(Shameless candidate promotion diary, but hey a pretty picture. - promoted by wegerje)
An Evanston election tradition is the mass sprouting of yard signs. This is partly due to an Evanston ordinance (which most legal scholars would call unconstitutional, but most candidates honor) that prohibits yard signs from being put up until forty-five days before an election. This year, the primary election will be held February 2nd.
Above: This block looks like one that Jeff Smith, candidate for State Representatiove in the 18th District, will carry
Today I met with John Burros and Jeff Smith. Burros is running in the 9th Representative District (Lawndale-Near West Side) which is an open seat because Rep. Art Turner is running for Lt. Governor. Smith is running in the 18th Represenative District (Evanston-Rogers Park-North Shore), which is open because Julie Hamos is running for Congress.
At the Smith event, someone made the observation that with if Joe Laiacona succeeds in removing Deb Mell (40th Rep District) from the ballot (see Greg Hinz @ Crain's), Northside DFA may be in position to elect four members to the Illinois General Assembly: Daniel Biss, Burros, Laiacona and Smith. Biss is also running in an open-seat race because incumbent Beth Coulson (17th Rep District) is running for the same seat in Congress as Hamos.
Here’s the latest from the Illinois 2010 candidate and cow-pie trail …
… Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes' Democratic primary campaign for governor has a new income tax attack ad on Pat Quinn airborne.
Hynes contrasts his Illinois income tax increase plan with Governor Pat Quinn's by noting he'll raise taxes on Illinois incomes only over $200,000. Hynes claims that his plan will protect the middle class incomes--but that plan will also exempt the next governor and all Illinois lawmakers from a tax hike, too. Yikes.
In addition, the lt. governor, treasurer, comptroller, attorney general, secretary of state, speaker of the House and president of the Senate would all be shielded from an income tax increase, too.
The open seat in the solidly Democratic and progressive 18th District has attracted several good progressive candidates. But let's face it, the Illinois general assembly is full of good progressives that are powerless on the big issues. Why? Because of current leadership that is almost psychotically dictatorial and past leadership that was so corrupt that it has left our state finances and our social safety net in a shambles.
And year after year this leadership is kept in place by a support system that includes many of these same good progressives. They support it passively with their silence and lack of interest in creating something else, and actively by funneling their money and support to that same leadership.
In some districts yes, we're lucky to elect a Democrat at all. But in the 18th we have the opportunity to elect someone who is not only a solid progressive, but has a history of standing up to the very interests that are strangling our state government and our hopes for reform.
Did you know that in 1986 Jeff ran for State Central Committeeman against the chair of the machine-dominated Illinois Democratc Party -- and won? For that brief four-year period the Committeemen were able to elect a non-machine chair and rebuild downstate and suburban Dem organizations, which helped swing Illinois back into the Democratic column in 1992.
Did you know that in 1988 Jeff ran against Joe Berrios -- Joe "the poster child for conflicts of interests" Berrios -- for what was then the Board of Tax Appeals? Jeff received over a quarter-million votes in that race, receiving strong support from north suburban, lakefront, and majority-black wards and townships, as well as many media, labor, good-government, and progressive-advocacy endorsements. Unfortunately intense machine turnout on the southwest side overwhelmed the good-government forces and put Berrios into the office he holds today.
Ever run for office against a machine candidate? It is an incredible thing to take on and I give tremendous props to anyone willing to do it.
But there are several other reasons why I am supporting Jeff Smith.
[edit update 9/20 - (bored makes a point below that I hadn't considered.] by Jeff Wegerson (wegerje)
Robyn Gabel is a progressive. Robyn is a woman. Robyn is a long time friend. Robyn is endorsed by Jan Schakowsky.
Last August 5th I was riding the el home with several others after spending the evening downtown with IVI-IPOers meeting to improve the IVI-IPO endorsement process. On the el was fellow IVI-IPOer Jeff Smith. Jeff was at that moment the progressive heir apparent to replace Julie Hamos who has decided to go for the seat being vacated in IL-10 by Congressional Rep. Mark Kirk. Jeff Smith is a Prairie State Blue blogger. At that moment I was a Jeff Smith supporter. As a progressive blogger my aim is always to get the best possible Democratic candidate elected. That means as progressive a candidate as possible. Jeff Smith is a known progressive quantity.
After the jump I will explain how I know Robyn to be a good solid progressive candidate as well.
In an e-mail to supporters and friends, Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin announced that he is seeking re-election. This was preceded by petitions circulating yesterday in Evanston. This rules out a run by Larry for either Cook County Board President or for Assessor, one of which seemed likely after public appearances and statements by Larry recently.
From Suffredin's e-mail:
I am committed to working to get new leadership in the Office of President of the Cook County Board. I will dedicate my efforts to insuring that the reform agenda that I worked on with Congressman Mike Quigley and Commissioner Forrest Claypool is the agenda of the next President. This reform agenda of both accountability and transparency is the only way to reduce taxes.
First, my efforts will go to overturning President Todd Stroger’s third veto of a repeal of the County sales tax at the Board meeting on September 1, 2009. The County is in a strong financial position and can afford to grant this tax relief. The $283 million crisis that the County faced in February, 2008, when the tax was enacted, has passed. The key to solving this crisis was the establishment of an Independent Health and Hospital Board which I proposed and which has brought -- for the first time-- professional management to the Health and Hospital System which spends nearly $1 billion and treats almost 1 million people annually.
I would say that I am surprised, except that so many surprises have happened in the last 9 months in Illinois, little is surprising any more. There were significant obstacles to a race for either Board President -- where the field is already crowded and many progressives have coalesced behind Toni Preckwinkle -- and Assessor (where the well-funded county party chairman Joe Berrios is the presumptive organization candidate at this date). However, Suffredin would have been a strong candidate.
In a season where "stay put" is the option many are opting for, this move by my Commissioner (Larry holds the seat I ran for in '94) could be see as a proverbial "smart play. It's also important for the Board to have some continuity, with both Claypool and Quigley gone come 2011. Because Larry had built up a countywide fundraising base and name recognition, undoubtedly this was a difficult decision, and one in which personal and family considerations weighed as well.
Above: Attendees snap pix and take vids as former president Bill Clinton gives the welcoming keynote address at Netroots Nation 2009 in Pittsburgh.
I thought PSB'ers might like a glimpse of the action at this year's Netroots Nation (formerly the YearlyKos convention). At first it seemed like attendance was down, which would be understandable given the economy. On the contrary, I'd say it's up, although there was more "trickle in" because the agenda has been expanded to cover a full three days+ rather than 2+. More below the fold.
The 49th Ward Democratic Party's panel on health care reform produced a turnout that surprised even veteran observers. Approximately 200 attendees, by my count, packed the upper room at the Loyola Park Fieldhouse on Mon. night, Aug. 10. The speakers included Dr. Anne Scheetz of the pro-single-payer Physicians for a National Health Program, William McNary, Co-Director of Citizen Action/Illinois, Leslie Combs of Jan Schakowsky's office, and Congressman Danny Davis.
There was no disruption from the Right; not the best turf to pick a fight, I'd say. The loudest applause may have been for Scheetz, who asserted that the plan being put forward in Congress is doomed to fail. McNary articulated the HCAN position, which is that it is still meaningful reform if the plan has a public healthcare option that is available on day one, available everywhere, with the leverage to negotiate lower rates with providers and pharma.
Below is a pic which shows the room as it was still filling up (it became so full many extra chairs had to be added a few minutes later. 49th Ward party president Michael James welcomes the crowd. Seated at the table are committeeman David Fagus, Scheetz, McNary, and Davis. Against the wall are Combs and Ald. Joe Moore. Others in attendance included County Clerk David Orr, and of course numerous activists from DFA, the 49th Ward Dems, and MoveOn.org. The only announced candidates on the scene besides myself and Davis (who will presumably be running for something) were judicial candidates Steve Bernstein of Evanston and Abbey Fishman Romanek of Wilmette.
Greg Hinz, Lynn Sweet, Rich Miller and others are reporting that Kirk is deciding on a U.S. Senate run. Tip of the hat to Eric Zorn on FB for collecting links.
Prairie State Blue "front-pager" Jeff Smith is preparing to run for State Representative for the 18th District (Evanston area). I say "preparing" because he is doing this with the belief that the current representative, Julie Hamos, might not seek re-election so she can run for higher office, and if there is one thing I think we can agree on as a lesson from 5th CD race it is that the longer you wait to get started, the harder it is to prevail in the end.
If you've read Jeff's diaries on this blog you know that he is a passionately committed progressive. But though you may have read him, you may not have met him or know that much about his pre-PSB political life. If that is the case, this Sunday is the perfect opportunity:
"This Spring, Plant Change" Event for Jeff Smith - 3:00 p.m., Sunday, March 15
- Prairie Moon Restaurant, 1502 Sherman Avenue, Evanston
- (restaurant is just 2 blocks north of the CTA Purple Line Dempster stop)
- Buy tickets (or make a contribution) at:
http://www.actblue.com/page/pl... - There is no set donation amount -- come and meet Jeff, hear about the race, and get in on the ground floor of the grassroots and help change Illinois politics for the better!
You can learn more about Jeff (his bio alone is worth the click) at his website:
I've got an idea for stemming the corruption associated with money in politics. How about stopping the politicians from asking for it so much?
Among the many topics never taught in high school civics, and rarely in college political science, is begging. The "beg." The "pitch." The "ask." Otherwise known as the direct solicitation of money, by an officeholder or would-be office-holder.
The uproar over the Blagojevich-Burris follies might lead some to believe that the constant "touch" put on friends, acquaintances, and the not-so-well-acquainted was some freakish aberration on the part of the governor and his henchmen. Hardly so.
