For Republicans in Illinois, it's been a rough few years. And the hits just keep on coming:
- State Rep. Paul Froelich is switching parties, changing from GOP to Democrat and giving the Democrats a 67-51 majority in the House. (It's a subscriber-only post, but I'll more links as the news breaks more widely.)
- Former DuPage County GOP Chair and current Republican State Sen. Kirk Dillard is doing a TV advertisement for Barack Obama's Presidential campaign.
I love being out in the grassroots, working my tail off, and seing things like this. Very motivating, it is.
It's going to be even more frustrating watching our state's "leadership" react impotently and unwisely to these events
Grrrrr.
More from Daily Herald:
I know Paul Froelich personally, and I'm willing to testify that he is an inflamed hemorrhoid on the body politic. He was single-handedly responsible for destroying what had been a very strong Republican organization in Schaumburg Township and filling all the critical slots with his cronies. That was the critical event that triggered a GOP decline, and Dem gains, in what had long been a solid GOP township. I guess he must be fully vested in his state pension...
All conservatives can do is jump in and work for candidates that represent them best. At some point, the Dems will blow it, just like the GOP did. Conservatives need to stay involved and support viable candidates so that we can succeed when the time comes.
I'm just wondering, what is your short list of GOP leaders in Illinois who give you any hope? When I look at the websites out there, I'm not sure who to pay attention to.
Dale Righter. But the only way I foresee any Republican win is a freak snowstorm in Chicago.
It is a good thing they put D's and R's behind the names so voters can tell these politicians apart, especially in Illinois, otherwise a serious mistake might occur.
This is what I wrote on my blog....
There is no party in Illinois anymore. If you aren't interested in starting a new party, then work outside the party (finanically AND organizationally) to affect change. A Constitutional Convention is the best bet in this department.
I'm thinking about starting the "Somebody Intelligent" party.
We definitely need a political party that is responsive to the needs and respectful of the rights for all the Illinois residents of Illinois. There exists a very large number of honest, bright, sucessful men and women in this state, who are sidelined out of politics by the political party corruption that exists in both the Democrat and Republican parties in Illinois. A Constitutional Convention would be a good start, but the major political parties have to abandon the clearly almost voter tolerated corruption. Purging these corrupt political croonies and abandonment of the organizations behind them is the only way a constitutional change will improve the condition of the state. Dilution of government authorities has not worked as the main tool in fighting corruption in Illinois. It should be clear to everyone who has taken the time to look at politics in Illinois over the past 75 years, this authority dilution to fight corruption has been a complete failure. All it did was created, 1) a hugh burden of governmental bodies, 2) "untouchables" like the CU MTD and 3) wider spread corrupiton within the political parties to keep control over government. Good Luck with a constitutional convention with the existing political parties.
To Local Voter and others: Instead of pursuing a constitutional convention (or perhaps along side one), would anyone here be in favor of enacting term limits on how long a state rep. or state senator could serve? What would be the drawbacks and benefits of term limits, even just hypothetical ones...?
HG
"To Local Voter and others: Instead of pursuing a constitutional convention (or perhaps along side one), would anyone here be in favor of enacting term limits on how long a state rep. or state senator could serve? What would be the drawbacks and benefits of term limits, even just hypothetical ones...?"
I'd be opposed to term limits. They're a band-aid solution that sounds like a real solution but simply causes more problems. One huge problem is the rapid turnover causes a lack of institutional knowledge among legislators, which empowers staff and lobbyists to an even greater degree. Illinois' biggest problem isn't too many long-serving politicians, it's that the legislative leaders have almost absolute power and the rank-and-file legislators have almost none.
A Rat by any other name is still a..............
To that end, I am, and shall always remain;
Rex Bradfield
I believe that success will only come by making changes within the two parties. So are there any conservative republicans that anyone here has any confidence for leadership? Andy McKenna, Tom Cross?