By DOUG IBENDAHL • March 1, 2010
As Republicans get ready to meet Wednesday night in 102 county seats for the biennial county party conventions, a big problem is front and center that has the potential to do lasting damage to our party statewide.
State Chairman Pat Brady issued the same instructions on voting vacant precincts that his scandal plagued predecessor Andy McKenna did four years ago. Brady, just like McKenna, has told County Chairmen to cast the votes from the vacant precincts themselves during the elections for the State Central Committeemen Wednesday night.
Here’s what’s shaping up. There is one group of County Chairmen that is ready to thumb their noses at the Precinct Committeemen and the law. This group will vote their vacant precincts because Pat Brady told them to and because they want to.
A second group is going to follow the law. They have pledged not to vote the vacant precincts in their counties no matter what (three cheers for this group).
Finally, there is a third group, and it might be the largest. This group doesn’t want to vote vacant precincts. These Chairmen know it’s not right. But they fear if they don’t, they’ll be unilaterally disarming and some other county’s Chairman will capitalize.
This is what I mean when I say this is becoming like the Bush vs. Gore mess in Florida in 2000. And I’m not really talking about pregnant chads, indented chads, hanging chads or any of that crazy stuff from back then.
I’m talking about the fundamental problem in Florida that year: inconsistent standards.
I was part of the Bush campaign’s legal team in Florida in 2000. I was assigned to Broward County, one of the main problem counties.
County and state staffers were reviewing punch-card ballots at scores of tables. The same thing was happening in other counties across Florida.
Not only were different standards being applied in different counties, there were clearly different standards being applied WITHIN the same county. Government workers at one table might be using a different standard for interpreting a pregnant chad ballot than the next table over. The analysis might also vary again depending on which candidate would benefit from a particular ruling. And of course the more the ballots with hanging or loose chads were handled, the more chads could be seen littered across the counting floor (and who knows how many were being deliberately punched out by a sly worker with a dog in the fight). The evidence was significantly changing over time. It was a real mess.
It would be shameful beyond belief if our Illinois Republican Party would create a situation where any court, much less the U.S. Supreme Court, would be needed. This is a simple internal problem to resolve. All it takes is some leadership.
The good news is two recent statewide candidates did step up last week. Adam Andrzejewski and Judge Don Lowery stepped up and made a public call that vacant precincts not be voted, and that Illinois law should be respected.
That’s a good start, but where are Bill Brady and Kirk Dillard for example?
Most shameful of all, State Chairman Pat Brady is missing in action. I put two calls in to him last week. No response. The State Party Chairman could solve this problem in five minutes if he wanted to. All Brady has to do is announce to everyone that his rule was wrong and the confusion is going to end. He needs to stand up and say our party isn’t going to play games this time. The law is going to be followed and we’re going to respect the hard work of our Precinct Committeemen. Simple. Done. And Brady starts looking more like a leader and less like the McKenna clone that we’ve all seen up until now.
The other people that could be keys on this are the candidates themselves for State Central Committeeman. If they would all stand together with the good County Chairmen - all of the County Chairmen would have to go along. Pat Brady could remain M.I.A. and it wouldn’t matter.
We’re not splitting atoms here. This project isn’t that big and it shouldn’t be so complicated. It really shouldn’t be so difficult to get our party not to screw good Republicans at their own conventions.
Talk to each other and get it done. Make certain there is one standard in place for Wednesday night and make certain the law and the elected committeemen are respected.
Part of the problem is some of the players have the wrong view about the State Central Committeeman elections. Once the County Chairman selections are done, the county jurisdictional boundaries don’t matter in the counting. Only the boundaries of the congressional districts matter. All of the committeemen within that congressional district should be treated the same. In the 14th Congressional for example, a County Chairman in the western part of the district can’t do anything that would unfairly dilute the voice of a committeeman in the eastern part of the district.
The county conventions are being held in different locations - but when it comes time to choose the State Central Committeeman, it’s proper to think as if everyone was in the same location together. That’s clearly what the law is about. These parochial disputes where different County Chairmen are throwing out different methods they might use Wednesday night is not only silly - it’s a recipe for disaster and for Election Code violations.
More people better start acting like leaders. That means the little secret meetings going on now where various factions are plotting how to get “their guy” in as County Chairman so “their guy” can be the one to break the law first and throw the State Central Committeeman election to “their guy” for that top post before the “other guys” do the same, had better stop. It’s really getting embarrassing.
We’re witnessing one more reason why we need SB600 and direct elections. Better to let all Republicans take a shot at separating the wheat from the chaff in real elections after the candidates for State Central Committeeman have talked to Republican voters during real campaigns. But we are where we are for this time.
Let’s see if the candidates for State Central Committeeman can get it done. And let’s see if the presumptive gubernatorial nominee Bill Brady is smart enough to realize he needs a functioning and professionally run State Party if he wants any chance in November. And let’s see how many of the County Chairmen are serious about their role.
Jason Plummer, you too. You said during the campaign you were the ONE. Let’s see it.
Keep checking back here for updates. And after Wednesday we’ll tell you who went against Illinois law and the rights of the elected committeemen. And we’ll tell you which (if any) of the candidates were the willing beneficiaries of the wrongdoing.
Doug Ibendahl is a Chicago Attorney and a former General Counsel of the Illinois Republican Party.
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