Photo from a Rockford Tea Party rally.

The following press release has been received:

Announcing Tea Party Express on April 6th in Rockford, Illinois

(Rockford, Illinois) – March 17, 2010 – Join us for the biggest Tea Party Express national tour to date for one of only two stops in Illinois.

On April 6th at 1 pm in Rockford, Ill (home state to President Barack Obama and Senator Dick Durbin and of course Lincoln and Reagan) the Tea Party Express will stop in Rockford on the Tea Party Express Tour taking the Tea Party message across the nation all the way to the White House in Washington, D.C. on April 15th:

“You, the politicians in Washington, have failed We The People with your bailouts, out-of-control deficit spending, government takeovers of sectors of the economy, Cap & Trade, government-run health care, and higher taxes!

“If you thought we were just going to quietly go away, or that this tea party movement would be just a passing fad, you were mistaken. We’re taking our country back!”

Find the Tollway at Route 20 south of Marengo or Kishwaukee Valley Road going west from Woodstock and you are on your way to Davis Park in Rockford. (Get a more detailed map across Boone and Winnebago Counties, if you take the Kishwaukee Valley Road route. You want to end up on Rockford's Spring Creek Road at the top of this map. There are lots of tricky turns.)

This family-friendly rally encourages all citizens who want lower taxes and less government to participate by bringing their American flags, patriotic attire, and signs to display the spirit of the Colonial Patriots of the 1775 Boston Tea Party, which lead to American Independence July 4th, 1776.

Here's a street map closer to Davis Park.

Re-affirm your commitment to our Constitution and our freedoms by being part of this energizing event on Tuesday, April 6th, 1:00pm, at Davis Park 329 S. Wyman Street in Rockford.

Guest Speakers include:

Joe Walsh at John O'Neill's corn beef and cabbage fund raiser.

RockfordTeaParty will also have a food drive to replenish the Rockford Food Pantry Coalition from 1 pm until the Tea Party Express Buses leave at 4:30.

For more information visit our website.

www.RockfordTeaParty.org

Kirk Dillard

Andy McKenna

As I suggested after I got Mary Pat’s call on behalf of Andy McKenna earlier today, the race for the Republican nomination for governor has narrowed down to three candidates:

• Andy McKenna – 19%
• Jim Ryan – 18%
• Kirk Dillard – 14%

The Tribune’s Eric Zorn is reporting the results seen above.

17% reported still being undecided.

Among those with less than 10%, here are the results:

• Bill Brady – 9%
• Adam Andrzejewski – 7%
• Dan Proft – 6%

Bob Schillerstrom had 2%, but he dropped out in favor of Jim Ryan today.

In the Democratic Party primary, Zorn reports

• Pat Quinn – 44%
• Dan Hynes – 40%

As Zorn puts it,

“Game on.”

• Pat Quinn: $3.15 million in receipts, $2.36 million in expenditures and $1.5 million in available funds at the close of the period
• Dan Hynes: $2.32 million, $2.75 million, $3.1 million
• Andy McKenna: $2.23 million, $2.17 million, $63,500
• Kirk Dillard: $1.4 million, $1 million, $369,000
• Adam Andrzejewski, Republican: $752,000, $775,00, $334,000
• Bob Schillerstrom, Republican: $661,000, $674,000, $120,000
• Bill Brady, Republican: $443,000, $662,000, $192,000
• Jim Ryan: $313,000, $123,000, $190,000
• Dan Proft: $169,000, $135,000, $51,300
• Rich Whitney, Green: $6,120, $6,260, $2,570

He has an analysis in his article.

At Zane Seipler’s fund raiser Wednesday night, for example, one person concluded that Andy McKenna was the most likely to be able to win the November election. Not a perfect candidate, but considering one needs three elements to win a campaign—issues, money and a candidate—his opponents don’t seem likely to put it together as well.

Now, National Taxpayers United of Illinois’ campaign arm, Tax Accountability, has put out its recommendations, I listed the ones that will be on area ballots.

U.S. Senate

• John Arrington – R
• Robert Marshall – D

U.S. Congress

• 8th District (McHenry, Lake and Cook) – Joe Walsh
• 14th District (Kane, DuPage and points west) – Randy Hultgren

Governor

• Adam Andrzejewski

Lt. Governor

• Dennis Cook – R
• Jason Plummer – R
• Randy White – R

State Senate

• Chris Lauzen – R (Northern Kane County)

State Representative

• Tim Schmirtz – R (Northern Kane County)
• John O’Neill – R (Jack Franks’ district)

News reports said that former Attorney General and Republican candidate for governor Jim Ryan wanted the coveted last spot who vastly out-polled my Libertarian Party candidacy but succumbed to serial liar Rod Blagojevich chickened out today.

Again.

As I have shared previously, when I was in grad school at the University of Michigan, I found a paper than analyzed the impact of ballot order on election results.

The researchers looked at paper ballots for a Michigan city near Detroit. In races of six or more, first place was worth an extra 10%. Second and last place on the ballot were worth another 5%.

There are seven people running for the Republican nomination for governor.

Worst place on the ballot was next to last.

That’s where Jim Ryan ended up.

He blinked at 4:18 PM this afternoon.

Andy McKenna filed seven minutes later.

We won’t know who gets the justifiably coveted first place on the ballot until the lottery, but we know that McKenna didn’t blink and file before any other GOP gubernatorial candidate.

Inexplicably, political consultant Dan Proft filed even earlier than Ryan at 3:26.

In the first, U.S. Senator and Dr. Tom Coburn’s take on the health care debate.

The rest are full of pictures of participants:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Near the end of the cruise 14th congressional district GOP aspirant Jeff Danklefsen approached me. You see him handing me his card. He seeks to replace Democrat Bill Foster, who replaced former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert.

The boat was docked and emptying out when I saw Dan Sugrue. He is running for the second time in Lake County against Democrat Kathy Ryg. He tells me she voted for Governor Pat Quinn’s 50% income tax hike bill. Since the cruise Ryg has announced that she is taking another job. That certainly to increase his chances of gaining the seat.

GOP gubernatorial nomination seeker Adam Andrzejewski was also downstairs near the end of the cruise. Sugrue’s wife Margo was talking with him.

As I left the boat, GOP gubernatorial aspirant Kirk Dillard was chatting with Family PAC Executive Director Paul Capiro.

Thus endeth the 2009 Family PAC cruise photos. This fundraiser is the one I enjoy the most. You don’t get a view of the Sears, oops, Willis Tower from the South Branch of the Chicago River like this on an expressway.

Join us next year.

Adam Andrzejewski, candidate for the Republican nomination for governor. Andrzejewski prospered in the private sector. His web site touts “Adam for Illinois.”

Bob Schillerstrom, candidate for the Republican nomination for governor. His web site touts “Bob for Illinois.” It emphasizes his opposition to the video poker (read “slot machine”) law supported by oh-so-many Republican legislators, but not their constituents. It does not emphasize his role in breaking suburban unity with regard to the Regional Transportation Authority resulting in tripling the RTA sales tax.

Bill Brady, candidate for the Republican nomination for governor. His web site uses his last name.

Robert Zadek is running for the Republican nomination for the United States Senate. Here is the Rockford resident’s web site.

Paul Mitchell is a candidate for the Republican nomination for state representative who is running against incumbent 62nd District Sandy Cole in Lake County. His web site is headlined, “Pro Life, Pro Liberty, Pro Happiness.”

It was a hot day, as can been seen by looking at the candidates.

The band Clone Radio is playing above. Also appearing was Bros & Joes’ band.

You can see the banners for the Lake and McHenry County Young Republicans in this shot of the stage.

Going toward the food and drink, one could not miss Brent Smith. He was collecting petition signatures for all sorts of candidates. Here Christian Kwasigroch affixes his signature.

Not only politicians were in evidence, so were the bureaucrats. Here’s a permit required by the McHenry County Health Department. I guess it protects people from being poisoned by Republicans.

Chicago’s 11th Ward Republican Committeeman Carl Segvich, in Crystal Lake in support of Adam Andrezejewski’s gubernatorial campaign, can be seen at the food along with Bob and Veronica Armstrong.

The bratwurst and hamburgers were wonderful. Here you see the grilling area. Joe Wheeler can be seen on the left talking with Bloomington’s State Senator Bill Brady, who is running for the GOP nomination for governor for the second time.

Will Brady introduced himself on behalf of Senator Brady. I took him to be Bill’s brother, but it turns out he is Bill and Nancy’s son.

I saw GOP gubernatorial aspirant Adam Andrzejewski talking with Nick Provenzano, who is running for the GOP nomination for county board.

Two county board members, Mary Donner and Barb Wheeler, were looking at the table where a silent auction was being held. That’s Nunda Township Highway Commissioner Don Kopsell in the background.

I bumped into a face from my 1970’s past, former Dundee Township and now Barrington Township Trustee Ron Szymanski. Here he is being approached by DuPage County’s Appellate Court Justice Ann Jorgensen. Being from Cook County now, Szymanski can’t vote for her.

Jennifer Gibson, Nunda Township GOP Chairwoman, was the next person approached by Jorgensen.

Nearby, former Nunda Township Republican Chairman and precinct committeeman Blake Hobson (now a resident of and precinct committeeman in the Grafton Township portion of Lakewood) was talking to McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi. When Hobson commented on his carnation, Bianchi credited his wife.

I turned around and the second Appellate Court Justice in attendance, Lake County’s Mary S. Schostok, was chatting up Will Brady.

His father and mother were working the tent. Here Bill Brady is seen talking with Don Kopsell and Bob Armstrong.

State Rep. Mark Beaubien arrived and talked to Nunda Township Supervisor John Heisler, among others. I praised him and other House Republicans for forcing Democrats to cast the votes for any income tax those Democrats think they require. Beaubien is on the right.

(A parentheses about why Republicans should not vote for an income tax hike:

When Ron Blagojevich took office, he said he discovered a $5 billion budget deficit. Funny how he couldn’t find it before the election, but, assuming he was correct, I figured it was a two-year deficit that could easily be worked off…if Blagojevich made cuts similar to those proposed by Governor George Ryan, which Blagojevich campaigned against.

Blagojevich and the Democrats controlling the General Assembly did not cut the budget.

They raised it about $1 billion a year. Health insurance for illegal aliens, etc.

After six years, Blagojevich’s replacement, Pat Quinn, announced that there was an $11 billion deficit.

Let’s see.

$5 billion, plus $1 billion a year, equals $11 billion.

So, I conclude that the Democrats created any financial mess the state is in and the Democrats should have to provide any votes needed to raise taxes they think are needed.)

Now, back to Nunda Township’s Picnic.

2000 GOP state representative nominee Tom Salvi is seen with former Nunda Township Trustee James Schlader and Appellate Justice Ann Jorgensen.

Gubernatorial and other candidates spoke next.

I missed getting Adam Andrzejewski’s picture, but got shots of

• State Senator Bill Brady and
• Dan Proft,

all running for the Republican nomination for governor.

Brady, who can be seen on the left, is believed to be the runaway favorite in the contest so far.

After the speechifying, at least Brady was off to the McHenry County Fair.

All three were undoubtedly planning to visit the Young Republican picnic in Barrington later Saturday afternoon.

On the way out, Brady stopped to talk with State Rep. Beaubien. That the back of Nancy Brady’s head.

McHenry County Republican Central Committee Chairman and State Rep. Mike Tryon arrived. I caught him talking with McHenry County Auditor Pam Palmer, who isn’t even up for election this year. (Of course, neither is Bianchi.)

I really don’t like posed shots, but who could resist Tryon’s standing between two Appellate Court Justices? Amy B. Jorgensen is on Tryon’s left. Mary Seminara Schostok is on his right.

Before I left, McHenry County Young Republican President Bryan Jayor was arriving. You see Tom Salvi on the left and Appellate Justice Mary Schostok in the center.

As I was leaving, Pat Morris was signing her name to petitions being held by Brent Smith. Pat has been a community activist since at least the early 1970’s. I remember her song about our money never returning from the RTA (written to tune of the “MTA.” More recently, she offered opposition to McHenry County College’s proposed taxpayer-subsidized baseball stadium before the Crystal Lake City Council. She also wrote piraty lyrics about Mayor Aaron Shepley’s 75% Crystal Lake sales tax hike to the tune of the “Lincoln Park Pirates.”

I had come full circle.