Its Election Time In Illinois

So last week I said I was going to vote for Andy McKenna in the GOP primary for Governor of Illinois. Then this morning I get an e-mail from John Ruberry; The Marathon Pundit; who's a much better political commentator than myself, telling me I should check out this blog post of his.

Columnist: Andy McKenna swipes Notre Dame alumni data which links to a much larger story at The Observer . Basically some McKenna campaign folks circumvented some rules at the ND Alumni Association, and got most of their alumni e-mail addresses and used them to solicit for his campaign.

Is this enough to change my vote? I'm not quite sure yet, but I will say I'm glad I didn't stop at the early voting office here in town earlier this week like I had intended.

I will say this, it does make me wonder. Illinois has a (well deserved) reputation for it's rough and tumble politics, and the less than ethical conduct of it's officials. If McKenna wants to be seen as the outsider; even though he headed the state GOP; he needs to conduct himself, and have his staff and volunteers conduct themselves in a manner that is beyond reproach. Anything that looks like "the same old Illinois politics" isn't a good thing.

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Adam or Andy

It's primary election time here in the Land of Lincoln. Hard not to notice by the number of increasingly annoying ads being aired. With the latest SCOTUS ruling, that will get even worse this fall.

So now the question comes up, who do I vote for in the primary for Governor? Well, it won't be a Democrat. That party has totally screwed up this state, and I'd be inclined to vote for the Communist candidate in the general election over any of the state's Democratic contenders.

Then when I started looking at the GOP candidates I noticed there are really only two who aren't political insiders who've been hanging around Springfield so long they forget there is anywhere else in the state.

So my choice has come down to Adam Andrzejewski or Andy McKenna. Both are business people, not career politicians, which is a point for each. The fact my middle name is Andrew has nothing to do with those two being the finalists for my vote.

Both have decent plans for curbing state spending, auditing where our money currently goes, and trying not to raise taxes to fix our budget mess.

Both want more accountability from Springfield, more transparency on where our money is going. Andrzejewski wins that fight with his "Every Dime Online, In Real Time" pledge, though I wonder if that will be feasible in a reasonable amount of time.

McKenna's idea to start with the recent Auditor General report for consolidation of programs, and using that report to weed out the unknown programs; those that the head of the agencies couldn't identify; sound like a faster way to getting some of the budget mess solved than a forensic audit. Though that audit is probably necessary, it won't do much to take care of the $10 billion deficit we are currently facing.

Another plus for both is that neither seems to be fixated on Chicago first, then the rest of the state, a major problem with the other party. Yes, Chicago is the first city of the state, but the fact is letting the Rockford's and Peoria of Illinois rot while the legislature debates Chicago issues isn't the way to get the whole state moving.

Taxes are going to be a tough issue. All of the Democrats claim that the only solution to our budget woes is a tax increase. All the Republicans claim it can be fixed without them. I'm not sure that is true, but I think that it should be the last resort. Pat Quinn's idea of a 50% increase is crazy, if the budget is that badly messed up they need to figure out a way to get closer to their means, as opposed to raising taxes that high.

Property taxes are something else that has to be addressed. Unfortunately, while all the candidates claim they will do something about them, the real solution to those problems is going to be local. Excessive numbers of local taxing bodies makes it almost impossible to navigate a tax bill, or figure out how to reduce it. Local government consolidation is probably the most logical choice, starting with schools, park districts and the elimination of townships as taxing bodies.

One thing they could do in Springfield that would help both at the state and local levels would be to change the formula for how State guaranteed pensions are calculated. No where other than government can you sell back all your accrued vacation and sick days and have that counted as salary for determining a pension. Most companies can't afford to allow those days to be carried over more than a year or two because of tax implications.

Secondly, change the retirement ages for teachers and public employees (except firefighters and cops) to 65. If they want to retire after 30 years at 55 and collect a pension, fashion it like Social Security, and pay 60% at that age, 80% at age 60, and 100% of the eligible amount at 65.

Sorry for drifting, back to who will I vote for? Probably Andy McKenna, as of today. I think of the two his life experience has better prepared him to be the Governor, I also think Matt Murphy as Lt. Governor is a good choice. He has enough experience in Springfield to be helpful, but no so much that he's forgotten the real world.

Adam, I think is still a bit too young, and as the guy in DC is proving, novices aren't the best choices in tough times. However, if he does lose the primary I hope he stays involved in Illinois politics and keeps shining the light of openness on Springfield.

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Ignorant Idiots

I got a funny comment today from a post that's 5 months old. Obviously a guy calling himself "LongliveGOP" wasn't very happy about my skewering of a few of Adam Andrzejewski's campaign workers.

His comment?

If your ignorant ass would stop and read what Adam is about you wouldnt think that way. Man some people can just be assholes...

Now, we each are entitled to our opinions, unlike my new favorite reader, I like to base mine on fact. First, I'm not an asshole, however, I do have a circumcision scar on my neck.

I'm guessing he googled or binged Adam's name, and came across that entry. He probably didn't bother to go back to the search results, and find the second post from that day entitled "Apology Accepted" where I stated that I had gone back and read a number of his positions, and agreed with many of them, but still disagreed with the conduct of one of his workers.

So, LongLiveGOP, today's lesson is before you decided to call someone an ignorant ass for something, maybe, just maybe, you should get all of your facts. Otherwise you might look like, well, an ignorant ass.

/bullypulpit

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Apology Accepted

I received the following this evening, following my Adam Andrzejewski post. I accept Bruno's apology, and probably won't toss him under a bus, unless one of Adam's flacks calls my work phone again.

Bob,
I just saw the blog post.

If you were going to throw some one under the bus, it should have been me
for not protecting information better.

Adam stands for things that we both agree on, and the fault for your being
on the list is entirely mine, not the candidate's.

I hope that you post this e-mail as a response, as it I am to blame. Why
Adam should suffer for my lack of action is unfair.

Read his policy page and tell my why he should be lumped in with the 99% of
politicians when this race is his first foray into politics.

Again, I am the one to blame for your troubles today, not Adam, who was busy
campaigning today.

Bruno Behrend
Adam for Illinois

Bruno probably is right, I shouldn't toss the candidate under the bus for the over-zealous work of a few campaign workers. However, it is the candidate who's ultimately responsible for the workers they employee and the voluteers they select.

During recent campaigns, especially national ones, lots of bloggers, commentators and pundits rightfully assailed candidates who hid behind the idea that "it was an over zealous worker who said that, and not the position of the candiate", when many of us believed that the candidate would have said it, if they could have gotten away with it.

I'm not lumping Adam in with those folks, either. I'm just saying if one wants to be the candidate of principle and position, then all the staff needs to know that, and know it means all the time.

And I have read, and do agree with a lot of the things on Adam's policy page. But there is a long way until there is even a primary, and I'll withhold judgement on who I think is the best candidate until election time gets a lot closer.

PS.. Hammer the idiot who called me the first two times. A public flogging would be most entertaining. (/sarcasm)

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Adam Andrzejewski Can't Take A Hint

So the folks from Adam Andrzejewski's campaign are evidently not real bright.

I asked a while back to be removed from their e-mail list, and was. Then this afternoon, I got a call from someone at his campaign, on my work phone. I said that this is my work phone, please don't call it, and please don't bother me anymore. Within a minute my phone rang again, this time without caller ID, and it was the same guy.

Adam, if your folks can't follow simple "please don't bother me on my work phone" type instructions, how much good are they going to do for us if they are trying to assist a governor?

I think I know why they are calling and the answer to the question is "no, I wouldn't be interested".

Thanks though, and have a great day.

*** UPDATE ***

At least the third caller, Veronica, didn't block her number and identified herself. But she called within minutes of the other callers being asked to NOT CALL MY WORK NUMBER.

One more call from them and I'm bitching to the state.

I guess his campaign is proving the old adage, 99% of politicians give the rest of them a bad name.

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