organization Endorsement Session.It's time to #MakeILworkagain pic.twitter.com/IrBzMiC3Bk
— Kirk Dillard (@KirkDillard) November 21, 2013

Then...just a minute later Bruce Rauner tweeted this:

Honored to receive Palatine Township Republican Organization endorsement tonight with 65% of the vote! #BringBackIL #twill
— Bruce Rauner (@BruceRauner) November 21, 2013

Funny the timing on that, isn't it?  Guessing the news came out right then and both campaigns had tweets tee'd up.  Dillard's guys had to change the copy to talk about the crowd.

The final results show Bruce Rauner dominated.  Dillard, who showed up (based on Twitter) didn't even finish second.  That was Dan Rutherford.  Who...we can't tell if was even there.

Final results

Governor
Bill Brady – 4%
Kirk Dillard – 11%
Bruce Rauner – 65%
Dan Rutherford – 20%

Senate Candidate Doug Truax Attacking Durbin in Digital Ads

A tipster sent the Truth Team this mobile screenshot that shows a "Don't Let Dick Durbin Hide From His Failures" ad on the right rail of this sports website.

See it there near the top?

Clicking on it takes you to a page for US Senate Candidate Doug Truax.   We didn't get the full URL of the landing page and we can't find it online?

He's recruiting folks in Illinois by picking on Durbin.  Not...his likely primary opponent Jim Oberweis.  Taking a page right from the Bruce Rauner book of attacking Quinn.

Either way, it is clear that Truax has someone doing something right for him in terms of digital.  Oberweis might be in for a fight here.  And, you know what?  That might be a good thing for the party.  Having Oberweis being our standard bearer in 2014 is trouble.  I, frankly, don't want to be a called a Jim Oberweis Republican when there are winnable races in 2014.  Let's beat Shelia Simon and Mike Frerichs and Pat Quinn.  That's harder to do with Oberweis at the top of the ticket, don't you think?

Let's Re-Elect Ed Sullivan as State Representative. Because We Need Him in Springfield.

Ed Sullivan, the State Representative from Mundelein is under fire and has a primary election this Spring.  First elected to the Illinois General Assembly back in 2002, he's been a solid performer in Springfield both for his district and for the Illinois Republican Party.  During his time there, he's focused on establishing a strong record on fiscal responsibility, public safety, education, domestic violence, and property tax issues.  He's helped his district - which is important.  But, because of his courageous - and PERSONAL - vote on marriage equity, he's under fire from some of the crazies in the Republican Party.  Seems the Lake County GOP and a guy named Jack Koenig are going after Ed Sullivan.  Here's an email he sent attacking Sullivan for standing up for Gay Marriage and even kind-of digging Sullivan's mother in law (who is gay) unnecessarily?

Rich Miller (who had the letter) described it as "Nothing but class there".

We say:   Shame on this guy.  We can almost guarantee that there's no way he'd say this stuff to Ed Sullivan's face.  But while he's hiding behind his computer?  He'll lob bombs all day long.

Sullivan has been a good, loyal Republican, folks.  We need to support him for that, first.  He's been the Chairman of the Illinois House Republican Organization where he's raised money and supported candidates from around Illinois for State Representative.

As for Republicans who voted for Gay Marriage.  Come on.  The folks who voted for it (including Ron Sandack), did the right thing.  If we (by **we**, we're talking about Republicans in Illinois), we need to support these folks and stop attacking them for doing the right thing.

We're going to be supporting Ed Sullivan for State Representative this Spring.  Not just because he stood up for marriage equity as a Republican.  But, because he's a good, honest, elected official who did what was right for Illinois.  You can learn about his campaign here.  You can donate to his campaign here.

The point here of the Illinois Truth Team is simple.  See it up there at the top of the site?

We're trying to be the voice of reason, both in the ILGOP, but also around the State of Illinois.  We want to get you the facts.  We want to support good candidates.  (Ed Sullivan being one of those!).  And...we want to help 'Turn Illinois Around.'  

If we work against Sullivan because of his one vote for Gay Marriage, we, as a party are wasting our resources.  Let's work together to turn the House over to the GOP and get rid of Speaker Madigan.

Tom Cross Up Big in Illinois Treasurer's Race

Rich Miller, in the Daily Southtown writes that Tom Cross has a big lead in the Illinois Treasurer's race after kicking off his campaign late in Q3 of this year.  Miller posted about a poll he took in the past few weeks.

Meanwhile, former Illinois House Republican Leader Tom Cross is leading DuPage County Auditor Bob Grogan for state treasurer 29-18, in that same Capitol Fax/We Ask America poll of Republican primary voters. 

But 54 percent remain undecided, about the same as in June, when the firm found that 56 percent were unsure of their choice. 

Cross’ people have to be somewhat relieved by these numbers. They’re polling higher than any Republican gubernatorial candidate just days after Cross received a ton of press for voting for a gay marriage bill.

Tom Cross polling HIGHER than any Republican Governor's candidate is the biggest news here.  Bill Brady tops out at 25% and he's been on the ballot statewide in both the previous primary and general election where he lost out to Governor Pat Quinn.  Cross has NEVER been on a ballot statewide.  

Really speaks to all the work he's done over the last decade supporting candidates up and down the ballot all across Illinois.  He's stood with incumbents and challengers for State House in all four corners of Illinois.  They're going to be standing with him and have built a strong base of support heading into the holidays.

The Cross campaign is also going up with media.  We've covered his campaign's first radio buy, which featured a 60 second spot.  You can hear the Tom Cross for Treasurer radio commercial here.

You can find out more about Tom Cross and his campaign for Illinois Treasurer at www.jointomcross.com.

Congressman Roskam "Cleared" of Wrongdoing

According to the Tribune, Congressman Peter Roskam has been 'cleared' in a probe around 'improper' travel to Taiwan with his wife.  Good news, for the Congressman, we suppose.  But...so much for that squeaky clean reputation. Right or wrong...Congressman Roskam will be looked at differently now.

Did he do something wrong?  Sounds like it is a bit of 'shades of grey' here.  You know what that means?  For better or for worse, everyone now has the right to think that "He's just like the rest of these guys in DC."

At issue was who picked up the tab for Roskam and his wife and whether the congressman violated House rules or federal law. 

The case became public in July. Roskam, who entered Congress in 2007, had insisted he complied with all laws, rules and procedures on privately sponsored travel. 

He told House officials the Chinese Culture University paid the couple’s expenses, which reached $25,653 on the trip, Oct.15-22, 2011. The journey occurred while their daughter taught English in Taiwan.

The Ethics Committee began examining the trip at the urging of the independent Office of Congressional Ethics, which began its own review in January. 

In May, the board of the ethics office said in a 6-0 vote there was “substantial reason to believe” that Roskam accepted travel expenses “from an impermissible source, resulting in an impermissible gift, in violation of federal law and House rules.” 

His trip, the board said, “appears to have been organized and conducted by the government of Taiwan, with little to no involvement by the university.” 

Except in certain cases, foreign governments may not bankroll travel by U.S. lawmakers.

Being an elected official is hard.  We ask a lot of our elected officials.  Sounds like Congressman Roskam 'technically' did things the right way.  We like Congressman Roskam.  Let's hope he doesn't get too close to the line going forward, ok?

Governor Quinn Goes To West Central Illinois with $9M in Hand and Leaves with Votes?

Governor Quinn went out to Spring Valley Illinois - out west on I-80 on the Illinois River in Bureau County to deliver a $9.5M grant to Mayor Walt Marini and the Spring Valley City Council.

Mayor Walt Marini has some coverage on his blog.

Yesterday, Governor Quinn came to town to announce that the city of Spring Valley will receive a $9.5 million grant to help repair the city’s wastewater treatment plant that was damaged by the April flood. 

Special thanks to the efforts from State Rep. Frank Mautino (D-Spring Valley), State Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris) who helped make this happen for Spring Valley. 

“The results of their efforts will provide a new wastewater treatment plant that will be constructed to safeguard the facility from future flooding and be designed to service our city for many years to come,” Marini said.

Interesting that there's both a Democrat State Representative and a Republican State Senator.  A bit of a swing district?  Wonder if that had anything to do with Quinn's decision to head to Spring Valley?  Can't hurt his re-election bid, right?  

Kirk Dillard 2014: The Hard-Core Conservative. For Now. (We hope.)

Tom Kacich, over at the Champaign News-Gazette has a story up titled:  Dillard's Positions Take Hard Right Turn.

(BTW...Tom is on Twitter.   Go follow him here.)

In it, he documents how Dillard was viewed as the moderate in the race back when he ran in 2010 has talked-the-Conservative-talk this time around.

Dillard is a state senator from Hinsdale and a disciple of former Gov. Jim Edgar. But unlike Edgar, his gubernatorial campaign has taken a hard right turn this year, and he spoke out Wednesday against gay marriage, gun control and welfare spending.

Rich Miller at CapitolFax also posted on Kirk Dillard's stop this week at a place called "Guns Save Lives" calling it "Not exactly a moderate, centrist group."  Here's the tweet of Senator Kirk Dillard at the event.

This evening I talked with a very energetic crowd in #Rantoul about 2nd Amendment rights. pic.twitter.com/gTnMiwMPFF
— Kirk Dillard (@KirkDillard) November 13, 2013

All this begs the question of what, exactly will happen when (and if) Kirk Dillard actually wins the primary?  He recently picked up the endorsement of the DuPage GOP - the largest GOP County in Illinois - so winning this thing isn't out of the realm of possibility.

Are all of us in the suburbs, who want to get rid of Pat Quinn and the Chicago Democrats just going to forget that he acted crazy *just to win the primary*?

That he was so focused on the tea party triumvirate of guns, gays, and abortions?

Is Kirk Dillard going to change his tune if he wins the primary?

I hope so.  I know you have to do what you have to do to win in politics, so I'm hoping (for once) that Kirk Dillard is doing what he needs to do to win in March.  When (if?) he does, he'll come back to being a normal person who is like the guy he worked for back in the day.  Who was that again?  I can't quite seem to remember....Dillard says it almost every day...but I can't quite seem to remember?  Jim Edgar?  Oh...that's right!

Darlene Senger Calls Obamacare Enrollment: "A Vivid Demonstration of Failure", Launches DelayandDisclose.com

Republican Candidate for Congress in Illinois, Darlene Senger, came out swinging yesterday on Obamacare and the enrollment numbers in Illinois.  She criticized the very low enrollment numbers and is demanding some transparency around the program.

“Illinois has spent over $25 million on top of the federal government’s multi-million dollar website, to enroll the hundreds of thousands of eligible citizens into the Affordable Care Act--but the situation is going from bad to worse. Illinois taxpayers are getting fleeced while people who need health care coverage cannot access it and people who have health care coverage are losing it. Washington needs to consider immediately delaying the individual mandate and disclosing the true impact and costs of ACA, specifically why so many Illinois families are losing their coverage. We are witnessing a vivid demonstration of failure that is truly impacting people’s access to quality healthcare.”

Emphasis, mine.  That's quite a line.

She's also putting her money where he mouth is and has launched DelayandDisclose.com - a platform for concerned voters in Illinois to have their voice heard.  She's asking voters to sign her petition - which she'll deliver to the President, the Governor, Members of Congress, and Members of the Illinois General Assembly.  

We, the undersigned, demand transparency in the Affordable Care Act in Illinois and in Washington and demand action against its harmful effects.

One thing has become clear to everyone, Obamacare isn’t working, people who need health care can’t get it and people who have health care are losing it
We were promised that we could keep our insurance and our doctors if we wanted to, but that is clearly not true.
The federal government has not been able to meet deadlines or protect against fraud, and is wasting millions of taxpayer dollars on a website that has failed to work.

I demand full disclosure of the impact this failed program has had on Illinois citizens including the number of policy cancellations, and demand a delay of the individual mandate until Obamacare lives up to the President’s promises.

We deserve better and want action NOW!