Bean, Walsh spar over uncounted ballots

Republican Joe Walsh continued to speak and act with confidence Thursday in his apparent victory in the officially undecided 8th Congressional District election, while Democratic incumbent Melissa Bean criticized him for it.

Bean currently trails Walsh by 347 votes with numerous absentee and provisional ballots in Cook, Lake and McHenry counties to be added to the final total on Tuesday.

But Walsh has been on a speaking tour of sorts, from Fox News to the local Republican Assembly of Lake County, while preparing to attend a “freshman orientation” for newly elected congressmen in Washington, D.C., Sunday.

“I can tell you I was never surprised about what happened in this race,” Walsh told fellow members of the Republican Assembly of Lake County Thursday night at their monthly meeting in Mundelein. “But I can understand why the people who weren't intimately involved in this race were surprised.

“I try not to say too many things with absolute certainty, but this I know we had the largest grass-roots campaign of any candidate in the state.”

Nevertheless, both Walsh and his campaign manager Nick Provenzano said they had a number of people keeping a close watch on the tabulation of the final absentee ballots in all three counties. In fact, they solicited financial help from their supporters Thursday for the expenses this part of the process is incurring.

But Bean's office accused Walsh of taking a cavalier attitude toward the uncounted ballots. “The people have spoken but have not yet been heard,” Bean said in a written statement Thursday. “Until every vote is counted, we cannot hear their final word.”

While Walsh's attendance of the orientation session this weekend precedes the official tally of election results, House Republican Conference Press Secretary Mary Vought said it's standard procedure for candidates in undecided races to take part.

Walsh, meanwhile, promised supporters Thursday that he would not repeat the “mistake” of Bean and her Republican predecessor Phil Crane by seeking more than three terms and thus falling out of touch with constituents.

“As I say to my fellow Republicans, we have been given a gift,” Walsh said. “If we don't do what we need to do in two years, our butts are going to be thrown out of that city (Washington, D.C.) so quickly.”

He said the new Republican majority would make a priority of curbing government spending and defunding the health care reform bill until a Republican president can help them repeal it altogether.

But Walsh said communication with the public was the most important thing a fact he believed Democrats forgot.

“While we're defunding Obamacare, it's important that we're telling the public what we're doing and why we're doing it,” he said.