THE ILLINOIZE: GOP Candidates Rolling out LG Choices...Schimpf and Rabine Have Picked...Davis Recruiting Primaries Against Miller Supporters...LIG Back and Forth Continues
January 11, 2022
Good morning.
Chicago Public Schools students are back in the classroom today…I think…after another nonsensical fight between CPS and CTU.
If only politics were about doing what’s best instead of scoring political points.
But, alas, welcome to Illinois.
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Let’s get to it.
SCHIMPF AND RABINE CHOOSE LG CANDIDATES
Former State Sen. Paul Schimpf is hoping to reboot his struggling gubernatorial campaign Tuesday with the announcement of a moderate suburban woman as his running mate.
Schimpf, a conservative from Waterloo in southern Illinois, will choose McHenry County Board member and former State Representative candidate Carolyn Schofield from Crystal Lake, according to two sources familiar with the announcement.
Neither Schimpf’s campaign or Schofield returned messages from The Illinoize Monday.
Schimpf is scheduled to announce his choice at 10am this morning at the Raue Center for the Arts in Schofield’s hometown of Crystal Lake.
Schofield served on the Crystal Lake City Council from 2009-2012 and on the McHenry County Board from 2012-2016. She lost a Republican primary to Allen Skillicorn in 2016 for the 66th House District. She was reappointed to the County Board in 2019 and lost another primary to Skillicorn in 2020.
Republican businessman Gary Rabine, meanwhile, has selected former Cook County GOP Chairman Aaron Del Mar as his running mate, sources say. Del Mar is the Palatine Township Committeeman and also serves as the Palatine Township Highway Commissioner. He also served on the Palatine City Council. Del Mar is of Filipino descent.
Del Mar has a…colorful…and likely problematic…oppo book.
Rabine’s campaign is expected to announce Del Mar as his running mate in the next few days. Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) has already chosen former talk radio host Stephanie Trussell as his running mate. Venture capitalist Jesse Sullivan’s campaign has not yet chosen a running mate, we’re told.
Read more here.
DAVIS ALLIES RECRUITING HALBROOK AND CAULKINS CHALLENGERS
Hell hath no fury like a congressman scorned.
Sources tell me Congressman Rodney Davis (R-Taylorville) is targeting two top legislative allies of his primary opponent, Congresswoman Mary Miller (R-Oakland.)
Miller is married to Rep. Chris Miller (R-Oakland), a member of the so-called “Eastern Bloc,” a group of ultra-conservative members based in southeast Illinois. Two of those Eastern Bloc members, Rep. Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville) and Rep. Dan Caulkins (R-Decatur), are reportedly supporting Miller in the upcoming June primary.
(Disclosure: I worked on Davis’ 2012 campaign, I worked on a primary campaign against Halbrook in 2016, a primary campaign against Caulkins in 2018, and a primary campaign against Mary Miller in 2020.)
Under redistricting, Halbrook would represent Davis’ home in Christian County. Davis is reportedly unhappy with Halbrook, and has dispatched top aides to recruit a candidate to primary Halbrook in the June primary.
Davis’ campaign manager denied the story when contacted Monday night.
But we’re told Davis staffers have made an entreaty to Macon County Board member Grant Noland, the son of longtime Sen. Duane Noland.
When contacted by The Illinoize Monday night, Halbrook said the efforts were “news to me.”
Davis wouldn’t be allowed to directly fund a primary candidate through his federal campaign fund, but his large network of deep pocketed donors could prove incredibly helpful to any potential challenger.
We’re told a Caulkins challenge may be less likely, but could also in the cards.
GOP AND DEMS BLAME GAME OVER VACANT INSPECTOR GENERAL
Call it the fox guarding the hen house or the inmates running the asylum, but legislators are deadlocked on who they want to hire to investigate the General Assembly on ethics complaints.
Former appellate judge Carol Pope recently resigned as LIG after criticizing a legislative ethics bill that she said “watered down” her office making it harder to begin investigations into lawmakers.
Sen. Jil Tracy (R-Quincy) is criticizing Democrats on the bicameral, bipartisan Legislative Ethics Commission for pushing a candidate for LIG that wasn’t recommended by a search committee. She says Republicans are pushing to follow the recommendation of the independent search committee.
“The Republicans, basically, want to respect the process of the search committee,” Tracy said. “We want to respect that a citizen’s advisory group told us who they think the most qualified candidate is because, overwhelmingly, they favor the candidate that the Republicans [support.]”
Tracy says Democrats want a current inspector in the LIG office under Pope to get the job, but that person wasn’t recommended by the search committee.
Here’s the full video of our conversation:
Rep. Kelly Burke (D-Evergreen Park), who Chairs of the House Ethics Committee a sits on the Legislative Ethics Commission, declined an interview request from The Illinoize. But, she said in a statement that Republicans have politicized the process by allowing candidate names to be released.
“The Legislative Ethics [Commission’s] work, including the deliberations on the selection of the Legislative Inspector General, are intended to be bipartisan and confidential,” Burke said. “It is unfortunate that my Republican colleagues have failed to honor that tradition and have instead blocked good faith efforts to come to consensus on which qualified candidates to present to the General Assembly for final selection. Worse, they went public with the candidates' names and deliberately presented the career highlights of only their preferred candidate.”
Tracy says the potential candidate’s names were leaked to a liberal political blog by one of the legislative leaders minutes after she sent a letter to legislative leaders informing them of the impasse.
Read more here.
WELCOME TO THE WORLD
Congratulations to GOP candidate for Governor Jesse Sullivan and his wife, Monique, on the birth of their son, Will. (Great name.)
Also to Illinois GOP Communications Director Joe Hackler and wife Amanda on the birth Sunday of pretty little Elle Marie.
Our best to the families.
BEFORE WE GO…
Back tomorrow for subscribers.