It is a lie. There's no other way to put it.

I just received this from the Joe Birkett Campaign and thought it important enough to pass along to you. I happen to personally support Joe, but the extent that Lisa Madigan is taking this campaign is unacceptable. DAN RUTHERFORD

Lisa Madigan's new television commercial -- about a domestic violence case -- is flat-out false. The ad refers to a violent domestic violence incident and says that Joe "agreed to a plea bargain of just 34 days in jail."

The truth is that Joe's office asked the judge to give the victim's husband the maximum sentence: seven years in prison. At one point, the victim had supported a shorter sentence in exchange for custody of their children. But there was never a final plea bargain. Never. The judge decided the sentence, despite Joe's office asking for the maximum prison term. Joe's office could not have asked for or done more. The truth of this case shows Joe's compassion for victims and commitment to justice.

Lisa Madigan has pulled out one of the thousands of cases Joe's office handled, and she lied about it. Why? Because she doesn't want voters to know that she is unqualified to be Attorney General.

We would appreciate if you could forward this to others. We will keep you updated on other Madigan untruths. Thank you for your support.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO ANYONE WHO YOU BELIEVE NEEDS TO HEAR THE TRUTH ABOUT MADIGAN'S LATEST AD

Dan Rutherford is my current state rep (until he's elected to the state senate in November) and sent this e-mail to the voters in his district.

I've seen the Madigan ad -- a woman states her husband set a pile of rags on fire in their garage, then pushed her into it and held her there. She also states that Birkett accepted her husband's plea agreement, and gave him only 34 days in jail.

It is one ugly ad, and I wondered what the real story was. Well, here it is -- Madigan lies.

I'm sure no one in Illinois is surprised by that. Not even the democrats.

What I love are the mail flyers. I have in front of me 2 Republican flyers and 2 Democrat flyers. The first GOP one is a "support our Republican team" ad that lists all the pertinent state and district candidates. It says "Give Bush a team he can count on." Completely innocuous. The other one is actually a NJ Right to Life ad endorsing my congressman, Mike Ferguson.

The first Dem ad is for Frank Lautenberg. It's about gun control and the outside page has this threatening, shadowy guy and says "He is convicted of domestic violence. Should he have a gun?"

Inside left - "Thanks to Frank Lautenberg, he won't. Frank Lautenberg wrote the law that prevents domestic abusers from buying a gun. His law stopped 70,000 criminals from getting their hands on a dangerous weapon."

Inside right - "The facts on Doug Forrester and guns. He calls ANY new gun laws unnecessary. Doug Forrester opposes tougher criminal background checks at gun shows. He wrote a newspaper column opposing the assault weapons ban, 'It isn't any of my business whether my neighbor likes to shoot semi-automatic weapons or not.'"

HELLO. What does a law prohibiting gun ownership for domestic violence criminals have AT ALL to do with the stuff about Doug Forrester's stated views on guns? What a lame attempt to connect issues. I thought for sure they were about to tell me that Forrester thought guns in the hands of domestic abusers was a good idea or something. Intentionally devious, or Frank wrote this one himself? You be the judge.

The other Dem ad is for Tim Carden, my congressman's dem opponent. The front side has a background graphic of the constitution rent in two and says "Congressman MIKE FERGUSON would tear up the Constitution to make abortion A CRIME." Capitals are theirs. Need I go on?

OK, why not. Inside left - "MIKE FERGUSON supports a constitutional amendment to make abortion A CRIME."

"Ferguson facts -
1 - voted to ban funding to international family planning groups whose work actually decreases unintended pregnancy.

(hmm, gee, there's a little more at stake than just advocating abortion with this one, like say, OUR TAX DOLLARS being used for UN sponsored groups over which we have no control or input.)

2 - opposes abortion for even rape and incest victims.

(no surprise here, this one is definitely a dem favorite, no matter how one personally feels about it, and while I agree with Ferguson, I can see both sides, but it's always trotted out as an extremist view when they have little else of substance with which to work.)

3 - even voted against stem cell research which holds the cure for diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Juvenile Diabetes.

(First of all, he voted against EMBRYONIC stem cell research - HUGE difference. And HOLDS THE CURE??? Since when is this proven? Have people been cured of Alzheimer's, Parkinsons or Juvenile Diabetes? I would love to see some study findings!)

Anyway, they both provided numbers for which I can use to call Tim Carden and Frank Lautenberg to let them know how I "support" their respective stances on "protecting New Jersians from gun violence" and "protecting a woman's right to choose." I must go and do that!

>> What I love are the mail flyers. I have in front of me 2 Republican flyers and 2 Democrat flyers. The first GOP one is a "support our Republican team" ad that lists all the pertinent state and district candidates. It says "Give Bush a team he can count on." Completely innocuous. The other one is actually a NJ Right to Life ad endorsing my congressman, Mike Ferguson. The first Dem ad is for Frank Lautenberg. It's about gun control and the outside page has this threatening, shadowy guy and says "He is convicted of domestic violence. Should he have a gun?" <<

Same thing here in Illinois. The two-GOP ads are optimistic and quirky. The two 'RAT ads are simply smear pieces. I received a colorful brochure from the Illinois Republican Party that contained a "letter" from our former Governor (Jim Edgar) encouraging me to "get out and vote for our conservative leadership" with smiling photos of the entire statewide slate, along with references to two local candidates (Ray Wardingley, the GOP nominee for Congress in my district, and Frank Bertucci, who's running for State Senate).
It also contained a little dotted-line cutout reference that I could take into the voting booth with me (the 'RATs send these things out in Chicago EVERY WEEK because their voters are too dumb to study the individual races and simply vote straight party ticket)

The other was an "urgent message from President Bush" telling me to fill out my absentee ballot form so I can "exercise my right to vote". I don't get with the President thinks we all need to vote absentee, but when in Rome...

The 'RAT flyer I got warned me that the Republicans running in Illinois are all "anti-choice extremists" who will "take away a woman's right to choose" (I don't know how they'd do that at the STATE LEVEL, but since when did Dems care about logic?) The Bush flyer seems a little odd, but at least its tailored to me. The 'RAT ads seem to assume every voter is pro-abortion. The 'RAT flyer also claimed Judy Baar Topinka (R) and "Chris" (misspelled, her name is Kris) Cohn are "anti-choice". This is idiotic, both candidates are squishy "moderate" Republicans who have said they support Roe v. Wade and have voted against banning abortion, late-term or otherwise. Obviously, the feminazi 'RATs do not care about the candidates positions, they just want to bash all Republicans. My state Rep. is a pro-life Democrat, maybe they should chew on that for a while.

The second 'RAT ad is the aforementioned piece by Lisa Madigan for Attn. General. Lisa spends the whole ad attacking Birkett's record as state's attorney, claiming he "lead the charge to prosecute innocent people" (never mind the fact he didn't have ANY supervisory role in the office at the time the office took these cases). I can see why Lisa needs to distort Joe's record, though, since she's never tried a law case IN HER LIFE when she wants to be the highest ranking lawyer in the state.

Dontsa vote it?

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