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Home » News » Politics » Election

After wrongful prosecutions, experts offer ideas to repair trust in Lake County

Updated May 20, 2012 7:04 AM

Attorneys and legal activists are offering suggestions on how to correct the problem of wrongful prosecutions in Lake County. The ideas include additional training...

GOP chooses Davis for US Rep. Tim Johnson’s seat

Posted May 19, 2012 3:41 PM

Republican officials on Saturday chose Rodney Davis — an aide to U.S. Rep. John Shimkus — as the November ballot replacement for longtime U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson, who...

Mundelein trustee announces mayoral bid

Updated May 18, 2012 3:45 PM

Mundelein Village Trustee Steve Lentz announced his candidacy this week for mayor, more than 10 months ahead of elections in April. "I thought I would throw my hat...

Early political spats suggest nothing off-limits

Posted May 18, 2012 10:30 AM

WASHINGTON — The early border skirmishes of Campaign 2012 are reviving questions about one candidate’s former pastor and shining a spotlight on the other’s high...

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U.S. President

Early political spats suggest nothing off-limits

Posted May 18, 2012 10:30 AM

WASHINGTON — The early border skirmishes of Campaign 2012 are reviving questions about one candidate’s former pastor and shining a spotlight on the other’s high school high jinks. Can a fresh round of questions about President Barack Obama’s birth certificate be far behind?In a campaign year when voters have declared the economy their top concern, Obama and Mitt Romney are on notice that there’s no statute of limitations on the issues or conduct that might be used against them. And there’s sure to be somebody with money or other means to insert even low-threshold matters into the political dialogue. “It’s open season,” says Eric Dezenhall, an expert on crisis management. “This is going to be very rough.”Thursday’s disclosure that a Republican-leaning super PAC was considering a $10 million ad campaign highlighting Obama’s past links to inflammatory preacher Jeremiah Wright was just the latest evidence that if there ever were limits on what was fair game in a campaign, they’re largely history.That’s thanks to a flood of new money into politics, the ease of spreading political attacks via the Internet and changing attitudes about what’s an appropriate topic for discussion. Long gone are the days when candidates’ extramarital escapades were off-limits, photographers avoided taking pictures of Franklin D. Roosevelt in a wheelchair and a few newspapers and TV stations acted as gatekeepers.The New York Times quoted backers of this year’s Wright ad proposal as aiming to “do exactly what John McCain would not let us do” in the 2008 campaign.Romney repudiated the Wright plan, as did the super PAC financier weighing it. Nonetheless, Obama’s campaign accused Romney of refusing to “stand up to the most extreme voices in the Republican Party” and the president’s supporters were happy to associate Romney with what campaign strategist David Axelrod called the “purveyors of slime.”McCain, the 2008 GOP nominee, spoke out forcefully during the campaign four years ago against efforts to use Wright’s provocative speeches against Obama, and the issue largely subsided. But since then, a series of court cases has cleared the way for an onslaught of campaign ads from outside groups seeking to influence elections.Such so-called super PACs can be a megaphone for matters that would have gotten less attention in the past, and still allow candidates to deny they’re involved. But outside messengers who do the dirty work in campaigns are nothing new in presidential politics. Democrat Michael Dukakis in 1988 was the target of an infamous outside ad about a furloughed rapist named Willie Horton. Democrat John Kerry in 2004 saw his record as a Vietnam War hero mischaracterized and used against him by the outside group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.Political historian Evan Cornog, author of “The Power and the Story,” said the staying power of a particular issue or charge usually depends on whether it jibes with the public’s understanding of a candidate.“We are addicted to narratives, and if something fits with the story, it’s going to get some traction,” says Cornog. “A good political operative will have a fairly good sense of what will work and what will not work.” Both sides are experiencing this in real time:ŸQuestions about Romney’s bad behavior toward classmates during his high school years, revealed in a recent Washington Post article, are being used to reinforce the profile that Romney’s critics have tried to create of the GOP candidate as a corporate bully. The Democratic National Committee circulated the Post article and highlighted just one sentence about Romney’s behavior: “It was vicious.”

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U.S. Congress

GOP chooses Davis for US Rep. Tim Johnson’s seat

Posted May 19, 2012 3:41 PM

Republican officials on Saturday chose Rodney Davis — an aide to U.S. Rep. John Shimkus — as the November ballot replacement for longtime U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson, who dropped his re-election bid earlier this year.Davis, of Taylorville, was one of four candidates that the GOP chairmen from 14 counties considered for the newly created 13th District, which stretches across parts of central and southwestern Illinois. “The Committee is unanimous in their support for Davis and looks forward to working closely with him to win the 13th Congressional District and maintain the Republican majority in Washington, D.C.,” said a statement from the chairmen, who met in Springfield.Davis will take on Democrat David Gill, a Bloomington physician, in November. “I welcome him to the race,” said Gill, who has said he plans to reject funding from corporate PACs and will challenge his Republican opponent to do the same. “When we have representatives in Washington that are funded by ordinary systems, then we can have good things happen for ordinary people,” he said. Davis did not immediately return a message seeking comment. The three other GOP candidates were Johnson’s former chief of staff, Jerry Clarke, attorney and former Miss America Erika Harold and Macoupin County business owner Kathy Wassink. The candidates appeared at forums across the district in the weeks leading up to the decision. The forums were an effort to give party members a chance to tell their local leaders who they preferred in a situation where they wouldn’t otherwise have a say in the choice, state GOP Chairman Pat Brady said. The events also gave the candidates — none of whom is a household name — a chance to build name recognition.“That’s a big benefit,” Brady said. “We wanted to make it as fair, open and transparent as we could.”Raising money, Brady said, will be Davis’ top priority. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has identified Illinois as key to picking up 25 Democratic seats to regain control of the U.S. House. Champaign County Republican Party chairman Habeeb Habeeb estimated it will take $1.5 million to $2 million to win the race.“And it may go farther than that if the Democrats throw more money into it,” he said. He added that the ability to raise money was one of a handful of key factors that influenced his decision, along with Davis’ ability to build enthusiasm among GOP voters and quickly develop a mastery of the issues and the district.Johnson announced his surprise retirement in April after more than four decades in politics and 12 years in Congress. He said he was ready to spend time with his family — the 65-year-old has nine children from three marriages and more than a dozen grandchildren and great-grandchildren.Johnson said he first thought of retiring late last year as a last-minute vote in Washington forced him to miss a family holiday outing. Johnson, who was accustomed to limited opposition, also was facing a re-election campaign in a district that stretched Urbana to the suburbs east of St. Louis. He earned a reputation as an independent-minded Republican, breaking with his party on support of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and saying earlier this year that he backed longshot presidential candidate Ron Paul. He was also the only member of Illinois Republican congressional delegation who didn’t object to the new state congressional map, which many Republicans complained Democrats had drawn to favor themselves.