Illinois Congressional Races

Chicago Food and Beverage

ArchPundit May 4, 2006 No Comments

Someone has some ‘splaining to do…

New Lenox Mayor Michael Smith has a more of a problem than he thinks. In this post I pointed out his rather hysterical problem that he spent $1,462 in one night at a strip club on the New Lenox town credit card.

Mr. Smith didn’t quite come clean though when asked about the situation. I mean, given he wrote the reimbursement check from his and his wife’s account for $3,244 it was probably bad enough that he spent half of that at a strip club.

But that isn’t the whole story. The Trib reported:

A total of $1,300 was charged March 11. It’s listed under Chicago Food & Beverage, but Smith said he couldn’t recall the precise name of the restaurant.

If one were to call the VIP Club at 312-644-7400 (not work suitable if you are slow) and ask them how charges on your card appear if you were to take clients there, the answer is that for the admission fee and drinks, it appears as VIP Club. However, if you purchase what is described as ‘house cash’, it is charged as Chicago Food & Beverage. Hence, a nice round $1,300 on the New Lenox account.

So he spent a nice 2,762 at the VIP Club overnight on March 10-11. I hope someone got laid for that much. Not that I’m promoting prostitution, but for goodness sakes, if you are going to drop $2,700 in a few hours, someone should have gotten more than a dry hump or they are really pitiful.

Mr. Smith lied to the Trib, probably the other town officials and almost certainly to his wife.

To add more fun to the pot, it appears that El Geraldo’s office is saying that Smith was never actually the Campaign Chair. Let us remember that Smith gave the welcome at El Geraldo’s campaign kick off and was identified by the Home Town Morris Daily Herald as campaign chair. Unfortunate.

While I normally don’t care much, if the regular media picks up on this–I want some acknowledgement on this one. I at least have to explain to the wife why I’m calling strip clubs late at night.

Crossposted at Illinoize

$1,462 for one night in a Strip Club

ArchPundit May 3, 2006 No Comments

I hope there wasn’t any sex in the Champagne Room.

What’s great is what triggered the paper to investigate:

The Star newspaper requested the AmEx invoice, along with the reimbursement check, at a time when the Finance Committee was debating Smith’s prepaid lodging expenses for a coming International Council of Shopping Centers convention in Las Vegas.

What Happens in Vegas……

Weller’s campaign must be a ball

Mayor Michael Smith of New Lenox, Weller?s campaign chairman, gave the welcome.

?I can always turn to Jerry for assistance, and he?s always there to give a hand ? that?s very, very important,? Smith told the gathering.

Given Weller’s ties to MZM co-conspirators that are at the center of the Duke Cunningham scandal who were apparently running a prostitution ring, there are lots of interesting questions to ask for an enterprising reporter.

Evans Replacement

ArchPundit April 18, 2006 1 Comment

The general consensus seems to be coming down to Phil Hare or John Sullivan and that shapes up as one might expect in that District with The Quad Cities having a candidate and downstate having a candidate (you from Chicago should learn that the Quad Cities are, in fact, not downstate).

The District runs from The Quad Cities to the northern part of Metro St. Louis hitting Greene, Calhoun, Jersey and Macoupin (Greene isn’t a part of the MSA, but the other three are now).

Normally, Springfield and Decatur would have a claim, but the gerrymandering is so severe that a unifed position from either place would be hard to achieve and frankly, not as great as one might think given the way portions of the areas are included and excluded.

Sullivan is more conservative than I prefer on social issues, but of everything I’ve seen, he’s the guy who would turn that into a safe seat starting this cycle. He works hard and he’s probably one of the few people who has the energy and the smarts to be able to hold that District together. If LaHood were to retire before the next cycle or if Dems just play hardball and make a safe Labor seat out of Peoria, the Quad Cities, Galesburg, and maybe Springfield, the rest of the District could be joined to create a Republican seat in rural areas while joining together outstate Democratic votes outside of Metro East.

IL-08 Unofficial Bean/McSweeney Numbers

ArchPundit April 14, 2006 No Comments

Bean comes in with $1.75 Million on hand
McSweeney reports about $145,000 on hand

What’s interesting–and I haven’t read for sure what the situation is, but if McSweeney self-funds, the millionaire amendment kicks in and Bean can go back and collect more from those who have already contributed.

Sweet has more

First Reports

ArchPundit April 14, 2006 No Comments

Manzullo, Biggert, Jackson, Shimkus, Stover (IL-19), Schakowsky, Gill (IL-15), Davis and Costello are in and nothing really interesting in there–this won’t be much of a quarter since it really only includes March. .

Wait, one thing, Lloyd Cueto’s committee gave Costello $150

(Hitting head against wall–what a jackass) I’m sure there is some more fun in there, but nothing stands out.

Paying Your Dues

ArchPundit April 13, 2006 No Comments

Thank you Congressman Jackson

Democratic Congressional Campaign Commit
430 South Capitol Street
Washington, DC 20003
03/02/2006
TRANSFER OF CAMPAIGN FUNDS 25000.00

MEMO

That’s a big chunk of his DCCC dues and most Members pay in installments–that’s a good first payment and I’m happy to recognize him for it.

Raised: 264810.00
Spent: 103508.46
On-Hand: 1292736.88

56% Bush Vote in 2004

ArchPundit April 11, 2006 3 Comments

Don’t expect Jan Schakowsk in IL-8. Kos has more

This is extraordinarily stupid. Mind-boggling so. It’s rare for one seat to really matter in the House? Sure, but we’re 15 seats away and we’ll be making gains this November. Enough to take back the House? I’m still skeptical, but regardless, it’ll be extraordinarily close. If that one seat costs us the majority and the subpoena power to investigate the Bush Administration’s myriad abuses, will it have been worth it?

The unions don’t have to support Bean. She hasn’t earned that support. But to work to defeat her makes no political sense. Not if the unions want control of the House by the party of the people, rather than the ideologues currently running the country into the ground.

I’ve always said there are several votes Bean has made I don’t like. However, is it a party of Boehner and Blunt or a party of Pelosi and Hoyer that we want in control? Bean has excellent environmental credentials and is pro-choice (something Scheurer is not). I don’t expect the unions to jump up and down for her, but working to defeat her won’t get them anything they want.

Look at Where Roskam’s Money Does Come From

ArchPundit April 5, 2006 2 Comments

The thing about the DeLay scandals isn’t just DeLay, but how the entire K Street project has corrupted much of campaign finance. DeLay isn’t just one person, but the hub the spokes emenate from and if one follows them, most movement conservatives are caught.

With Roskam, the first obvious connection is to Grover Norquist who along with Abramoff started the scheme to defraud American Indian Triibes. Americans for Tax Reform is a front for lobbying hid as a non-profit

He’s taken $10,000 from the Rely on Your Belief Fund (ROYB)–Roy Blunt’s PAC that not only looks like it was used to funnel money between funds with DeLay’s TRMPAC and ARMPAC, but also had Jim Ellis running both ROYB and ARMPAC. Ellis is under indictment in Texas.

ROYB also is strongly linked to Alexander Strategy Group of which principals include Tony Rudy and Earl Buckham

He’s taken $10,000 from Boehner’s PAC. Boehner is fighting to preserve privately paid travel for Members of Congress.

Norm Ornstein of AEI keeps pointing out that this scandal will probably rival that of the Tea Pot Dome Scandal. That the press is letting candidates get by with taking money from the nexus of this scandal is pretty much par for the course, but also avoids dealing with really tough issues and some actual investigative reporting. I just did the above on the internets–imagine what someone could do who has a job that pays for them to do the research.

How extreme is this case? Tom DeLay is threatening the prosecutor’s independence in Texas.

The entire K-Street project was designed to tie lobbyists and the Republican leadership into a situation where their interests were the same and then to promulgate their power and influence. The wheels are now coming off and Peter Roskam appears to have lots of friends right in the middle of it, yet claims he’s all for ethics reform.

I don’t doubt that Roskam is a true blue movement conservative, it’s just odd that he doesn’t seem to want to be connected to the movement that he’s been involved in.

Hand Feeding the Press

ArchPundit April 5, 2006 27 Comments

It isn’t a spokespersons fault when a reporter skips figuring out the facts of a story, but you’d think that a quick Lexis search to figure out the whole story might be reasonable.

Roskam is attempting to claim that he really isn’t very close to Tom DeLay because he only worked for him 20 years ago and for about 8 months. That’s a reasonable claim if that were all there was to the relationship.

Unfortunately Marni Pyke at Daily Herald does a piss poor he said she said story.

The reality behind Roskam and DeLay is that they’ve had an ongoing relationship over the years. In the 1998 race for IL-13 there was this little tidbit from the Trib:

Word on Capitol Hill is that ideological conservative state Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Naperville) is getting behind-the-scenes help in his six-way Republican congressional primary battle from GOP House Whip Tom DeLay of Texas.

DeLay is the arch-conservative former pest-control service operator whose former profession and aggressive attacks on federal regulation of almost any type, including environmental laws, has earned him the nickname “The Exterminator.”

A top aide to DeLay has been calling around to some big conservative backers suggesting they “take a look at” (i.e., send money to) Roskam, said a congressional source.

Even better, in an April Sun-Times piece, Roskam said the following about DeLay

But state Sen. Peter Roskam, who worked for DeLay 20 years ago, voiced support.

“Trotting out some of … these old accusations that are two and three and four years old is a little bit tiresome,” Roskam said. “I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt.”

…..

Roskam, 43, is a lawyer who lives in Wheaton. He worked as an aide to DeLay in 1985 and part of 1986, but said he has “not had any contact with him essentially for 20 years.”

“I think everybody agrees that he’s one of the most effective legislators in Washington, D.C.,” Roskam said. “Knowing what I know now about what Tom DeLay’s been accused of, my attitude would be to support him.”

The obvious question given Tom DeLay is under indictment and clearly under investigation for his ties to Abramoff, does Roskam still support him? He clearly did 10 days before DeLay was indicted when DeLay hosted a fundraiser for a guy he hadn’t had any contact with essentially for 20 years. On top of that, Roskam received a $1,000 donation from ARMPAC (DeLay’s federal PAC) in 1998. I tend to think that’s more than no contact. Not many folks just hand me $1000 to run for office in a primary.

Secondly, why not donate that $1000 to charity? Obviously it was in 1998, but why not make the symbolic gesture if Roskam is pushing for ethics reform.

Better yet, why hasn’t the press got him on record concerning the DeLay rule change in the Republican caucus that would have allowed DeLay to continue serving under state indictment? Out of 10 Illinois Members of Congress at the time, only two supported it–Weller and Hastert. How would Roskam have voted?

Roskam’s ties to the finance scandals aren’t just to DeLay.

In the Sun-Times today:

“I think the Duckworth campaign is really stretched and desperate in trying to make this a close association,” Roskam said.

If you want to quibble over the word mentor, fine. However, Roskam has a long history of support from DeLay and has tried to hide that history.

Oh, and let’s not bring up the residency issue. From the 1998 race:

Sixty percent of the 13th Congressional District is in southern DuPage County. Part of southwestern Cook County and northern Will County are in the district. Roskam, whose state legislative district is mostly in Hyde’s congressional district but includes some of Fawell’s, lives outside the district but would move if nominated for the congressional seat.

Let’s Start the Cattle Call

ArchPundit March 28, 2006 6 Comments

Blogs never are in good taste so after wishing Congressman Evans well, I’m thinking

John Sullivan (I can recycle some posts–different Sullivan)
Mike Jacobs

Ah hell, that District covers such a weird area, I have a hard time figuring out who is in and who is out of it.

Minor thing–despite crossing over media markets, it’s relatively cheap and the Quad Cities area will now have two targeted races for the DCCC to work with in the area since IA-1 is also a hot race.

First person to say Mangieri, gets ejected. After that Treasurer campaign, he’s pretty much demonstrated he’s not up for a tough race.