Category Archives: 2008 Campaign

2008 Campaign

Questions for John Morris

17 Comments

There are a couple of questions I have about John Morris, one of three Republican candidates for the 18th Congressional District, that I don’t feel have been adequately answered:

  1. John MorrisWhen Morris decided not to run for reelection as a city councilman, he said it was so he could spend more time with his family. (May 1, 2007: “[T]he most important thing for me is to spend more time with my family.”) Yet he’s now embarked on a quest to become a U. S. Congressman, which will mean even less time with his family. Why the change?

    When I asked his campaign office about that today, they said that his family fully supports him in this race, and that eight years as a city councilman was long enough. Both excellent answers to questions that I didn’t ask. One logically-consistent but improbable conclusion we could draw is that, while Morris wanted to spend more time with his family, his family wants Morris to spend more time out of town. Like I said, improbable, but any other explanation I can think of makes him sound either wishy-washy or deceitful. So, it would be helpful if Morris would candidly answer that question, because it does make some people cast doubt on his veracity.

  2. On Dec. 1, the Journal Star reported that “WTVP was found in technical default [of their loan with Bank of America] in 2005 after failing to raise a specific number of pledges and pledge money, items covered in bond covenants.” John Morris was Vice President for Development at WTVP for 10 years — up until he took a leave of absence starting Sept. 17 to run for Congress — and it was his job to oversee fundraising for the station. So does that mean that Morris is responsible for WTVP being in technical default on their loan?

    Not according to Morris’s campaign office. They say he “exceeded his fundraising goals,” raising “more than $20 million” during his ten years of employment and winning “nine national awards” for his fundraising work. Again, we have a paradox. He met all his fundraising goals, but WTVP is in default because they didn’t meet their fundraising obligations. How do we resolve this antinomy? Was it that his boss wasn’t setting the fundraising goals high enough to be in compliance with WTVP’s bond covenants? That could explain the issue at hand, but would raise some unsettling questions about the management of WTVP. It would be nice if these questions could also be cleared up with some frank explanations.

2008 Campaign

Jehan Gordon on the issues

21 Comments

I read on Billy’s blog that Jehan Gordon has her website officially up and running.

That’s cool. I always like to check out where the candidates stand on the issues. There’s one page on Ms. Gordon’s website about the issues. Here it is in its entirety:

Education…
As a member of the Pleasant Hill School Board and an employee of Illinois Central College, Jehan understands the importance of education. She will fight against the status quo and work to find alternative funding for our schools so that young people have a real shot at a quality education that isn’t determined by where they happen to live.

Jobs…
Jehan will work hard to attract more and better paying jobs to our area. She’s fighting to see that our area flourishes like surrounding communities with more economic development, more retail, and fewer abandoned buildings.

Access to Quality Health Care…
Jehan will work with other progressive leaders to improve access to comprehensive, high-quality health care services.

Regarding education, Ms. Gordon evidently feels there’s a positive correlation between the funding and quality of public education. In other words, higher funding equals higher quality, lower funding equals lower quality. But is that really the case?

According to the Interactive Illinois Report Card, during fiscal year 2005-2006, Peoria Public School District 150 spent $6,297 per pupil for instructional expense; Dunlap School District 323 spent $3,774 per pupil. Yet in 2006, only 59% of District 150 students met or exceeded standards, compared to 90% for District 323 students. With 40% less funding, Dunlap did 53% better than Peoria public schools. It’s also worth mentioning that the average teacher salary in District 150 is over $4,000 more per year than District 323 ($55,008 vs. $50,980, respectively). Something tells me that “quality education” is not determined by funding.

Regarding jobs, I found it a bit humorous that Ms. Gordon states she wants to “attract more and better paying jobs to our area,” then follows that up in the very next sentence by saying she’s going to make sure “our area flourishes like surrounding communities with […] more retail.” Retail jobs are not “better paying.” She doesn’t mention manufacturing or industrial jobs at all. Yes, I know there aren’t as many of those types of jobs as there used to be, but they still exist, and our city and state should be as competitive as possible to get them.

On a local note, I was pleased to see that Drumheller Bag Corporation from Clarksdale, Mississippi, decided to locate their expansion in Peoria, rehiring 50 former Bemis Bag Corporation employees! Drumheller is also relocating their headquarters to Peoria. We should be attracting more and more of these types of jobs.

Finally, as far as her stance on health-care, she wants “to improve access to comprehensive, high-quality health care services.” Thank goodness. That really sets her apart from the other candidates who are, presumably, the Joker and the Riddler. I wonder if she’s also for clean water and world peace?

I guess the bottom line is that she’s running on image, not substance. But I suppose that’s not a bad strategy because that’s what most voters respond to these days. Isn’t that why Schock is in office?

2008 Campaign, Peoria Journal Star

Thinking of dropping JS, picking up SJ-R subscription

2 Comments

Did you know that John Morris is a flat-tax proponent? That’s one of the things I found out about Morris from reading the State Journal-Register. The Journal Star told me Sunday that the three Republican candidates’ “platforms don’t greatly differ. So the deciding factor for the primary, at least, will come with character.” So, are the other Republican candidates for or against a flat tax? That might be of interest to voters — Republican ones, at least.

Schock’s now infamous abandoned position on giving nukes to Taiwan was also first reported in the Journal-Register. It would seem that Schock’s foreign policy differs somewhat from the other candidates, even after backing away from the nuclear component. Wouldn’t it be interesting to flesh that out a little?

Maybe the Journal-Register will cover those issues while the Journal Star focuses on “character.”

P.S. If you haven’t already, check out Billy Dennis’s critique of JS vs. SJ-R coverage.

2008 Campaign, Radio

Primary Place Online

1 Comment

It’s no secret that we rarely ever see presidential candidates in Illinois because they’re spending all their time in states like New Hampshire and Iowa. New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR) has decided to help out those of us in “flyover country.” They’ve started a website called Primary Place Online where you can vicariously see, hear, and ask questions of the candidates through the residents of Exeter, New Hampshire.

In New Hampshire, voters get to see the candidates face-to-face. The Write-Ups posted here are the words of real people from the Town of Exeter, doing their best to tell you what made an impression on them. We hope you find it useful. You will also see Field Notes. These can come from anyone in New Hampshire — including you if you live here. Everyone can comment on any post and post a question that they think should be put to a candidate.

Jonathan Ahl blogged about this last month, and he sees a lot of benefit in it. I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, it’s seemingly a pretty cool way to leverage the power of the Internet to gain access to the candidates. But on the other hand, I’m not sure what more it gives me that I can’t get from C-SPAN and the two billion news and blog reports out on the internet.

I’m also not seeing evidence that submitted questions are being asked of the candidates. Of the questions listed here, not a single answer has been posted. Not that I blame them. If I lived in Exeter, it’s not likely that I would ask a question submitted by some stranger in Peoria, Illinois, when I’m probably going to get only one shot at asking a question at all. (It’s not like each voter has unlimited face time with the candidates, even in New Hampshire.)

The write-ups that Exeter residents give are interesting to read. They give impressions of the candidates that one can only get from a face-to-face encounter. But even though it’s interesting, it doesn’t really make any difference in helping me choose a candidate to support.

Have any of you visited the site? What was your impression?

2008 Campaign

Websites for congressional and state candidates

If you’re interested in learning more about the candidates for congress and Illinois House of Representatives, here are their names and websites (candidates are listed in alphabetical order):

18th Congressional District

Illinois 92nd Representative District

I couldn’t find a website for Ardis-Jenkins — if anyone knows what it is, please let me know and I’ll update this post.

2008 Campaign, Aaron Schock, Peoria Journal Star

JSEB weighs in on Schock

7 Comments

Aaron SchockWell, I predicted that the Journal Star wouldn’t show that editorial cartoon that was unflattering of Aaron Schock. I was wrong. Not only did they print it, they also published a scathing editorial of Schock’s foreign policy blunder.

Of course, Karen McDonald’s piece on Schock’s admission that he made “a mistake” was full of quotes from experts who thought he could overcome this setback and still win the nomination. “Though Schock’s statements undoubtedly damaged his campaign for the 18th Congressional District seat, area analysts say he can recover,” she reported. The article ended with this upbeat take on the situation:

“Everybody’s going to stumble, it’s how a person reacts to problems that really can demonstrate character,” [UIS prof Christopher] Mooney said. “If a candidate has a problem and then bounces back from it, it shows that they’ve got strong character and will be more likely to succeed in the long run.”

See? Sure he may have been mistaken about how his foreign policy could spark World War III, but, darn it, he’s got character! He said he was sorry — quit pickin’ on him! He’s so cute!

2008 Campaign, Aaron Schock

Contrary to published reports, Schock did back down

13 Comments

Aaron SchockThe Gatehouse News Service report said, “Schock didn’t back down” from criticism of his proposal to sell nuclear arms to Taiwan. I beg to differ:

“If China continues to be irresponsible about nuclear proliferation in Iran, we should tell them that if they do not care about proliferation–and since they are enablers of it in Iran, that if they don’t change their position, we will sell Pershing nuclear missiles to Taiwan for their defense.” (Schock’s candidacy announcement speech, 10/28/07, emphasis added)

“I do not want to sell nuclear weapons to Taiwan, I want China’s cooperation in dealing with Iran.” (Schock’s press release, 11/8/07, emphasis added)

This is what pundits like to call a “flip-flop” on the issues. Despite all the other rhetoric in the latest press release, Schock nevertheless reversed himself on the selling of nuclear arms. If he had said in his original speech that he simply “want[ed] China’s cooperation in dealing with Iran,” then we wouldn’t be having all this controversy. No one would have even batted an eye.

The press release was nothing more than spin, and Gatehouse apparently bought it.

2008 Campaign, Aaron Schock, Peoria Journal Star

Is McDonald a Schock supporter?

21 Comments

Okay, that headline is needlessly provocative, but hey, I haven’t gotten many angry comments lately. 🙂

Journal Star reporter Karen McDonald covered Aaron Schock’s candidacy announcement event, but didn’t mention his proposal to sell nuclear arms to Taiwan. Then, when a Springfield reporter picked up the story, she attended challenger Jim McConoughey’s press conference reacting to the news, but didn’t write about it. Instead, the event was covered by Adrianna Colindres of Gatehouse News Service.

McDonald, on the other hand, wrote an article on Schock visiting public schools yesterday, but apparently didn’t ask about (or if she did ask, didn’t report on) Schock’s response to the foreign policy controversy. Yes, Schock had issued a press release that was in Colindres’s report, and yes Colindres did a phone interview with Schock’s campaign manager Steve Shearer. But McDonald had access to the man himself, and could have gotten a candid, rather than canned, answer. In fact, she could have followed up on his press release, pressing him on his clear flip-flop on this issue (he says in the press release that he doesn’t favor selling nukes to Taiwan). Instead, all we got was a puff piece.

Maybe I’m being too critical, but I think the local reporting on Schock’s campaign lately has been dismal and a disservice to those who are paying over $200 a year for Peoria’s only daily.

UPDATE: Great minds think alike. Independently, Billy Dennis and Rich Miller each commented on basically the same thing.

UPDATE 2: The Pantagraph has a much better report than the Journal Star on this story.