From Senator Judy Myer's website:
The Illinois Farm Bureau says Judy Myers is the right choice for voters in the race for State Senate. ACTIVATOR, the organization's political involvement fund, today formally endorsed Myers for the 52nd district open seat, currently held by retiring Sen. Rick Winkel.
ACTIVATOR trustees say Myers' six years of service in the Illinois Senate and pro-agriculture voting record were major factors in the endorsement.
“Judy Myers' experience and her history of supporting agriculture issues made the difference in our decision to support her,” said Champaign County farmer and Farm Bureau member Kent Krukewitt.
(Disclosure: I work for Sen. Myers' campaign. And I should have posted this yesterday, but I wasn't able to.)
I think what's sad is that townies probably don't realize how big of a deal an ACTIVATOR endorsement is. Having the weight of the Illinois Farm Bureau side immediatley wins you 3/4 of the rural vote in a district. This is a big win for Judy Myers...too bad most Frerichs supporters don't even know what corn is.
Do you have a link to a list of endorsed candidates? I couldn't find one on the Farm Bureau site.
No, sorry, I don't have the full list.
What's really sad is that ACTIVATOR is essentially an arm of the Republican Party. Its endorsement of the Republican candidate is neither surprising nor newsworthy.
"What's really sad is that ACTIVATOR is essentially an arm of the Republican Party. Its endorsement of the Republican candidate is neither surprising nor newsworthy."
Well, you're lying about that.
ACTIVATOR endorses Democrats all the time. If you look at their 2004 Campaign Finance Disclosure you'll see the Farm Bureau supported many Illinois Democrats in tough election fights, including Careen Gordon, Lisa Dugan, Bob Flider, the late Sen. Vince Demuzio, Rep. Jack Franks, and former Sen. Pat Welch.
Speaking for Sen. Myers' campaign, we're awfully happy to have their endorsement, and look forward to working with them to deliver our message to voters concerned with ag issues in both Champaign and Vermilion Counties.
Yes, an "arm of the Republican Party" indeed. In the past it's endorsed such Republican luminaries as Dick Durbin and Glenn Poshard. It would have been a huge coup if Frerichs could have pulled this endorsement off, but he didn't. That this will hurt him in the rural areas is no question. The extent of which is debatable.
"too bad most Frerichs supporters don't even know what corn is."
That's intelligent...
this is almost as suprising as when Tim Johnson endorsed her
"this is almost as suprising as when Tim Johnson endorsed her"
You crack me up. When you tout Frerichs' candidacy, one of the things that his supporters always bring up is his appeal to rural Champaign County voters. But when a group - with a long record of supporting both Democrats and Republicans - that lobbies on behalf of and shares many issues with many of those same rural voters endorse Senator Myers, you try to laugh it off as no big deal.
Frerichs is the next iteration of Laurel Prussing.
Lose an election and then run for another one. Lose an election and then run for another one. Lose another election, but keep running. I mean, for crying out loud. Dude--figure out something else, because becoming a big-wig politiciian isn't going to happen.
G.--
"Lose an election and then run for another one. Lose an election and then run for another one. Lose another election, but keep running."
I hate to disappoint anyone who just knew that I would respond to this, so "for the record," the actual tally is lose the first two, then win the last three straight in a row.
(Full disclosure: the Illinois AFL-CIO is paying me very part time to coordinate union member outreach in Champaign and Vermilion counties on behalf of their endorsed candidates, which includes Mike Frerichs.)
"this is almost as suprising as when Tim Johnson endorsed her"
you mean "surprising"
"Frerichs is the next iteration of Laurel Prussing.
Lose an election and then run for another one. Lose an election and then run for another one. Lose another election, but keep running. I mean, for crying out loud. "
Does Gifford have a mayoral election coming up?
Why, Scott? You trying to find something you might be qualified for for a change?
Great on the endorsement. For the record, the Farm Bureau endorsed Laurel Prussing in 1994, among other Democrats. I can see why some Democrats would want to minimize this, but it's big.
I think Mike has won his last couple of elections. Is that incorrect?
Dude”“figure out something else, because becoming a big-wig politiciian isn't going to happen.
But...but...he went to Yale! And he's very tall!
Maybe I spoke too soon earlier. Democrats certainly view the local Farm Bureau as an arm of the local Republican Party, and no one on our side imagined for a second that they'd do anything other than support the Republican candidate in this race.
But perhaps there's something about Myers that made that questionable this time around. Is she against them on some issue I'm not aware of? Do they not take her seriously? You guys act genuinely surprised to have gotten what should be a no-brainer endorsement -- maybe you know of some problem with Judy that I don't know.
If there's something wrong with Myers that put this endorsement in doubt, then I stand corrected. Otherwise, there's no surprise in seeing the local Farm Bureau support a local Republican.
Nice try, TB. Is there some problem with Mike Frerichs that prevented him from getting this endorsement?
I can answer that for you: he's not as qualified on ag issues as Senator Myers.
So, Judy's bad for working families because the AFL-CIO endorsed Frerichs? Is that your point, Gordy?
"So, Judy's bad for working families because the AFL-CIO endorsed Frerichs? Is that your point, Gordy?"
Not at all.
But your latest point/lie/distortion seems to be, that because we're happy to have the FB endorsement, that somehow there must have been something wrong with Senator Myers' ag record. You know darn well that's a lie, but you feel the need to try to spin this endorsement for your boss as no big deal, despite the fact that he clearly wanted it and felt he deserved it.
I was just suggesting that it's no surprise to see the local Farm Bureau support the Republican in a contested race. You seemed to be suggesting that this was Big News, and I was wondering if there was some reason you couldn't count on the Farm Bureau this time around.
I'd suggested the problem might have been weakness on Myer's part, but I'm just guessing. Maybe Frerichs is more popular among Farm Bureau members than I'd known. Maybe this wasn't a lock for the Republican candidate, as you suggest, but if that's true, then Myers was unusually weak or Frerichs was unusually strong. Otherwise, the Farm Bureau endorses the Republican, and it's no surprise to anyone.
"I was just suggesting that it's no surprise to see the local Farm Bureau support the Republican in a contested race. You seemed to be suggesting that this was Big News, and I was wondering if there was some reason you couldn't count on the Farm Bureau this time around."
And I showed above how you lied about the Farm Bureau's record of endorsing Democrats. Keep spinning.
You claim it's "spin" to say the Farm Bureau (around here, anyway) leans Republican? If you can do that with a straight face, you're in definitely in the right business, Gordy.
"You claim it's “spin” to say the Farm Bureau (around here, anyway) leans Republican? If you can do that with a straight face, you're in definitely in the right business, Gordy."
If supporting the GOP candidate is such a given, Please explain the Illinois Farm Bureau's support of Democrats Sen. Welch and Sen. Demuzio, Rep. Franks, Rep. Flider, Rep. Gordon & Rep. Dugan, all in targeted legislative races in 2004.
Keep spinning.
My understanding is that the local Farm Bureau leaders are the ones who direct ACTIVATOR endorsements and contributions. In this part of the state, our local Farm Bureau leaders are pretty uniformly Republican (Is that not true? If not, I'd love to meet all the Dems in local FB leadership! Seriously, let me know...). In other parts of the state, that isn't necessarily true -- farmers as a group tend to be more Democratic in Southern and Western Illinois than they are around here.
Seriously, I didn't think it was controversial to say the local Farm Bureau leans Republican, anymore than it would be controversial to say most labor unions lean Democratic. To me, it seems like blatant spin to suggest otherwise, but hey, it's your blog.
So now your argument is that local FB leaders are so partisan and so Republican that they'll automatically endorse any Republican, rather than do what's best for FB members? (I'll be happy to pass that little compliment on to them - I'm sure they'll be flattered...)
You're really jumping through hoops now.
And no matter how many hoops you jump through, it's still just weak spin. Senator Myers is endorsed because she'll best represent the members of FB, she has the best record on ag issues and best understanding of how important agriculture is as an issue in Illinois.
Give it up Gordy. Trying to reason with him is impossible. It's obviously good news. Is it the biggest news of the campaign? No. Is it a surprise. No, because Myers is the most qualified candidate. Are people on the Frerichs side extremely disappointed and saddened? You bet. Look at True Blue.
True Blue, the only surprise endorsement in this race so far has been Personal PAC endorsing Frerichs. Most other endorsements make sense based on the records and positions of the candidates. But we all like endorsements for our guys, even if they aren't surprising.
Mike filled up an entire web page with very unsurprising endorsements. Maybe the reason Mike had to put all those democratic officeholders on his website endorsing him is because of his weakness in the democratic party, blah blah blah. anyone can spin.
the problem for frerichs on this endorsement is that when the direct mail pieces go out, the spin will all be for judy.
your disaclaimer should say
(Disclosure: I am not allowed to ever say anything postive about Mike Frerichs or negative about Judy Myers, because I work for Sen. Myers' campaign. And I should have posted this yesterday, but I wasn't able to.)
"your disaclaimer should say
(Disclosure: I am not allowed to ever say anything postive about Mike Frerichs or negative about Judy Myers, because I work for Sen. Myers' campaign. And I should have posted this yesterday, but I wasn't able to.) "
Another lie. Senator Myers doesn't even read this blog, and certainly doesn't care what I write here. And I think that Mike Frerichs' having taught english overseas was really cool, and one of those things that I wish I had done when I was younger.
Now I await your criticism of Frerichs' supporteres, who really aren't allowed to say anything nice about Senator Myers: they tried to spin our announcement of a Farm Bureau endorsement into some kind of indication of weakness within the ag community.
Of course, I think I'll be waiting for a while.
I think we may be dealing here largely with duelling perceptions. Rightly or wrongly, there is a perception among most Dems that the local Farm Bureau is staunchly Repub, and that perception is based in large part on recent history.
The only example of a local endorsed Dem mentioned so far in this thread is twelve years old. There have no doubt been others since then, but the preponderance have clearly been the other way. As a result, many Dems don't even bother to seek the Farm Bureau endorsement anymore.
There is probably a similar situation in reverse between local Repubs and labor. While individual locals can and have endorsed local Repubs from time to time, the majority of endorsements have been to the Dem side, and a lot of Repubs never seek out the Central Labor Council or the largest individual locals.
I personally think that both parties are making a mistake when they write anyone off. Repubs should be talking to labor, and Dems should be talking more to the Farm Bureau. Anything less cheats the voters.
So. Would Frerichs have liked to have had the Farm Bureau endorsement? Of course. Candidates naturally want every endorsement they can get. Were there many Dems who thought he had any chance whatsoever of getting that endorsement? Probably not. Will Judy try to wring every possible benefit from this? You bet. Will this decide the election? Tune in later...
(Full disclosure: the Illinois AFL-CIO is paying me very part time to coordinate union member outreach in Champaign and Vermilion counties on behalf of their endorsed candidates, which includes Mike Frerichs.)
"I think we may be dealing here largely with duelling perceptions. Rightly or wrongly, there is a perception among most Dems that the local Farm Bureau is staunchly Repub, and that perception is based in large part on recent history. The only example of a local endorsed Dem mentioned so far in this thread is twelve years old."
And yet the local FB has endorsed at least two local Democratic candidates this year. They're not nearly the partisans that the AFL-CIO, to use your example, happen to be. For example, there were zero targeted GOP legislative candidates supported by the IL AFL-CIO in 2004. So I don't think the two organizations are even remotely comparable, in terms of bipartisanship.
which democrats have they endorsed, and was it during the primary or general?
"For example, there were zero targeted GOP legislative candidates supported by the IL AFL-CIO in 2004."
Your analysis is correct as far as it goes, but comparisons are not entirely fair because of differences in how the two organizations are structured. The state AFL-CIO can only endorse in campaigns for state office. Other local candidates, such as for county or municipal office, fall entirely within the purview of the local Central Labor Council, and the state fed is prohibited from making any endorsements in those races.
In addition, the state AFL-CIO is a federation made up of very differenct constituencies, and ruled by consensus. Many of the individual unions regularly go their separate ways on endorsements. For example, during the year you cite (2004) there was a lot of labor money for Tim Johnson, in spite of the state fed's endorsement of David Gill.
The point? Labor is not a monolith, nor does it always speak with one voice. Focusing solely on the partisanship of the state fed's narrow scope of responsibility misses a lot of territory.
"which democrats have they endorsed, and was it during the primary or general?"
Beckett and Wysocki, for both the Primary and General, I believe.
"The point? Labor is not a monolith, nor does it always speak with one voice. Focusing solely on the partisanship of the state fed's narrow scope of responsibility misses a lot of territory."
Sure it does - but we were talking about an endorsement for a State Senate race. Are you saying that those state legislative-level endorsements are decided exclusively by the state AFL-CIO? If so, then that's a departure from how the FB works, and explains the discrepancies in bipartisanship.
"Are you saying that those state legislative-level endorsements are decided exclusively by the state AFL-CIO? If so, then that's a departure from how the FB works, and explains the discrepancies in bipartisanship."
There is a non-binding recommendation from the local Central Labor Council and/or Building Trades Council. This gets filtered through the Committee on Political Education (COPE) for the Congressional district, which varies widely from region to region in how hands-on it really is. Finally, there is an open vote by the state COPE, which is made up of the state Exec Board and delegates from each of the local bodies from all over the state. The state Exec Board has the final say on all of the proceedings.
While there is usually a desire to defer to the people on the ground in a given district, it is not unheard of for external voices to override the recommendation from the actual district.
Thanks for the info. In my 12 years of working in Republican politics all over Illinois, I've never had a candidate even have a shot at the AFL-CIO endorsement, so I've never bothered to learn about the process.
Heck, I once was running a campaign for a President of a (non-AFL-CIO union) local, who was supported by his own local but whose opponent was endorsed by (and heavily funded by) the state organization. So please forgive me if I'm jaded. :-)
They endorsed the two most conservative democrats on the county board, in a race they currently have no chance of losing
Still waiting for you to point me to the Frerichs supporters saying nice things about Senator Myers.
Judy Myers is a very nice lady
She's always been very kind and gracious to me...
Thanks, to both of you, even if CU Listener was tongue in cheek.
Just looking at her personality, Myers is probably the nicest politician I have ever met. I know niceness doesn't win elections, but it does speak well of her as a person.