Regular readers know that yard sign wars drive me batty as the primary purpose of yard signs in most campaigns appears to be to give volunteers something to do more than influence votes. There’s a mild impact of yard signs in giving a sense of momentum, but generally they aren’t that useful.
Even better, McQueary touches on the issue today. First, I can vouch for John, I talked to him well before he got in the race and was seeking out help and assistance from other relatively successful grass roots candidates so the notion he is a plant is incorrect–and he did put out the yard signs, but apparently Mike Joyce didn’t have anything else to do with his life because:
REAKING SULLIVAN NEWS- Kelly Campaign Guru Mike Joyce
Caught in the Act….AND THE ILLEGAL ACTIVITY CONTINUES …. thought you’d
all want to know the latest!Last night, John Sullivan’s campaign for Congress in
the 3rd Congressional District put up 1,000 yard signs
in the 19th Ward and Oak Lawn. This morning about 3
were left. The signs had been torn down over night.That, evidently, was not enough for Sullivan’?s
opponent John Kelly. This afternoon, Kelly Campaign
guru Mike Joyce, drove his official Cook County car
around the district to tear down more signs. He
stopped out in front of the Sullivan campaign
headquarters and his accomplice got out and ripped
down all of the Sullivan signs in front of the
Sullivan campaign office. Campaign Manager Andrew
Moore ran out of the office and stopped the thief with
signs in hand. In an act of courage, Mike Joyce drove
off in his county car and abandoned his young
accomplice. Later he called the kid on his cell phone
and told him to take the bus home.John Sullivan, who at the time of the sign theft was
receiving the endorsement of the Concerned Latino
Voters, said, “I can’t believe that my opponents’
campaign is more interested in campaign thuggery than
in talking about the important issues in this campaign
like the need for universal health care, a plan to get
of Iraq, safeguarding pensions and protecting civil
and human rights for all.”Sullivan went on to say “The county policy about use
of cars is clear. They are only to be used for
official county business, not political shenanigans.
That county business hopefully does not include theft,
vandalism and electioneering on a Sunday afternoon.”Sullivan received the endorsement of the Concerned
Latino Voters because of Congressman Dan Lipinski’s
vote in favor of HR 4437. (Lipinski is Sullivan’s
other opponent in the race.) That bad vote by Lipinski
served as the catalyst for the March 10 protest march
in Chicago. Sullivan is strongly committed to the
cause of justice and integral immigration reform that
respects the human and civil rights of ALL immigrants.
You could at least have the respect to go pick up the poor kid….
It’s been the Kelly hacks who’ve been spouting off about all their lawnsigns and then when Sullivan finally puts his out, it’s the Kelly hacks who get caught taking them down.
The Kelly hacks are now trying to claim that this was a Streets-and-Sanitation issue though in fact, it was a bunch of thugs who came in the dead of night and pulled the signs down. When confronted, they claimed they “worked for John Sullivan”. The problem was that one of the people confronting these thugs was John Sullivan himself!
It was only next day when Joyce himself was trying to tear down the last few Sullivan signs up and down Western Ave. that he got caught — or rather he was in his Official Cook County vehicle and hit the gas at the first sight of Sullivan Campaign Manager Andy Moore running after him. In Joyce’s haste to get away, he abandoned the kid who was doing the actual demolition. It’s the kid who spilled the beans.
This is nothing but organized vandalism. It’s done in cohoots with the Lipinski Campaign since the goal of both Lipinski and Kelly is to get Lipinski a second term. There is no other reason why someone would offer themselves as a third candidate and then work in such foul ways to undermine candidate number two. Kelly is doing Lipinski’s dirty work.
It’s fair then not to talk of separate campaigns but of a joint Lipinski-Kelly Campaign — since they share so many goals and activites.
Another thing they share is a lack of volunteers! Last week, at the South Side Irish Parade — the last major event prior to the Election — neither had even one volunteer handing out literature. The only volunteers out there were for John Sullivan for Congress.
This weekend, the last weekend before the election, again, nobody from Lipinski-Kelly was walking the precincts. Sure you had the precinct captains but again nobody from Lipinski-Kelly!
For the 2nd time in two weeks — for the most important two weeks leading up to the election — the one-and-only candidate with honest-to-goodness volunteers was John Sullivan. Here are a few shots from our group…
They say Lipinski is taking a “Rose Garden” approach to the campaign though it’s unprecedented for a 1st term Congressman to do so. Lipinski after all is no William McKinley. Now, judging by the lack of voluteers for Kelly, it appears that Kelly is also taking the “Rose Garden” approach — except of course for the dirty tricks in the dead of night, when no cameras are around.
And maybe that’s why John Sullivan might actually pull this one off. He actually represents real people.
Check out Eric Zorn’s Blog Post, Yard signs: Portentous placards or insignificant inducements?
Further down the thread, he mentions what “inspired” the post. Guess what it was?
Jim Morici’s hired guns put up a few hundred signs all around Arlington Hts last night… without permission. It was practically every other corner. Most homeowners seem to have removed them by this morning (I saw village crews also removing several illegally placed ones).
Reminder to candidates: If you’re a Democrat don’t put yard signs out in front of hard-core right-wingers’ homes the day before garbage day (purely coincidental that it’s also Primary Day). They’d rather put their Alan Keyes signs back up than host a Jim Morici sign.