Just in case anyone was wondering whether the Illinois Republican Party had gotten its act together, never fear, the Party has circled up and is ready fire aim,

THERE THEY GO AGAIN (excerpt) Last year, conservative Republicans seized on the opportunity to install one of their own as state party chairman when the incumbent chairman, Lee Daniels, was hobbled by a major corruption scandal and when the party’s gubernatorial candidate was too weak to convince the conservatives to allow him to appoint a replacement who was more acceptable to the dominant moderates.

Well, the Right is at it again. Parts of it, anyway. Failed congressional candidate John Cox has called on current Republican Party Chairperson Judy Baar Topinka to step aside while the federal investigation of her state treasurer’s office is completed. Failed gubernatorial candidate Patrick O’Malley chimed in that the party needs to clean its act up.

In the past, the party post has mostly been a fundraising job, but a conservative element wants to use the position to promote its ideology and create more opportunities for conservative candidates in Illinois. Many hard right activists were disappointed with Topinka’s elevation to the party job. Topinka strongly favors gay rights and is mostly pro-choice. So those conservatives want to replace her with someone more to their liking.

It’s a sound idea, if you take their point of view. But Illinois trends toward more moderate, even liberal Republicanism, and that predominant faction will fight to the death to keep the Right out of the potentially high-profile chairman’s position. A hard rightward turn is viewed as disastrous, particularly in the wake of last year’s overwhelmingly Democratic election results. . . .

Jeff Trigg points us to a Trib article where David Keene points out the obvious about the Illinois Republican Party

"There really is no Republican Party in Illinois," Keene said. "It’s all collapsed around [former Gov.] George Ryan."

Jeff Trigg also points out the problem with blind party loyalty. I agree and I posted on Rita being a scum bag back in the day . I believe Ross at the Bloviator joined me, but I don’t have a permalink