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Morrison: Palatine GOP stacked deck to get Rauner endorsed

The Palatine GOP just announced its endorsement of Bruce Rauner and other candidates for the March primary election.

Committeeman Aaron Del Mar, a Rauner supporter, said, "Hundreds of Republicans voted in our endorsement session," but he failed to mention that he allowed hundreds of proxy/absentee votes for Rauner from residents of Chicago, Niles, Schaumburg and other non-Palatine areas.

They got to vote by paying a nominal PTRO membership fee just before the endorsement session and solely to swing the Palatine Republican Party endorsement to the gubernatorial or judicial candidates of their choice.

This was a good fundraiser for PTRO, but the process wasn't transparent until after the fact. Therefore, Palatine's GOP sample ballot needs a disclaimer: endorsements won "The Chicago Way."

Conversely, Wheeling Township Republicans restricted their endorsement session to actual precinct captains, 90 percent of whom voted for Rauner's challenger, conservative reformer Rep. Jeanne Ives.

Ives is supported by General Assembly colleagues, too, including Reps. David McSweeney, Barb Wheeler, Peter Breen, Allen Skillicorn, Margo McDermed, John Cabello, Reggie Phillips, and Senators Tim Bivins and Kyle McCarter.

It's unprecedented to have so many elected officials oppose so strongly an incumbent from their own party, but it's happening with Bruce Rauner. It's because Illinois deserves a better leader.

A West Point graduate, former Army officer, and respected state legislator, Jeanne Ives has been faithful to our party's platform and actually has the depth and breadth of knowledge on key issues to protect taxpayers and families. She is better equipped to negotiate with legislators for policies that will dig Illinois out of its fiscal hole and moral morass.

Bruce Rauner lost the trust and support of us who backed him before by one too many of his own fatal policy choices. That's why we're now endorsing Jeanne Ives for governor.

State Rep. Tom Morrison

Palatine

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