Mailer fuels fire in Republican race to replace state Sen. Duffy

If the mailers in the Republican primary to replace retiring state Sen. Dan Duffy are to be believed, two of the candidates are secret Democrats and the other is a special interest lobbyist.

All three candidates — Mettawa Mayor Casey Urlacher, Barrington Hills Village President Martin McLaughlin and Hawthorn Woods resident Dan McConchie — said Thursday they are disappointed by the race's negative tone.

Much of the negative campaigning has been carried out by political action committees, not the individual campaigns.

One piece of mail from Liberty Principles PAC, run by conservative radio host and former GOP gubernatorial candidate Dan Proft, declares that McLaughlin and Urlacher are Democrats pretending to be Republicans.

Both deny the claim.

McLaughlin said he donated to former Democratic Illinois Comptroller Daniel Hynes, who served from 1999 to 2011, because he was a family friend and because Hynes wanted to consolidate the treasurer and comptroller offices, an idea McLaughlin supports and thought was ahead of its time.

“I registered in 1982 as a Republican, my father ran Republican campaigns in the state of New Jersey, my grandfather worked for a Republican administration in Philadelphia, and suddenly I'm not a real Republican,” McLaughlin told the Daily Herald Editorial Board last month.

“If the Republican playbook is ‘reduce spending, reduce taxes, reform government and consolidate departments' ... I've done all those in Barrington Hills and I've done it in a short period of time.”

The ads also ding Urlacher for donating money to Democrat Alexi Giannoulias when he was running for state treasurer in 2006 — and because Urlacher never voted in a Republican primary.

Urlacher said Giannoulias is an old friend. He said he has not voted in Republican primaries because he made a promise to his brother, Chicago Bears legend Brian Urlacher, to stay out of politics while the latter was playing professional football. Brian Urlacher retired in 2013.

“For 13 years Brian and I made a commitment to each other. I didn't hurt him and when he was done he pushed me to be mayor, and here we are,” Urlacher said.

“I'm in a nonpartisan village. Why would I declare what (party) I was? Democrats and Republicans support me throughout my village.”

McConchie said Thursday he has not personally attacked McLaughlin and Urlacher, and has zero control over what outside political groups do on his behalf. By law, candidates and PACs are not allowed to communicate.

“The information (the PACs) have put out has been accurate. They've sourced that information,” McConchie said. “But the way in which they've done things is not my style of campaign.” McConchie said he was disappointed with the Urlacher campaign, which put out a mailer claiming McConchie is a special interest lobbyist and “part of the problem” in Springfield.

McConchie is the vice president of government affairs for Americans United for Life, a national anti-abortion legal advocacy group. He is not a registered lobbyist in Illinois.

Urlacher said Thursday that unlike the negative messages about him, all of the literature he has put out has been truthful.

McLaughlin said Thursday he hopes voters are able to see through the politics and make their choice on the candidates' merits.

“We have serious problems in the state right now and we need serious candidates,” McLaughlin said. “Whether that's Casey, Dan or myself, I'd rather the public gets an opportunity to judge us on our qualifications, not on misinformation.”

The 26th state Senate district covers 253 square miles that include large portions of central and southwest Lake County, as well as parts of northwestern Cook County, northeastern Kane County, and southeastern McHenry County. The district includes parts of Libertyville, Lake Zurich, Cary, Algonquin and the Barrington area.

The winner of the primary between McConchie, McLaughlin and Urlacher at this point has no opponent in November's general election. No Democrat filed to run for the seat, which Duffy has held for eight years, and the party has not named a candidate.