Democrat Carol Sente (59th Dist.) Claims Son of Breast Cancer Survivor Dan Sugrue Is Against Funding Cancer Research, And Other Lies (UPDATED x3)

Appointed 59th District Democratic State Rep. Carol Sente (who replaced former State Rep. Kathy Ryg after her retirement) vowed that she would fight against the status quo in Springfield and bring a new and badly-needed perspective to state government. She promised that if we elected her, she would go to Springfield to fight for us, and not be a rubber-stamp for Mike Madigan or the Democratic party.

Today, we learn in the Daily Herald that not only has Carol Sente gone back on all of these promises, she has attacked her opponent, Dan Sugure, with baseless accusations of "exremeism" and cutting women's programs.

First, the Herald notes that, despite Sente's pledge to be independent of the Dem machine, she has so far taken way over $200,000 in campaign cash from the State Democratic Party, and more is pouring in on a daily basis, it seems. In fact, based on Sente's campaign disclosures, it appears that Sente has no less than FOURTEEN Dem staffers that have been sent up to work on her campaign, which is viewed as a "must-keep" seat for Madigan, since he expects to bleed seats all over the state.

When the Daily Herald confronted Sente with this obvious incongruity, the only response Sente made was that she didn’t ask for the party’s financial assistance. If that's the case, Ms. Sente, you could have sent all of it back to Springfield, which would have been a lot more consistent with your campaign rhetoric. Now, we see that Sente is just another Democratic operative. (By the way, if taking Mike Madigan's money feels so wrong to you, Carol, send it up to Rich Voltair, who is running against Republican Sandy Cole in the 62nd District - he's not received any help from the Democratic Party and I'm sure he'd take $200K and 14 staffers in a heartbeat.)

Even worse, Sente's Dem party hacks have made baseless attacks against Dan Sugrue, claiming that he'd blindly cut important programs like funding for breast cancer research:




There's, of course, no basis for this, or any of the other attacks Sente has made on Sugrue. The "cancer" allegation is all the more reprehensible, though, since Sugrue's mother is a breast cancer survivor. Sugrue mentioned that to the Herald, too:

“I nowhere have said I would cut breast cancer research my mom is a breast cancer survivor,” he said of an assertion in one of the ads.

“I think it’s an act of desperation on their end,” Sugrue said of campaign tactics.

Bottom line, apppointee Carol Sente is the worst kind of politician -- telling us what we want to hear on one hand, and then when she thinks we are not looking, gets in bed with the very people she has vowed to repudiate when she gets to Springfield. Shame on her.

Vote for Dan Sugrue, who the Chicago Tribune called "truly independent".

UPDATED: I forgot to point out that one fact that didn't make it into the Daily Herald article was that in addition to taking mega-bucks from the Democratic State Party, Sente has her campaign headquarters in the local U.A.W. hall in Lincolnshire.

Meanwhile, the Sugure campaign is hitting back at Sente's lies with a timely mailer of its own:

UPDATED x2 10/29/10: More Lies from Carol Sente: The last days of an election cycle are traditionally the time to lob out your campaign's most baseless and egregious accusations, because there isn't much time for the opposing candidate to refute them, and traditional media outlets like the Daily Herald won't cover them. Politician Carol Sente has this down to a science, although she's been lobbing baseless claims at Dan Sugrue for weeks now. The latest bullsh*t claim she's made against Sugrue is that Dan "wants to take taxpayer funds away from public schools to subsidize private and religious schools." Sente also claims that Sugrue "will help property taxes spike to fund public education so he can direct your tax dollars to religious and private institutions." Sure. Of course, on Sente's latest mail bomb, there's no documentation for any of this.

Perhaps someone should call Sente's office and let her know that, except for the pre-schooler, all of Dan's kids are in public school. If that was really Dan's hidden agenda, I think we'd know it by now. Sente, as you may know, doesn't even have children. Who do you think is more concerned with the state of our public schools? That's right, the guy who has his kids in the system.

Sente claims that Sugrue is a "radical, anti-government extremist." I am very hopeful and optimistic that Sente's false campaign of terror and alarmism is going to spectacularly backfire on her. Voters don't like to be lied to. The real extremist here is Sente, not Sugrue.

Meanwhile, if you haven't seen it, here's Dan's latest mailer touting all of his endorsements:

UPDATED x3: Here's a letter to the editor of the Daily Herald from someone who knows the Sugrue family, and is appalled at the scurrilous lies being told about Dan by Carol Sente and her mob of thugs from the Mike Madigan brigade:

I have received four mailers paid for by the Democratic Party of IL accusing Dan Sugrue of several insanities like his alleged radical social views and being supported from an extremist organization from the far right wing, and of agreeing with alleged gender discrimination practices defended by one of his financial supporters.

I had met Sugrue at a meeting for the committee of a foundation that would benefit the community where his kids attend school. Sugrue was volunteering his time and provided free services as a lawyer. A few months later, I met him again, this time with his wife and children at a dinner party. I was well impressed with both of them and the dynamic of their family. When I learned that Sugrue was going for the state representative seat, even though I am not registered with the Republican party, given the fact that the Sugrues were such genuine people with high moral and family values, I decided to check him out further and validate his commitment to the community.

I am outraged at the lies that Carol Sente is raising about him. They are so unfounded that my first reaction was to feel sorry for her, seeing how her strong opponent drove her to such desperation and lack of common sense. If Sente really cares for the people, why is she misleading them? Sugrue is leading his campaign with the positive approach of how he will represent the current issues that are affecting us. Why isn’t Sente doing the same thing instead of undermining the only option that will bring a real solution to the major issues in our community? What would happen with us if she gets elected? I will vote for Dan Sugrue.

Emma Flanagan

Green Oaks