By DOUG IBENDAHL • May 18, 2011
“Tom Cross has a brick on SB35.”
That’s a quote from State Senator Kirk Dillard from a few days ago. He simply stated what nearly all of you I’m sure already know.
It’s hardly some secret that Tom Cross – the House Minority Leader - is viciously opposed to the idea of regular Republicans having a voice again in their own party.
Now for the third time in six years, the direct election reform (now designated as Senate Bill 35) – has passed out of the Senate and over to the House. The most recent Senate passage was last month and this time the vote was unanimous. Even several Republican Senators who had been pressured by the old guard to vote “no” in 2009 are now waking up to the reality that our Illinois Republican Party needs an overhaul from the bottom and the top.
But in the Illinois House it’s different. Not a single Republican has stepped up so far to co-sponsor SB35 in the House this session. It’s really shameful.
It’s especially shameful where the 13 new GOP State Representatives are concerned (some won in November and some were appointed to fill vacancies post-November).
And by the way, I’ve talked to several of the freshmen, as well as with many of the longer serving GOP House members. I’ve not heard a single one voice an argument against SB35 – in fact many are clearly in favor of the bill and its reform. But their “support” is pretty meaningless if they won’t stand up.
Most of the newbies ran on a platform of changing Springfield. Some won with tea party support. They were all critical of the Democrats, and most cited concerns about out of touch lawmakers. “Transparency” and “accountability” were major buzzwords for most. And like many Republicans running last year, many in the freshman class were big on the “it’s awful that the Democrats are so beholden to Mike Madigan” theme.
But are the GOP State Representatives any better? They are running scared from Tom Cross – a guy who is kind of like Madigan – only without the power, respect, competence, smarts, and success.
It’s sad too because on other bills these same GOP House members haven’t felt the need to follow Tom Cross. When Cross made a big push recently for the “legalization” of medical marijuana – most of the Republican State Representatives didn’t go along. Some even rightly pointed out how reckless it was to lead citizens to believe there would be legalization in Illinois – when sellers and users would in fact remain subject to arrest and criminal prosecution by federal law enforcement.
Similarly, when Cross makes his periodic push for massive gambling expansion, many in his GOP caucus go along – but many others don’t. In those cases Cross doesn’t seem to care when his caucus doesn’t follow in lockstep.
SB35 is clearly different. Cross and others engage in a lot of phony talk about how this bill isn’t important – but the reality is they know darn good and well how important it is. That’s why they spend so much time fighting it and making up so many lies to mislead the gullible.
The old crowd doesn’t want a real Illinois Republican Party looking over their shoulders or worrying about the GOP Platform. They fear a leader getting on the State Central Committee. Pretty soon someone might start doing their job and asking questions about all the union and gambling industry contributions that so many incumbent Republicans rely on to fund their campaigns. That’s just one example.
Another big problem is the fact that Tom Cross’ chief lieutenant – “Republican” State Representative Skip Saviano - is also one of the 19 members of our State Central Committee and stays there courtesy of our current wacky system with the “votes” of as few as three or four Ward Committeemen. (Cook County – with around one-third of the state’s total Republicans and a majority of the state’s Congressional Districts - doesn’t even elect Precinct Committeemen, by law.)
The story gets more absurd and conflicted when you realize that Saviano is also Chairman of the House Republican Organization. That’s the political and fundraising arm of the House Republicans.
Now that the newbies are in and earning their generous full-time state salaries for doing a part-time job, none of them seem to have the courage to stand up for the Republican rank-and-file. Keeping Cross and Saviano happy now seems to be the priority.
Oh yeah, by the way, Skip Saviano is a Chicago Democrat – at least by any normal person’s definition of the term. That’s based not just on his ultra liberal voting record as a State Representative – it’s also the big contributions he regularly makes to Democrats, the contributions he receives from Democrats, and the Chicago Democrats he assists in campaigns – even when there’s a well qualified Republican challenger in the race.
Our current system for picking our State Central Committee has produced a party where no one says a peep about any of it. There’s not one Republican official you can point to in this state and say “that person’s a leader.” (If Kirk Dillard – who I personally like and respect – can bring SB35 home, I’ll reconsider my statement.)
Below is the contact information for the 13 freshman House Republicans. You might want to take a minute and urge them to stand-up on SB35.
Because frankly if they don’t – if they’re not going to stand up for you because they’re too afraid of losing the campaign support and money that Cross and Saviano direct – then what’s the point? Why would anyone lift a finger for them when they’re all up for election next year?
If we’re going to have mice beholden to a Chicago Democrat – does it really matter whether that Chicago Democrat is Saviano or Madigan? At least those beholden to the latter are honest about it.
Jason Barickman – (217) 558-1039
Adam Brown – (217) 782-8398
Norine Hammond - (217) 782-0416
David Harris – (217) 782-3739
Chad Hays – (217) 477-0104
Dwight Kay – (217) 782-8018
Thomas Morrison – (217) 782-8026
Richard Morthland – (217) 782-3992
Chris Nybo – (217) 782-6578
Wayne Rosenthal – (217) 782-8071
Pam Roth – (217) 782-5997
Joe Sosnowski – (217) 782-0548
Michael Unes – (217) 782-8152
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
END
TWITTER
