Wednesday, May 3, 2017

EXTRA: Note to GOP; Quit yer whinnin' and find a challenger

The latest whiny rant that makes the Illinois Republican Party seem like a six-year-old who just dropped his ice cream cone and Mommy won’t buy him another came out Wednesday, and this time Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White is the target,
WHITE: Two decades, and counting, in current post

The one-time Party of Lincoln wants us to be all offended that White will not say for sure if he’s running for re-election in 2018. He has hinted in the past he’d like to retire (he’s already 82 and has held the post since 1999), but seems to be one of those political people who just can’t see himself doing anything but holding office.

OF COURSE, FOR Republicans the real issue is that if White does run again, it is very likely they won’t be able to come up with a credible challenger. That would mean yet another high-profile political post they would likely lose come the 2018 election cycle.

If White does retire, maybe some GOPer has a chance to slip into office and prop up the potential future political opportunities for Gov. Bruce Rauner. Of course, that’s presuming voters aren’t so fed up with the Illinois political status quo of ‘no budget’ that they don’t just dump him too.

Republicans are trying to make it an issue that White ran for re-election back in 2014 even though he previously had hinted at retirement, and has since made statements in 2015 and 2016 that he didn’t want a sixth term as secretary of state.

We, the voters of Illinois, didn’t seem to get too offended just over two years ago. Who knows how we’ll react. Or do you really think a gaudy, cluttered license plate design is really the kind of issue that will rile up voters?
RAUNER: He'd like political allies

ALTHOUGH IF YOU really want to get technical, you’d think the Illinois GOP would be the last entity to try to make an issue out of term-limit pledges.

For they’re the ones who include amongst their ranks Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill. He’s a congressman from the part of Illinois that is suburban St. Louis, and when he originally ran for office back in 1996 he made a firm pledge that – if elected – he would not serve more than six, two-year terms in office.

Which means we should be coming up on the 10-year anniversary of Shimkus’ departure from the Washington scene. Somehow, Shimkus keeps concluding that his presence in the District of Columbia is still needed. As far as I know, he’s going to face about as credible of opposition on Election Day ’18 for his congressional seat as White will for secretary of state.
SHIMKUS: Supposed to leave 10 yrs ago

It is kind of odd in White’s case, because I remember when he first got elected to his present post in 1998, the idea was that White was a long-time state legislator and Cook County recorder who would serve a term or two in Springfield before taking political “retirement.”

JESSE, HOWEVER, SEEMS to be a political survivor. One whose presence causes the Republican Party to engage in such lame nonsense as what they’re now spewing.

And yes, this latest Republican statement tells us that White is sticking around because Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, wants him too. It all comes back to Madigan, in the minds of the Illinois GOP.

I guess the idea of coming up with more credible candidates who can actually beat the opposition is an idea that goes beyond their intellect; or perhaps even the power of all the millions of his own money that Rauner has committed to spending in next year’s election cycle.

All I know is that it is likely Rauner will be a little bit poorer come early 2019 – and probably just as lonely politically as he is currently.

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