Illinois Republican Women Kick Off Bus Tour Today

The Illinois Federation of Republican Women are getting out and meeting voters with the candidates in a series of six stops over the next two days.  Get out and try to meet the bus as it arrives if you are close to one of the stops listed.  The schedule is:

September 12:
10:00 a.m. – Kankakee at the Old Train Station, 197 S. East Avenue
2:00 p.m. – Moline, Browning Park, 2140 16th Street
5:00 p.m. – Peoria on the Riverfront, 601 Water Street

September 13:
9:00 a.m. – Murphysboro – Meet and Greet at GOP Headquarters & Handshaking along the Apple Festival Route
3:00 p.m. – Champaign – Annual GOP Fall Festival
6:30 p.m. – Naperville – Mullen’s at 3080 Warrenville Road for a Meet & Greet

And here's a few shots of the bus they'll be touring on:

Tom Cross Launches 1st Radio Ad for Treasurer's Race

According to the Sun-Times, Tom Cross, Republican for Treasurer launched his first radio ad of the campaign.  We found the ad on his Republican for Illinois Treasurer site.

Photo Credit:  Sun-Times.

Tom Cross had this to say about the ad:

The debate about who has the ideas, vision, energy and plan to move Illinois in a new direction begins in earnest tomorrow as our campaign launches its first radio ad titled “Resolve.”  

This radio ad is part of a campaign that will be sustained over a significant period of time for the purposes of introducing Tom and making sure voters know who he is and his plans to balance the budget and crack down on government fraud and corruption.

The ad comes on the heels of Tom Cross picking up the endorsements of some downstate elected officials.

Bob Grogan for Treasurer: Stuffing the Bank Account (Temporarily)

Rich Miller in Capitol Fax writes that Illinois Treasurer candidate Bob Grogan has been inflating his own campaign bank account for many a year and he's at it again.  (If you haven't subscribed to Cap Fax, you should right now.  Go click here to subscribe.)

PUMP IT UP Republican state treasurer candidate Bob Grogan hasn’t reported raising much money in large contributions this past quarter, but he did loan his campaign $50,000. That might usually be a sign that he’s willing to spend some of his own cash in his GOP primary battle against Rep. Tom Cross, but then again, maybe not. Grogan has often appeared to use loans to temporarily inflate his bank account. Grogan is the DuPage County Auditor.Since 2007, Grogan’s campaign has spent a total of $92,000, but most of that, $78,000, was used to pay back his own loans to himself, often not long after he loaned his campaign the money.But without those loans, he wouldn’t have had much to campaign on. Grogan has reported raising a grand total of $186K since 2007, according to a search of the State Board of Elections’ website, but $156K of that was via loans, mostly to himself.

This guy wants to the be Treasurer of the State of Illinois?  Sounds a lot like what that woman out in Dixon was doing.  Playing "Where's Waldo" with the money?

Fire Fighter Neil Anderson up with New Video in 72nd House District

House Republican Candidate Neil Anderson is a member of the Moline Fire Department.  He also was a member of the University of Nebraska football team.  Pretty neat stuff.  He's now up with a new video touting his credentials to 'put the fire out' in Springfield.

The 72nd District includes: all of western Rock Island County, including Rock Island, Milan, Coal Valley and parts of Moline, and the northern part of Mercer County.

State Representative Candidate Bob Kalnicky Picks up Mayoral Endorsement

In one of the potential 'pick-ups' that could lead to the 'retaking of the Illinois House candidate Bob Kalnicky - who is running in the 98th District - got a nice boost from Romeoville Mayor John Noak this week. The Illinois Review had the story.

"I've had the opportunity to work with Bob while he was chairman of the Romeoville Chamber of Commerce, and it's clear to me that Bob has the knowledge, the skills, and the courage to fight back against bad Springfield policies that have hurt our economy and cost us jobs," Noak said. "Bob is exactly the kind of fighter I want representing my family and our community in Springfield. 

"We can turn this ship around, but not without elected leaders that will stand up against Mike Madigan, Pat Quinn, and the policies that are destroying our state," Noak said.

Bob Kalnicky Launches "Tax Repeal" Site

If you live in Bolingbrook or Romeoville, you're in luck!  Bob Kalnicky, the Republican candidate for the 98th Illinois House District announced his intentions to vote to "repeal the Pat Quinn Income Tax Hike" with the launch of his new website:  http://www.bob-backs-the-tax-repeal.com/.  

Bob Kalnicky, candidate for State representative in the 98th district is taking his commitment to repealing the massive 67% corporate and personal income tax hikes signed by Governor Quinn last year one step further. This weekend, Kalnicky’s campaign launched a website that memorializes the pledge – www.Bob-Backs-The-Tax-Repeal.com. 

“This website puts the pledge I’m making front and center so that the people of the 98th district can hold me accountable to that when I get to Springfield. There will be no ambiguity on this issue,” said Kalnicky of the website.

You can read Bob's tax repeal pledge here.

DuPage Forest Preserve President Dewey Pierotti To Cover his....

Looks like the DuPage Forest Preserve Board, lead by Republican Dewey Pierotti is looking to try to recover some of the dough they lost when employees pilfered the agency while the board was asleep:

The day after two ex-employees were charged with scamming the DuPage Forest Preserve District out of more than $150,000, the district filed a civil suit Thursday seeking to recover the lost funds. 

The complaint was filed in DuPage County Circuit Court. Officials say they were waiting for the state’s attorney’s office to complete its investigation. 

“We want to make sure we take every step possible to recover every dollar possible for taxpayers,” said forest preserve board President D. “Dewey” Pierotti Jr.

Every possible step, Dewey?  Well...that would have meant that you guys should have paid attention *while* the theft was going on.  Not just after.

And, yes....Dewey is a Republican.  Poor leadership in government isn't about one party or one individual.  It happens all the time - across both parties.  We're here to sniff it out.

Now...what about that website?  You're still confident that spending $175K is a good idea?