Challenger brings supporters to Mazzochi's office to refute 'attack ad'
No, Republican state Rep. Deanne Mazzochi did not decorate her Westmont office with her opponent's signs as an early Halloween prank.
Instead, her opponent in the Nov. 6 election, Democrat Jim Caffrey of Elmhurst, and about 10 supporters gathered on the front lawn of Mazzochi's office Wednesday to install signs and call for Mazzochi to rescind and apologize for a recent flier mailed to House District 47 voters.
The flier, which says it was paid for by the Republican Party, calls Caffrey a "hand-picked candidate" by House Speaker Michael Madigan.
But Caffrey says he has vowed from the start of his campaign not to vote for Madigan for speaker and has prided himself on not taking money from the Democratic Party.
"I've called for a new speaker of the House and I have from the very beginning of my campaign. It's been on my Web page. It was on my first mailer back in February," Caffrey said, speaking just feet from the front door to Mazzochi's office. "I've been at candidate forums with my opponent where I've called for a new speaker. Yet, they say I'm a hand-picked candidate. It's just not true."
Mazzochi did not return calls seeking comment Wednesday. Caffrey said his campaign called her twice Tuesday with no response.
"I understand it's a campaign and you do competitive, comparative ads. I get it. But to actually say a lie, which everyone knows isn't true, is very frustrating," Caffrey said. "We called (Mazzochi) twice yesterday to see if she would set the record straight and we didn't hear back. So today we're asking for her to do the same thing. We just made it a little more public."
During a Sept. 21 endorsement interview with the Daily Herald editorial board, Caffrey also called for a new speaker. At that time, Mazzochi said Caffrey voting for someone other than Madigan wouldn't matter.
"One of the founding reasons I got in this race is because we need to select a new speaker of the House," Caffrey said. "The speaker has been there for 33 of the last 35 years. And we need to be asking if we're seeing the results we should be seeing and the answer is no. We're not, so we need to make that change."
Mazzochi then accused Caffrey of "perpetuating the Madigan machine."
"When (Caffrey) says 'I think I'm going to vote for a Democrat, just not Mike Madigan,' well the fact of the matter is if you cast that vote, you're still going to get more Mike Madigan," Mazzochi said. "Even if you say you won't vote for Madigan for speaker, if you ultimately wind up voting for all the things Mike Madigan is interested in, such as the graduated income tax, you're going to wind up in the same problematic position we've been in."
The 47th District includes all or parts of Elmhurst, Oak Brook, Oakbrook Terrace, Hinsdale and Westmont.