Slap on Wrist for Senator Burris

November 20, 2009 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Campaign Finance, Chicago, Congress, Cook County, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Liberals, President, Senate, State Government, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Senate ethics committee has “admonished” Senator Roland Burris for all the lies that he’s handed them in his testimony over his involvement in disgraced and impeached Governor Rod Blagojevich’s pay-to-play scandal in Illinois.

As Blago was making his last pass around the drain over his countless illegal activities as Illinois Governor he appointed Roland Burris to the Senate seat that Obama left behind when he won the 2008 general election for the big seat in Washington.

Burris claimed, of course, that he played no part in the cash for a senate seat scandal. The truth, though, seems to be a bit different than the gauzy world that Burris inhabits.
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Guitierrez Amnesty Plan a Disaster, focus should be on American jobs

November 20, 2009 | Filed Under Chicago, Congress, Conservatives, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Freedom, GOP, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Immigration/Immigrants, Liberals, Republicans, Society/Culture, State Government, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

Rosanna Pulido, staunch defender for unemployed American citizens in her district, expressed outrage this afternoon at Luis Guterriez’s Amnesty reform bill, to be introduced some time this month. “With unemployment in Illinois at 10% and rising, our nation’s legal law abiding citizens do not need more competition for jobs”, Rosanna said. “It is irresponsible public policy”.

53 rallies have been held across the country this week protesting the Obama administration’s amnesty for undocumented immigrants already living in the United States, along with a promise of tougher enforcement and a streamlined legal immigration system. In other countries, if you enter their borders illegally, you could be shot or thrown in prison. Cross the border into America, you get a drivers license, Social Security card, welfare, Food Stamps, bank accounts and credit cards, subsidized rent or a loan to buy a house, free education, free health care, a lobbyist in Springfield and Washington and a voter registration card. All paid for by the Illinois taxpayer.
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Cook County Board President Charges Racism

November 20, 2009 | Filed Under Chicago, Cook County, Cook County Board, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Liberals, President, State Government, Taxes, Uncategorized, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Well, little Todd Stroger is at it again. With the Cook County Board now having been given more power by the State Legislature to overturn Stroger’s veto, the junior Stroger is now claiming it’s all about racism.

On an upcoming episode of “Connected to Chicago,” WLS radio’s Bill Cameron found Board President Stroger whining that it’s all about racism instead of his wild tax hikes. WLS is advertising its upcoming episode with this following Stroger quote:

If this was a Southern town it would be like an old fashioned lynching.

Stroger goes on to claim that he was told by the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune that they are “out to get me.” Cameron, though, reports that the Chicago Tribune denies that such a conversation ever took place and that they are not out to get him as the paranoid Stroger claims.
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Letter from Illinois GOP Congressional Delegation on transfer of terrorists to Thomson, IL

November 20, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Chicago, Congress, Cook County, Foreign Policy, GOP, Government, Corruption, Illinois, President, Republicans, Society/Culture, State Government, Terrorism, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

All Republican members of Illinois’ Congressional Delegation have signed the following letter to President Obama:

Dear Mr. President:

According to the Chicago Tribune, your Administration may transfer up to 200 Al Qaeda terrorists from their detention facility in Guantanamo Bay a prison in Thomson, Illinois, 150 miles from Chicago.

If your Administration brings Al Qaeda terrorists to Illinois, our state and the Chicago Metropolitan Area will become ground zero for Jihadist terrorist plots, recruitment and radicalization.

Furthermore, since Thomson is located in the Northern District of Illinois, any civilian prosecution of Al Qaeda terrorists would occur in Rockford or downtown Chicago.

As home to America’s tallest building, we should not invite Al Qaeda to make Illinois its number one target.

The United States spent more than $50 million to build the Guantanamo Bay detention facility to keep terrorists away from U.S. soil. Al Qaeda terrorists should stay where they cannot endanger American citizens.

As elected officials in the State of Illinois, we urge you to put the safety and security of Illinois families first and stop any plan to transfer Al Qaeda terrorists to our state.

Rep. Peter Roskam
Rep. Mark Kirk
Rep. Judy Biggert
Rep. Tim Johnson
Rep. Don Manzullo
Rep. Aaron Schock
Rep. John Shimkus

Roskam Statement on Giannoulias Disclosure of Receiving a National Security Briefing

November 20, 2009 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Chicago, Congress, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Foreign Policy, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Illinois, Liberals, President, Republicans, Security/Safety, State Government, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

Statement from Congressman Peter Roskam on the disclosure this morning from Democrat Senate Candidate Alexi Giannoulias that he received a National Security Council (NSC) briefing on possibly moving Guantanamo to Illinois:

“Given Mr. Giannoulias’ disclosure that he received a NSC briefing on possibly moving Guantanamo to Illinois, I urge the Obama Administration to eschew the increasingly political nature of this situation. Moving terrorists to Illinois will have tremendous security and economic implications, and now this situation has been tainted by the appearance of political favoritism given that a Democrat U.S. Senate candidate received a NSC briefing while elected Members of Congress have not. The people of Illinois will be best served by a process that forgoes the behind-closed-doors political approach and instead provides for open and transparent consideration.”
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The Illinois Primary Ballot Will Look Like This…

November 20, 2009 | Filed Under Chicago, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Republicans, Senate, State Government, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

When you go to the polls February 2, 2010, and request a “Republican” ballot, here’s the ballot order you’ll see — as determined by an Illinois State Board of Elections drawing earlier this week:

For US Senate, the GOP ballot starting at the top:

  • Donald (Don) Lowery
  • Mark Steven Kirk
  • Andy Martin
  • Kathleen Thomas
  • John Arrington
  • Patrick Hughes
  • Robert L. “Bob” Zadek (an objection pending)
  • Thomas (Tom) Kuna (an objection pending)

Next, Illinois Governor:

  • Kirk W. Dillard
  • Bill Brady
  • Robert J. “Bob” Schillerstrom
  • Adam Andrzejewski
  • Dan Proft
  • Jim Ryan
  • Andy McKenna

Then, Illinois Lieutenant Governor:

  • Don Tracy
  • Jason Plummer
  • Randy A. White, Sr.
  • Brad Cole
  • Matt Murphy
  • Dennis W. Cook

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Putback Amendment Gaining Steam

November 19, 2009 | Filed Under Chicago, Constitution, Cook County, Elections, Government, Corruption, Illinois, State Government, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

We have some great news from the trenches here. We just got a great poll result back that shows if voters have the chance to vote on Putback, they’ll likely vote for it.

Conference Call This Tuesday, November 24th at 9pm

On November 24th, we will be having a conference call for volunteers, supporters, donors and petition circulators on the Putback Amendment with the principal author, John Bambenek. The team will be available to answer questions related to circulating petitions, provide in-depth information about the amendment, and to let you know our plans to make the Putback Amendment a reality for Illinois! If you can tune in, please do.
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William Kelly: Calling Out Opponent for Democrat Contributions

November 19, 2009 | Filed Under Campaign Finance, Chicago, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, GOP, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Liberals, Republicans, State Government, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

It is quite interesting to see that Comptroller candidate Jim Dodge has a history of giving campaign donations to Democrats. This is a measure of Dodge’s dedication to the GOP, I’d say. How can any Republican vote for a GOP candidate that donates money to the enemy?

Kelly Calls Out Opponent for Contributions to Topinka, Democrats

(CHICAGO) – GOP Comptroller candidate William J. Kelly is calling out his primary opponent, Jim Dodge, for campaign contributions to Judy Baar Topinka (R-IL) and Orland Park Mayor, Democrat Dan McLaughlin. “We need real reform in Illinois,” said Kelly. “We don’t need anymore backroom politics and that is what my two Republican opponents are all about.”
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Say NO to Terrorists in Illinois

November 18, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Chicago, Congress, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Islam, Islamofascism, Liberals, President, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Taxes, Terrorism, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

In a follow up to my earlier post advocating for an actual debate on this issue here in Illinois on this business of bringing terrorists to live in Illinois, a new effort to try and stop this mess has been launched.

Go to Not In Illinois and sign the petition and tell Governor Pat Quinn that we do NOT want terrorists living among us.

We, the undersigned, do not willfully agree with the transfer of terrorists onto American soil. Terrorists must be tried in military courts and not in civilian courts. They are a danger to the citizenry of the United States and should not be brought onto our shores.

We, the undersigned, will work to unseat any politician who agrees with the transfer of terrorists into Illinois or any state in the union.

Playing Politics With Terrorists in Illinois

November 18, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Chicago, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Foreign Policy, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Liberals, President, Republicans, Taxes, Terrorism, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Republican leader Tom Cross finally said something I can agree with. In an editorial in the Daly Herald Cross is quoted as saying that there needs to be time for a state-wide debate about bringing these terrorists here before it happens. “There ought to be a debate. There ought to be a discussion,” said Cross.

The Herald goes on to lament that both sides have already made up their minds and that “discussion appears to be the last thing” anyone wants. To an extent, the editorial is right. The left with Durbin and Quinn in the lead want to bring murderers here and want to waste millions in the taxpayer’s money to do so… only they call this wild spending “good jobs.” And the right represented by Mark Kirk has already decided that bringing these monsters to our state is a bad idea.

But the problem here is that it doesn’t matter what the two sides have decided because Obama and Quinn seem poised to make all the decisions no matter what anyone else wants to do. Quinn lobbied the president for this transfer before anyone even knew that it was a possibility and the president began sending federal inspectors to check the Thomson facilities out before the idea was fairly realized.

It is plain that Quinn has decided to bypass any debate or discussion. Quinn doesn’t see any reason to allow the people of his own state to have a full and open debate about bringing these murderers among us. It’s obvious that Quinn is just going to force Illinois to become the next home of some 100 members of al Qaeda and other radical Islamist groups.

So much for the Governor that has styled himself a “man of the people.” And so much for the president that claimed he’d have a “transparent” administration.
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You’re Invited to a Lunch With Adam Andrzejewski, GOP Candidate for Gov.

November 17, 2009 | Filed Under Chicago, Cook County, Elections, GOP, Illinois, Republicans, State Government, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

Republican Gubernatorial candidate Adam Andrzejewski will be hosting a luncheon at the University Club of Chicago tomorrow from 11:30 AM to 1:30PM.

University Club of Chicago
76 E Monroe Street

Chicago, IL

If you can’t make it, though, you can watch it all on the Internet webcast, or listen in by phone conference call.

Phone: (507) 726-4200
Passcode: 119275#
www.ustream.tv/adamforillinois

Cook County Board Hijinx: Peraica vs. John Daley

November 17, 2009 | Filed Under Chicago, Cook County, Cook County Board, Democrats/Leftists, GOP, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Liberals, Mayor Richard Daley, State Government, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Over at WBEZBlog, Tony Arnold posted his “soundbite of the day” featuring an insinuation, an angry reply, and a slam from today’s Cook County Board meeting.

Apparently, during a roll call vote, Commissioner Tony Peraica made some sort of veiled jab at Mayor Daley’s son who recently moved to Russia. I’m not sure what the heck Daley’s son has to do with anything — and Peraica said later that he regretted even saying it — but whatever Peraica meant it sure set John Daley (brother of Mayor Richard Daley) off about “attacking my nephew,” that’s for sure.

After Peraica said his line about the younger Daley’s move to Russia, John Daley started yelling back and that caused Board President Todd Stroger to shut off the mic, saying “You don’t know when to shut up,” to our erstwhile member of the Daley brood.

Still, later in the session, John Daley got his chance to throw out a jab at Peraica and in his blog post, Arnold expressed puzzlement over the comeback.
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5th District Race: Ratowitz Responds to Immigration Question

November 17, 2009 | Filed Under Chicago, Congress, Cook County, Elections, GOP, Immigration/Immigrants, Republicans, Society/Culture, State Government, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

On Nov. 14, Cao’s blog featured some pointed questions for 5th Congressional District candidate David Ratowitz on his stance on illegal immigration. That blog took the position that Mr. Ratowitz is an apologist for illegal immigration and is an amnesty supporter. We discussed that post here.

At that time, I asked for the Ratowitz campaign to clarify and shortly a short comment from the campaign was sent to me. The campaign also promised a longer treatment of the subject.

Today I received that longer treatment. Here it is in its entirety:
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Dold Pulls Ahead in Super Saturday Votes

November 17, 2009 | Filed Under Chicago, Congress, Cook County, Elections, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Illinois, Republicans, Society/Culture, State Government, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

An Update on Dold’s 10th District race from his campaign:

Wins New Trier Republican Organization Endorsement

Winnetka, IL- Robert Dold, Republican Candidate for Illinois’ 10th Congressional District, is proud to announce his endorsement by the New Trier Republican Organization. Having also recently won the endorsement of the Elk Grove Township Republican Organization, Dold has received the first two grassroots endorsements in the district. Dold continues building momentum in his campaign to replace Congressman Mark Kirk who is running for the U.S. Senate.

“I am thrilled to receive the endorsement of the NTRO”, said Dold who received more votes than all of the other six candidates combined. “The NTRO endorsement was instrumental in Mark Kirk’s successful 2000 campaign and I am honored by the support of this important organization.”
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Patrick Hughes Featured on Jim DeMint’s Senate Conservatives Fund Website This Week

November 16, 2009 | Filed Under Chicago, Congress, Conservatives, Cook County, Elections, GOP, Illinois, Republicans, State Government, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

Jim DeMint’s Senate Conservatives Fund is feating Senate candidate Patrick Hughes as well as sponsoring a poll on who Illinois voters prefer: Kirk or Hughes.

If you are a Hughes supporter, be sure and stop by the 2010 Race Spotlight: Illinois page and cast your vote for Patrick Hughes.

There you’ll see that Mark Kirk is trailing Democrat Alexi Giannoulias by three points. This is the ideal opportunity for a fresh, conservative face to find his footing in Illinois and Patrick Hughes is just such a candidate.

DeMint’s Senate Conservatives Fund reaches out to conservative state candidates that might look worthy of support and offers some campaign dollars. Hughes certainly fills that bill, as well.

Illinois Governor 2010: One Man’s Perspective

November 16, 2009 | Filed Under Business, Chicago, Conservatives, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, GOP, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Republicans, State Government, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

I had an interesting correspondence with Grant Noble of Lake Forest this weekend and he gave me the permission to post his thoughts on the 2010 Governor’s race. Mr. Noble is a former Republican precinct committeeman, Lake County coordinator for Steve Baer and other conservative statewide candidates, and is the former field director of Family PAC Illinois and Republicans for Poshard. (Glen Poshard was the 1998 Democrat candidate for Gov. that ran against the corrupt George Ryan, only our latest Ill. Gov. that ended up in jail. I let Grant know that I voted Poshard that year, too. It was the first time I didn’t vote Republican for a state wide office in my life as I just couldn’t stomach the corrupt Ryan.) — WTH

Illinois Governor 2010

If you want the Illinois income tax to go to 5% (minus a token property tax cut/increase in the personal exemption), then both major Democrat Governor candidates will gladly do that in 2011. If you want Chicago Democrats to control the Illinois legislature for the next 10 years and lose at least 2 Illinois Republican Congressmen to stop the Obama juggernaut, then allow the Democrats to control redistricting without a Republican Governor to veto their map. So that leaves the present Republican gubernatorial field.

Adam Andrzejewski is a nice guy but simply doesn’t have the business or political experience to be Governor. He has some money, but not enough to win a statewide primary. Jim Ryan has done little since being Illinois Attorney General other than leaving his law firm and seeing one of his chief aides convicted of corruption. After two colossal failures, the Ryan name is poison in Illinois politics.

As Du Page County Board President, Bob Schillerstrom spent big and raised taxes. As a strongly pro-choice candidate, he’ll fracture the Republican coalition. I supported Andy McKenna in his 2004 U.S. Senate primary run, but he was a mediocre candidate then and has been a bad Illinois Republican Party chairman since. If he wanted to run for Governor, McKenna should have resigned his party position immediately after the 2008 election and started his campaign then, not far too late in September 2009.
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Illinois’ Gov And Senator Think Terrorists Bring ‘Good-Paying Jobs’

November 16, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Chicago, Congress, Cook County, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Foreign Policy, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Illinois, Islam, Islamofascism, Liberals, President, Religion, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, State Government, Taxes, Terrorism, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Once again we see how clueless Democrats like Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and Senator Dick Durbin are on matters of national security. With Barack Hussein Obama’s decision to treat the terrorists at Guantanamo Bay as if they are common American criminals, as the president bestows all American rights upon them, and with his decision to spread these monsters out across the U.S.A, we see Quinn and Durbin idiotically asserting that terrorists equal “good paying jobs.”

These jobs might come from the sale to the federal government of the Thomson correctional facility in west central Illinois where Obama could send some 100 detainees in preparation of closing down the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba facilities. Obama is struggling to figure out what to do with these detainees after his hastily made, ill-informed decision last January to close down the terrorist detainment facility.

After the idea was announced both Quinn and Durbin found themselves all excited to welcome these monsters into their state and both imagined that the occasion means that Illinois gets jobs. Durbin is quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying that this is a dramatic opportunity.
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Lift a Glass to the Past: America Rooted in Tradition or a New Covenant?

November 16, 2009 | Filed Under Britain, Chicago, Christianity, Conservatives, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Government, Corruption, History, Liberals, Patriotism, Religion, Rights, Society/Culture, The Law, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston, Western Civilization | 8 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Is the United States a grand experiment, a new covenant invented out of whole cloth by the fertile minds of the founders from never before seen ideas or is it a nation spawned from deeply rooted traditions of western thought? This was the question posited in a one-day-long conference on classicism in America’s founding sponsored by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) and held in Skokie, Illinois, a near northern suburb of Chicago.

The short answer is that the liberal mindset that holds that we should invent the USA anew with each succeeding generation is an erroneous conception of what the United States was meant to be when it was founded. Sure America has some ideas never before seen by political man, but at heart, America is rationalism informed by tradition, not some amorphous mélange of constantly changing ideas.

The founders created a new nation based heavily on Western ideas through British tradition, not one based solely on rationalist thinking. As they struggled to set their new nation on its new Constitutional course, for instance, the words of Founder John Dickinson of Delaware served as their benchmark.

Let experience be our only guide. Reason may lead us astray.

An intimate crowd of 60 some participants enjoyed four separate addresses by lecturers associated with ISI. Appearing behind the lectern were Bruce Thornton, Professor of Classics at Fresno State University; Brad Birzer, Professor of History at Hillsdale College; Mark C. Henrie, Senior VP and Chief Academic Officer of ISI; and E. Christian Kopff, Professor of Classics at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

In these three installments, I will lay out what we talked about at this interesting one-day conference.

Part One: How it all Began
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Where Does Ratowitz Stand on Immigration?

November 14, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Chicago, Congress, Conservatives, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Immigration/Immigrants, Liberals, Race, Society/Culture, The Law, Warner Todd Huston | 5 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

**UPDATED** 11/15 2:30 PM

Over at the always interesting Cao’s Blog there is a spot ‘o controversy over the candidacy of David Ratowitz who is running as a Republican to take the Chicago based 5th District Congressional seat that Rahm Emanuel once occupied. In the election timeline, we’ve arrived at the infuriatingly common stage where every candidate in the state is running around challenging everyone else’s petition signatures and Cao feels that Ratowitz is acting the hypocrite with his actions in this case.

If you want all the ins and outs of the petition challenge argument Cao makes, I suggest you go on over and visit the posting. As for me, it doesn’t much interest me. There is a far more important part of the story that Cao talks about after the petition discussion that I find far more important.

First, though, I will agree with those that find the whole petition challenge milieu one of the most vexing aspects of the Chicago Way style of Illinois politics — one repeated all across the country not being a strictly Chicago phenomenon, granted. Petition challenges are usually petty, niggling, cynical, and strikes against the whole one-man-one-vote ideal where a candidate throws his hat in the ring and the people decide his suitability to serve them.

But, that annoyance aside, one of Cao’s commenters, Jim Fuchs, made an excellent point on the whole subject.
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17th District Rep Race: GOP Dirty Tricks Edition

November 14, 2009 | Filed Under Chicago, Conservatives, Cook County, Democrats/Leftists, GOP, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Republicans, State Government, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Glenview resident Phil Collins is running for the 17th District’s State Rep seat (District Map) and he’s racked up some great endorsements so far for a first time run for office.

Collins has been endorsed by Tony Castrogiovanni, the vice chairman of the Cook Co. Republican Party; Eric Wallace, a co-chairman of the Cook Co. Republican Party; Ken Arnold, a former 3rd vice chairman of the Lake Co. Republican Central Committee and 8th Dist. congressional candidate in 2006 and ‘08; Peter Karlovics, a former chairman of the Warren Township, Lake Co. Republican Party; Liz Eilers, the secretary of the Illinois Center Right Coalition and Central Illinois Field Director of Adam Andrzejewski for Governor; and the Chicago Minuteman Project.

An impressive list of endorsements for a first timer, for sure. But one name you’ll notice is missing in that list is that of incumbent State Rep Beth Coulson (R). Coulson announced that she is not running for reelection to her State Rep seat and will instead seek Mark Kirk’s Congressional seat since Kirk is abandoning that seat to run for the Senate. As she leaves her stint in the state legislature, Coulson made it known that she is supporting another candidate for the 17th, Hamilton Chang. And because Coulson is the incumbent, the state party under Pat Brady is backing her choice.

And so the dirty tricks begin.
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Help the Soldiers!



"Governments are instituted among men,deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776




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