GOP candidate and attorney Dan Sugrue of Green Oaks handily won the endorsement of the Vernon Township GOP organization last night.The vote was 11-2-1, with two votes going to Vernon Hills Trustee Cindy Hebda, and one vote going to Mohan Manian.
Hebda is being backed by Vernon Hills mayor Roger Byrne and State Representative Ed Sullivan Jr., among others, but is battling a petition challenge brought against her by the Democrats. The hearing officer's decision went against Hebda, and the State Board of Elections is expected to rule this week.
While this blog endorses Sugrue, Hebda is a worthy candidate, and the Dems ought to butt out of the Republican primary, IMHO. Let the Republican primary voters decide who their candidate should be, thank you.
Other Vernon Township endorsements include Adam Andrzejewski for governor (no endorsement for Lt. Governor, but it was between White and Murphy); Bob Dold for 10th Congressional District, Dodge for Comptroller, and Patrick Hughes for U.S. Senate.
I understand that Hughes just barely got 60% (required for the endorsement) in a contentious voting session, and the Vernon Township Chairman, Don Castella, is very conservative and a declared Hughes supporter, so the shock here is that Hughes struggled that much to win the endorsement. Hughes won't do so well in neighboring Libertyville Township's endorsements this coming weekend, if I guess correctly (not to mention that I have a vote in that one...)
UPDATED: Don Castella, Vernon Township Chairman, sent me a press release that sets forth all of the endorsements from the Vernon endorsement session last night. But I take issue with Don's suggestion that Kirk was surprised by the endorsement of his opponent, Pat Hughes. I think Kirk thought his chances in Vernon with Castella running the show were slim, so the real surprise was that it took Hughes three rounds of votes to get the endorsement, which he got by a bare minimum margin. The way the press release reads ("Kirk lost the Senate endorsement outright") makes it sound to me like Kirk got crushed on the first vote. Not so.
Complete Vernon Township Endorsement Session Results
Lincolnshire, IL Dec 8, 2009: Vernon Township's Monday evening GOP endorsement session surprised local incumbents Congressman Mark Kirk (R-IL 10) and IL State Senator Matt Murphy (R-27), who both failed to garner the nod in their respective state-wide races for US Senate and Lt. Governor. Kirk lost the US Senate endorsement outright to Hinsdale Businessman Patrick Hughes who grabbed the Vernon endorsement with 64.3% of the committeeman vote. Senator Matt Murphy finished ahead of Pastor Randy White in the Vernon Lt. Governor endorsement voting with 57.1%, but failed to garner the requisite 60% for the endorsement.
Businessman Robert Dold scored an impressive 85.7% -14.3% victory over second-place finisher State Rep. Beth Coulson in the IL Tenth Congressional District Vernon GOP endorsement race. No other candidate received a vote in this important contest.
In the GOP Governor endorsement contest, businessman outsider Adam Andrzejewski of Hinsdale, scored a first-round victory with 64.3% of the vote. State Senator Kirk Dillard and Dan Proft of Wheaton each garnered 14.3% of the Vernon vote for governor.
The only other gubernatorial candidate to receive votes was former Attorney General Jim Ryan, who got 7.2%. Bill Brady, Bob Schillerstrom, and Andy McKenna were all shut out.
In the other contested statewide race, Orland Park businessman, Jim Dodge, scored a first-round victory with 64.3% of the Vernon GOP endorsement vote for Illinois Comptroller.
TV personality William Kelly finished second with 21.4% and former Illinois Treasurer, Judy Baar Topinka, finished third with 14.3%.
Running unopposed, Attorney General candidate Steve Kim, Secretary of State candidate Robert Enriquez, and Treasurer candidate Dan Rutherford all received endorsements.
Second District Appellate Court Justice Ann Jorgenson sailed to a 100% - 0% endorsement shutout of challenger Kenneth Moy in her contested race for the Second District Appellate Court Vernon GOP endorsement.
Second District Appellate Court Justice Mary Schostok received 100% of the votes for the other Second District Appellate Court Vernon GOP endorsement.
Running unopposed, Lake County Clerk, Willard Helander, Lake County Treasurer, Robert Skidmore, Lake County Sheriff, Mark Curran, and Regional Superintendent of Schools, Roycealee Wood, all received endorsements.
Green Oaks attorney Dan Sugrue scored an easy endorsement victory in the Illinois 59th House District contest, garnering 82% of the Vernon GOP endorsement vote over Vernon Hills teacher, Cynthia Hebda, and Libertyville businessman, Mohan Manian, who each received 9%.
Running unopposed, State Representatives Ed Sullivan, Jr. (R-51) and Sidney Mathias (R-53) were also endorsed.
Running unopposed, 19th Circuit, 4th Sub-circuit Judge Wallace Dunn was endorsed.
Running unopposed, Lake County Board members Aaron Lawlor, Ann Maine, and Susan Loving Gravenhorst were all endorsed.
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18 comments:
That is a very conservative group of endorsements for a township I thought was more mainstream. Andjiefski for Gov? Doesn't Matt Murphy represent some of Vernon? Doesn't Kirk represent all of it?
What gives?
Anon 3:22, when you say you thought the township was more conservative, do you mean the voters, or do you mean the committeemen? The committeemen in any township are not necessarily reflective of the GOP voters in any township as a whole. It's usually the political junkies, who in the GOP tend to be more conservative overall, I think, much like the primary voters tend to be more conservative, because that side of the party tends to be more activist and involved.
I think Vernon's township GOP organization in particular is disproportionately reflective of its chairman, who is very conservative and probably tends to try to recruit committeemen who are also conservative. It's interesting that for all the years Castella has been in charge of Vernon, they have had a abysmal record of filling empty precincts -- perhaps because there is not much emphasis on filling those spots with non-conservative committeemen.
But, at least it worked out for Sugrue in this case. ;-)
Vernon has an abysmal record of filling empty precincts and that chairman goes unchallenged. Moraine has a terrific record of filling empty precincts that chairman suddenly has a challenger in his own precinct.
That's how the Lake County GOP operates.
How many votes did Ari Friedman get in the Vernon Township endorsement?
Moraine? Be serious....maybe the part that's in Lake Forest but the rest of the area...not
I just watched the 10th trib q &a.
at their website.
1. dold is hard to believe. The guy lacks heft. lacks ideas, focus, leadership. more pup or gash or catlady than kirk.
2. beth is alright but bad with most of the issues. if she had better issues, shes the most likable real of the three.
3. dick will be lucky to avoid last place.
4. hamos is even worse than imagined. this is it for her career. asta la vista.
5. pup has gotten dumber. he has adopted rumsfeld's policy for afpak. jobless but hes had a lot of stupid to drink lately.
FOKLAES
Sheesh!
What is with all the anonymous Moraine Township cheap shots around here?
How many Lake County GOP Township Organizations can point to increased Republican votes and voter percentages during the last presidential election in Lake County? You know, during the Obama electoral tidal wave that everyone talked about and experienced?
A couple of GOP county wide candidates who squeaked through to victory ought to wonder about what would have happened to them if the Moraine Township GOP Organization had not resurrected itself and gone out and hustled door to door the way it did. Those extra GOP votes generated in Moraine sure helped them. We also more than doubled the number of committeemen in less than two years. For those who feel that precinct committeemen are useless and unnecessary, check out the vote totals from November 2008 again on Willard Helander's website.
Then check out the Highwood municipal elections that followed.
We've been busy in Moraine Township bringing the GOP message to an area that has been sorely neglected by all segments of the party for ages. We even recently had our first Moraine Township GOP event in over a decade, our 10th Congressional Republican Debate which was held last month.
So save your anonymous cheap shots for those parts of Lake County where the GOP is losing ground, not for some of those areas where it gained some of it back.
Perhaps some of you armchair quarterbacks should join us or your local township GOP organizations in walking precincts. It will be an eye opening experience for you.
Sheesh!
Louis G. Atsaves
Moraine Township GOP Chairman
Hey Lou,
Lighten up buddy - you're gonna have a stroke. I think YOU need to check out Willard's site - again, the Lake Forest portion of Moraine does quite well, and HIghwood is taking care of itself - you can't take credit for that. But check out the rest of Moraine...I wouldn't be bragging if I were you....
blago campaigned at easter moraine in 2002 so its tough easy turf. it's more Evanston than say wheeling.
president Clinton has done a number of fundraisers over there over the years, its the biggest areas for national democrat money the country. Go to opesecrets.org so you'll see.
we need candidates who appeal to these voters. King louis cant do it all by himself.
FOKLAES
Lou you da man!! Keep it up and forget about all those posers.
Hey TA, what does Kirks people think about Castella rumored to be running for Lake County Chairman?
GoldFish- It's not a rumor, Don has announced on Facebook that he's running. It's not a big surprise- the rightmost right wing of the party has always hated Venturi. So much for his recent attempts to sue for peace with them.
However, there are quite a few other folks that think it's such an easy thing to be county chairman, and their egos tell them that they could do a better job (you'd be surprised how many such folks you find in the party) so I suspect there will be other names surfacing as well.
I think Team Kirk is keeping their eye on the Senate race and aren't burning a lot of calories worrying about the county chairman's race. That race won't be decided on until March anyway during the county convention, which is long after Kirk will have won the primary.
Assuming Kirk wins, I would hope even Don Castella will support the GOP nominee for Senate (even if it's Kirk and not his guy) if Castella by some chance happens to win the party chairmanship.
Thanks TA. See we can agree on something!
Sorry about the earlier rant TA.
I'm just fed up these days by the lack of respect the GOP as a whole has towards its grass roots.
I'd buy Anon 9:27 some reading glasses but getting her (him?) to comprehend would be another matter. But cowards hide behind anonymity, fools identify themselves and become targets.
I'd rather continue being a fool.
LOUIS G ATSAVES
Louis, that's an odd thing to say lol because as with everything else, there are "in betweens"--i.e., those with "anonymous" handles who pretty much everyone knows.
Anonymous?
Endorsements that are based only on who your neighbor is or where a candidate is from is exactly what is wrong with the party. To endorse Hughe's for senate when he has only voted three(3) times in his life is a slap at everyone that works for the party.
maybe castella should focus on filling the massive amount of open precincts he has instead of having a completely ridiculous endorsement session.
"I understand that Hughes just barely got 60% (required for the endorsement) in a contentious voting session."
The fact that Hughes got 64.3% of the vote (which is a landslide victory over Kirk who has represented the area since 2001) is quite a blow for Kirk, although your post makes it sound like Hughes should have received 100% of the vote? Kind of odd, given that numerous times on TA it has been "concluded" that Hughes' campaign was without hope or traction, now TA is assuming he should get much more than 64% of votes for endorsements?
Seems there is a shift in TA's position on Hughes' chances come February.
Uh, no, not at all. The victory in Vernon was the direct result of heavy lobbying of the Township Chairman on his committeemen. It took three rounds nonetheless. So in the end, what you have is 9 people who supported Hughes and he had to struggle mightily for that. Kirk has about 14 township endorsements to 4 or so for Hughes. Doesn't sound like a lot of traction for Hughes to me.
Let's see what happens in Libertyville on Saturday.
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