Thursday, November 22, 2007

Turkey Day Update: Dan Seals, Jay Footlik, and of course, Mark Kirk

A very happy Thanksgiving from Team America & Friends to you and yours!

I’m sure there will be many sappy ‘thankfulness’ tributes to read and watch today, so none of that here. Although TA is personally thankful for the Seals v. Footlik primary sideshow (which race itself is getting some high-profile attention nationally), today’s post is a gloves-off look at how things in the 10th District race are shaping up.

First, Dan Seals. The big news with Seals is that he FINALLY updated his website, which up until last Sunday, as far as I could tell, had not been touched since he made his announcement to run for a second time. Footlik's website was impressive from the get-go. Unincorporated Middle has a nice run-down on several aspects of the revamped site, but for me, the most interesting thing is that Seals still professes to be a “business consultant,” when in reality, he has become an Internet activist for The Point website. Seals’ website also touts his experience as a “Director” [of Marketing] for GE Finance, but Seals hasn’t been with GE for two years. But, it is strangely silent on his recent job at The Point.

TA wonders, isn’t this the equivalent of lying on your resume? Isn’t it just as bad to leave stuff off as to make it up? Frankly, I am baffled as to why Seals does not simply admit to having this job, especially since it’s just about impossible to deny it, considering the evidence is right over at The Point website. Ironically, when you do actually go over to The Point, it proudly touts Dan Seals as its Director of Business Development, but identifies him as a “former” candidate for Congress. Since TA first identified this issue some weeks ago, The Point website has been updated and revised, but Seals’ biographical info has remained the same. So, who is lying?—Seals on his website regarding his current job status, or The Point by disavowing Seals’ current political involvement to better mesh with its profile as a “non-partisan” change agent? And, TA is still trying to figure out how this website makes any money with which to pay Seals or any of its other employees.

The other nice thing is that with Seals’ new website, we can see where Seals is going out and about in the community, rather than relying on the 10th Dems website for clues to his political appearance schedule. So far, it seems a little light to me.

Here’s one other question raised by the Seals website. Exactly what has he accomplished over the last two years that would make anyone want to vote for him? He has made a lot of position-type statements on his website, but what has he actually DONE? We know what Kirk’s accomplishments have been. Why should anyone vote for Seals other than the fact he says he’d vote differently on Iraq than Mark Kirk? I may be wrong, but I don’t think that’s going to do it.

As far as I know, Seals has not yet hit the mailboxes with mailers, or the streets with volunteers and walk pieces. Jay Footlik, on the other hand, while admittedly needing to play catch-up on name recognition, has already distributed two mailers. The first one was posted here previously, and here are a few pages from the latest one: here (pg. 2), here (pg. 3), here (pg. 4), here (pg. 5), here (pg. 6), here (pg.7) and here (pg. 8). You can also see Footlik’s walk piece here (front) and here (back). You will notice that there is still no mention of Dan Seals on any of this stuff, and Footlik can’t seem to bring himself to explain to the voters why it should be him and not Seals that receives the Dem nomination. Seal’s proxies have long since taken the gloves off and are chewing Footlik up on the blogs. Why is Footlik being coy about it? Taking the so-called high road will mean nothing if Footlik gets crushed in the primary. Seals also appears to be scooping up a few township primary endorsements, which it seems that Footlik may have already given up on, as reported by Ellen of the 10th, and many Seals zealots accuse Footlik of simply wasting valuable resources that could be better used against Kirk. But, hey, they've been out to get Footlik for months. Keep at it, guys, I'm loving this.

There have also been a few bits of innuendo thrown around lately as to Footlik's ties with Monica Lewinsky, asserting that Footlik helped get Lewinsky her famed internship that led to the near-complete downfall of an American president. TA has found no evidence of that, but Footlik was interviewed by the Office of Independent Counsel during the Lewinsky affair, and it was noted that he facilitated a meeting with President Clinton and Lewinsky at least once. For my money, however, the more interesting detail to come out of Footlik's interview was insight into his position in the Clinton White House, which seems to have been as a fairly minor foreign policy functionary, who was loath to even enter the west wing of the White House and approach the president without a darn good excuse. Read the complete interview here. But, that didn't stop Footlik from using a picture of himself and Clinton on his walk piece and using this experience as a centerpoint of his campaign. Interestingly, Footlik's pieces tout his position in the Clinton White House but don't actually cite any specific accomplishments he achieved in his time there. Is that because he essentially did nothing except occupy an office and go to lunch with Lewinsky and other fellow beltway wannabees?

We previously reported on the “own” poll conducted by the Seals’ camp that showed an overwhelming advantage in name recognition enjoyed by Seals over his primary opponent. However, while it would seem that Seals may have sacrificed a short-term positive press pop for the probability that the next poll released (perhaps by Seals, but more likely by Footlik) will show an enormous gain in name recognition by Footlik, which will give Footlik a huge momentum boost. But, so far, we have heard nothing from Footlik, and if he doesn’t do something soon, the Seals strategy of cutting Footlik’s fundraising ability out from under him may work.

Mark Kirk has been extremely busy lately, and I’ve been negligent in covering all of the great stuff he is doing in Washington and out in the community. Kirk has been all over the news talking about O’Hare security and the recent discovery that security passes were freely available to illegal immigrants. See here and here and here, just as samples. Kirk also did a recent bi-partisan press conference with Melissa Bean of the 8th District, concerning security issues and his proposals to federalize airport security. TA hears that this absolutely drove Dan Seals’ team nuts, as he believes that Bean should be supporting him exclusively, and not working with the opposition (i.e., Kirk), regardless of the fact that both legislators are teaming up to actually accomplish things. So much for supporting good government. Look for more of this Kirk/Bean cooperation to come, as it seems to be working well. Kirk also was at the front of a recent bi-partisan letter signed by 188 members of Congress expressing concern over the planned sale of arms to Saudi Arabia to ensure that such arms did not fall into the hands of the enemies of Israel. Kirk also uncovered U.S. aid dollars being used to fund and train Iranian-backed terrorists as a result of an audit.

We also note that Bean has not endorsed Seals, as far as I can tell, although the Terry Link cabal came out almost immediately in favor of Seals, as well as Jan Schakowski (and her felonious husband Bob Creamer), whom by many accounts is the person who recruited Seals in the first place. Given Link's current troubles, as detailed here at Team America over the last week, this may be more of a negative as things continue to unfold on the Link debacle. [Interestingly, Eddie Washington is listed on the Seals endorsement list, but that came out before Washington got thrown off the Dem establishment bus by Link & Co. (read more here) and faces county board member Angelo Kyle in the primary. Wonder how Washington feels about Seals now? And, it's also fair to ask if Seals is endorsing Washington, or has abandoned him for Kyle because Terry Link told him to. How 'bout it, Dan?]

The other interesting tidbit from the afore-mentioned Seals poll was that Seals’ own polling data gave Kirk a 36% favorable rating (vs. 33% unfavorable) among likely Democratic primary voters. THAT is bad news for Seals, as Seals first and foremost needs to cover his own Democratic base, many of whom are ticket splitters and have traditionally voted Kirk’s way over the past six years.

There's more, but this is getting long, and it's time to start talking turkey (literally).

Thanks for reading and Happy Thanksgiving!!!

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

TA:

Great reportage on the goings of northern Illinois. We need more on Durbin laudings two-felon Bob Creamer just as he reviews ethics laws in Congress. Anything more on Eddie Washington's run in with the law last year in Sprinfield?

Happy holidays TA - you are wrinting the most interesting blog out there for people who want to know "the rest of the story."

Team America said...

Shari- haven't heard about Washington and the law down in Springfield. Share what you know!

Anonymous said...

Great job on Seals TA.

What exactly is Footlik's job these days? The descriptions of his own work experience the last few years are extremely vague.

Anonymous said...

TA, you’re right about Seals being light on work experience in his resume and I don’t understand why he would leave anything out since there is so little to put there in the first place. He has also never explained why he did not go back to GE. Rumor has it he was not welcome.

Meanwhile, I do feel Mark Kirk has to worry about Seals. If Seals gets the nomination, Seals, not Mark, will be more conservative candidate. Would Seals peel off some of the right wing votes from Mark? I doubt it because Mark’s superior intelligence will show through.

I still think the reason Seals won’t debate Footlik is Seals knows Jay will eat him up and chew him out in a debate. Seals just doesn’t have the brains to represent this district in Congress.

Anonymous said...

Hey TA,

Speaking of the Terry Link disaster, there's a sub-plot here that we can't forget: shouldn't State Rep. Kathy Ryg be the most worried person in Lake County right now? Afterall, isn't the Dem's grand plan for Terry to appoint her to his Senate seat after the next election? If he's off the ballot, how could she ever get elected to the seat, her being the chief sponsor of licenses for illegals in the State of Illinois?

Team America said...

Barbara- sorry, I just don't get your notion that Seals is more conservative than Kirk. Seals wants to pull out of Iraq with no plan for what we'll leave behind, he is soft on Israel defense, and is a complete social liberal--whether he is to the left of Footlik or vice versa will be the big debate among the Dems. The problem Kirk has with some right wingers is that he is not conservative enough, but as I always point out to those folks, he's as conservative a candidate that can get elected in a district that voted for Kerry over Bush by 6 or 7 points, or whatever it was.

Potus, you are right that the Ryg Link successorship is an issue bubbling just beneath the surface. TA's guess is that the plan was for Link to win once more, then go for mayor of Waukegan and appoint Ryg in his place, and then they would appoint someone new to take over for Ryg to run as the incumbent- so a Two-fer win for the Dems. Link's troubles may well put a crimp in these grand plans. Ryg's illegal immigration vote will hurt her in the traditional areas she has trouble with like Riverwoods, Mettawa, Lincolnshire and Green Oaks, but in her bits of Waukegan, and over in Buffalo Grove and Vernon Hills, it may help.

We have plans for dealing with Ryg, so this will all be very interesting over the next few months. Stay tuned!

Anonymous said...

Great post, TA, lots of substance, lots to think about, and as much to digest as yesterday's turkey day meal. Seals is out doing his meet and greet coffee events and some fundraisers but not much else. Guess he's busy at The Point and needs to fit these in whenever possible. Most of his followers are clueless about his newest "job" or what he does to support his growing family. We know that GE didn't have the door open for his return after the 06 election. And what HAS he done over the past year? Surely he hasn't done anything to advance his status or stature by being involved in 10th district issues, either as a volunteer or as a professional. Guess he was busy helping those folks establish The Point, right? We're still waiting to understand how that provides any kind of experience that someone needs to serve as a member of the US Congress. And since The Point is bi-partisan, we are even more confused about who and what he is today, and what he shares as his goal other than the issue of the war in Iraq. With Jay Footlik we have a guy who is running around the district, knocking on doors, trying to get someone, anyone to notice him. He's got to support is family, but how? His walk piece and his mailers are professionally done right now but say virtually nothing. He shares that with his opponent who also says little to nothing on issues. And Mr. Footlik seems to "forget" that he's running against Seals in the primary since all he talks about is beating Mark Kirk. And then there's our Congressman who, as you point out, is working tirelessly on local, national and international issues with the kind of vigor we've come to expect from his kind of leadership. We'll have to wait until those January debates to hear Seals and Footlik go at it in person. Since both are "light" on issues to discuss, thsoe 2 meetings will be interesting or hilarious. I'm a bit curious about Barbara's post and her comment that Seals might be more conservative than Mark Kirk. Our congressman is a moderate and that's why he fits this district so well, and Seals has never said a thing that would make me think of him as "conservative" by any measure. And it's not likely that the far right voters in this district will vote Democratic. My fear is that they'd just stay home and not vote, but this is a presidential year that's not as likely as in the last election. The next 2 months will be revealing, interesting and fun to watch. I'm just glad that you, TA, are providing the kind of post that gives us a real forum for thoughtful discussion. This is really where it's happening.

Team America said...

Thanks, Annie, and I don't honestly know how Footlik is supporting himself and his family, as several people have now asked.

Maybe Footlik has 1) saved his sheckels in anticipation of running; 2) has family money or other funding sources; 3) has some job we don't know about; or 4) is paying himself out of his campaign just like Seals.

TA will do a little sleuthing of his own, but if anyone here knows, please pipe up.

Anonymous said...

TA:

Check your sources -- State Representative Eddie Washington had a run in with Springfield police last year.

Anonymous said...

TA, I'm sure you'll uncover something that will tell us how Footlik is paying the rent in Buffalo Grove. If he is using his campaign funds as Seals did in the last election it will be easily spotted on his FEC report. I know it's not "illegal" but it sure raises some serious questions and issues. He hasn't been at his job in DC for many months. I do know that he has been around the country raising money for his campaign. That was clear from his FEC filing for both quarters. See what you can uncover and I'll do some checking with some of my "sources" to see what they know about finances and more.

Team America said...

You know, Annie, Footlik may not even be paying rent in BG, as the Dem blogs I've been trolling lately noted that Footlik was living with his brother when he moved here from DC this summer, so whether he bought a house or rented an apartment is anyone's guess. It's hard for Footlik to make hay of Seals' residency issue if he has some of his own.

Footlik's air attack (the mailers) seems to be going strong, wonder when the ground war (the door-to-door stuff) will get going.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Footlik's current BG address is different than that of his brother. It's not the address issue as much as the content of his mailers and his TV spots on cable that I find of interest. Like Seals, there's nothing to hang one's "hat" on in terms of substance. When Footlik claims that HE has the experience to solve all of our problems it's pretty hard to quantify what experience he can point to that can back up such a grandiose statement. We do know what his position in the Clinton WH was about. When it comes to solving problems here in the district, neither Seals nor Footlik know much about this district to understand the complex issues that Mark Kirk has been addressing AND solving over the past 7 years. It just seems that both of these guys are empty suits when it comes to the 10th District challenges that are on-going. Footlik's latest mailer says that he has the experience to "get it right" when it comes to Iraq. Well, let's hear it. This piece refers us to his website. I did just that. His claim that he will provide "serious experience" is perplexing at best. One theory that I've heard is interesting on why he never mentions Dan Seals in his literature or on his cable spots. He just wants to stay positive realizing that he's going to lose this primary. He wants everyone to know that it's really the current congressman who's the bad guy. What's your take on this theory, TA?

Team America said...

Annie- I hadn't heard specifically that Footlik wants "to stay positive realizing that he's going to lose this primary." But, if that's his true strategy, it doesn't make sense from any angle. If he thinks Seals will win, then why doesn't he just drop out, unless he is trying to build up name recognition and he really has his sights elsewhere. Where that is, who's to guess? That theory would be consistent with Footlik spending all of his money so far on 'name recognition' efforts, which he may believe will benefit him in his future aspirations. But from what I see over on the Dem blogs, the Seals supporters are so livid with Footlik for sucking money and resources away from Seals, they'll never support him for anything.

If Footlik really thinks he has a chance in the primary, he has to take Seals on directly, sooner rather than later, but he can't seem to bring himself to do it. The best way to do it is what Seals is doing, with a barely-under-the-surface smear campaign going on with Seals supporters bad-mouthing Footlik everywhere they can. That way the main guy stays clear and can claim the "high road." It's also a lot cheaper to smear someone on the blogs and through whisper campaigns than putting out literature mailers. Check out the link to Praire State Blue in the main post under the "wasting valuable resources" tag and read the extensive comments- you will see what Ellen Beth Gill has REALLY been up to for the last few weeks, among many other Seals supporters. It's a full-scale flame war going on between the two groups.

If Footlik thinks he will lose to Seals, but Seals will lose to Kirk and then Footlik will step in to run again in two years, that makes a little more sense, I guess. Being a two-time loser, Seals will have given up and taken an honest job somewhere in the 9th District (maybe finally openly working for Jan Schakowsky). I don't think The Point is ever going to make any money, so he won't be on their payroll for long. Footlik will have already lost once to Seals, which won't look so good, but he will have a head start on anyone else who might seek to challenge Kirk.

Annie, as for Footlik's tagline of "Serious Experience," interestingly, that works better against Seals than against Kirk. Seals doesn't have ANY experience, and he hasn't spent any time at all in the last two years building up his political resume. As far as I can tell, he spent the time only trying to get his campaign set up and finding the best-paying gig on the side he can get so he and his family aren't uncomfortable while he's off playing big-time politician. But, claiming "serious experience" when (if) you're up against KIRK in the general election isn't going to fly. Kirk is the guy with the experience as a 6 year congressman with MANY legislative victories and accolades to his credit. To think that anyone would trade Kirk for Footlik on the basis of experience is laughable. And as we have revealed here, Footlik's role in Washington in the Clinton camp seems to be pretty minor. And then, he went on to be a foreign policy advisor to Kerry, and we all saw what great advice Kerry got during the campaign.

Maybe Footlik is just not that savvy a politician. But, Seals ain't much better.

This primary campaign of the B-team politicians bodes very well for Kirk in the general.

Anonymous said...

We know that Footlik has wanted to return home for several years. A little bit of investigative work will show that he was going to run for a state slot a few years ago....changed him mind when the Jeff Schoenberg decided to stay on that job. Footlik just wants to be in politics, state or federal, I guess he's not all that choosy. Name recognition is what he's about right now. I think that's the logic behind his not wanting to go negative on a fellow Dem. The 10 Dems are pretty upset with him for taking away some of the max Seals contributors. The Wedners were not only at the top of the finance team in 06, they also enlisted many of their family and friends to join them. All are now on the Footlik team. What happens on 2//6/07? Who knows. If they honestly thought that Dan was such a great leader and candidate, why would they have so quickly been persuaded to jump ship. I think you know that answer. I do. I go back to my same old, same old. Neither Seals or Footlik have anything to offer voters in this district other than the ongoing diatribe on Iraq. Their disgraceful, dishonest portrayal of Mark Kirk's voting record is all they have to offer. They should be smart enough to differentiate between procedural and issue votes. Their last newsletter had an entire page devoted to questioning Mark Kirk's position on SCHIP. No mention of the fact that Mark Kirk helped lead the override of the president's veto....so much for truth in anything they spew out over there. And yes, they're steaming mad that the upstart Footlik has come in here and has thrown a monkey-wrench into their well crafted plan to unseat our congressman. Footlik's ability to continue raising money, whether in this district or from around the country, gives him the opportunity to buy TV cable time, mail pieces and soon take out newspaper ads. Sooner or later Mr. Seals is going to have to get up from his desk over at The Point and get back out there so the voters out here can see and hear him again. Seems like he's a bit arrogant this time around. I know that the Kirk campaign takes nothing for granted, and should not. Our congressman is not resting on his accomplishments. He continues to show the leadership and intelligence that have served him and those of us lucky enough to live in this district so well over the past 7 years. By the way, TA, have you checked that "other" Blog lately? Pretty dull, pretty boring, pretty much as irrelevant as ever. Your Blog seems to have captured the attention of those who want to exchange comments rather than just rail away with comments so over the top that one would hope they're all back on their meds and recover quickly.

Anonymous said...

TA:

Its hard to do nothing at all for two years but Seals accomplished that since GE asked him not to come back. All of the reporters laugh about this and are focused on the Weller, Lahood and Hastert district races.

Its no wonder that many Seals donors turned to Jay Footlik. He is working!

Anonymous said...

"Kirk is the guy with the experience as a 6 year congressman with MANY legislative victories and accolades to his credit."

Huh? For instance...???

Anonymous said...

Annie, the other blog is indeed boring. But this one is full of self-congratulatory true believers as well, and will soon get just as boring.

TA, I think you need to find an equivalent of TA from the other side -- someone formidable enough to help everyone sharpen their thinking and keep us from being lazy and dependent on talking points and the Fox News bubble. Only on this blog, the discordant viewpoint should receive a bit more respect than you did.

You might lose often while wrestling with an angel (or devil), but you get stronger every time, and you might get some new insights by engaging with an intelligent opponent.

Do you have any ideas on who that might be?

Team America said...

Anon 5:35, I couldn't agree more. All you have to do to see what a vast boring echo chamber is like is head over to Ellen's 10th, where she has stifled all dissent and gotten what she wanted--a bizarre universe where she is like the Queen of Hearts in "Alice in Wonderland." Anyone with a contrary view... "Off with their heads!"

That being said, Ellen herself would never #1) dignify this Blog with her august presence, and #2) she already proved she doesn't want to engage in the kind of debate we're looking for. So Ellen is unavailable.

I thought for a while that some of my old pals at Ellen's (I recall Scott, Kevin R., Blue Wind, Madame Defarge, Carl Nyberg, crankyboy, Hawkeye and a host of others) might make the migration over here to TA's Blog, since they are only talking to each other over there, but so far, no dice.

There is not a lot of commenting of any kind going on over at Ellen's anymore, but I wonder if the Seals and Footlik supporters are just too busy chewing each other up on other blogs to come over hear and have a chat. If you looked at that link to Prairie State Blue blog, you would see that many of those folks are over there shooting at each other. Maybe after the primary when it's time to get back to telling lies about Mark Kirk they will saunter on over here to start debating the real issues.

Moder8 said...

Great insights again with your commentary. I'm glad to see Mark Kirk working creatively with the Democrats. Maybe there's hope for this country.

Anonymous said...

"Its no wonder that many Seals donors turned to Jay Footlik. He is working!"

What is Jay's job, exactly? What does he do on a daily basis? And where is that job?

Anonymous said...

Anon 5:35 p.m. Forget it. By thinking that you're going to have intelligent discourse by inviting Ms. Shrill over here is absurd. Don't confuse her with the truth and with fact, she has made up her mind a long time ago. You're upset that some of us point out the positive contributions of Congressman Kirk. Well, get over it. Name anything that isn't factual or right on target. The more she and her groupies say things that just aren't correct, the more we should correct the record. That's not to say that we can't have some lively discussions. We can. But when it comes to Mark Kirk's record, his votes on issues, I think it's more than important to get the truth out there. Just look at the last issue of the 10th Dems Newsletter. An entire page is devoted to trying to say that he was working against the SCHIP vote. Her buddies drink her "kool aid" and it's the reason TA has started this Blog so that the truth can prevail. Let's have at it on things that do require some debate and discussion. The last thing any of us want over here is carping, shrill nonsense and one sided posts. The truth is never boring.

Anonymous said...

Jay Footlik is leading his firm -- with the son of Israel's Prime Minister.

Dan Seals was an intern for Sen. Leiberman -- now not part of the Seals bio. Seals has been unemployed for over two years.

Jay has the experience to win -- Seals has not been doing much...for years.

Anonymous said...

Actually, Jay is a partner in a homeland consulting security firm with Yuval Rabin, son of Israel’s late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. That has been his livelihood for the last few years.

Meanwhile, he is running for Congress and that is a full time job itself. Jay has his act together and would give Mark Kirk a great race.

Dan Seals will give Kirk a yawner like Perritt and Goodman. I do believe 2006 was an aberration.

Anonymous said...

What is a "homeland consulting security" firm? What sort of work do they do? Why are they registered lobbyists?

There is hardly any trace of DiNovo Strategies--none before 2006.

Anonymous said...

TA, this is just a note to let you know I’ve been reading and enjoying your blog. In fact, it’s been a lot more fun than Ellen of the Tenth. When comments are appropriate, they will come from me.

Team America said...

Hi Scott- glad to have you aboard! We'll try to keep up our end of the "fun" quotient. Although I continue to troll Ellen's to see what malfeaseance is going on over there, her overall "gloom and doom" attitude definitely is something we're trying to avoid here.