By DOUG IBENDAHL • December 8, 2012
Mike Madigan and the Illinois Democrats received very welcome news on Saturday. Pat Brady, the man who steered our Illinois Republican Party to a new rock bottom this year, remains at the helm.
Approximately 60 members of the Republican rank-and-file attended the State GOP’s meeting on Saturday in Bolingbrook (that’s in addition to the members of the State Central Committee and other party hangers-on). That’s an unusually high turn-out for one of these quarterly meetings. Almost all in attendance were there to express their no-confidence in Pat Brady. Nearly all hoped Brady would do the right thing and resign.
Unfortunately, Pat Brady still refuses to do the right thing. Brady rattled off some made-up accomplishments, and tried to take credit for fundraising - most of which represented monies the Romney campaign and Karl Rove-affiliated SuperPacs pulled out of Illinois for spending elsewhere.
There were also the same empty promises about the new-and-improved “outreach efforts” the party will put in place for next time.
It was just a repeat of the same empty promises made after the failures two years ago, and two years before that, and two years before that, and two years before that, etc., etc.
Brady refuses to take any responsibility whatsoever for the devastating losses his mismanagement has caused. He behaves just like the Democrats his selfishness aids and abets.
Multiple sources told Republican News Watch that Saturday’s meeting got very heated at times. For example there were the women who ran and lost for Cook County office this year. All were understandably annoyed and gave Brady & Co. an earful after listening to the stale promises about doing a better job “reaching out” to women and minorities. These women knew better. All just came off campaigns where they tried to fight the good fight in Cook County. None received a bit of help from Pat Brady’s organization. Many, many other Republicans across the state have had the same experience.
The Illinois Republican Party is dead in the water until Pat Brady does the right thing and resigns. Every person paying attention (and who isn’t in the tank) knows it. The multiple people I talked to who attended Saturday’s meeting all said the same thing. The only two non-committee attendees sticking-up for Pat Brady were Jack Roeser and Dan Proft. And just like with Pat Brady, no one takes those two enablers seriously anymore.
If the Illinois Republican Party doesn’t replace its failed leadership soon, we can just forget about the gubernatorial race in 2014. Yes, that’s how serious the mismanagement has become.
Doug Ibendahl is a Chicago Attorney and a former General Counsel of the Illinois Republican Party.
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