Get Out For The 3rd Annual Southwest Cook County GOP Picnic

Have plans in mid-September?  Get out and support the Palos Township and Cook County GOP by attending their 3rd annual picnic.

You'll not only be able to meet the full statewide ticket including Bruce Rauner, Judy Baar Topinka, Tom Cross, Mike Webster and Paul Schimpf, you'll also meet some candidates for Congress and the two minority leaders in the Illinois Legislature.  Seems like a great time.  And the best part?  It is free!  Yep...Free!

The Details:

Come One, Come All!
Come hear our message on how we will
"Shake Up Illinois"
All are welcome!

Palos Township Republican Committeeman & Deputy Chairman of the Cook County Republican Party

Invites you to the 3rd Annual Picnic

on Saturday September 13, 2014

from 12:30 PM to 3:30 PM

at the

Waters Edge Pavilion Area

7425 W. 115th St., Worth, IL 60482

*FREE Admission (*Donations gladly accepted)

Preregistration is Encouraged

Due to the increased interest in this years Governor's Race we have moved the family picnic to a larger location.  

This is a Fun, Family Friendly Event

Bring the whole family!

Food & Drinks

We will have hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, snow cones, popcorn, snacks, soda, water, beer & wine

To keep the kids entertained, we will have a live band & DJ, jump houses, face painting, bag toss, pony rides, games & crafts

Special Guests:

Bruce Rauner Candidate for Governor

Judy Barr Topinka State Comptroller

Tom Cross Candidate for Secretary of State

Mike Webster Candidate for Illinois Secretary of State 

Paul Schimpf Candidate for State Attorney General 

Jim Oberweise Candidate for U.S. Senate

Elizabeth "Liz" Doody Gorman Cook County Commissioner

Shaun Murphy Candidate for 18th District State Senate

Sharon Brannigan Candidate for U.S. Congress 3rd District

Timothy Schneider Illinois Republican Party Chairman

Christine Radogno Illinois Senate Minority Leader

Jim Durkin llinois House Minority Leader

Hosted by the

PALOS TOWNSHIP REPUBLICAN ORGANIZATION

Sean Morrison Committeeman

Co-sponsored by

LEMONT TOWNSHIP REPUBLICAN ORGANIZATION

Sig Vaznelis Committeeman

ORLAND TOWNSHIP REPUBLICAN ORGANIZATION

Elizabeth "Liz" Gorman Committeewoman

WORTH TOWNSHIP REPUBLICAN ORGANIZATION

Shaun Murphy Committeeman

LYONS TOWNSHIP REPUBLICAN ORGANIZATION

Jim Falvey Committeeman

PROVISO TOWNSHIP REPUBLICAN ORGANIZATION

Mike Corrigan Committeeman

and the

19th WARD REPUBLICAN ORGANIZATION

James Parrilli Committeeman

The picnic is free.

Preregistration is encouraged.

Please bring your ticket with you.

Register Here

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.

Former Congressman Joe Walsh "Gets It" (We Think)

Image from Illinois Observer

Former Congressman-Turned-Rush-Lite Joe Walsh has done something that we applaud.  Now...we don't want to be too harsh, because frankly we don't know that much about Joe Walsh aside from what we see on YouTube (it ain't "Congressional" if you ask us...), but we're guessing that this is one of the times we're on the same page as him.  

Here's what we know about good 'ole Joe:

1.  He's passionate.

2.  Some people really like him and believe in him.

3.  He has the ability to marshall *some* votes.  

Those are all good traits for the ILGOP.  

So, we here at the Illinois Truth Team are applauding him for taking a step back and realizing that we need to focus on winning MORE seats in every form of Government in Illinois.  Not spend time fighting each other. 

Illinois Review is reporting that he's backing away from an endorsement he made in a GOP Primary race.  

Former Congressman and radio talk show host Joe Walsh withdrew his endorsement of Dr. Barbara Bellar who is running in the GOP primary for Cook County Commissioner against incumbent Republican Liz Doody-Gorman. 

Walsh, who named Bellar in his first endorsment list released in September, told Illinois Review that the reason he withdrew the endorsment was because he couldn't see a path for her to win. 

"Yes, I really like Dr. Bellar," Walsh said in an email. "But she hasn't done what she's needed to do to put together a campaign that can actually win. [Cook County Board of Reviews Commissioner] Dan Patlak told her the same thing."

Liz Doody-Gorman is a Republican.  She's been a Cook County Commissioner since 2002.  Know how many Cook County Commissioners are Republicans?  Just 4.  13 Democrats.

Joe Walsh is doing the right thing here and backing off of a primary.

Joe Walsh (in this case) is pulling down his weapon and walking away from the circular firing squad.  We need more of this.

Think what you want about Doody-Gorman.  Bottom line, she's a Republican.  And...if the party has a future here, we need to accept that, and support her.