It’s fair to say that Sheila Simon is getting a lot of support from fairly big name Democrats because, well, she is. Her father was close to both United States Senators and is a folk hero to numerous Illinois Democrats.
Brad Cole is trying to portray the race as the big evil Democrats versus the small town guy….
A small town guy with two of the four tops (that’d be both Republicans for those of you keeping score at home) donating significantly to his campaign plus Hassert, Rutherford, LaHood, and Shimkus
| Association of Beer Distributors | PO Box 396 Springfield, IL 62705 |
$200.00 3/5/2007 |
Transfer In Citizens for Cole |
|
| Citizens for Kirk Dillard | PO Box 345 Westmont, IL 60559 |
$250.00 3/5/2007 |
Transfer In Citizens for Cole |
|
| Citizens for Luechtefeld | PO Box 171 Okawville, IL 62271 |
$1,500.00 3/5/2007 |
Transfer In Citizens for Cole |
|
| Citizens for Watson | PO Box 391 Greenville, IL 62246 |
$1,000.00 3/5/2007 |
Transfer In Citizens for Cole |
|
| Citizens to Elect Tom Cross | PO Box 825 Plainfield, IL 60544 |
$1,000.00 3/5/2007 |
Transfer In Citizens for Cole |
|
| Committee to Elect Bost | PO Box 553 Carbondale, IL 62903 |
$1,500.00 3/5/2007 |
Transfer In Citizens for Cole |
|
| Committee to Re-Elect Hassert | PO Box 7176 Romeoville, IL 60046 |
$200.00 3/5/2007 |
Transfer In Citizens for Cole |
|
| Dan Rutherford Campaign Committee | 220 W. Howard Street Pontiac, IL 61764 |
$500.00 3/7/2007 |
Transfer In Citizens for Cole |
|
| Illinois Republican Party | PO Box 64897 Chicago, IL 60664 |
$2,500.00 3/15/2007 |
Transfer In Citizens for Cole |
|
| Jackson County Republican Central Committee | PO Box 1210 Murphysboro, IL 62966 |
$1,000.00 3/17/2007 |
Transfer In Citizens for Cole |
|
| Keep Our Mission PAC | PO Box 20209 Alexandria, VA 22320 |
$1,000.00 3/1/2007 |
Transfer In Citizens for Cole |
|
| People for Eddy | PO Box 187 Robinson, IL 62454 |
$250.00 3/5/2007 |
Transfer In Citizens for Cole |
|
| Ray LaHood for Illinois | 4238 N. Knoxville Avenue Peoria, IL 61614 |
$250.00 3/5/2007 |
Transfer In Citizens for Cole |
|
| Volunteers for Shimkus | P.O. Box 5458 Springfield, IL 62705 |
$1,000.00 2/12/2007 |
Transfer In Citizens for Cole |
Now, how about Simon? $160 transfer in from the Bob Burns for Sheriff committee and otherwise the money is non-itemized individual contributions meaning they are below the threshold to individually report.
Who the hell is kidding who here? Simon is running a grassroots campaign against the leaders of the Illinois Republican Party–that Dick Durbin sent out a nice message for her for low dollar donations is hardly a big deal compared to what Cole is bringing in. That the Southern didn’t bother to point out this difference while giving Cole the time to make those charges is ludicrous.
But making the most hysterical part of it:
| Contributed By | Address | Amount | Received By | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Illinois Republican Party | PO Box 64897 Chicago, IL 60664 |
$6,000.00 4/3/2007 |
1A Citizens for Cole |
Are you kidding me? What exactly is he going to spend that $6,000 on in a race in Carbondale?
UPDATE from comments:
the $160 from Bob Burns was payment for a golf scramble team that he sponsored. Not one penny of that went to the campaign; all it did was cover the cost of the greens fees, etc.
A note of clarification on your wonderful article — the $160 from Bob Burns was payment for a golf scramble team that he sponsored. Not one penny of that went to the campaign; all it did was cover the cost of the greens fees, etc.
MMG
I interviewed Sheila a week ago & posted it last weekend. I mentioned the campaign donations. No one paid any attention. I commented on the article today. As of this date/time, it’s not published.
It’s about time someone else besides me starts saying something about Cole’s benefactors.
Hear Ye, Hear Ye! Come one, come all! To the crucifixion of Brad Cole at the Catholic Church this Easter weekend! See the 31 year old state treasurer run Brad Cole through the Chicago machine. (Refreshments and light appetizers will be served.)
Cool, the same jerk is making the run of all the blogs. Yes, Sheila Simon knows other Democrats. None of them have dropped $6,000 in her pocket. Heck, for that matter, none of them have dropped as much as the local slumlords have done.
How is Brad Cole a victim given he has Chicago Republicans throwing wads of cash at him? Or are Andy McKenna and Tom Cross worried about in terms of policy in Carbondale?
Cole is getting more than just money from Republicans. I’ve already reported that the GOP has staff down there. That Southern Illinoisan article was little more than propaganda.
[…] Saturday, April 7th, 2007 in Uncategorized by robnesvacil Capitol Fax blog writer and general state political journ Rich Miller has picked up on the tremendous amount of partisanship in the Carbondale mayoral race after fellow Illinois Reason blogger ArchPundit laid out the facts at his own blog. […]
The contribution from the “Keep Our Mission PAC” to Cole isn’t a very favorable sign for IL. After all all the legal issues that Abramoff & Rove have attached to their names, you’d think that politicians would return any donation to Hastert’s KOMPAC. Also, I thought the PAC was only set up to funnel money into interests for congressional candidates.
Obviously, anything goes when dealing with Rove’s legacy. Cole is certainly in that mold. You’d think that would send a red flag to C’dale voters. One can only hope.
I’d hope that some of that Mr. Burns’ golf outing sponsorship went to the campaign. Why else does a politican hold a golf outing? Not as a friend-raiser.
The golf outing was used to raise funds, but the entry fee itself was independent of any fund raising. So the Sherriff’s purported “unethical” check was nothing of the sort.
But this is the kind of whinning Brad Cole does, even as he turns around and takes tons of money from all kinds of special interests. The money from “Pepsi of Marion” has some interesting stories attached to what folks talk about down here.
By the way, he commented in the SI story last week that he doesn’t have any paid GOP folks on staff. Technically that is true, but there are GOP and (if rumor is to be believed) Chamber of Commerce staff members down here working for his campaign. He just doesn’t seem to be paying them.
And, in an update, the negative ads have started coming as Cole is trying to say that Sheila is like the Gov and is in bed with him, even though he hasn’t campaigned on her behalf (and he was here last week).
[…] Fran Eaton helps out the ‘Team Brad’ cause with a little slight of hand over at Illinois Review (would we expect anything less?). In a post called “Big D’s Endorse in Carbondale Mayoral Race” Ms. Eaton links to another Southern article talking about the Carbondale mayor’s race. To her (partial) credit, and unlike an earlier Southern article, Ms. Eaton does note that Mayor Brad Cole received a large contribution from the Illinois GOP. But, Ms. Eaton lists it as $6000 and leaves it at that. The actual number from the state GOP is $8500 (6000 + 2500) and does not reflect the thousands of dollars other bigwig Republicans from throughout the state have been giving him for months. […]
This ought to interest you.
Cali’s owner files federal suit against mayor, city
http://media.www.siude.com/media/storage/paper1096/news/2008/12/09/News/Calis.Owner.Files.Federal.Suit.Against.Mayor.City-3581547.shtml