All Wrapped Up About The Map

Since the Republican wave that overcome the nation seemed to hop-skip-jump over Illinois in various ways (we won lots of Congressional seats but won few General Assembly seats), we are now facing the dubious proposition of being more or less shut out of the re-map process. The Chicago Tribune looks at the issue in depth today, complete with an above-the-fold photo of State Senator Terry Link (yuck) who will no doubt be inserting himself into the process, in order to cram as many GOP votes into as few districts as possible, to give the Dems an advantage for the next 10 years. I like to call that process "Terrymandering" (TM).

Before the election, even 'policy-over-politics' Ellen of the Tenth was unbashed about how important controlling the remap process was going to be.

Now we're a bit stuck with it. Any guesses on how this may change life here in Lake County? Which Congressional District is going to disappear, and who will be left to duke it out? What are our state rep/senate districts going to look like?

Meanwhile, in Washington, Congressman Charlie Rangel begins his ethics trial today before the House Ethics Panel. I guess that means he won't be sending any more money to three-time loser Dan Seals.

Oh- if you want to know what the funny map picture is all about, click here.

Dan Seals Grudgingly Gives Up Charlie Rangel Campaign Cash; What About the Rest?, Asks Bob Dold

Dan Seals, perennial candidate for Congress in Illinois' 10th Congressional District, has FINALLY bowed to years of criticism for his association with embattled House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel, and stated he will give about $14,000 in contributions he received directly from Rangel.

Not good enough, says GOP challenger Bob Dold. What about all the money that Seals has raked in from fundraisers sponsored or supported by Rangel, Dold wants to know. According to a Daily Herald article today, Dold pegs the appropriate amount at something much closer to $55,000.

Rangel has only recently taken a 'leave of absence' from his chairmanship of the powerful House Ways and Means committee after being admonished by the House Ethics Committee, and amid the continuing investigation into charges that Rangel abused his public position to raise corporate funds for a library bearing his name, illegally rented multiple rent-controlled apartments in Harlem, failed to disclose income from a property in the Dominican Republic and illegally stored a personally-owned vehicle in the House parking garage.

Dan Seals, of course, has a history of taking money from ethically-challenged Dem politicians, like the time when he took a campaign contribution from disgraced former congressman Dan Rostenkowski right in front of the students at his night school class at NU (yes, as we noted at the time, the check was actually from Rosty's wife, but even Seals didn't really try to hide behind that and eventually returned the check weeks later after the story broke).

So, what's Dan Seals going to do now that his cash pipeline from New York has been turned off at the spigot???

Locally: Team America congratulates new Lake County Republican Chairman Bob Cook of Wauconda as the new party central committee chairman, who was elected by acclamation at the GOP County Convention at Midlane Country Club in Wadsworth last night. Bob is a tireless worker and truly dedicated to the Republican cause, so he should do well. TA had a nice chat with Bob yesterday afternoon before the evening meeting and, if he won, Bob pledged to be a big-tent leader, and bring all of the GOP groups in Lake County together to the maximum extent possible to fend off the Dems. The Dems, of course, re-elected 20-year chairman Terry Link. Yawn.

Daily Herald Hammers Terry Link on Usurping Municipal Approval for Gambling Expansion; Meanwhile Terry's Worried About His Phone Being Bugged

Lately, I've been looking forward with some morbid curiosity to picking up the newspaper each morning and seeing what kind of shenanigans State Senator Terry Link (D-Waukegan) is trying to pull next.

For those of you who are new here, Terry Link is a powerful state senator who also is the chairman of the Lake County Democratic Party, and currently is Chairman of the Senate Gaming Committee (after being defeated in a bid for State Senate President). Link is rather famous (or infamous) for having two of his campaign workers indicted for having the signatures of dead people appear on his nominating petitions in the last campaign cycle. Link also faced pressure from the GOP for allegedly failing to properly account for payments to these individuals, which case is still ongoing at the appellate court level. Link's ties to former guv Blagojevich didn't help him either (nor his protege State Senator Michael Bond, who were both named to the Tribune's list of the "Blagojevich 26.")

The petition scandal was quite the issue in the last election, but Link still coasted to re-election in a district that was drawn to guarantee a Dem senator. Some other Dems who were caught in similar circumstances weren't so lucky. But I digress.

Senator Link's obsession is to place a casino in Waukegan. Lately, he has been thwarted in that effort, as most recently, the new Waukegan mayor, former Democrat-turned-Independent Bob Sabonjian, rejected Link's offer to place a casino in Waukegan, where Link also resides. Link's thumb-in-your-eye response to Sabonjian was to offer it to neighboring Park City, which is desperate for revenue--even more desperate than Waukegan, apparently.

Link is also intent on expanding other forms of gambling in this state, for reasons unknown. As we have said in this space before, if it's simply because Link is a one-trick (race) pony and cannot think of any other way to bring jobs to Lake County, that is pretty sad, considering his resources and tenure in office. So, we at Team America think there must be some other motivation for Link, but we shall save further speculation for another post. We will note for now that Senator Link has a history of legislatively taking care of those that take care of him.

Today, the Daily Herald takes Senator Link to task for running rough-shod over the wishes of Arlington Heights, which is not on board with Link's plan to place up to a thousand slot machines at Arlington Park racetrack. Link later appeared to back off that position. But, apparently the Herald is still concerned that Link still believes the State should be able to impose its will over the desires of the host municipality, or why would the Herald be editorializing on the issue today? The question TA has, is why did Link not use the same strategy to push his casino through in Waukegan over the wishes of Mayor Sabonjian? But perhaps that's next.

In addition to the editorial, the Daily Herald ran a letter from Link's GOP challenger in the 30th district race, Keith Gray, of Mettawa. Gray's letter skewers Link for his myopic view that gambling is the only way to promote economic development. (TA's Note- I mistakenly said previously that the Herald endorsed Gray- in fact, the Herald went for Link and the Tribune and News-Sun were for Gray. But I bet the Herald wishes it could get a do-over).

In other Link-related developments, part of the recommendations for government reforms that are now being proposed by an ethics comission appointed by Governor Pat Quinn and headed by former Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Collins include the proposal that state's attorneys being empowered to institute wiretaps and other forms of eavedropping much as such techniques are used at the federal level. While the Daily Herald reports that a number of legislators such as State Senators Dan Duffy and Matt Murphy, as well as Susan Garrett and Michael Bond (heck, even ultra-liberal State Rep. Kathy Ryg), are in favor of the proposal, Terry Link is not so sure.

Says Link: "While I am supportive of the concept of statewide grand juries, giving elected county prosecutors - who are politicians - the power to wiretap other politicians and citizens should raise concerns for every Illinoisan."

Yeah, Senator, you can say that again. Could you just imagine if Link had to worry about Lake County State's Attorney Michael Waller actually having a way to directly investigate Link's goings-on without having to chase low-level campaign workers to try to tie in Link to such activities? Oh, if Senator Link's phone could talk, what stories could it tell? Better get henchman "Sneaky" Pete Couvall's phone too, while you're at it.

Keep tuning in for more developments in the wacky world of Senator Link and Lake County politics.

Ethics Watchdog Senator Susan Garrett Finally Starts Barking... at a Township Clerk Election???

Democratic State Senator Susan Garrett has finally found her voice and taken a firm stand, speaking out against an important (dare we say critical?) election issue for the citizens of Illinois.

No, it's not about former Governor Rod Blagojevich and the years of corruption, pay-to-play and running this State's finances into a $9 billion hole.

It's not about her fellow State Senator Terry Link and his petition scandals, which recently resulted in one of his campaign workers pleading guilty to perjury, with the trial of the other worker on the way.

And it's not even about the Democratic candidates for Lake County Board who were called out for making baseless allegations of corruption and sweetheart tax deals on their campaign literature, and who were bankrolled by Garrett's other colleague in the state senate, Michael Bond.

No, it's actually about a vitally important race to the citizens of Illinois: the re-election of Shields Township Clerk David Barkhausen. Garrett's ethical eagle eye (which has apparently been fairly myopic up until now) has noted that Barkhausen owes some campaign fines to the Illinois State Board of Elections (due to late filing of some pre-election documents between 2001-2004), to the tune of around $1200, says Garrett. Garrett wants County Clerk Willard Helander to remove Barkhausen from the ballot (it should be noted that there is no law that requires Helander to take any action in response to Garrett's complaint).

"It's a matter of ethics. Do we just let these things go?" asked Garrett.

TA's take on this: thank goodness Senator Garrett is right on top of ethical issues to protect the integrity of the ballot here in Illinois. I'm not sure what took her so long, but I feel much better that Senator Garrett has now undertaken the mantle of ethical watchdog for the North Shore. I'm sure we can expect her to quickly organize an ethical task force that is going to get to the root of such issues as Link's petition scandals and the Lake County Board campaign materials scandal.

Good thing Senator Garrett didn't wait to find her ethical principles until the State was mired in corruption and it was too late to save us all... um... well, you folks figure that out for yourselves.

Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran to Switch From Democrat to Republican (UPDATED x3)

The Illinois Dem woes apparently aren't limited to the governor and his associates, and some of the smarter ones may already be making moves to flee a sinking ship.

TA hears that Democratic Sheriff Mark Curran of Lake County is bailing on the Dems and will announce he is switching parties to become a Republican. A press conference is scheduled for 9:30 on Monday morning at Lake County Republican Headquarters in Libertyville.

We expect a press release from the Lake County GOP shortly.

Until Sheriff Curran speaks, we don't know exactly the reason for the switch, or the timing, but it would not be too much of a guess that it has to do with the ethics issues of local and state Democrats, not only the governor and his issues, but perhaps Terry Link and his crew. As TA readers know, Sheriff Curran has shown signs of dissatisfaction with the Lake County Dems before, notably his endorsement of Republican State's Attorney Michael Waller this past election. The negative reaction of the Lake County Dems to that move by Curran probably didn't help his opinion of that bunch.

Much more on this soon.

UPDATED: The Daily Herald has a very short story up (TA's Note- this article has now been expanded).

UPDATED x2: And so does the News-Sun.

UPDATED x3 12.13.08: CURRAN EDITORIALS, ARTICLES AND CHAT: The News-Sun this morning has an editorial on the Curran jump to the GOP. They also throw their support to a special election for the Obama senate seat, rather than letter Quinn or anyone else make a single-handed appointment decision, regardless of the cost for such an election.

Also, here's Sun-Times and Tribune coverage of the Curran story.

By the way, TA had a great chat with Sheriff Curran last night at a holiday event and I could not be more pleased with his decision. Several of the comments he made about the infighting and lack of ethics evident in the Lake County Democratic party I found quite insightful and illuminating. Given Curran's refreshing candor about State's Attorney Michael Waller's opponent when Curran endorsed Waller, I look forward to Curran's comments at the presser on Monday when he explains his move. Welcome, Mark!

Also, for anyone keeping track, that means that all four county-wide offices up for election in 2010 (Sheriff, County Clerk, Superintendent of Schools, and County Treasurer) will be held by GOP incumbents.

Keith Gray Hits Senator Terry Link on Graveyard Voting in 30th Senate District

Keith Gray, Waukegan businessman and GOP challenger to Senator and Lake County Dem Chairman Terry Link has sent out a tough mailer blasting Link on ethics and taking Link to task for having the names of deceased persons show up on his nominating petitions. You can download the complete mailer here. The piece is quite clever, featuring a picture of a cemetery with a Link campaign sign on one of the graves, as if to show where Link’s support appears to be coming from. It also ties Link, who is in senate leadership, to Governor Blagojevich, who the Chicago Tribune noted today (in a huge front-page article) has a lower approval rating than even President Bush.

The theme of the Dems importing Chicago-style politics to Lake County, including fraudulent petitions and campaign disclosure issues, voter registration problems, and mailers incorrectly featuring Cook County tax issues in Lake County races, has been front and center in many of the local Lake County races.

Word is that Senator Link went ‘ballistic’ when he saw the Gray “Graveyard” piece and is planning a hit of his own. TA understands that Gray has several more biting mailers in the queue, however. Regardless of what mud Link may try to fling at Gray, it’ll be very tough for Link to salvage his sullied reputation concerning the indicted campaign workers, so this could end up being a sleeper race that lands a big surprise on November 4th.

Also, many local Dems in Waukegan and North Chicago (which comprises much of Link’s base) have decided that they have had enough of Link, after 12 years of doing little to nothing to benefit minorities in what are some of the poorest communities in Lake County, not to mention other issues. Among other signs of Link dissatisfaction among the Dems, see an endorsement of Keith Gray from prominent Waukegan Dem precinct committeeman Keith Turner here, and a letter to the editor from Dem activist Marian McElroy that blasts Link for not supporting minority candidates for judicial subcircuit races here (the two Dem candidates are both Caucasian men, and the GOP candidates are Judge Valerie Ceckowski and Judge George Bridges (an African-American)).

Senator Terry Link Under Pressure From GOP On Petitions, Campaign Disclosures; Threatens to Sue

Turns out that, for a career politician, Terry Link (D-Waukegan) sure gets rattled easily when he's faced with some real political problems. As our readers know from yesterday, the Lake County GOP filed a complaint with the State Board of Elections claiming that Link improperly failed to disclose payments made to his two indicted campaign workers, Jerry Knight and Kenneth Davison, who are alleged to have forged the signatures of the living and the dead on Terry Link's nomination petitions.

Link must be feeling the heat, because he's lashed out at Dan Venturi, the Lake County GOP Chairman, calling him a "idiot" and threatening to sue for libel, according to the Daily Herald:

In a complaint filed Wednesday with the Illinois State Board of Elections, county GOP chief Dan Venturi and Waukegan Township Republican Chairman David Pfeifer claim disclosure reports Link submitted earlier this year did not include payments to two campaign workers who have been charged with forging names on Link's candidate petitions. * * *

Reached Thursday, Link said he was aware of the complaint but hadn't read it. He maintained he's followed the law and angrily lashed out at the Republicans for playing what he called "gutter politics."

"If these idiots want to keep (pursuing) this witch hunt, I'm going to file a libel suit against them," said Link, of Waukegan. "I'm done with the harassing and misleading the public."

The Lake County News-Sun said this:

"I'm sick and tired of the witch hunt that they are doing," Link said. "Let's talk about issues. They don't want to talk about issues. They don't want to talk about the real facts."

But Lake County Republican Chairman Dan Venturi said Link's disclosure forms are an issue, and the GOP has filed a formal complaint regarding the forms with the State Board of Elections.

"Senator Link needs to follow the law and be accountable to the citizens of Lake County," Venturi said. "This is simply the latest incident in a continuing pattern of questionable and/or illegal activity on the part of Senator Link."

Venturi also said that Link's "refusal to even acknowledge that these are legitimate concerns of Lake County voters is especially troubling."


I spoke to Venturi yesterday at a packed fundraiser for Lake County State's Attorney Michael Waller, and while Venturi figured he wouldn't make Link's Christmas card list this year, he wasn't worried about anything Link said or was planning on doing. Fact is, if Link was stupid enough to file a lawsuit, that would bring far greater publicity to the "petition-gate" scandal and campaign disclosure stories than the GOP could ever afford to buy. Next time, Link might want to think about reviewing the complaint before making comments to the press about something he hasn't yet seen.

As we said yesterday, the fact that Link denies that questions raised about his ethics are a legitimate campaign issue should really tell you something. Stay tuned.

Lake County GOP Files Formal Campaign Disclosure Complaint Against Terry Link; Link Lashes Out

The heat on State Senator and Democratic County Chairman Terry Link (left) is getting pretty intense up here in Lake County.

On Wednesday, the Lake County GOP filed a formal complaint against Link's campaign organization with the State Board of Elections, alleging that Link violated state campaign disclosure laws by failing to disclose the payments made by the campaign to Link's two indicted petition circulators, Jerry Knight and Kenneth Davison. You can view the complaint here. As you all know, Knight and Davison have been indicted on multiple counts of perjury and forgery for, among other things, having dead people "sign" Link's petitions.

Briefly, the complaint first claims that Link never disclosed payments to Knight and Davison on Link's Form D-2, even though Link has admitted they were paid to circulate petitions on his behalf. Turns out, Link paid his right hand hatchet-man, "Sneaky" Pete Couvall, a staff salary, and then Couvall turned around and paid others, including Knight and Davison. As noted in the complaint, the Guide to Campaign Disclosure published by the State Board of Elections states that "any expenditure made to someone who serves as a conduit or 'middle man' for the payment must include a detailed breakdown of the expenditure - showing each recipient of the funds and a description of each expense." Was this a deliberate attempt to hide the payments to Knight and Davison from the Link campaign, just in case they were ever caught? The complaint doesn't say, but this doesn't look good for Link, on top of the problems this has already caused him.

In addition, the complaint notes that even though a campaign is required to specifically itemize any expenditure of over $150 to any single vendor, Friends of Terry Link had over $40,000 in unitemized expenditures in two recent semi-annual reporting periods (Jan 1, 2007 to June 30, 2007 and January 1, 2008 to June 30, 2008) . This would have required Link to have made payments to several hundred vendors in each period, which the complaint claims is an "unlikely scenario." Just for comparison, according to the publicly-available D-2's Link's unitemized expenditures are over 10 times what Senate President Emil Jones' were.


The Pioneer Press has already picked this up, and got a nasty response from Link:

"This is ridiculous, gutter politics, as always," Link said. "It's getting to the point where it's despicable. All he (Lake County Chairman Dan Venturi) wants to do is think, 'What more mud can I throw?' I hope the voters of Lake County read through this. When are the Republicans going to start talking about the issues?"


Uh, Senator Link: ETHICS IS AN ISSUE. One of the most important ones in a campaign. You've been in the state senate over a decade. You are the Dem county chairman. Do we really have to explain it to you? Perhaps we do. But, you're really the one that has a lot of ''splainin" to do to the voters.

It's also worth noting that when Link tried unsuccessfully to kick his GOP opponent Keith Gray off the ballot for no other reason than Gray had his nominating meeting the same day as 59th District State Rep. GOP nominee Dan Sugrue, that apparently wasn't "gutter" politics--and was that about the "issues" too? As we've noted often here, the Dems have a bad habit of dishing it out but not being able to take it.

Based on Link's reaction, it seems like he's feeling the heat. Let's see what Keith Gray does with this latest revelation about Link's questionable ethics.

Dan Seals Holds True to Democrats' Usual Double Standard and Criticizes "Washington Hit Men"

The first rule of the Kirk campaign is that "there is no calvary," in other words, Mark Kirk knew that he would be on his own in terms of funding his own campaign this cycle. Not because the national party didn't want to support him, of course, but they needed to spend their more limited resources (compared to the Dems) on those candidates that could not help themselves as well as Kirk can.

Well, it looks like some calvary has indeed arrived, after all, in the form of a TV ad buy from Freedom's Watch, which is an independent political group in the same vein as MoveOn.org. TA understands that Roll Call reports that the first ad buy is $430,000.

Dan Seals, of course, believes that he is the only candidate entitled to benefit from the support of outside groups, and issued a statement saying, "Washington hit men will do or say anything to distract voters."

Uh, excuse me??? This is the same Dan Seals that soundly criticized the national Democrats for not coming to his aid in the last election? This is the candidate that has gladly accepted the help of the DCCC in the form of a $1.4 million ad buy, plus lots of poorly-crafted mailers that have been blanketing the district lately?

What's that about "Washington hit-men" again, Dan? Is that the glass house you live in shattering I hear?

IN OTHER DEM HYPOCRISY: The News Sun noted the rejection of several Democratic hopefuls to be placed on the fall ballot after their petitions were ruled invalid for various problems, as we reported earlier. The News-Sun reported that Terry Link, Lake County Democratic Chairman, had the following response to this embarrassing defeat:

"Inadvertently, some mistakes were made" in the challenged candidacies. "It wasn't like, 'Oh, we're going to go out and defraud anybody,'" Link added. "If they won the case, they won the case," he said. "Now the electors won't have a choice in those races."

Oh, boo-hoo, those poor electors that won't have a choice. Was Terry Link concerned when he challenged his own opponent, Keith Gray's petitions? That would have removed the electors' "choice" at the ballot, for sure.

Or Kathy Ryg's opponent Dan Sugrue? Or even the Dem's objections to the poor Green Guy, David Kalbfleisch, who was trying to run in the 10th District race with Mark Kirk and Dan Seals?

No, folks, it's just another example of how the rules of law, ethics, morality or fairness just don't seem to apply to Terry Link, Dan Seals, and other Dems.

Lake County Democrats Claim Shock, Horror, Ignorance at Petition Forgeries... 8 Months After this Was Pointed Out to Them (UPDATED)

A number of Lake County Democrats are finally being hit with the fallout from the tainted petitions containing alleged forgeries of persons both alive and dead. The Daily Herald is reporting today that the two indicted campaign workers for State Senator Terry Link (Jerry D. Knight and Kenneth Davison) also "circulated" petitions for seven other Lake County Democrats, including incumbents like Coronor Dr. Richard Keller and Recorder of Deeds Mary Ellen Vanderventer, as well as candidates like Michael D. Jacobs (running for State's Attorney against Mike Waller), Cynthia Pruim Haran (who is running for Circuit Court Clerk against Sally Coffelt), Jim Parks (running against JoAnn Osmond in the 61st legislative district) and Diane Hewitt (running for county board Dist. 2 against Randy Whitmore).

Those Democrats that were contacted by the Daily Herald expressed shock and horror, as if this was the biggest surprise of their lives. Former Vice-chair of the Lake County Dems, "Sneaky" Pete Couvall, who hired Knight and Davison, stated that "The only thing I'm guilty of is being hustled by a couple of con artists." Coroner Richard Keller, whose petitions were circulated as a block with the other Dem county-wide candidates, said he was unaware Knight or Johnson had worked on his petitions. "I found out later that (the paperwork) included those gentlemen and that there were irregularities," Keller said. The Herald reports that Hewitt said she knew Knight gathered signatures for her but was unaware of any irregularities. Parks said he learned Knight and Davison worked on his petition after the fact, and called the irregularities embarrassing.

Oh, how the passage of time (and a few indictments) bring some clarity to the situation.

For those of you new to the scene, this space and the Lake County GOP have been talking about this since last November, when Link's Dem primary opponent Jerry Johnson first identified the signatures of dead people on Link's petitions. Things just snowballed from there, culminating in an investigation by the Lake County State's Attorney and the return of indictments of the two paid petition circulators yesterday.

But, way back in December 2007, Lake County GOP Chairman Dan Venturi pointed out that not only had these two individuals circulated petitions for Link, but also these other candidates. His letter was published in the Lake County News-Sun and you can read it here. But even before Venturi's letter was published, this story was all over the newspapers.

Only now, however, after all of the Dem candidates, including Link, are secure in their positions on the general election ballot in November, are these candidates willing to discuss the tainted petitions and apparently admit they'd been collectively bilked (so they say) by these two devious men. Prior to this, only Link would talk, and his statements amounted to a zillion reasons why this was all nonsense, or perhaps the work of the Republicans.

As we have said many times here, we suspect the reason why Senator Link rebuffed all calls for an investigation of his own into the allegations of forgery was that he was afraid that if he looked too closely, the petitions circulated by Knight and Davison (which amounted to over 75% of Link's total signatures) would have shown to be invalid, and Link would not have had enough legitimate signatures to remain on the ballot. To remind everyone, that would have meant that Link would have had to run as a write-in candidate, either against Jerry Johnson directly as the other Dem primary candidate, or face the possibility of both men running as write-ins. A man with the ego the size of Terry Link's would never have been able to stomach that.

The Lake County Dems as a group should be condemned for their silence and refusal to confront the seriousness of this situation until the Lake County State's Attorney had to indict the Dems' petition circulators, and the press finally started making some phone calls to get these people on the record. This bunch collectively has about enough integrity to fill a thimble.

It may be too late to get them off the ballot, but not too late to reject them at the ballot box in November. Lake County citizens, do you want a crew with ethics like these folks representing you? It will be your choice.

BONUS CONTENT: Read some biting comments from the News-Sun "News Hound" here.


UPDATED 8/16/08: The Daily Herald reports that Kenneth Davison surrendered to authorities last night. Knight is still at large.

Apollo 13's Capt. James Lovell Endorses John McCain in Lake Forest; 30th Senate Update

This afternoon, Captain James A. Lovell of the famed Apollo 13 space mission announced his endorsement of Senator John McCain, a Navy vet, for President at a press conference held at Lovell's Restaurant in Lake Forest. Medal of Honor recipient Al Lynch also spoke, and the event was attended by a host of local and state-wide veterans. See the video from Channel 5 here. Over 75 people attended the event.

UPDATE: The Lake County News-Sun has an article with a few good quotes:

"John McCain and I both know what it's like to be in challenging situations that require sound judgment and experience, and I firmly believe he clearly possesses the sound judgment and experience to lead this great nation forward," Lovell said. "John McCain is a man that has always put his country first. He is proud to honor and support his fellow soldiers and now it is our opportunity to honor and support him. I am proud to give him my endorsement, and will do what I can to ensure he is victorious in November."


30th SENATE UPDATE: GOP State Senate Candidate Keith Gray Reports Strong Fundraising for Start of Campaign; Opponent Terry Link’s Disclosures Lack Detail of Expenditures

State Senate District 30 Republican candidate Keith Gray kicked off his challenge to incumbent Democratic Senator Terry Link by reporting strong fundraising numbers for the first half of 2008, while at the same time, Gray raised serious questions as to the completeness and veracity of his opponent’s disclosures.

Gray reported $21,800 in itemized, individual contributions, bringing his total cash on hand to $47,000, which is within striking distance of Link’s own cash balance of about $77,000.

“I think we did great for being a brand-new campaign, with a fresh message and face to bring to the people of the 30th Senate District,” Gray said. “We’re only going to get stronger as this campaign progresses and the voters begin to hear our message.”

Meanwhile, Gray’s opponent failed to specifically list $46,896.71 in campaign transactions, which effectively hides the payout from Link’s campaign fund. Under state law, any campaign transaction over $150 must be itemized.

“Terry Link’s latest filing with the Illinois State Board of Elections is part of a continuing pattern of questionable ethics,” Gray said. “It appears that Senator Link does not want to be held accountable to laws that govern our elections. If $47,000 in expenditures were legitimately not itemized because they were expenditures less than $150, that totals 300 different transactions in that amount. Given how campaigns conduct their business, that simply doesn’t seem likely.”

Gray challenged Link to immediately file an amended report with the State Board of Elections in order to “show the public through bank records exactly what his campaign committee has been up to.”

Ethics Issues May Be Critical for Illinois Races

The big news this morning is, of course, that Governor Blagojevich is indeed "Public Official A" as named in the Tony Rezko indictments and other related allegations from U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. Blago has repeatedly denied being Public Official A, but in Blago's world, who knows if he was simply hoping against hope to put off judgment day (for as long as possible), or maybe he really believes he's innocent. For more on this, head over to Capitol Fax Blog, where I'm sure the discussion will be hot and heavy all day.

In any event, as the Rezko trial proceeds, there are all sorts of interesting repercussions for Illinois politicians. First off, it comes at a bad time for Barack Obama. (See Backyard Conservative for some more Obama-Rezko connections) But, Obama's problems stem not only from his association with Rezko, but also his position as junior senator from one of the most politically corrupt states (at lease by reputation) in the U.S. If Obama wins the Dem primary, you can be sure that McCain's credentials as a campaign reformer, war hero, and straight-shooter are going to be juxtaposed with Obama, who has done essentially nothing to investigate and reform Illinois politics. Heck, the man had to go to Kenya to talk about ethics reform.

On his Kenya trip, Obama urged people to reject “the insulting idea that corruption is somehow part of Kenyan culture” and “to stand up and speak out against injustices.” Substitute Illinois for Kenya, and you'd have a great speech to rail against the "business as usual" politics that Governor Bag-O-Chips promised to end, and instead only refined to a new level (or depth?).

Any ideas why Obama did not start on ethics reform in his own backyard? Well, I think you know the reasons as well as I do, and you can count on Team McCain to raise these questions.

I think Hillary really blew it by not asking this very question and making it a centerpiece of her campaign. Her ham-handed attempts to tie Obama to Rezko and raise questions about Obama's ethics (as opposed to simply his judgment) have gotten only minimal traction, because she missed the larger part of the story.

In any event, while I am personally critical of those GOPers who say a little prayer every night to Patrick Fitzgerald to indict Blago (we can't wait for Fitzgerald to be the deus ex machina for the Illinois GOP--didn't help Judy Baar Topinka, that's for sure), it'll be very interesting if Obama is a Dem presidential candidate from a state where the governor is under federal indictment. The question will be, if all that can happen under Obama's nose in Illinois, what possible good can he be at instituting "change" and watchdogging the Congress and other federal politicians?

I also think the fallout will be bad for local Illinois pols that can be easily tied to Blago, which includes folks like State Senator Terry Link and State Rep. Kathy Ryg. You can talk all you want about how the General Assembly is more or less at open war with Blago on many issues, but the man/woman in the street simply needs to hear about the mess the state is in, with the Dems in solid control of the General Assembly and all statewide offices. Add a governor under indictment, and you have a great atmosphere for a "throw the bums out" campaign message for local GOPers to campaign on all summer and into the fall election.