From a press release:

Joan Krupa holds news conference in front of Pleasant Hill School to discuss Jehan Gordon’s denial of an abysmal attendance record as a member of the school board and Gordon’s lying about canceling her participation in the Kiwanis debate on Wednesday

Krupa: “Jehan Gordon has sent out mailers saying she has learned from her mistakes, but these continued deceptions are disturbing and the voters have a right to know about them.”

Life-long Democrat and former Peoria County Board Chair Sharon Kennedy joined Krupa to praise Krupa’s work on the county board and explain why it is such a breach of public trust to hold a position and not show up.

(PEORIA) When Jehan Gordon deceived WHOI News yesterday by denying that she had an abysmal attendance record as a school board member for Pleasant Hill School, and she falsely claimed to have called to cancel her participation in the 92nd District Kiwanis Club debate, Krupa decided to hold a news conference to air the truth and call attention to the facts.

Gordon also recently sent out two mailers focusing on “character” and saying she had make mistakes but has learned from them. That is hard to believe in light of her prevaricating to WHOI News just yesterday about two separate matters.

Gordon also has failed to explain why she skipped out on two debates she agreed to participate in this week. She called the Peoria Medical Society hours before their debate to cancel her attendance. But for the Kiwanis Club full blown debate for just the two candidates in the 92nd District, she just didn’t show up without notifying anyone, despite her claim of doing so. She left Kiwanis leaders and members hanging as they tried repeatedly to call her when the debate was supposed to start. They continued for some time trying to reach her and then began the program 20 minutes late when they realized she just wasn’t going to show up.

Gordon told WHOI News yesterday that her “opponent does not want to talk about issues that affect people.” Krupa responded today saying, “I would love to focus on other issues, but it is hard to debate those issues when my opponent skipped two scheduled debates in two days.”

Krupa then said, “When you boil down all the problems in our state government in Springfield, it comes down to bad character. As I speak with voters they agree with me that character is a central issue in this campaign.”

Krupa released a Freedom of Information Act response from the administration of the Pleasant Hill School showing Gordon missed 40% of meetings from when she began as a board member into August of this year. Since then the school had their September meeting and a couple special meetings, giving Gordon a 32% absentee rate and being late for quarter of the meetings she did attend.

Sharon Kennedy, former Peoria County Board Chair who served as a Democrat and worked with Krupa praised the work Krupa did on the county board and said “Joan always showed up well prepared and was a model public servant.” Kennedy castigated Jehan Gordon saying Gordon’s missing such a high percentage of meetings was a breach of the public trust and that she let down the students, teachers and administrators who all rely on the leadership of their school board.

Krupa once again noted that if Gordon was a student at Pleasant Hill instead of a school board member she would be classified as a “chronic truant” with such an abysmal attendance record.

Krupa said Jehan Gordon’s lying just yesterday to WHOI about that attendance record and her not showing up at the Kiwanis debate is further evidence that Gordon has not changed her ways that have gotten her into so much trouble.

Krupa detailed aspects of the disturbing pattern of bad judgment and a lack of character in Jehan Gordon, in addition to being AWOL from school board meetings 32% of the time and being late to one quarter of those she did attend, and then denying it to WHOI News.

Gordon, who was a communications major, has played with words before to fool people into believing positive things about her that are not true. For instance, Gordon was forced to pull an ad in the primary election earlier this year that falsely said she graduated from the University of Illinois.

Jehan Gordon was arrested for shoplifting when she was 19 years old, but the disturbing aspect of that is that she only paid the fines associated with that conviction 8 years later, which was only two weeks before the primary. One wonders if those fines would have ever been paid if Jehan Gordon had not decided to run for state representative.

Continuing that pattern of skipping out on making good on convictions, Gordon was arrested for being “unlicensed,” driving without insurance and no valid registration in 2004 and 2005 when she was in her mid-twenties. Again, the disturbing aspect is that it took her years to pay the fines and she did so only when she was in the middle of her campaign for state representative.

Then Gordon had the audacity to criticize her opponent for not debating the issues, which is hard to do since Gordon skipped out on two debates just this week and then denied she didn’t show up without giving notice to the Kiwanis.

Krupa said there are vast difference for the voters to consider regarding the two candidates positions on issues, records in office, accomplishments, character and integrity.

From a press release:

US SENATE AND HOUSE CANDIDATES FORUM

SPONSORED BY PEORIA CHAPTER OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 AT THE GAR HALL IN DOWNTOWN PEORIA

The Constitution and Civil Liberties will be the theme of a forum in Peoria next week featuring candidates for federal office. The event is sponsored by the Peoria chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

The forum takes place from 6:30 until 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 25 at the historic GAR Hall, located at 416 Hamilton Boulevard in downtown Peoria. The event is free and open to the public.

Candidates will be asked to comment on issues including the growing power of the presidency, religious liberty, torture, warrantless wiretapping and the USA Patriot Act.

Candidates who accepted an invitation to participate include:

For the United States Senate: Republican Steve Sauerberg will attend. (Senator Dick Durbin was invited.)

For the United States House of Representatives from Illinois’ 18th District: Democratic candidate Colleen Callahan and Green Party candidate Sheldon Schafer will attend. (Republican Aaron Schock was invited.)

ACLU of Illinois communications and public policy director Edwin C. Yohnka will moderate the forum. The program will begin with questions from a panel of local journalists, including Pam Adams of the Peoria Journal Star, Tanya Koonce of WCBU-FM and Dwayne Bartels of the Peoria Times Observer. Written questions will be accepted from the audience.

For further information, contact Paul Miller, President, Peoria Chapter ACLU, 579-3038 or cpmiller12947@yahoo.com.

From a press release:

JEHAN GORDON GETS A “F” FOR ATTENDANCE

Gordon a no show at two debates in two days but comes late to one in between

Jehan Gordon would be classified as a
CHRONIC TRUANT
if she were a student instead of a school board member on the Pleasant Hill School Board because of her abysmal attendance at school board meetings

(PEORIA) As a candidate for 92nd District State Representative, Jehan Gordon is living up to her abysmal attendance record on the Pleasant Hill School Board.

Gordon has missed an astonishing 40% of the Pleasant Hill School Board meetings where she serves as a board member. In addition, board minutes show that she arrived late to one-third of the meetings she did attend.

If Jehan Gordon were a student at Pleasant Hill School instead of a school board member, she would be classified as a CHRONIC TRUANT with that kind of abysmal attendance record.

That kind of attendance record proves that she obviously doesn’t care much about her duties on the Pleasant Hill School Board. It seems clear that she wanted to get onto a school board simply to be able to use that platform to launch her bid for State Representative. Otherwise she would have taken her responsibilities more seriously.

Such an attendance record is a horrible example to the students of Pleasant Hill.

Now, true to that poor attendance record, yesterday Gordon cancelled her participation at the last minute for the Peoria Medical Society’s Candidate Forum which she had formally accepted. Her opponent, Joan Krupa attended as did Congressional candidates Aaron Schock and Colleen Callahan.

This morning Gordon did attend the Chamber of Commerce debate in Peoria—but true to form, she arrived late.

Inexplicably, only hours later Jehan Gordon stood up the Downtown Kiwanis Club for their 92nd District Debate at the Lariat Club in Peoria. Kiwanis leaders had Gordon’s formal acceptance to participate in writing and were furious. Gordon did not even call to cancel, she just didn’t show up for the full blown debate between her and her opponent, Joan Krupa who was there.

So within 18 hours, Gordon skipped a debate she had agreed to attend, then arrived late at a second one and then did not show up at a third debate.

That disturbing pattern exactly mirrors Gordon’s horrible attendance record on the Pleasant Hill School Board.

In recent mailings to voters Gordon says she “has learned from her mistakes.” But she obviously hasn’t changed her ways.

Jehan Gordon’s campaign slogan is: Listen-Learn-Lead. But a Representative CANNOT listen if she doesn’t show up. She CANNOT learn if she doesn’t show up. And she CANNOT lead if she doesn’t show up.

It has been said before: “Some officials vote their conscience, some vote their constituents and some don’t vote at all.” The latter behavior doesn’t solve problems, it makes them worse.

With the legendary dysfunction in Springfield that our state already suffers from, voters ought to be wary about adding to that dysfunction with yet another person who has proven herself unfit to serve.

From a press release:

State Representative Candidates Face Off
At Peoria Area Chamber Forum This week!

Peoria, IL (Sept. 15, 2008) – Don’t forget to join the Peoria Area chamber of Commerce Wednesday September 17th at 7:30am at The Heartland Partnership (100 SW Water, Peoria) for a forum between 92nd and 106th District State Representative candidates.

Don’t miss your chance to hear Jehan Gordon and Joan Krupa plus Keith Sommer and Tom Shrier discuss the issues. They will be answering questions submitted by media and Chamber members. Seats are limited so register now at www.peoriachamber.org.

One more candidate forum is coming up:

Peoria County State’s Attorney Candidate Forum
Kevin Lyons/Darin LaHood
Date: October 1st, 2008
Time: 7:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Location: The Heartland Partnership Board Room, 100 SW Water, Peoria Barrack’s Cater Inn, 1224 West Pioneer Parkway, Peoria (Location changed due to flood prediction at original site.)

For more information contact Renee Charles, PR The Heartland Partnership at 309-495-5905 or 309-229-7791 or Ashley Pampel, PACC Director of Marketing at 309-495-5974. Media interviews and photo opportunities with candidates will immediately following each forum.

It’s not just compulsory military service that 18th Congressional District candidate Colleen Callahan was talking about in a recent debate. According to the Journal Star:

[Callahan] said she’s in favor of “drafting” citizens for some form of national service, be it military or not as a way to bolster patriotism and bolster America’s standing at home and abroad. […] Callahan said the idea of a draft for national service had not come up before in talks with her staff and she hadn’t formulated a plan.

In the future, she may want to bounce her ideas off her staff first before trying to make up policy on the spot during a debate. While national service is laudable, making it compulsory is the sticking point. Many people have argued against forcing our young people into mandatory service for their country (other than a military draft in war time, of course), for a variety of reasons:

• It drains service of its virtue. Michael Kinsley writing in Time Magazine last year had this to say about compulsory service:
  

  So what would a plan for universal national service look like? It would be voluntary, not mandatory. Americans don’t like to be told what they have to do; many have argued that requiring service drains the gift of its virtue. It would be based on carrots, not sticks — “doing well by doing good,” as Benjamin Franklin, the true father of civic engagement, put it.

• It’s self-contradictory. Dr. Yaron Brook of the Ayn Rand Institute says:
  

  Compulsory national service turns young people into temporary slaves in order to inculcate in their minds the opposite premise: that they have a duty to selflessly serve society. To justify such a policy on the grounds of promoting appreciation for freedom is perverse. To call it patriotic is obscene.

  This is closely related to Kinsley’s point. How do you teach patriotism — “love of country and willingness to sacrifice for it” — when, under this policy, one is forced unwillingly to sacrifice for it? It undermines the virtue you’re trying to teach.

• It’s a tax. Gary Becker, University of Chicago professor (economics) and Nobel laureate, argues that compulsory service is a “tax in kind, on the time of young persons, rather than a tax on income, wealth, or spending.” Also, it’s a “narrow-based” tax, only exacted on young people — those with “weak political power…compared to groups who benefit either directly or indirectly from such taxes.”
• It’s a cap on the earnings of young people. Becker goes on to say that, besides it being a bad tax, it’s “partly equivalent to a ceiling on the earnings of young people,” because young people could get a higher-paying job, but would be prohibited from doing so under a compulsory-service scenario. They would essentially be forced to work for lower wages for two years, which is pretty much equivalent to having a cap on their earnings for two years. That prompts Becker to ask, “would politicians or anyone else who advocate compulsory service call explicitly for such a ceiling? I very much doubt it!”
• It’s expensive. Someone should ask Callahan how she proposes to pay for this initiative. Richard Posner, Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals judge and University of Chicago Law School lecturer, observed that:
  

  If 4 million persons [the approximate number of Americans who turn 18 every year] were conscripted for one year’s national service, at an annual expense of $27,000 per person [the federal contribution to AmeriCorps volunteers, used as a benchmark], the program would cost more than $100 billion a year–probably much more, because the $27,000 figure excludes the overhead expenses of the service organizations that receive the per capita grants.

Callahan almost immediately started backing away from her comments, according to the Springfield Journal-Register.

Callahan said Thursday that the question put to the candidates a day earlier was merely hypothetical and that her answer was conditional.

“I’m not advocating it,” she said of a draft. “I wouldn’t introduce legislation that says that.” But, she added, “When I’m the congressman, if that came up for my vote, would I consider it? Yes.”

So, Schock wants to send nukes to Taiwan, and Callahan wants to reinstate the draft. We’ve got a couple of real winners here in the race.

I didn’t get to hear the debates yesterday as I was busy doing other things — maybe I can find an mp3 recording of it somewhere — but I did read the write-up in the Journal Star this morning. Sounds like it was pretty boring for the most part; Schock is no longer pushing the nukes to Taiwan argument, and everyone has settled into the usual party camps.

Except this statement caught my eye:

…one distinction did emerge when Callahan said she would champion re-instituting the draft.

Callahan said the military, stressed from fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, needed the draft to be rebuilt.

“You can gasp if you want. But I believe it is the fairest way for us to rebuild our military,” Callahan said. “I know from all of those who are currently serving, proud as they are of their service, many of them are coming from the National Guard and it leaves us open, at risk, here at home where we have needs from disasters.”

Callahan did add a caveat, though, saying time spent in the military could be swapped for another form of service.

Not that this is necessarily a bad policy idea, but why would you bring it up during the campaign? Is this supposed to win her votes? While other candidates generally use the election to promise they’ll bring home money, jobs, even the troops, Callahan is saying she wants to bring home… the draft? Not the brightest political move, and a sure way to lose votes from young men of drafting age — and their parents.

On the other hand, the odds of her winning this election are about 100 to 1 anyway, so what does she have to lose? It does give her a little more publicity.

From a press release:

Candidates Face Off
At Peoria Area Chamber Forums

Peoria, IL (Sept. 4, 2008) – Candidates in four hotly contested races will discuss issues important to voters in the Illinois Heartland. Don’t miss your chance to hear them battle it out over local topics including crime and the area economy as well as national issues concerning trade, domestic energy production and foreign policy. Seats are limited so log on to www.peoriachamber.org and register now for the three scheduled candidate forums:

18th District Congressional Candidate Forum
Aaron Schock/Colleen Callahan/Sheldon Shafer
Date: September 10th, 2008
Time: 7:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Location: Hotel Pere Marquette
Live Broadcast on September 10th by 1470 WMBD

92nd and 106th District State Representative Candidate Forum
Jehan Gordon/Joan Krupa
Keith Sommer/Tom Shrier
Date: September 17th, 2008
Time: 7:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Location: The Heartland Partnership Board Room, 100 SW Water, Peoria

Peoria County State’s Attorney Candidate Forum
Kevin Lyons/Darin LaHood
Date: October 1st, 2008
Time: 7:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Location: The Heartland Partnership Board Room, 100 SW Water, Peoria

Media interviews and photo opportunities with candidates will immediately follow each forum.

For more information contact Renee Charles, PR Heartland Partnership at 309-495-5905 or 309-229-7791 or Ashley Pampel, PACC Director of Marketing at 309.495.5974.

The Obama campaign, within minutes of McCain’s announcement of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, issued a statement that said, “Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency.” The most notable thing about this statement was that they completely ignored Palin’s experience as governor of Alaska. They called her instead, “the former mayor of a town of 9000.”

Palin and other Republicans responded in kind during last night’s Republican convention. Ignoring Obama’s recent experience, they referred to Obama most often as a former community organizer. Comparing her experience as mayor to Obama’s experience, Palin said, “Being a mayor is kind of like being a community organizer, except a mayor has actual responsibilities.”

To those who belittle small towns like the one where she was mayor, Palin said that people in small towns “are the ones who do some of the hardest work in America … who grow our food, run our factories, and fight our wars.”

But Palin also highlighted her experience and accomplishments as Governor of Alaska. Among other things, she established ethics reforms, vetoed “nearly half a billion dollars” in “wasteful spending,” and “fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history”: “a nearly forty billion dollar natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence.”

In contrast to her accomplishments, she said of Sen. Obama, “this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform – not even in the state senate.” Earlier in the evening, Rudy Giuliani went even further in criticizing Obama’s tenure in the state senate:

Then he ran for — then he ran for the state legislature and he got elected. And nearly 130 times, he couldn’t make a decision. He couldn’t figure out whether to vote “yes” or “no.” It was too tough. He voted — he voted “present.”

I didn’t know about this vote “present” when I was mayor of New York City. Sarah Palin didn’t have this vote “present” when she was mayor or governor. You don’t get “present.” It doesn’t work in an executive job. For president of the United States, it’s not good enough to be present. You have to make a decision.

There were several other noteworthy sound bites from Palin’s speech. Here are a few:

• “And I’ve learned quickly, these past few days, that if you’re not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone. But here’s a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I’m not going to Washington to seek their good opinion – I’m going to Washington to serve the people of this country.”
• “While I was at it, I got rid of a few things in the governor’s office that I didn’t believe our citizens should have to pay for. That luxury jet was over the top. I put it on eBay.”
• “In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers. And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change. They’re the ones whose names appear on laws and landmark reforms, not just on buttons and banners, or on self-designed presidential seals.”
• “And though both Senator Obama and Senator Biden have been going on lately about how they are always, quote, ‘fighting for you,’ let us face the matter squarely. There is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for you … in places where winning means survival and defeat means death … and that man is John McCain.”

From a press release:

Rural Police Departments Back Darin LaHood for State’s Attorney’s
Elmwood, Glasford, Norwood Police Issue Endorsements, Join Other County Organizations

Peoria, IL – Law enforcement in Peoria County firmly stands behind Darin LaHood for State’s Attorney; with the announcement of Elmwood, Glasford and Norwood Police Departments’ endorsements of LaHood’s candidacy, the challenger has secured the public support of all police organizations in Peoria County.

“The smaller police departments, which are at the mercy of their sometimes tight municipal budgets, are no less committed to public safety than any other police force,” said LaHood. “When an officer in one of these communities makes an arrest, that officer has provided necessary protection to residents. When the State’s Attorney’s office fails to charge that suspect and lets that suspect out as a result of a plea agreement, it weakens our County’s criminal justice system. It is my goal to strengthen that system and make Peoria County a safer place for all.”

Police Chiefs from each of the community departments described why they support LaHood:

“We need support from our State’s Attorney and Darin LaHood has indicated that he will stand firm for police officers throughout Peoria County,” says Glasford Police Chief Mark Harper. “With myself and nine part time officers, we cannot do it all ourselves. It will be good knowing that Glasford law enforcement has solid back-up in the Courthouse.”

Elmwood Chief Aaron Bean said, “We work closely with the Sheriff’s deputies, but seldom do we have the necessary and consistent communications with the State’s Attorney’s office. In law enforcement, we all have to work together, be on the same page and ultimately we can make Peoria County a safer place.”

Echoing his counterparts, Norwood Police Chief Christopher Carrier said, “While our small department does a great job for our community, it is imperative that we have cooperation with the prosecutor. Clearly we don’t face the crime problems of the inner-city, but we do have our problems that end up at the County Courthouse. We believe Darin LaHood is candidate who will support all police departments and communities in Peoria County.”

The three rural police departments, Glasford, Elmwood and Norwood round out the full slate of police organizations in Peoria County that have publicly endorsed LaHood’s candidacy for State’s Attorney. Among those, the Peoria Police Department, the Peoria County Sheriff’s Office, the Chillicothe Police Department, the Bartonville Police Department and the Peoria County Correctional Officers.

Darin LaHood, 40, was born and raised in Peoria. He is a former Chief Terrorism and Federal Prosecutor who served four years with the U.S. Department of Justice in Las Vegas, Nevada. LaHood was also an Assistant State’s Attorney in both Tazewell and Cook counties. LaHood and his wife, Kristen, returned home to Peoria in 2005 to raise their three children: McKay, Luke, and Teddy. LaHood currently practices with the Peoria law firm of Miller, Hall, & Triggs. Darin and Kristen are active in numerous Peoria charitable and civic organizations and are members of St. Vincent de Paul Church. Visit www.DarinLaHood.com to learn more about Darin, volunteer opportunities, or to contribute to the campaign.