In other Congressional Races

ArchPundit April 22, 2008 No Comments

From the Trib:

•6th District: Freshman Republican Rep. Peter Roskam of Wheaton had $967,286 left while Democratic challenger Jill Morgenthaler of Des Plaines had $127,304.

•10th District: Rep. Mark Kirk of Highland Park had $2.2 million after raising $627,000 since mid-January, while Democratic challenger Dan Seals had $745,000 left after collecting about $513,000.

•11th District: Democratic state Sen. Debbie Halvorson of Crete said she raised more than $581,000 and had nearly $682,000 left. The Republicans are looking for a replacement candidate for the seat being vacated by Rep. Jerry Weller.

•13th District: Republican Rep. Judy Biggert of Hinsdale reported $511,741 left while Democratic challenger Scott Harper of Lockport had $103,463.

•14th District: Newly-elected Democratic Rep. Bill Foster of Geneva had $262,939 compared with $132,717 for Republican Jim Oberweis of Sugar Grove.

At this point in the race, Seals is running incredibly strong and while any challenger will have a cash-on-hand deficit, this is going to be a full out fight with the DCCC and the RNCC (if it has any money) come November.

Halvorson is off to a good start and Harper seems to be doing better than last cycle (I haven’t checked, but he does seem to be running a stronger campaign this time). Morgenthaller is falling flat, probably due to her general right wing stance on the war and civil liberties.

The Big Mo

ArchPundit April 22, 2008 No Comments

Remember when the RNCC and the RNSC were both recruiting Steve Greenberg to run in 2008.  The RNCC “won” that battle and now have Greenberg slated against Melissa Bean with a whopping $5,000 on hand.  Sauerberg looks like a genius in comparison.

Daily Dolt: The Frank Burns of the 10th District Strikes Again

ArchPundit April 3, 2008 No Comments

Team America is getting his panties in a twist because, get this, Dan Seals includes where he works on his campaign site:

A group of NU students are not so willing to let Seals slide, however. In addition to less formal protests against Seals from NU students, a formal letter has been sent to NU President Henry S. Bienen, and a letter has also been sent to the Daily Northwestern student newspaper. TA will hopefully have a copy of the Bienen letter later today.

Among other issues, these students have noted:

The School of Continuing Studies recently appointed Seals to teach a Special Topics class in Federal Policymaking one night a week for two months in Spring Quarter. While NU faculty members certainly have run for political office in the past, we are aware of no situation where the university has hired an active political candidate. Not only does this create a questionable legal dilemma, but it appears to be in violation of the rules and regulations as outlined in the Faculty Handbook.

Pages 16-17 of the handbook state: “Outside activities must not interfere with University responsibilities. In no case may such activities be carried on either directly or by implication in the name of the University without the consent of the president of the University, who shall from time to time report such arrangements to the Board of Trustees. Consent should be requested through the appropriate dean’s office. Faculty members shall not use the name Northwestern University in connection with outside activities in a manner that implies the university’s sanction or support, unless the required consent has been obtained…”

When responding to inquiries in their fields of professional competence or acting as private citizens on issues of general public interest, faculty members may use their academic titles for purposes of identification but should make it clear that they speak, write, and act for themselves and not for the institution.”

Seals repeatedly uses the title of “adjunct professor” on his campaign material, in debates and in interviews with the media, even though the university has publicly responded that he is only a visiting lecturer. His own political Web site states, “Dan is a business consultant and adjunct professor at Northwestern University.”

Many media outlets throughout the area also have referred to Seals as a professor here at NU. Despite his use of a university title, Seals has never indicated that he does not speak or politick on behalf of the university, as the Faculty Handbook requires. Failure to issue this disclaimer results in using the NU brand to further his partisan pursuits.

First, if you are hired for a job while running for office at any university and the university knows, you explicitly have permission to keep running. It’s not that uncommon and while I have no idea if it has happened at Northwestern it’s happened at Washington University with some frequency including now State Senator Jeff Smith and former US Senator Jim Talent.

Second, telling people where you work does not imply university support or sanction. That’s like claiming a resume to a new potential employer is sanctioning or supporting the applicant to get the new job.

It’s hard to imagine focusing on more trivial matters than one line in campaign literature that tells people what Seals does for a living. There’s an administration that has deeply politicized the Justice Department, illegally spied on Americans, and gotten us into a war under false pretenses and without a strategy to actually win or get out of that war, but the biggest thing one can do to help Mark Kirk out is complain about a line in a resume.

Frank: I think it was Napoleon who said, “Without discipline, an army is no more than a bunch of guys all wearing the same colour clothes.”
Potter: Napoleon?
Frank: Could have been Mussolini.

Jerry Hurckes in the News

ArchPundit March 26, 2008 No Comments

NRCC hits him and rightfully so.

Hurckes, a man of no small ego, is not merely Dan Lipinski’s chief of staff, earning $107,224. Nor also just a paid consultant to Bill Lipinski’s dubious foundation, the All American Eagles, which brags about helping kids but mostly helps fund friendly candidates.

Hurckes also is a trustee of Oak Lawn, southwest of Chicago, and an aspiring mayoral candidate.

And so, he likes to brag, he’s the guy who’s bringing home the bacon to Oak Lawn. As the suburban SouthtownStar newspaper and Roll Call reported this month, Hurckes was not a happy camper when some of his fellow trustees entertained the notion of hiring a Washington lobbyist to attract federal dollars to Oak Lawn.

“Repeatedly using the phrase ‘It is I who’ to preface his accomplishments,” reported Roll Call, “Hurckes ticked off earmarks he claimed to have secured for the village. . . . $100,000 for the Oak Lawn Children’s Museum, nearly $4 million in transportation infrastructure funds.” Hurckes, self-important if not always grammatical, added, “It was I that brought . . . the Army Corps of Engineers.”

Heavens, why would Oak Lawn need a lobbyist when it’s got Jerry Hurckes? For that matter, why would the 3rd District need Dan Lipinski when Hurckes is clearly the go-to guy?

And Marin revisits the Bohica bar voter registration drive 

Hurckes was then registered in the 23rd Ward even though he lived in Oaklawn.

Greenberg: Republican for Big Tool

ArchPundit March 26, 2008 No Comments

Greenberg keeps up the attack on Bean.

Let me be clear here. I disagree with Bean on policy towards Serbia.  However, her views aren’t anti-American.  

So, Bean has natural reasons to support the Serbian position and receive money from Serbian Americans.

Swami takes no side for now on the ancient, underlying dispute, but he does find it reprehensible that Greenberg calls out Bean this way: “Congresswoman Melissa Bean is flagrantly working on behalf of foreign interests, against the interests of the United States. This is an outrage and today I am asking for an investigation of Ms. Bean’s activities as an agent for a foreign government.”

When you call a sitting U.S. congresswoman an agent of foreign powers, that tends to get attention.

Swami’s view? This as a temper tantrum by an inexperienced candidate who now senses he’s not going to win the election and is casting about in the dark for any rock to throw. Desperation can be ugly.

His is a spiteful position, rife with cultural undertones and barely veiled hate talk. Remember the price for inheriting the wind.

And it doesn’t help Greenberg that some of the leading conservative political practitioners are on the other side of the Serb-Kosovo issue. Greenberg hasn’t called Lawrence Eagleburger a Serbian terror patsy, yet.

If Greenberg wants to debate Bean on the issue of which side in a 16-century-old conflagration is right, Swami says be our guest.

But calling someone a traitor just because they disagree with your position is a low and unbecoming tactic and, more to the point, it doesn’t positively distinguish a person seeking to sit in Congress.

You know who co-sponsored the bill?

Dan Burton, Steve Chabot….

And Peter Roskam 

Change Serbian to Jewish or Israeli and see what happens when you make claims like this (rightfully so).  Balkan policy seldom has easy answers and there is nothing wrong with a debate about the policy.  Now, if the good Mr. Greenberg would like to explain to Peter Roskam why he is un-American, it’s time for him to STFU.

Seals on the Red to Blue List

ArchPundit March 13, 2008 No Comments

Reports of his demise from this list were greatly exaggerated.

DCCC named him to the first group of challengers in Red-To-Blue 

It’s a pretty impressive list and Dan is one of the top candidates on that list with Kay Barnes, Eric Massa, Christine Jennings, and Darcy Burner.

On the other hand, the NRCC announced:

In an update on its internal review of the accounting irregularities that were revealed in late January, the NRCC said the funneling dates back to 2004 and that the situation means its cash on hand in its most recent financial report is actually $740,000 less than it initially reported.

The NRCC also says Ward, who was the committee’s treasurer from 2003 to 2007, submitted “bogus audit reports” for all five years between 2002-2006. The last year the committee had a full audit was 2001.

Ward was fired as an NRCC consultant when the irregularities were discovered.

In a release, the NRCC said it was beginning to release some of the details of its review because it could do so without compromising a federal investigation into Ward.

Ward also served as Kirk’s treasurer.  If there was any theft in that case, Kirk is the victim obviously:

The NRCC announcement last week has caused several Republican House members who employed Ward to begin reviewing their campaign accounts.

According to an initial review of Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings, at least 10 House members and several campaign committees listed Christopher J. Ward as the treasurer of their war chests.

One of the 10 is Rep. Jim Walsh (R-N.Y.), who said he has cut ties with Ward and has begun a review of his committee’s finances.

“We have a very small PAC,” said Walsh. “I’m not sure what we are going to do with it, we’ll probably close it out…but we want to make sure everything is done correctly.”

Walsh announced he will not seek reelection last month.

Pennsylvania GOP Reps. Charlie Dent and Phil English also cut Ward loose.

“Upon hearing the NRCC news, immediate steps were taken to remove Mr. Ward as the treasurer,” said Julie Wanzco, a spokeswoman for English. “There is no knowledge of any wrongdoing on his part regarding the leadership PAC.”

Ward is listed as treasurer for Rep. Mark Kirk’s (R-Ill.) campaign account but Kirk said another individual has served in the treasurer role for the last six months.

Ward likely had no access to the actual money in Kirk’s campaign, however, as he operated as Treasurer in terms of compliance.

Illinois-14’s New Congressman Was Sworn In Today

ArchPundit March 11, 2008 No Comments

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/Aeb-id21IEQ" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Rep. Foster: “And now as you can probably already tell, we scientists aren’t known for our fiery rhetoric, but as I stand before you today, it is my solemn hope that with less bickering and word-twisting in Washington, there will be more problem-solving. We need to work together for energy independence, for tax cuts for middle class families, to expand health care for more children, for a return to fiscal discipline, and as important as anything, for a new direction in Iraq. Together we can fulfill our pledge to the next generation…”

Congrats Bill!

But they are awful nice there compared to the hazing Rookies get in Springfield.

IL-18 Colleen Callahan Is In

ArchPundit March 11, 2008 No Comments

Peoria Journal Star

Callahan, 57, said she would seek to change the health care system – specifically for the nearly 2 million uninsured in Illinois. She said current policies in the Middle East aren’t working and the U.S. cannot continue to spend money on “a war with no end.”

Changes also should be made in the education system and for thousands of college graduates facing large tuition debts, and to the economy, with staggering gas and oil prices and mounting household debt.

“It’s time to work together to create change and it’s time to refocus on middle-class values and needs,” Callahan said Monday during her announcement speech from her family farm. “Our families fought for Social Security, Medicare and the G.I. Bill and now here we are fighting to preserve them. It’s time to do better.”

Callahan said specific solutions on issues will come in a week or so.

Schock is a heavy favorite in this District, but she has a profile that could make her competitive given the national mood.