2006

The Buchanan-Lipinski Front

ArchPundit March 13, 2006 4 Comments

Leo hits a point that has been missing on IL-03 race. The issue of social conservatism is too often thought of as an issue of abortion only. There are many issues that social conservatives have latched on to though and one of the important ones is immigration and trade.

Lipinski looks like a Dem because he voted against CAFTA, but not for the same reasons most Dems would have (I’m pretty agnostic for a whole bunch of reasons). The reality is that Dan Lipinski is a guy by all accounts I can gather, voted for Pat Buchanan in 2000 and I’m pretty sure that Buchanan’s views on social issues and immigration were key. 36 Democrats voted for HR 4437 and I’m betting the Lipinski was the guy with the highest Latinor or close to the highest Latino population to vote for it at 21.3%. The continued exploitation by both parties in Southwestern Chicagoland of Latinos must stop. Parties have used and abused them throughout the area including Cicero and other areas where Latinos were only allowed to progress if they helped the machines out (remember this is an area of both Democratic and Republican machines–Skippy).

Via Illinois DemNet we see what Blagojevich had to say:

“Whether their names are Gutierrez or Lozano, Lipinski or Blagojevich; it doesn’t matter. This is a country built by immigrants.”

I don’t know if the Governor realized it or not, but either way, he made a fantastic point. Go down to Elmwood Park or that area and see the Polish immigrants that still live down there. When I worked for Circuit City back when it opened the Chicago market, I visited that store. The number one salesman was a guy who worked the warehouse until they figured out he could speak Polish and needed him on the sales floor. A guy like Lipinski might get that. They were people who and/or both fled persecution and a bad economy and that is the most American thing of all.

My relatives fled the potato famine from what I understand and some of them became thugs on the East Side in St. Clair County when Irish gangs ran the rackets for others. Most of the family worked hard and made a better life for themselves.

I’d bet the Lipinski’s have a similar story, but with more of him around, there won’t be many more families like that. We’ll be the poorer for it.

One-fifth of the 3rd District is Latino. It would be a shame if they were represented by a guy who seems to think they are only good as machine cogs. Go visit John Sullivan’s web site and volunteer and donate.

I consider there to be three vital races in this years election for progressives, this is one of them.

The Quote from Weller’s Office

ArchPundit March 12, 2006 13 Comments

Grand Old Partisan raised some questions concerning the City News Article that were reasonable.

There is something else I’m tracking down that made me not even flinch about the quote, but still a reasonable question so I tracked down the journalist, James Taylor, who wrote the story. He graciously allowed me to print the quote from Weller’s office in Taylor’s voice describing the situation

The quote followed the man being informed of our poll and the results and it also followed our reply to questions about the newspaper, ie. who are our primary readers, area we circulate in and a statement, “Aren’t most of your readers black and Democrats…”

“We don’t think that the opinions of African American voters will have a big impact on this election.”

Taylor’s reasoning for not naming the staffer is not the usual one, but I think makes a good point. He doesn’t want the staffer to be a scapegoat. You might disagree with Taylor on it, but I see his point and personally think its a good idea.

Taylor also said the poll was a survey of the general public and readers. As I mentioned before, the methodology what you’d expect from a full blown pollster, it’s an interesting finding for a paper that serves a defined community. Again, I wouldn’t hold it up as gospel, but as an interesting story for the community served.

Grand Old Partisan also questions whether or not a staffer in a Congressional office would answer that question–my take is that it isn’t that uncommon. Some offices are sticklers for avoiding that sort of thing, while others are pretty loose so it didn’t stick out to me, but a reasonable point to make. I’m pretty confident in Taylor’s reporting and while I don’t take the poll overly seriously, it’s interesting which I’m betting is what they were shooting for.

And thanks again to Taylor who was very quick to reply and quite helpful.

Best Line of the Week

ArchPundit March 10, 2006 3 Comments

Rich has a column that wins hand down for the best political column in sometime, but Lynn Sweet’s column on the 3rd District has a great line:

The poll also shows that if enough people know about how William Lipinski sneaked his son into office, it will change their opinion of if he deserves another term. Happy to oblige.

I don’t have high ethical expectations of Illinois politicians, but the Lipinski switch really was quite brazen.

She also mentions those of us who pointed out her blog before it went with a big public announcement–and of course, she’s welcome. I’m a big fan of reporters having a chance to report the small tidbits that don’t fit in a column and have the basic source material available. It’s a huge addition to the news organizations and I am a big fan of her columns anyway.

Kelly: A Financial Planner

ArchPundit March 10, 2006 2 Comments

Under the category of when your campaign can hurt your business, the man claims to have $78,001 cash on hand having only raised $43,900. It’s Bush Math!

It’s as if negative numbers hadn’t been discovered yet. I’m pretty sure this is not a good sign for his business, his campaign, his legal situation, nor if he were by some miracle to make it to Congress, his ability to know a damn thing about the federal budget.

Pre-Primary: Sullivan D-IL-03

ArchPundit March 10, 2006 No Comments

Raised: 18544.84
Spent: 33872.55
COH: 13832.48

John had a tough time because he was working during the day until the first of the year. The problem right now is he doesn’t have enough for a killer mail piece–and so against my general philosophy of throwing money in at the last minute to candidates–go donate and volunteer now!

Two things here–Lipinski hasn’t done bumpkus in running for office except perhaps planting a clown. He hasn’t done any mailing, nor any other voter outreach besides parades. He’s relatively vulnerable. Second, I think John has his weaknesses as a candidate to date, he’s it and he’s right on the issues. If John can get his message out to Democratic voters, he wins. This isn’t a choice between progressives, but between two conservatives and a moderate-liberal Democrat.

Pre-Primary: Roskam R-IL-06

ArchPundit March 10, 2006 3 Comments

Raised: 73538.29
Spent: 102352.55
COH: 806928.04

I’m assuming the Cheney fundraiser money was after that date so there should be a big next report.

Michael Flanagan and John Fund show up in the donations.

Funniest line items. 6666.67

Pre-Primary: Stover D-IL-19

ArchPundit March 10, 2006 No Comments

Gotta like the guy simply because he’s running against Shimkus.

First report so not much to say:

Raised:15940.22
Spent:10143.81
COH: 16796.41
Self Loans: 11,000

Pre-Primary: Pavich D-IL-11

ArchPundit March 10, 2006 No Comments

Since he’s unopposed this isn’t a high impact report.

He gave back $6500 which is the only oddity–refunds of donations that were too large. It’s not that uncommon, but still unusual.

Raised:11145.18
Spent: 27117.03
COH:174939.53

Things that bring a smile to my face–$5000 each from UAW and SEIU. His fundraising is probably centered on March more than anything so this isn’t a very important report–the Union money is key and it’s primary money so he can go back to the well on March 22nd.