He also wrote a piece about the public hearing on Governor Rod Blagojevich’s vetoes. It’s worth reading.
And, his musings on how we would be better off in Wisconsin are right on the mark.
Coonen also gave me permission to reprint this article on McHenry County Republican Party Chairman Bill LeFew. He suggests LeFew retire.
Bill LeFew,
the Chairman of the Republican Party
in McHenry County,
your table is waiting.You may now join
the Godfather of the McHenry County Republican Party,
Al Jourdan –
in the Retirement Lounge.
You had your chance. It’s time for a new page to turn in conservative politics – and this chapter – the chapter of Carl Rovian-style politics, masquerading as a “unity party” has got to end.Not too many years ago, Bill LeFew was an amazing, dynamic up-and-comer. The Mayor of Harvard, Bill was out to help anyone and everyone he could. I sure admired the guy.
But folks, sometimes, bad things happen to good people when they stay in partisan politics too long. They get jaded. They get defensive. Sometimes, they get downright mean.
They surround themselves with folks they think they can trust. Then they test them. When they fail, they get even more jittery – almost paranoid.
It’s human nature, I imagine – I don’t know if anyone really has the ideal make-up to avoid the fall. They watch too much Fox TV and read too many “how to” articles by Carl Rove.
When all the folks in a political party leader’s “inner circle” can fit around a bar table at Applebees – there’s a first clue to the party’s health and well-being.
Folks, the day MUST come – and it must come now – when BOTH parties stop the insanity which folks like Dick Morris exploited, then James Carville & Carl Rove honed to perfection. The “politics of personal destruction” was just the template for hacks in every state, and every county to follow, and it’s got a firm hold on us all.
It’s got us at a virtual standstill in Illinois, and if we let it, it will happen here at the county level.
It’s dividing us all up. Rove’s approach of divide and conquer only works when there’s something to conquer. Well, here’s news: there’s nothing much on the “conquer” side of the equation any more. Ineffective leadership and terrible performance has sent nearly all the good people packing. That vacuum of leadership has left the voters holding the bag.
What a shame, when a county so rich in intellect, skill, business savvy, common sense, energy and personal wealth is utterly squandered away.
People like Bill LeFew forgot what Party Chairs were supposed to do:
to recruit, retain, energize and support like-minded folks – to unify them to work toward a particular set of goals, in an honorable fashion.
Goals? I’ve been to those meetings folks – there are hardly any goals discussed. It’s idle chatter and and utter waste of time, and Precinct Committeepeople are provided virtually no training, given few facts, and marching orders are about as clear as cottage cheese run-off.
You’d never know it’s a conservative movement. They define WHO they’re against far better than WHAT they stand for.
It’s the “Un-party.”
The recent drive-by attempts to belittle and downgrade the stellar reputation of the State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi are a testament to the back-door antics of a relic leader.
Lou Bianchi vs. Dan Regna: This race is only getting started, and LeFew’s all too ready to employ dirty pool, while maintaining the old plausible deniability trick. Ah yes, a brilliant strategy, likely hatched while catching a 1970s rerun episode of Columbo or Barnaby Jones.
Is he feeding his chum, Amy Mack, at the Daily Herald, with his poison? Perhaps. I hope not, as I think Amy’s got too much class to get sucked into a low-class partisan battle where the the Rovian Theory of victory applies: There is only one way to win: Make sure your opponent loses.
Well, that was then. This is now.
Citizens in McHenry County can not afford to allow its political or partisan leaders to stoop to the same old Rovian tricks of divide and destroy; then, while they’re counting the ballots and out of eye sight, pick up the keys to the “capitol” and claim it as their own (possession is nine-tenths of the law, after all). No, that just can not continue.
It’s time the Republican Party figure out a new formula, and start bringing folks together again. Or, perhaps there’s a better answer – perhaps like all good parties, this one simply has to end. Good conservatives will pick up the pieces, after all, and start anew.
That could be. Time will tell.
Lincoln, Roosevelt and Reagan would be ashamed of this style of partizenship over citizenship, and it’s got to stop. For now, the only way to stop it is to make room for new leadership – and that leadership must come directly from the grass-roots, just as the Republican Party began.
It’s time to do the real “right” thing, for the good of the people, and step down, now, Chairman LeFew.
If you want to run for Republican precinct committeeman (that’s the title of the office), here’s how. Precinct committeemen have a vote in who is GOP (or Democratic Party) county chairman.