Illinois GOP: Chairman says 2006 gubernatorial primary 'was not constructive'

The Chicago Tribune ^ | April 13, 2009 | Rick Pearson

[chicagolady]

Illinois' Republican chairman acknowledged Sunday that his party's often-bitter 2006 primary for governor "was not constructive" in helping nominee Judy Baar Topinka challenge wounded Democrat Rod Blagojevich's bid for a second term.

Andy McKenna also criticized Democrats in the legislature for being "small-minded" by helping push legislation that would let primary voters rather than party officials decide the Republicans' top leaders.

Speaking on WGN-AM 720, McKenna said Republican leaders and donors don't want to see a repeat of the four-way 2006 GOP primary for governor that he contended produced a weakened Topinka who was unable to challenge a better-funded Blagojevich despite heading an administration under investigation.

[chicagolady]

You think the Illinois DEMOCRATS ARE BAD??

WE have Andy Mc Kenna, who's one and only desire is to banish Conservatives from the Republican party FOREVER!!!

[chicagolady]

MUST see video and the Andy Mc Kenna Story.........................

US Senator Peter Fitzgerald and the Illinois Republican Party http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DZxJekfRyE

[chicagolady]

Illinois Ping

[PhilCollins]

IL GOP leaders have a record of supporting the wrong candidates. In Dec. 2007, Chairman McKenna and the IL GOP State Central Committee endorsed Dr. Sauerberg. He won his primary, and, in the general election, he received 33%.
Before the 2006 governor election, many party leaders endorsed then-Treasurer Topinka. She won the primary, and, in the general election, she won about 38% of the vote. In 2004, after Jack Ryan resigned from the U.S. Senate race, the IL GOP State Central Committee chose Alan Keyes, to be the nominee. In the general election, he received 27%. Before the 2002 U.S. Senate primary, many party leaders endorsed St. Rep. Durkin. He won the primary, and, in the general election, he received 38%.

From now one, all Illinois Republicans should remember that, if the party leaders endorse a statewide candidate, before a contested primary, the voters should support a different candidate.

[KevinDavis]

If it wasn’t for Oberweis, I think Brady could have won and beat Blago..

[fieldmarshaldj]

McKenna, the William Weld of GOP state party chairmen. Only the moron lady in Massachusetts is worse.

[darkangel82]

Not constructive? Yeah, no kidding. The RINO wins with 38% because of Democrat crossover voting.

[chicagolady]

If it wasn’t for Brady, I think Oberweis would have beat Blago in the general and Chris Lauzen would be a Congressman Today.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Oberweis couldn’t even win a solid GOP Congressional seat on two occasions. His approval ratings were toxic and his flipflops rivaled that of Slick Willard. No way he would’ve won statewide.

[PhilCollins]

I agree with you. Since Oberweis lost statewide primaries in 2002 and ‘04, he should have known that he would lose, in ‘06. He should have dropped out and endorsed Brady, in Sept. ‘05. I walked seven precincts, for Brady, Jan.-Mar. ‘06.

[PhilCollins]

In Aug. 2007, I said, on a few websites, “State Sen. Lauzen should be elected to Congress. After he wins, Oberweis should be appointed to replace Lauzen, in the state senate.” I hope that many of the Republicans, of that congressional district, agree with me and regret their primary votes.

[KevinDavis]

Oberweis can’t even win as a dog catcher..

[fieldmarshaldj]

Oberweis shouldn’t be appointed, let alone elected, to anything. A total embarrassment. This guy is a gold mine for Democrat candidates. He should’ve stepped aside for the November general for Chris Lauzen, but he didn’t even have the common courtesy to do that.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Exactly. He lost a GOP district because his disapproval ratings were higher than the Democrat’s (and the Democrat’s ratings weren’t exactly stellar). That race was lost the moment he got the nomination.

[TheRightGuy]

Great video ... who’s the talking head, I don’t recognize him.

[KevinDavis]

In all fairness I trust people from Downstate than people from the Chicago area...

[KevinDavis]

He should go back and make ice cream..

[chicagolady]

I only know his name is Mark.

[Impy]

“McKenna, the William Weld of GOP state party chairmen. Only the moron lady in Massachusetts is worse.”

You sure she’s worse?

Was she part of a plot to backstap a Republican US Senator? :o

[fieldmarshaldj]

http://www.black-and-right.com/2009/04/08/the-worst-republican-party-ever/

[BillyBoy]

I was on conference call for an ICRC meeting a few weeks ago, and many of Oberweis supporters were STILL whining about how Jim was destined to take out to Blago in 2006, and only failed to do so because conservatives didn't blindly support him.

It amazes me how many Oberweis fans continue to insist that the eeeeeeeeeevil State Senator Bill Brady is all to blame for 2006, and if not him, Obie would have coasted to victory and taken out Blago in November (despite it being a terrible year for GOP candidates across the board and not one Republican in the country defeating a sitting RAT Governor). They continue to insist Obie would have won statewide, even after seeing he twice failed to win a "safe" GOP district that just about any Republican should be able to carry even if they stayed home in bed and phoned in the entire campaign.

Of course the polls say otherwise about Obie's statewide prospects, they repeatedly showed that Oberweis was the WEAKEST of the major GOP candidates in the 2006 primary (Oberweis, Brady, Topinka, Gidwitz), and was losing to Blago by over a 10 point margin in head-to-head hypocritical matchups.

In all fairness, Jim Oberweis is actually a pretty nice, decent guy if you meet him in private, but he's just a very poor political candidate and can't get elected dogcatcher. The Oberweis groupies are in complete denial about this. They simply cannot accept that Oberweis ever does anything wrong in his campaigns, and election after election, demonize and blame all the other GOP candidates who ran against him in the primary(Jim Durkin, Jack Ryan, Bill Brady, Chris Lauzen) for Jim's failures. It's amazing. No matter how many times he loses, they will continue to blindly support him.

I am absolutely convinced that if Jim Oberweis announced tomorrow that he wants to run for some high office in 2010, his fans would immediately demand every other Republican on the planet stay out of the race and endorse Oberweis, and they would begin accusing anyone who failed to do so (no matter how solid their conservative credentials) of being an secret member of the RINO combine.

I have never seen a candidate that inspires such blind, foolish loyalty, despite never holding any office in his life. I just can't figure it out. At least Harold Stassen's supporters gave up on him around his fourth campaign or so.

[PhilCollins]

I agree with you. I attended an RALC meeting, in Nov. 2005, and Oberweis was the guest speaker. He said, “Brady should drop out of the race, because he’s taking votes away from me.” I thought that Oberweis should have dropped out of the race, since he was taking votes from Brady. Oberweis lost statewide primaries in 2002 & ‘04, so he should have known that he would lose, in ‘06.

[BillyBoy]

Typo. Meant to say “Oberweis was the WEAKEST of the four major GOP candidates in the 2006 primary (Oberweis, Brady, Topinka, Gidwitz), and was losing to Blago by well over a 10 point margin in head-to-head hypothetical match-ups”.

[BillyBoy]

Forgot to ping you on my post #21. You should see what’s it like trying to talk common sense into Illinois conservatives who worship Jim Oberweis.

[fieldmarshaldj]

There’s a reason I consider him the IL equivalent of Slick Willard, that cult of personality worship. But he’s like Rhode Island’s Myrth York for handing what should be safe seats to the opposition. In fact, I’ll go on the record saying if Oberweis had been the nominee in ‘06, he would’ve lost by a WIDER margin than Topinka did (and she lost 49.8%-39%). And she was so embarrassing, I endorsed Randy Stufflebeam.

[KevinDavis]

I’m supporting Bill Brady again for Gov.. I hope to god that Oberwies does not run.. I’m sure he is a nice guy, but he can’t win.. To be honest I prefer a downstate person to be Gov than someone from the Chicago area.

[yongin]

The Milk Dud did get Hastert’s endorsement for the IL-14 special election. He claimed he could self-finance his race and save the NRCC money. The Milk Dud did blow $3 million to attack Lauzen in the primary. When the general election came around, he begged the NRCC to dump $2 million for him. The NRCC complied and he still lost. Oberweis is just sour milk.

[yongin]

Illinois conservatives really need to get their act together. Too often, cosnervatives break down into petty fights and back stabbing. For example take the Chicago Tea Parties. Conservative activist, Dan Proft, and WIND 560 AM host, Cisco Cotto, are bad mouthing the Chicago Tea Parties on Apr 15th because they were not picked to be the M.C. for the event. Talk about childish.

[TheRightGuy]

I just can't figure it out.

the ice cream is good ... very very good

[PhilCollins]

Although I volunteered for Brady, in 2006, I hope that he’ll drop out of the ‘10 race. Too many Illinois Republicans ran, statewide, lost, and ran in another statewide, race, hoping that the first campaign will help the second one. However, they usually lost the second race.
Al Salvi ran, statewide, in 1996 and ‘98, and lost both races. Jim Oberweis ran, statewide, in 2002, ‘04, and ‘06, and lost all three races. Steve Rauschenberger ran, statewide, in 2004 and ‘06, and lost both races. If Brady runs for governor, he’ll lose again.

[PhilCollins]

I agree that Illinois conservatives need to get their act together. I hope that, this year, the majority of Illinois conservatives will join the Illinois Center Right Coalition. Please read our site, www.illinoiscenterright.com.

[KevinDavis]

I don’t know it is too early to tell.. Al and Steve had a case of bad timing. Well Obie, he just can’t win.. I think any candidate has chance of beating a rat this election. If they do it smart..

[EternalVigilance]

http://www.aipnews.com/talk/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=3786&posts=2#M11495

[yongin]

Who is running on the GGOP side for Governor in IL. I believe Quinn may seek re-election but Lisa Madigan may pose a primary challenge. Quinn’s success will depend on whether he can push his tax increases. So far Jim Edgar is willing to give him political cover.

[BlackElk]

Did you notice that Senator Brady recently voted with the McKenna crowd to defeat Senate Bill 600 and actually took the floor to speak against the bill that is the vehicle to give Republicans an opportunity to vote for State Central Committee members and to double the membership of the State Central Committee? I believe that we could do a lot better than Oberweis but the record suggests that Brady is no good and certainly deserves NO conservative primary votes in 2010. He is a back-stabbing turncoat who entered last time to get Topinka nominated, as some of us noticed at the time.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Maybe we should draft Sen. Chris Lauzen to run for Governor ?

[PhilCollins]

Yes, I noticed that Brady changed his mind and decided that he opposes direct elections. I was in the navy for 21 years, and I was near Baghdad, Sept. 2004-Mar. ‘05. In May 2005, I was in a press conference, with Senators Brady and Lauzen, in the Illinois Capitol. They explained SB 600, and I told reporters that I helped spread democracy, in the Middle East and returned to find that Illinois Republicans have less democratic elections than the Iraqis. Brady was a major sponsor of that bill, so I’m surprised that he changed his mind.

[PhilCollins]

That’s a great idea. If you think that Senator Lauzen should run, statewide, please email him at admin@lauzen.com.

[Impy]

Do either of you guys know anything about businessman Adam Andrzejewski who is a candidate for Governor? My mom told me she heard him talk at some church event and liked him.

[PhilCollins]

One of his campaign employees told me that Adam is conservative. He’s pro-tax cuts, pro-life, pro-gun rights, anti-illegal alien, and anti-affirmative action.

[BlackElk]

At the very least, should Brady not be required by conservatives to explain his defection on this issue???

My own state senator is Bivins who ran as a "reformer" but joined Brady as one of 13 GOP Senators who got on their knees before the combine and resisted SB 600 with his nay vote. I confronted him at a forum in Freeport and got an answer sufficiently non-specific that I cannot remember its content.

Are you familiar with the Illinois Republican Renaissance Project or with Championnews.net??? What do you think of them?

[BlackElk]

At the very least, should Brady not be required by conservatives to explain his defection on this issue???

My own state senator is Bivins who ran as a "reformer" but joined Brady as one of 13 GOP Senators who got on their knees before the combine and resisted SB 600 with his nay vote. I confronted him at a forum in Freeport and got an answer sufficiently non-specific that I cannot remember its content.

Are you familiar with the Illinois Republican Renaissance Project or with Championnews.net??? What do you think of them?

[PhilCollins]

Yes, Brady should explain why he changed his mind, about SB 600. Please email him at billbrady@senatorbillbrady.com.

Yes, I’m familiar with the Illinois Republican Renaissance Project. I usually listen to their radio show, on Sunday mornings.

[BillyBoy]

I don't agree that Brady is DOA simply because he lost the primary in 2006 (several people have lost one statewide bid and later made a comeback...for example here in Illinois, Durbin lost his first statewide campaign, for Lt. Governor, but was later elected Senator, and there are many examples around the country like Gordon Smith losing his first U.S. Senate bid in 1995, but winning a second bid in 1996) However, candidates who have lost like 3-4 times in a row or more really need to take a rest and try something else (something the Oberweis crowd doesn't get, considering how they demanded conservative loyalty to the guy in his last few campaigns when he was clearly damaged goods)

That said, obviously Brady is weaker than he was in 2006 and his flip-flop on SB600 is disappointing. One of the things that made Brady more appealing that Oberweis in '06 was Brady had a solid record of standing up for conservative principles, whereas Oberweis seemed to change every election cycle (pro-keeping Roe legal in 2002, against Roe in 2004, okay with RINO Kjellander as RNC committeeman in 2004, adamently against RINO Kjellander in '06, etc.) If Brady is going to flip-flop on SB600, he's no better than Oberweis was. (but I'm never gonna believe that Brady spent millions of his own money in 2006 simply to split the conservative vote and get RINO Topinka nominated, that's Oberweis kool-aid drinker stuff from his fan club who simply can't admit Oberweis should have put aside his ego and sat out one campaign cycle)

I went to Adam Andrzejewski's website ( http://www.adamforillinois.com )and was not impressed. He's right on the issues, but I see nothing in his resume that leads me to believe he'd be a credible nominee for Governor. There are thousands more like him around the state, and no one would consider them gubernatorial material. John Cox was a total dud as a statewide candidate but even his resume from the "private sector" was far more impressive than this guy. My resume has FAR more political experience than Adam's and I certainly wouldn't consider myself to be a viable candidate for Governor! I don't get what's with all these conservative flocking to him. That another problem with the conservative movement in the state -- we have a big segment of conservatives who keep trying to go from nothing to the top office in the state overnight. Do conservatives here have a aversion to running PROVEN WINNERS for major office or what? Haven't we learned from the last couple of "wealthy businessmen" the GOP ran in Illinois that they're extremely unlikely to pull that off? I am sick and tired of seeing all these socialist RATs run unopposed for local office because we have so many conservatives unwilling to work their way up. Adam sounds like a nice guy but he should run for State Rep. or something before he tries for the most powerful office in the state. And everytime I ask his supporters to point to his qualifications, or tell me what exactly makes Adam special that he will somehow succeed when dozens of others from the "private sector" failed to win a statewide big overnight, they get pissed off. Chicagolady ran for a Congressional seat, a district 1/19th the size of a statewide campaign, and I could easily point to her proven leadership qualities, such as leading the way to found the Illinois Minutemen. This guy's sole "political experience" seems to be starting an organization in 2008 that no one has ever heard of. Seriously, he needs to think smaller.

Draft Chris Lauzen for Governor? An interesting idea, though I'd like to see him rethink his decision not to run for Congress again. He'd be a very solid nominee against either Foster or Halvelson, and represents parts of both districts (though again, it will obviously be harder for him to win now that the "wealthy private-sector businessmen" the GOP ran in 2008 lost those Republican seats to a RAT). Remember, Chris Lauzen already ran statewide once, for Comptroller in 1998. Most people thought it would be a close race, but Dan Hynes beat him pretty decisively. No doubt the RATs would bring that up.

Ideally, I would like to see conservatives draft (Illinois Supreme Court justice) Bob Thomas for Governor. Now there's a guy who has a PROVEN track record as both a solid conservative and a winning candidate for major office. Remember, judges are elected at every level in Illinois, so Thomas remains undefeated in every one of his bids over the years (DuPage County Circuit Court, Illinois Appellate Court, Illinois Supreme Court). He was elevated to Chief Justice at both the county and state level, so he's already been the top elected official in one branch of Illinois government) Granted, the district he was elected to for the state Supreme Court (2nd district) is considered a "safe" Republican district, but Thomas had to win a really tough contested primary, against "moderate" Bonnie Wheaton (who had big clout, her family FOUNDED Wheaton, Illinois), and the incumbent(appointed) Supreme Court justice, Louis Rathje, who had more experience and could also point to a reliable conservative record. In an upset, Thomas won handily. Plus the guy is a former kicker for the Chicago Bears and thus is something of a celebrity candidate ala Mike Dikta. He just needs to shave the beard if he runs for Governor though, ala Raushenberger). And I know Thomas state publicly that he would not be a candidate for Governor in 2006, but that was because Blago was the incumbent. Blago is now out of the picture and we have unelected sitting Governor pushing an unpopular income tax hike proposal. I think Thomas would be a great candidate, if we can get him to run.

[BillyBoy]

One of the things I find amusing is the Oberweis crowd keeps harping on the fact that state Senator Bill Brady lost the statewide primary for Governor in 2006, and therefore consider him a non-starter for 2008. This from the same people who continually DEMANDED the party slate Jim Oberweis for for:

1) U.S. Senator in March 2002
2) U.S. Senator in March 2004
3) Appointed Senate nominee in Sept. 2004 (and kept yapping that "if only" Oberweis had been selected by the SCC instead of Keyes, he would have undoubtedly defeated Obama)
4) State Party GOP Chairman in 2005
5) Governor in 2006
6) Kane County GOP Chairman in 2007
7) U.S. Congressman in Feb. 2008
8) U.S. Congressman in Nov. 2008

If they held their hero Oberweis to the same criteria in which they are judging Bill Brady, they would have given up on him in early 2003 and found another horse to back for the U.S. Senate in 2004.

And maybe we could have been spared more GOP losses from Oberweis screwing up future primaries.

[Lancey Howard]

Andy McKenna also criticized Democrats in the legislature for being "small-minded" by helping push legislation that would let primary voters rather than party officials decide the Republicans' top leaders.

This tells me all I need to know about McKenna. Is he a rat mole?

[fieldmarshaldj]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DZxJekfRyE

This might be of interest to you on McKenna, as well as on fmr. Sen. Pete Fitzgerald.

[PhilCollins]

During the past 15 years, which Illinois Republicans, if any, ran, statewide, lost, and later ran, statewide, winning the second race? I don’t know of any, but you’ve lived in IL longer than I have.

[BillyBoy]

Jim Ryan ran against Roland Burris for Illinois A.G. in 1990 and lost, then ran for Illinois A.G. again four years later, in 1994, and won. Here are the results:

Illinois Attorney General, 1990
Roland Burris (D), 52%
Jim Ryan (R), 48%

Illinois Attorney General, 1994
Jim Ryan (R), 55%
Al Hofeld (D), 45%

[yongin]

For the past 30 years, none. If a Republican lost in the primary, they usually retire from politics. For example, Jim Ryan teaches political science at College of Du Page and IL Benedictine on part time basis. Oberweis is the only Republican to keep running.

The Dems have the same attitude. When Poshard had thoughts about challenging Ryan again in 2002, Mike Madigan gave thumbs down to the idea. Also a lot of IL Dems didn’t like Burris being appointed. They viewed as a has been looking for the next office to run for.