Illinois Politics
Naperville needs Democrats
I couldn’t stop chuckling at this article in yesterday’s Naperville Sun: With Democrats controlling all three prongs of Illinois government – the House, the Senate and the governor’s administration – Naperville needs an insider to fight for the city, Mayor George Pradel said.
“It makes so much sense (having) Democrats down there,” Pradel said. “They know […]
200th DNA exoneration tomorrow
Today’s Chicago Tribune has a remarkable article about the exoneration of Jerry Miller. Miller, an Army veteran who’d never been convicted of a crime, was identified in a police line-up by two eye-witnesses, and ended up serving 25 years in prison before being cleared by DNA collected at the scene of the crime. The Innocence […]
Grassroots AdSense Strategy
Browsing a news article today about Barack Obama’s swing through New Hampshire, I was struck by the AdSense ad block on the right: an ad for Barack’s own site at BarackObama.com, an ad for DraftObama.org, a site run by my buddy Ben Stanfield designed to encourage the Senator to run for President, and an intriguing […]
Illinois politics: Truth is way stranger than fiction
Since many readers of this blog aren’t local, you may not be familiar with the cornucopia of political plotlines brewing in Illinois. Here’s a rundown on just the last couple months in Illinois politics:
Ex-Governor (Ryan), who had been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize (for his work to reform the death penalty system in Illinois), […]
Hastert: The buck stops… over there
I guess when he says he “takes full responsibility” he really means he’s going to take responsibility for firing other people. Nice guy.
He used to teach and coach at the high school level. Can anyone – Republican or Democrat – honestly say that if this were going on in a high school that the principal […]
Hastert Robo Call in the 14th
Wow. Check out this robocall that the Dennis “The Buck Stops Here” Hastert campaign put out last night to “take responsibility”. That’s “take responsibility” as in “I take full responsibility for placing blame for a Republican congressman trying to engage in underage sex with teenage boys at the feet of Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton”. […]
Stepping down
I recently stepped down as Chair of the Naperville Democrats. This was a really tough decision to make, as I remain convinced that the local party needs to be a visible part of the local scene. But it’s that commitment that made me realize I’m no longer the right guy for the job: as we […]
Party orthodoxy
I can’t even begin to count the ways this angers and depresses me. Getting off the train last night, I found a piece of note paper tucked under my windshield wiper. Written on the sheet of paper:
“Democrats shouldn’t drive Jap cars!”
And on the other side:
“Asshole!”
Sad. Just sad. (My car – yes, a Japanese car – […]
DuPage County Government, hard at work
Hiram did a great job accounting for the GOP’s failure to govern responsibly in DuPage County, but it comes at a time when others are (quite justifiably) raising questions about the Democrats’ failure to contest= the vast majority of county races (the Tribune had similar coverage). I’m a local party official, so I certainly share […]
Aurora Drive-In
In the comments over at the OpenLine blog, Aurora Alderman Stephanie Kifowit chimes in with a comment to clarify what’s going on, and what the options are. I had a chance to meet Stephanie back when Richard Irvin was running for Aurora mayor (she was a supporter of Richard’s), and found her to be a […]
