Here’s a mailing from a previously unknown group to me, apparently a SuperPAC calling itself the New Prosperity Foundation, 44 S. LaSalle St., Chicago, IL 60605.
So far this year, it has spent $35,103 against Republicans, , specifically, Jim Ovberweis, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, as found at OpenSecrets.org.
Former Illinois Manufacturers Association head, Greg Baise, who got his start in politics walking Jim Thompson’s dog (no lie, I saw him and the dog with Jim Thompson at the Kane County Fair) is head of this group.
This looks so like the attack pieces that Bruce Rauner ran against Jeanne Ives.
Loved seeing that come into my mailbox today.
He has no chance of beating Underwood.
Rezin remains the strongest candidate IMO.
Anything to help get people to think differently.
Has anybody figured out which “Madigan special interest allies” this piece is referring to?
Eminclake, Rich Miller seemed to be implying that Gradel had something to do with this.
https://capitolfax.com/2020/02/07/im-sensing-a-pattern/
I had a similar thought as yours though.
Couldn’t this benefit any candidate who isn’t Oberweis?
The anti-Oberweis one by itself doesn’t necessarily push people towards Gradel.
Perhaps taken together though…
Well, I guess we can rule out Catella as the source.
Gradel is more than an educated guess.
Looks like textbook Rauner consultant doings.
The ratio of super PACs supporting Gradel is 1 to 3 against the number of people Gradel’s clinc mistreatment led to their blindness.
Do these people like Baise just want to pig out on money or do they want to win this seat?
Gradel would get fewer votes in the general election that Oberweis.
Less than a year ago Gradel lived in Florida and ran a clinic a Florida Republican State Senator said “preyed upon desperate patients.”
Instead these dinosaurs put their head in the sand and think Underwood wouldn’t make mincemeat out of Gradel.
Many in the mainstream media have been deathly silent about Gradel’s nuclear-level scanadal because they want a damaged Republican nominee so Underwood can win this Republican district again.
Do these dinosaurs know about Gradel’s shady clinic or do they know and not care?
Gradel was sued in federal court last year (yes only last year) by the FDA as one of only two defendants and is named on page one of the federal court consent decree and Gradel signed the last page.
That decree shut down Gradel’s clinic in Florida (he then moved to Illinois to run for Congreess) and in addition to shutting down his clinic it included a permanent injunction against Ted Gradel from practicing biologic medicine for the REST OF HIS LIFE.
Three women went blind after Gradel’s clinic was defiant to repeated FDA warnings that his treatments where not just unproven but dangerous.
So finally the FDA took Gradel to federal court and won.
The prestigious New England Journal of Medicine did a study on Gradel’s clinic’s reckless treatment.
They injected fat cells into the BOTH eyes of patients on the same day.
No opthamologist would ever operate on both eyes on the same day.
Ever.
The New England Journal of Medicine was appalled at Gradel’s shady medicine.
Why doesn’t Mr. Football Kicker from the 1980’s talk about what he has been doing since the 1980s with some specifics?
Just vague businessman and investor is all we get.
Was Ted Gradel the Managing Director and Co-Owner of US Stem Cell Clinic in Flordia that was shut down by a federal court?
When did Gradel move from Flordia back to Illinois?
Will Gradel release all other patients who sued his clinic for malpractice from the non-disclosure agreements that were attached to their malpractice settlements in addition to the three women who went blind?
Is Greg Baise stupid or just out to make a buck on this Super Pac?
Ted Gradel would be massacred by Underwood if he became the nominee.
Underwood would not cease to say you can’t vote for Gradel “because Ted Gradel made 3 grandmas blind.”
Jim Oberweis is highly flawed but ten times the candidate shady Gradel is.
** Rich Miller seemed to be implying that Gradel had something to do with this.**
No he doesn’t.
Miller is just referring to the use of Madigan in both the Gradel piece and the anti-Oberweis piece.
The anti-Oberweis piece is sent by an outside SuperPAC funded largely by the IL Manufacturers Association.
They wold probably prefer ANY one to Oberweis because Oberweis will be crushed by Underwood.
Sheila, I’ll answer some of your questions. Yes, Jim Oberweis and all of the Republican primary candidates know about US Stem Cell Clinic, LLC, and this blog published research I did about it last fall.
The reason you are not hearing about it, yet is because according to Oberweis’ recent internal poll, Gradel is polling at 2%, tied with James Marter and 4 points behind Catalina Lauf.
Believe me, Oberweis and his team have attack ads about US Stem Cell Clinic, LLC, in the can, if Gradel’s polling improves to a point he becomes a threat to Oberweis’ nomination. I’m sure he has attack ads in the can for Sue Rezin if her polling grows significantly, and clearly, Oberweis and his pollster are paying attention to Rezin, and have been doing so since the fall.
Proof?
Every time Oberweis and his pollster have to bring up Rezin doesn’t live in the boundaries of the congressional district is proof they are concerned about Rezin.
They’re not worried about Rezin, just concerned at this point.
Hopefully, within the next week, we’ll begin to see independent polling in the 14th district primary race, to confirm if Oberweis’ poll of 300 likely Republican primary voters is ballpark. IMHO, I think Oberweis’ poll overstates his support and his lead, and 20 points lead will be more accurate.
But facing reality, the race is Oberweis’ to lose, and only Rezin and Gradel have the resources to catch up, and given Gradel at over 1/2 million dollars to use in the primary at end of 2019, that’s why he’s sent a mailer each of past two weeks.
He does need to start running TV commercial ads VERY soon. Only commercials I can recall seeing are Cook County State’s Attorney ads.
As far as Gradel’s strategy, looks like he’s reminding primary voters how bad the state of Illinois really is, and will soon hit Oberweis and Rezin for the parts they’ve played in it, given he (and many others) consider both Oberweis and Rezin to be “career politicians”, and tie to his campaign’s #1 focus — term limits.
We, especially Oberweis’ people, will be watching closely and see if that messaging resonates with primary voters.
But definitely safe to assume, Oberweis’ campaign is locked-and-loaded with attack ads, both TV and mailer, if Gradel’s poll numbers improve enough to be a threat.
Let’s remember that Underwood *can* be defeated.
She won McHenry by a mere 535 votes out of 81,497. https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/IL/McHenry/91636/Web02.222611/#/
Overall, she won by ~15,000 votes.
Clearly the district’s mapping is “diverse.”
If the national stage is any indication of the voter mindset, an old white guy (O = Biden) or an unethical medical practitioner will not succeed.
They’re just fodder for a better-funded opponent.
But the national stage doesn’t matter until the local stage is cleared.
And here, voter turnout sucks, and those that vote do so with little understanding of who’s on the ballot.
gnorance isn’t bliss, it’s dangerous.
So pieces like the ones above at least get a glance by otherwise disinterested voters who go to the polls out of obligation,
not education.
I’m a big fan of Rezin, but she’s become a ghost since sending out that newspaper.
eminclake, given of the top 3 candidates, moneywise, with the least amount of dollars at the end of last year, Rezin needs to bide her time to use the limited resources for the maximum effect to challenge Oberweis.
She got her first piece out prior to early voting. Sure a 2nd mailer will come out soon.
That said, like Gradel, she needs to be on TV, even only cable TV, with an ad buy, too.
Thirty eight days left in the primary campaign, so if Rezin is going to make a move, it will be soon.
Lopez, wanna bet about Marter?
Just like Trump, he underpolls true support.
Watch!
“They wold probably prefer ANY one to Oberweis because Oberweis will be crushed by Underwood.”
Cool, Alabam, so we had the same thought.
I may have misinterpreted Miller.
I wasn’t totally sure what he meant which is why I included “seemed.”
Farm fresh eggs for sale in Huntley. Text me at 18476306325 to purchase.
MsTrumpion, as I already told Geneva-based blogger Jeff Ward, I don’t gamble, so no deal on wagering.
But if you really want to find someone who, like you, will put their money where their mouth is, he’ll wager you to attempt to bet against Jim Oberweis winning the Republican primary.
But please, James Marter is no Donald Trump.
Trump didn’t have the rejection of losing big in two previous bids for federal office, 2016 for U.S. Senate and 2018 for Congress in the 16th district as Marter did.
While likely Marter will do better than 2% on primary day, he will be nowhere close to Oberweis, let alone winning in the crowded field.
Feel strongly about wagering, go to thefirstward.net
John Lopez, your comments on here prove that you are not able to be objective to Catalina’s candidacy. Grow up all of you – the sexist comments towards her, commenting about her age, she has a lot more class, intelligence and poise than most of you on here.
Can’t wait for her big win March 17th and hope she has it in heart to forgive all these disgusting comments made about her.
This girl is the future of the party, the new fresh face we DESPERATELY need and is the best one to go head to head with Lauren (not Jim, not Sue or Ted, Catella, Marter – love Jerry but don’t think he can win).
You all sit here attacking her for the dumbest things.
So sick.
https://thefirstward.net/2020/02/07/quick-hits-catalina-laufs-candidacy-is-a-farce/#comments
Jen, please go back and read my comments. I am, by the grace of God, one of the most objective persons writing on this race, which even the blog’s detractors say is the best in the state.
The question I ask about Ms. Lauf stand: as the objective hiring manager, would I hire/vote for a candidate who cannot explain gaps in her resume or provide professional references?
I admit, Mr. Ward came to the edge of being sexist in his article on Friday. That is part of his schtick, and he clearly got frustrated by the pro-Lauf people who bombarded him trying to defend Lauf, in the face of her 15 seconds of shame at the Batavia debate.
You realize, those 15 seconds, will haunt her to a degree Jim Oberweis is still criticized for his “Taliban” reference 18 years ago.
Please remember and I’m sure Lauf and her people know this, elections are won by the candidate with the most votes, and many times, not by the most qualified.
It is too bad Mr. Ward is not as forgiving as I am, but to a certain point I see where he’s coming from as well as the people who gave objective observations to him, and I was not one of them.
Jen – you never acknowledged or replied to my comments that were specifically asked of you several weeks ago in response to Catalina’s performance at the McHenry County College, so I’ll sum it up and ask again … In your heart, do you believe Catalina can debate Congresswoman Underwood?
Given the fact you only respond to comments which relate to “the dumbest things” (see above) I’ve answered my own question – given her responses (or lack of) at the debates, it’s NO.
… again, Crickets!
No crickets on my end.
I received the response to my question.
You’ll see in an article to be published tomorrow.
John, sorry, my “cricket” comment was directed to “Jen” as she has chosen to not respond to the question of debating Underwood, but yet will reply/debate/attack commenters for responses that appear to attack Catalina “personally” vs Catalina’s “intelligence”.
(I mis-read your reply, John, oops) lol