McHenry County Blog

A press release from Congressman Joe Walsh:

Joe Walsh

Rep. Walsh Responds to Reports of Voter Intimidation by Duckworth Campaign

The Walsh Campaign has received numerous phone calls and complaints from voters claiming hired workers from Chicago have gone door-to-door in the suburban 8th district coercing residents to vote for Tammy Duckworth. Following these many claims, Congressman Joe Walsh released the following statement:

“Ms. Duckworth has resorted to desperate tactics by hiring Chicago Machine goons to intimidate voters in the suburban 8th district. What else is to be expected from a Rod Blagojevich protégé? With the General of corruption in Illinois serving prison time, they now serve one of his Lieutenants, Tammy Duckworth.

“Humiliating and silencing whistleblowers, using tax dollars for political purposes and now hiring Machine goons – What won’t Ms. Duckworth do to win?

“The people of Schaumburg, Elk Grove Village, Addison and towns across the 8th district reject this kind of campaign.

“The suburban voters of the 8th want an independent voice not beholden to Chicago interests, and they clearly don’t want Chicago style politics in their neighborhoods.

“I call on Ms. Duckworth to call back her Machine operatives and try to run a true grassroots campaign.”

A press release from Congressman Joe Walsh:

House Chairman Questions Duckworth’s Record of Taxpayer Waste

Today, Congressman Joe Walsh was joined by Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, Jeff Miller (R-FL) and committee member Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) to discuss troubling findings regarding Tammy Duckworth’s tenure at the federal Veterans Affairs and Illinois Dept. of Veterans Affairs (DVA).

The three addressed excessive conference spending at the national VA, an Auditor General’s report citing 12 violations of state law by Ms. Duckworth at the Illinois DVA, and a current lawsuit Duckworth is facing from two whistleblowers from within the Illinois DVA.

Congressman Huelskamp, highlighting an ongoing investigation into VA conference spending, described the VA’s annual spending on conferences that tops $100 million as “outrageous”. Duckworth was key in planning a $2.5 million Hawaiian boondoggle at the VA.

Discussing the possibility of hearings on this issue after the elections, Congressman Miller was asked if he would subpoena Tammy Duckworth. Miller indicated that under certain circumstances “she would be.”

Congressman Walsh focused on the ongoing whistleblower lawsuit, where Duckworth wrongfully terminated an employee and told the other “keep your mouth shut” and she “would keep her job.” He also discussed a recently revealed email that showed Duckworth tried to cover her tracks in wrongfully terminating the whistleblower by calling on her staff to provide reasons to justify the wrongful termination.

Walsh concluded with “With just 5 days to go until voters go to the polls; on behalf of the residents of the 8th district, I demand that Ms. Duckworth explain her actions. Tell us why you fired and threatened two whistleblowers. Tell us why you abused your power. Tell us why you tried to cover it up. Tell us why you lied to us when you denied the incident even took place. Ms. Duckworth the voters deserve to know why.”

A press release from the Now or Never PAC:

NOW OR NEVER PAC BUYS MORE AD TIME IN IL-8 RACE AFTER DUCKWORTH’S PUBLIC INDICTMENT IN WHISTLEBLOWER CASE

The logo of the Now or Never PAC.

Washington, DC – The Now or Never Political Action Committee (NON-PAC) announced today that it will be running broadcast television advertisements in the final days of the 2012 Election in Illinois’ 8th District to support the re-election of Republican Congressman Joe Walsh.

This last push of television advertising by Now or Never PAC comes as Democratic candidate Tammy Duckworth, the former head of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs, comes under scrutiny for her role in firing an Veterans Affairs employee after the woman filed a complaint against her supervisor.

“Duckworth wants the voters to ignore her own legal problems and mismanagement while she attempts to paint Congressman Walsh as a man he is not,” said Tyler Harber, spokesman for Now or Never PAC.

“Duckworth’s public indictment in the Whistleblower lawsuit has brought us back into this race. The people deserve to know what they will get if they elect Duckworth as their representative.”

Now or Never PAC has secured one-million dollars’ worth of air time on Chicogo-land broadcast television stations.

Breaking through the “noise” of the end of a campaign is tough, but Congressman Joe Walsh is still trying. Below is a press release from him:

Tammy Duckworth’s email about the firing of a whistle blower.

Rep. Joe Walsh Reacts to Duckworth’s Attempted Cover Up

On Monday, The Washington Free Beacon released a breaking report revealing an email from Tammy Duckworth showing her attempt to cover up the firing of a whistleblower during her tenure at the Illinois Dept. of Veterans Affairs.

The email shows Duckworth acknowledging she “screwed up” in trying to fire the whistleblower, but encouraged her staff to find what they could to justify her decision after the fact.

Congressman Walsh responded,

“Duckworth’s blatant abuse of power in attempting to fire a whistleblower was bad enough.

“The fact that she then tried to cover it up by encouraging her staff at the Illinois VA to dig up what they could to justify her mistake is even more sickening.

“An innocent woman had the courage to report illegal political campaigning on taxpayer property and this is what Tammy Duckworth does?”

“If we are going to fix the problems we face in our country and Illinois, we need to change the culture of corruption that governs our state,” continued Walsh.

“Ms. Duckworth clearly had no problem fitting in with the Blagojevich administration by trying to cover up her attempts to fire a whistleblower.

“Now Ms. Duckworth finds herself in court for her actions.”

Walsh concluded,

“The people of the 8th district deserve better than a machine politician that tells a whistleblower ‘keep your mouth shut and you can keep your job.’

“Ms. Duckworth has made it apparent that she isn’t willing to come clean with voters about her actions in the Blagojevich administration, but I’m hopeful voters will reject these same antics that make Illinois a national punch-line.

“Instead of denying that this case even exists, like she did when I first confronted her with it, on behalf of the voters of the 8th district, I demand Ms. Duckworth speak out about what her role was in the firing and why she felt the need to cover it up after the fact.

“The voters of the 8th district deserve to know why before they vote Tuesday.”

Joe Walsh

Polls may show Congressman Joe Walsh trailing Tammy Duckworth, but that is not slowing Walsh down. Read his personal campaign plans for the next week:

Friends,

Because of my goal to meet every voter in the district, starting today I will begin seven straight days of 15 hour a day campaigning.

During this “Seven Day Sprint to Freedom”, I will be out in the district meeting with voters one last time every day from 6am until 9pm. We will be out in the district meeting with people at train stations, restaurants, businesses, grocery stores, coffee shops and communities throughout the 8th.

The difference between my opponent and myself couldn’t be clearer. She has spent this entire campaign traveling the country and avoiding 8th district voters.

I don’t want a career in politics – I want to fix our problems and get government off our backs. That’s why I’ve focused on meeting with the people I work to serve, because I’m scared of the country we’re leaving our kids and our grandkids.

With $16 trillion in debt, vital safety nets facing bankruptcy and a struggling economy affecting millions, we can’t afford to reward politics as usual and candidates who place careers over constituents.

Follow me on Facebook and on my website to see where we’ll be during these next seven days! Come join us at of our stops, rallies or events.

Join me in this “Seven Day Sprint to Freedom”, and let’s send a message this November.

In Victory,

Joe

After the deluge of publicity about how “extreme” Congressman Joe Walsh is on the abortion issue went unanswered, my frustration level grew so much that I posted the following on Capitol Fax Blog:

Cal Skinner – Monday, Oct 15, 12 @ 10:33 am:

Picture a bold Pro-Lifer’s response.

Run a video of a baby developing.

Say, “Not all of us are going to agree when this becomes a baby, but all of us are going to agree there is a baby before the baby is born.

“Tammy Duckworth believes that mothers should be able to abort their babies up until the day they are born.

“Now, that’s extreme.”

Run text along the bottom quoting what Duckworth’s told the Tribune: “Duckworth said she does not ’support any restrictions on a woman’s right to chose or her access to safe, affordable reproductive health services.”

Now, it would take a bold Pro-Life candidate to follow this advice and there have been none sighted in Illinois.

Something like this run against Pat Quinn during the last days of the campaign would have elected Bill Brady, I believe.

Dave McSweeney went in this direction in a mailing that got delivered on Saturday that can be seen here:

http://mchenrycountyblog.com/2012/10/14/mcsweeney-responds-to-beaubien-pounding-on-abortion-issue/

Also related to abortion, a Catholic Church in Crystal Lake went all in on Obama last weekend:

http://mchenrycountyblog.com/2012/10/15/crystal-lakes-st-thomas-parishioners-get-handout-like-none-they-have-ever-seen/

Below you will see the pro-abortion Personal PAC five-page questionnaire for legislative candidates. Personal PAC requires answers that agree with its positions in order to get an endorsement.

Take a read and see if you conclude that a Personal PAC-endorsed candidate has an “extreme” position on abortion.  Click on any page to enlarge it.

Some of the letter writers in the Chicago Tribune provide rebuttals to the attacks on Joe Walsh:

The letters supporting Joe Walsh don’t get put in a prominent location, but they did make the Tribune Monday. Click to enlarge.

We Ask America was the only published pollster when Joe Walsh upset Melissa Bean in 2010. Its findings showed Walsh has a chance.

Now it comes up with recent findings that Walsh is trailing Tammy Duckworth.

Here is the text:

Illinois 8 – Democrat Tammy Duckworth vs. Republican incumbent Joe Walsh

As we’ve profiled before, this race pits Duckworth, a disabled Iraqi war veteran, against Tea Party favorite Joe Walsh.

While Duckworth hasn’t proven to be a great candidate, she has a distinct advantage in this re-drawn district by running against a guy who seems to enjoy being a lightning rod for controversy.

Walsh surprised many by keeping this race competitive as long as he did, but Duckworth’s campaign has taken advantage of Walsh’s without-exception pro-life views while whacking him for not paying child support.

That one-two punch seems to have pushed Walsh over the edge where he now may be in a free fall:

Poll type: Automated Date: October 28, 2012 – Participants: 1,010 Likely Voters – Margin of Error: ± 3.1%

Whether it gets worse for Mr. Walsh before Election Day is anyone’s guess, but Tammy Duckworth now appears to be in line for a win on November 6.

I’ve never heard of the Washington Free Beacon, but it is running a story on an email sent by Rod Blagojevich Veterans Affairs Department Directory Tammy Duckworth admitting she “screwed up in firing” an employee who complained about partisan activity by employees on her watch.

The email is below:

Click to enlarge Tammy Duckworth’s email.

Thought you might find this of interest:

And take a look at this ad about Obamacare by a female Indian-American primary care physicial:

Two other TV ads paid for by Indian Americans for Freedom.

I think I like the one best that has an India-educated engineer who, along with fellow grads (1969) who couldn’t find a job in his homeland, came to American and “found and lived the American dream creating thousands of jobs…

“Why do we want to follow policy that failed the middle class everywhere else on this planet?”

You can see the other two ads here on Bill Baar’s West Side blog.

A press release from Congressman Joe Walsh:

Duckworth Campaign Finance Chair Paid to Play in Blago Administration

Part of an editorial cartoon about Rod Blagojevich.

Recently it was discovered that 21 donors to Tammy Duckworth’s congressional campaign also funneled $3 million into a Super PAC (House Majority PAC) attacking Congressman Joe Walsh.

Now, it has been discovered her campaign finance chairman, William Brandt Jr., was the beneficiary of an appointment to run the Illinois Finance Authority by Rod Blagojevich after Brandt’s company donated $165,000 to Blagojevich’s reelection campaign.

Congressman Joe Walsh stated, “Tammy Duckworth’s liberal elite donors have tried to buy her a congressional seat, and now we know that the head of her fundraising effort, William Brandt Jr., bought a Blago appointment after contributing $165,000 to his campaign.

“Brandt was appointed as head of the Illinois Finance Authority, which provides public money to businesses and organizations.

“What’s even more telling is that in Brandt’s first meeting as head of the IFA, he fired the board’s lobbyist for what was deemed a ‘political decision’ by Governor Blagojevich’s office.

“This is not far off the path of Tammy Duckworth’s actions, who as a fellow Blago appointee attempted to fire, humiliate and threaten two whistleblowers in the Illinois VA.”

Walsh concluded, “The Duckworth for Congress campaign is a group of political insiders from the Blagojevich era, including Ms. Duckworth herself.

“The more voters learn about Ms. Duckworth’s Chicago machine style politics, the more they are turning away from her.

“If Ms. Duckworth wants to prove she’s as independent minded as she advertises herself to be, she should remove fellow Blago appointee William Brandt from her finance committee and return the money from the 21 donors to her campaign that also donated the George Soros backed House Majority PAC.”

Read more about William Brandt Jr.’s firing of an Illinois Finance Authority lobbyist here.