Correcting, it isn’t grasping for straws when one considers the opposition research that had been done by the DCCC for the 2020 general election and potential Underwood-Oberweis general election matchup and revealed last fall (2018 purchase of Florida property, which wouldn’t factor-in to 2014 U.S. Senate race) by the DCCC and the fact Congresswoman Underwood herself opened up this offensive with Indivisible last week, along with calling Oberweis’ views “racist” and “bigoted” (that’s a different discussion for a different time).

As an aside, I do honestly wonder if Underwood knew there was press at that Indivisible meeting in Evanston last week, which drew over 165 people. There was no mainstream media, only the Northwestern University student newspaper reporter was there. But that was enough to get the story out, including Underwood’s thoughts about Oberweis. On Capitol Fax yesterday, Rich Miller had not seen the write-up from last week of the Evanston meeting, and given he has his reliable sources, that was telling.

There are clearly multiple definitions for a “legal resident”. One metric is voter registration, which Jim Oberweis clearly has in Illinois, and is why he can be in the Illinois Senate, and run for U.S. Senate back in 2014 and for Congress this year. It is good he pays income taxes to the state of Illinois. According to Channel 5’s reports from 2014, the split-state residencies of Mr. & Mrs. Oberweis began in 2010 with the purchase of a previous property in Florida. At that time, Oberweis had not run for anything since 2008, except state central committeeperson for the 14th district.

Then there is property ownership, which many people own multiple pieces of property and many own out-of-state property, but only one can be legally claimed as a home/domicile, with the homestead exemptions that come with it. Oberweis first responded on Monday, and it sounded, like his wife was the only one with the residence in Florida, under her name only.

Under discernment, examining the property record Jim Oberweis is not only a part owner, it also means he claimed the $50K exemption on the Florida property which far exceeds the $6K homestead exemption for Illinois. Since he maintained a residence in Illinois and his active voter registration, he can run for public office as an Illinois resident. But the record shows, and he was not forthcoming, that he had taken the Florida exemption because he is a co-owner of the Florida property, not only his wife as anyone who heard his response on Monday could be lead to believe. He said he lost his Illinois exemption because of his wife’s ownership. That was, in my opinion a lie of omission.

Agreed, Oberweis’ and his wife’s residency arrangement, did not cause several people to go blind, but neither did Ted Gradel’s direct actions through his involvement as an investor with U.S. Stem Cell Clinic, LLC. The truth is, Gradel was more than the passive, distant out-of-state investor, but he was not involved with the day-to-day operations of the clinic that harmed those patients, and he did not receive a salary from U.S. Stem Cell Clinic, LLC under “direct income”. He received “indirect income” as documented on his Financial Disclosure report as an investor.

What Gradel has done with his explanation is “minimizing” his involvement, while Oberweis (in Bolingbrook) and Gradel’s detractors have “maximized”/”embellished” what Gradel’s involvement really was. Gradel admitted he divested himself out of U.S. Stem Cell Clinic, LLC, and as I researched and wrote about in November, that took place in 2018, within three months after the FDA lawsuit was filed, and he was a defendant because he filed state of Florida annual reports.

All that said, and as Oberweis accurately stated in Bolingbrook, if Gradel is the nominee, Underwood/Democrats, and their millions of dollars in PAC/SuperPAC monies, will bury Gradel over U.S. Stem Cell Clinic, LLC.

From a risk perspective, it is not a grasp for straws that the same people will do the same to Oberweis over this Florida residency over Oberweis’ and his wife’s $2 million condo, compared with his less than $400K home in Sugar Grove.

As I’ve said in a different topic, I value honesty and integrity over ideology any day and how Oberweis has handled this dual-state residency both in 2014 and now is not completely honest, which makes his repeated criticisms of Rezin living outside the boundaries of the 14th district, hypocritical in my honest opinion.

Please reexamine the facts with the lens I’ve used, and I think you’ll find what Oberweis said of Gradel on U.S. Stem Cell Clinic, LLC can be reapplied to Oberweis over his Florida homestead-exemption residency, and the honesty/integrity Oberweis has explained, or the transparency (or lack of it) to prove he’s not sheltering earnings through his wife’s 100% residency in the state of Florida.

Yes on Trump and his tax returns, Pritzker and his toilets, and let’s throw in George H.W. Bush claiming a Houston hotel room as his primary residence for over 12 years in spite of his Kennebunkport, Maine vacation home. We can throw-in Dick Cheney having to quickly change his voter registration from Texas to Wyoming after George W. Bush decided to name him his running mate back in 2000, since a President and Vice President cannot be residents, defined by voter registration, of the same state.

All that said, please remember, whoever wins the 14th district Republican primary, and it’s between Oberweis and Rezin at this point based on all evidence, is going to be thrust into the middle of the battle royale for control of the U.S. House of Representatives for the 117th Congress. Back at the MCC debate, I don’t think Rezin embellished the general election for the 14th could be a $15 million race.

I will be clear, everything both Mr. & Mrs. Oberweis have done concerning their taxes and their separate-state residency is legal. Underwood, to my surprise has floated the earnings-shield from Illinois income taxes last week, and on the surface, because Jim Oberweis claims primary residency in Florida and no primary residency in Illinois based on the FL homestead exemption, that is what it is.

Given what I said above about control of the House will be at stake for the winner of the Republican primary, that is added emphasis to Rezin’s message she’s hit Oberweis on as far as he is “unelectable”, given her latest commercial and her perfect electoral record message to-date.

Of Oberweis’ six high-profile losses going back to 2002, only the 2014 Republican U.S. Senate primary was when the Florida issues came up since the separate-state residency of Mr. & Mrs. Oberweis began in late 2010, and that was due to Oberweis facing a very underfunded opponent and chose to spend early March of 2014 at the first Florida condo they owned from 2010 to mid 2018. Then three-term Senator Dick Durbin had little to worry about with Oberweis as the Republican nominee for the general that year.

For the 2020 primary, Oberweis is facing 2 opponents who can spend money, though only one of them can possibly win at this late stage.

If Oberweis is the nominee against Underwood, we’ve already seen Underwood bring-up her theory Oberweis is hoarding earnings in Florida, due to his wife’s duly acquired legal status as a Florida resident, going back to late 2010 that included her filing the “Declaration of Domicile” in August, and registering to vote in Florida’s closed-primary voter registration in late September of 2010.

Here’s another exposure for Oberweis which presents even more significant risk: Underwood’s predecessor was soundly criticized, and this lead to his defeat in 2018, for being “out-of-touch” from constituents while not holding open town halls in the district, let alone office hours across the district. This is in addition to the work in D.C.

Underwood, the DCCC and their allies, with millions of dollars, can easily create a picture through TV advertising that with Oberweis’ wife living in Florida, Oberweis will be spending time at their Florida $2 million condo that was purchased in late 2018, instead of meeting with constituents back in Illinois, even during winter.

Those are just two risks that will be on Oberweis, and not on Rezin, which adds even more unelectability to an Oberweis nomination against Underwood. Throw in other things written about Oberweis here, like him being an “old white guy” opposing the youngest black woman to ever serve in Congress and is 40 years younger than Oberweis, and more unelectability risk of Oberweis being the nominee, in addition to Mrs. Oberweis’ Florida residency at the $2 million condo they both own.

If I was part of Underwood’s/DCCC’s opposition research team, I could probably think up a lot more, and I’m sure the high IQ types who do that work have already come up with them. Rezin will have her risk-points, too, and while the tier-one races have prepared Rezin for the general election fight with control of the House on the line, it’s going to be new territory though the risk of her as a nominee will be mitigated slightly.

As we’ve said all along, it’s a big decision Republican primary voters will be making, and if electability does turn out to be the deciding factor, there is a strong chance Rezin pulls out the primary win, assuming her campaign team comes up with additional effective messaging for the last 20 days of the campaign.

It’ll be fun and interesting to watch.

Mr. Willson, well, it was Jim Oberweis who started this mess way back in January, and he’s the only candidate who’s forced this issue.

I don’t recall any of the other Republican candidates bringing this up, though some of their supporters have done so.

As I said to Correcting not that long ago, I didn’t think Florida would come up, until Lauren Underwood’s published comments from Evanston last week.

Given the battle royale the nominee will face, no matter whom he or she will be, no one can make that commitment for the general.

Given the stakes, the general election for this seat will be “anything goes” and both sides will have millions of dollars to back up their arguments.

Whether they are the truth or not, McHenry County Blog will God willing be here to help readers discern the truth, and vote accordingly come November.

Mr. O’Brien, may all of us learn from your insight, on tax domicile or anything else. The battle begins in earnest on March 18.