“Why can’t he represent his peoples from behind bars? He’s been doing it from the clinic.”
I agree, I’d much rather have him keep his seat until January 2015. He was, after all, elected, and you can’t overrule the will of the voters, now can you? And it will be just a happy coincidence that his “NOT VOTED” on every single measure before the House will provide the best voting record we could possibly get from that über-Democrat CD.
If Rep. Jackson quits, which Republican should run, in the special election? The Kankakee Co. part of his district probably has some conservative county officials, township officials, and mayors. I don’t expect the Republican to win, but he or she should try to get at least 1/3 of the vote. That would help him or her, in a future election.
Ditto. If he resigns, another marxist black Democrat will swiftly take his place and rubber-stamp Obama's agenda. The ideal scenario is Jackson REFUSES to resign and the seat stays vacant for the next two years (I doubt the House would even have the guts to expel him). Jackson's voters re-elected him for two years, they deserve him. It speaks volumes that all this, the "conservative" Chicago Tribune STILL wouldn't endorse his Republican opponent in 2010 or 2012.
>> If Rep. Jackson quits, which Republican should run, in the special election? The Kankakee Co. part of his district probably has some conservative county officials, township officials, and mayors. I don’t expect the Republican to win, but he or she should try to get at least 1/3 of the vote. That would help him or her, in a future election. John Arrington is a black conservative, who has been a Harvey alderman. He’d be a good candidate. Since he ran for the U.S. Senate, he has high name recognition. I’ll email him and ask him to run. <<
Aside from the fact the district is gerrymandered to be safe RAT (so 2 out of 3 counties in that district get NO representation in government no matter how heavily they vote against Jackson), you have the problem that any Republican who runs is viewed as the sacrifical lamb and gets zero support from the state or national party to run a credible campaign. It's amazing we even get decent candidates to volunteer to run considering they have to spend tons of their own money trying to stay afloat in super RAT district and campaign throughout the whole district. Here's what Jackson's latest opponent, Brian Woodworth, had to safe on facebook earlier this week:
Brian Woodworth Gary, I'd need to see the establishment step up and do some supporting. Campaigning in Cook is hard enough without the party telling everyone, including the usual contributors, it's impossible. The republican support for my race was ridiculous.
Absolutely.
We can wait to throw him in jail until he leaves office after being defeated for renomination by another Black democrat in 2014.