Daily Herald Casts Doubt on Eligibility of Democratic IL-10 Hopeful, But Does It Matter?

Russell Lissau at the Daily Herald did some innovative sleuthing and discovered that one of the dark horse Democratic candidates in the contest to win their party's nomination to take on incumbent Congressman Bob Dold, Aloys Rutagwibira, may not actually meet Constitutional requirements for holding this office:

Aloys Rutagwibira, 53, of Hainesville, is a native of Rwanda who became a naturalized American citizen on July 6, 2006, according to voter registration records acquired by the Daily Herald.

Congressional service requires seven years of citizenship. Rutagwibira won't be eligible until July 2013.

Read the whole article. Apparently, Rutagwibira did not react kindly to Mr. Lissau's inquiries.

Hmm. Maybe Rutagwibira never heard the old saw about how you should never argue with anyone who buys ink by the barrel.

But, will this really matter? Rutagwibira is apparently such an outside shot that the only poll we have even heard about in IL-10 on the Dem side did not even include him. Not to mention that fact that, as Lissau notes, there is currently a challenge pending to Rutagwibira's petitions based on lack of sufficient valid signatures on his nominating petitions.

Checking in With Senator Mark Kirk... and the News is Good (UPDATED)

I checked in with Senator Mark Kirk's campaign chairman, Michael Morgan, this afternoon, and I think the news on Senator Kirk is very good, considering. I was a bit concerned, as I have been hearing in some circles up here in Lake County that the public reports about Kirk have been a bit whitewashed, and that the Senator was in far graver condition than was generally being reported. I am happy to say that such is not the case, and that Kirk is progressing very well.

Clearly, there will be quite a recovery ahead for Mark, but it appears that things are going well for right now, so I for one am breathing a little easier today.

UPDATED: I saw the Trib just posted a feature on the issues and challenges with rehabilitation after a stroke. No new info on Kirk's condition in the article, but it offers some interesting experiences from several people who have had to confront such a challenge -- bottom line, few recoveries are identical.

Lake County Republican Federation Hosts Candidate Forum for GOP County Office Candidates

This morning, the Lake County Republican Federation hosted the Republican candidates for the county-wide offices (State's Attorney, Coroner, Recorder of Deeds, and Circuit Court Clerk) to a packed room at the Deerpath Inn in Lake Forest.

Yours truly emcee'd the event, which kicked off with the Pledge of Allegiance by my friend Circuit Court Judge Daniel B. Shanes. I noted in my opening remarks that the event was one of our regular "Leadership Council" breakfasts, which are a complimentary thank-you to the Federation's top donors - Our Gold, Silver and Bronze Circle donors. I didn't really need to sell those in attendance on the mission of the Federation, but I took a minute to note that the funds raised by the Federation allow us to to staff and maintain a professional, full-time headquarters, that is accessible for meetings, candidate support, voter outreach and provides a base of operations, in addition to financial and project support to the Republican Central Committee.

I then provided a brief update on Senator Mark Kirk's condition, and Lake County Republican Chairman Bob Cook provided the customary recognition of elected officials and candidates (although in a room full of candidates, Bob joked that it might be simpler if he just introduced those few who did not seem to be running for something!) We then we got right into the program.

The format of the breakfast was a candidate forum in which we asked each of the candidates to come up and give a 3-4 minute talk on themselves and why they felt each was the best candidate for his or her office. A brief Q&A session followed each set of candidates. Almost all of the candidates attended, including:

State's Attorney Candidates: Louise Hayes, Mike Nerheim and Bryan Winter

Coroner Candidate: Steve Newton

Circuit Court Court Clerk Candidates: Keith Brin and Jerry Dietz

Record of Deeds Candidates: Bob Bednar and Marty Blumenthal

One of the other points I made in my comments was on the value of primaries. While most candidates (maybe all of them) really dislike (hate?) them and really wish they had no opponent, primaries can serve very important purposes in that they give us, the voters, a real choice among candidates who share our values and philosophy, to enable us to make individual decisions about who we feel is the best candidate.

On the candidate side, it tends to make people work harder, earlier, raise money and refine their skills and message. While it can be expensive and demanding, by and large, the winners of primaries tend to emerge battle tested and in a better position to take on the Democratic nominee. Above all, primaries need not be destructive, if conducted with honor and professionalism, and if we call pledge to come together after the race to support the successful nominee against their Democrat counterpart in the fall general election.

Based on the enthusiasm in the room and the quality of our GOP candidates for office, I have no doubt in my mind that if the Republicans can get their message out, we will enjoy great success at the polls come this November.

So, as you have come to expect, here are the pix:

Jan Zobus came to represent both Senator Mark Kirk and Congressman Bob Dold

County Board Candidate Jeff Werfel, Coroner Candidate Steve Newton and County Board Candidate Scott Helton

Everyone had a great time chatting, networking and noshing.

County Board Chairman David Stolman and former Lt. Governor Corrine Wood.

Circuit Court Clerk Candidates Jerry Dietz and Keith Brin take questions after their presentations.

Here's Keith Brin chatting with attorney Mark Shaw, who came to represent State Rep. Candidate Lauren Turelli.

Here's a long shot of the room with me, Recorder of Deeds Candidates Marty Blumenthal and Bob Bednar during Q&A.

Mark Kirk Update - So Far, So Good

The news we are getting on Senator Mark Kirk seems quite positive, considering. Here is an update from the Daily Herald, and you can see video of a noontime update from Kirk's doctor on the NBC-5 website here.

I think many of us got a bit of a chuckle when we heard today that Mark asked for his Blackberry - the two thoughts that came to my mind, were, 'how typical' and, better yet, 'that has to be a good sign.'

I confess my enthusiasm got the better of me and I fired off an e-mail to his private e-mail address, thinking there might be some chance he would read it, but I felt a little foolish after considering he's probably in no shape to actually ready anything right now, and, moreover, I then heard that the doctors (wisely) had refused his request.

So far, so good. It will be a long road, no doubt, but so far, there appears to be no reason not to hope that Mark will not be the 'same old Mark,' at least mentally, who we all know and respect.

Senator Mark Kirk Recovering After Stroke Surgery

From Mark Kirk's Press Office:


Statement on Senator Kirk's Medical Condition
　
　
CHICAGO - A spokesperson for Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) today released the following statement regarding the Senator's medical condition:　
　
"On Saturday, Senator Kirk checked himself into Lake Forest Hospital, where doctors discovered a carotid artery dissection in the right side of his neck.　 He was transferred to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, where further tests revealed that he had suffered an ischemic stroke.　 Early this morning the Senator underwent surgery to relieve swelling around his brain stemming from the stroke. The surgery was successful. Due to his young age, good health and the nature of the stroke, doctors are very confident in the Senator's recovery over the weeks ahead."
　
To answer questions regarding Senator Kirk's condition and prognosis, his doctors will hold a press conference at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
　
###

Wow, that's a complete shock. I am sending prayers and well wishes to Senator Kirk for a speedy recovery and hope you do the same.

Hinz Clues In to John Tree Foreclosure Fiasco In IL-10 (UPDATED with Sheyman Fundraising Numbers)

As simply an amateur, part-time political blogger, it's always nice to see the MSM pick up on something that you broke, oh a few months ago, finally get some attention.

This time, it's Greg Hinz of Crain's Chicago Business who has picked up on the personal problems of 10th Congressional District Democratic hopeful John Tree. We reported on this back in mid-November of last year. We might add that, at that time, Hinz was gushing over Tree as having a resume out of central casting. We, of course, did some digging and figured out about the foreclosure, among other troublesome bits of his personal history (Tree, not Hinz).

Hinz's research (which may have been spoon-fed to him by the campaign of Brad Schneider, one of Tree's primary opponents), however, uncovered even more than we reported, which is that in addition to the foreclosure of a home in Elmhurst associated with his first marriage, there is also, according to Hinz, a foreclosure proceeding currently going on with respect to his current home with his second wife (got all that?).

There's a little more, though. When confronted by Hinz for the story, Tree's campaign manager, Pete Giangrco, tried to explain away the first foreclosure on the Elmhurst house by noting that Tree's wife, not Tree, lived in it:

Pete Giangreco, the campaign's chief consultant, says that only Mr. Tree's ex-wife, not Mr. Tree himself, actually lived in the first house and the bank involved ended up accepting an outside sale.

I'm not sure why that's actually relevant, but I assume the implication here is that the house was occupied solely by Lisa Tree, John Tree's first wife, and the foreclosure was all her problem and fault, not his. I guess this was supposed to be where she lived without John Tree either during/after the divorce? The Hinz article does not go into any additional detail.

But, something doesn't add up. According to what we can see on the web, the Elmhurst house was purchased (by John Tree) for a tidy sum ($985,000). That's quite a set of digs to buy for your soon-to-be-ex-wife. The purchase date was 6/30/2005, assuming that info is accurate.

According to the DuPage County Court Clerk's site, though, the Tree/Tree divorce wasn't filed until August 2006.

So, John Tree bought his wife a house a year prior to their divorce being filed, for almost a million bucks, but he never lived in it?

If I were Brad Schneider's campaign, I'd keep digging and feeding Hinz that info. Hopefully we helped him out a bit. No thanks are necessary.

UPDATE: Steve Sadin at Patch reports that Ilya Sheyman's camp stated that he has raised $180,000 for the past quarter, crushing John Tree's $101,000 (of which $20K was a candidate contribution). Sheyman also got the endorsement of the Libertyville Democrats and the Lake County Federation of Teachers.

"Sneaky" Pete Couvall Endorses Democrat John Tree for Congress in IL-10

Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times, who never misses a chance to carry water for the Dems, plugs Democratic congressional hopeful John Tree (who is running for the Dem nomination to take on Congressman Bob Dold in the November general election) by reposting a Tree press release touting his past quarter's fundraising and listing some new endorsements.

We can see how his fundraising stacks up against the other major Dem hopefuls, such as Ilya Sheyman and Brad Schneider, once they release their results (although I would suggest that Tree's $80K raised and $20K self-contribution ain't much to crow about), but I got a really evil chuckle after reading down his press release and seeing that one of the new top endorsements that Tree is bragging about is none other than our old friend and well-known Democratic hatchetman for Terry Link, "Sneaky" Pete Couvall:



I just never get tired of reposting that video.

You all remember Pete Couvall, right? His most recent claim to infamy was his hiring of two campaign workers to collect signatures for State Senator Terry Link, which workers ended up being indicted and pleading guilty when it was discovered that they had forged the names (some right out of the phone book, as well as a sampling of dead folks) on Link's nominating petitions in 2008.

I really thought Link and Couvall were going to go down in flames for that, but they somehow managed to escape lasting taint, and that dynamic duo has certainly not shied away from continuing involvement in politics.

Many folks in Waukegan could go on for hours with stories about Couvall, but I would venture to say that except for the folks who are directly involved and support the Link-Couvall power structure up there, Tree may lose half the Democratic voters in Waukegan (where Ilya Sheyman seems to be particulary strong, by the way) by associating himself with Couvall. Couvall has had a history of supporting questionable candidates and officials, including, among others, former Lake County Coroner Richard Keller (another guily plea there).

Desperate times may call for desperate measures, but for a guy who is seeking to take on a reformer mantle, I'm a bit surprised that Tree is out there looking for support from the likes of Couvall. Wow.