Official commentaries:
Observations and letters:
SEPTEMBER, 2018 (Jim Thompson, Rockford, IL)
Class warfare is thriving in the Land of Lincoln – as is geographic preferential treatment. No one will claim Bruce Rauner is the greatest governor this state has elected – at least not based on the first term track record. However, the third-party candidates have NO possible path to victory – unless they call victory “Governor Pritzker”. Two examples…..
1) Pritzker suggested a mileage tax earlier this year. When the governor called him out on it, he called the Governor a liar. Now he’s telling us that he was only suggesting a “test program” to see how it would work in Illinois. He can’t have it both ways. And we’re familiar with Democrats breaking their tax promises to working families.
But let’s break it down further. Will Cook County residents pay a lot if this becomes an actual tax – NO! Will people in Winnebago or Rock Island or Sangamon or St. Clair counties pay a substantial increase if we impose a mileage tax – a resounding YES! Remember, there is no tax ever proposed that a Democrat has believed was bad – especially in this state.
Add this to the pronouncement that Jesse White (who was set to retire a decade ago) is considering increasing vehicle registration fees by over 400% (circle back to “no such thing as a bad tax if you are a D”). Pushing middle class families away from personal vehicles may work well where there is ample public transportation, but what choices are there to go from Rockford to Rochelle or from Rock Island to Springfield?
These are actions that INTENTIONALLY PIT those who reside in or near Chicago against working families in the rest of the state. As with the real estate racket (where Cook County residents pay at a beneficial rate as compared to the rest of the state) and the school funding formulas of old (where non-Cook counties subsidize pensions for Chicago teachers), Pritzker, White (and Madigan, the evil wizard behind the curtain) want to balance the benefits of Chicagoans on the backs of the “downstaters”. Geographic warfare works to penalize those who don’t live in the murder capital of the nation – where very restrictive gun laws have really helped in bringing crime down….
2) Pritzker’s class warfare takes aim at all of his empty promises to fix our state by reducing taxes on everyone except the “very wealthy… like me and Rauner”, according to his ads. However, he fails to sign a pledge not to increase taxes on middle class families, and anyone with four hours in an economics class knows you cannot tax your way into prosperity. No, after the dust has settled from the election, we will find “oh, the situation is much worse than we thought, so we have to tax working families, not just the upper 1%”. And “I told you so” will be of little consolation.
Our deficit rose and our state was without a budget for two years. JB tells us it’s Rauner’s fault. That is a lie. He fails to tell us that the HOUSE passes a budget, our CONSTITUTION demands the budget be balanced and Madigan’s refused to pass balanced budgets, so the Governor upheld the law and vetoed them. If the spending had been important to Madigan, he had veto proof majorities to override the Governor’s veto. The truth is, Madigan didn’t want the spending. He wanted to tag Rauner.
The Governor avoided increasing the deficit with those vetoes. Imagine an Illinois owing billions more in wasteful spending. Again, as the massive exodus continues, where is the Democratic plan to stop the migration and encourage new (or past) working class families to call Illinois home?
Illinois has many benefits for middle class families – as long as they can afford to live here. That price tag is becoming burdensome – and under JB and Madigan, the tag will become downright painful. All Republican voters must get out and vote this year!!
JUNE, 2017 (Dave Willis, Rockford, IL) — In the June 4th Register Star, Quast has a cartoon that depicts Rauner and Madigan as spoiled brats tugging on a watering can labeled budget, while the flowers that represent Illinois wilt. The implication, as promulgated by most liberals, is that either both these gentlemen are equally culpable in our budget woes, or that Rauner alone is guilty because he won’t sign an illegal budget.
JUNE, 2016 (Jim Thompson, Rockford, IL) — There has been much discussion about what happens if no candidate gains the necessary majority to be the presidential nominee before July – particularly with Republicans. Whether that happens or not is not known at this time, but it has happened before and each party succeeded after what is now referred to an “open” or “brokered” convention.
Our first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, was in second place during the first ballot in1860, winning after the third ballot in Chicago. That year, the favored candidate was William Seward (NOT the local favorite); Seward served in Lincoln’s cabinet (remember “Seward’s folly” – the purchase of Alaska).
There have been numerous Republican conventions that began without a clear majority candidate. In 1920, Warren Harding started with less than 10% of the delegates and won after ten ballots – then won the presidency. In 1952, the first ballot resulted in the two top candidates being apart by less than 20% – Eisenhower was nominated and won the presidency. In 1940, the Republican presidential candidate started in third place, but won after six ballots were cast. In 1880, the successful candidate has ONE vote on the first ballot, when former President Grant received over 300; Grant never got a majority, and James Garfield went from one vote on the 33rd ballot to win on the 36th (and won the presidency).
It is not just Republican conventions where an “expected” nominee was not chosen. In 1868, Horatio Seymour had NO votes until ballot #22 – and he won the nomination on ballot #23! The 1920 convention chose James Cox – who started in a distant third place – after 44 ballots. Woodrow Wilson did not lead Champ Clark in 1912 until ballot #30, winning on ballot #46 (and then won the presidency). It took 103 ballots to obtain a candidate in 1924 – John Davis, who started with only 6% of the vote on the first ballot.
For many years conventions were held for the two major parties in this country with no candidate holding the majority before the convention convened. This has NOT been the case in recent years (bound/unbound delegates add a difference), but it is more common than you might think from some media reports. IF no candidate obtains the majority of delegates before the beginning of his (or her) party’s convention, the process will generate a candidate supported through consensus of the majority of delegates – after a few ballots or more.
So, without a confirmed nominee as the convention opens, the selection of a nominee will be by consensus, and from that selection party unity grows. That is the process each party has adopted to select its nominee – which has proven to work for nearly 200 years. It will work in 2016 – as long as all candidates honor that process.
Locally, Illinois hosts its Republican convention May 20-21 in Peoria (information can be found at www.weareillinois.org). Republicans from Winnebago County who wish to be selected as a delegate to that convention should contact countygopw@gmail.com or 815-387-2874 before May 5, 2016.
