Category Archives: 2008 Campaign

2008 Campaign

Darin LaHood pizza party at Agatucci’s

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From a press release:

Mayor Ardis, City Leaders Hosting Free Pizza Party Featuring State’s Attorney Candidate Darin LaHood
Crime in City to be among topics for discussion
at Agatucci’s on Thursday evening

Peoria, IL – Darin LaHood, candidate for Peoria County State’s Attorney, is the featured guest this Thursday (May 22) at Agatucci’s Restaurant (2607 N. University) from 5-8 p.m. Mayor Jim Ardis and seven members of the Peoria City Council are organizing the event designed to open dialogue between Peorians and the City’s elected leadership on issues related to crime and how that affects area employment, education and quality of life. LaHood is considered by many in the community to be the candidate for State’s Attorney who understands individual community members’ perspectives on such issues and is open to continued discussions and working together to find solutions.

“Peoria is fortunate to have a very diverse and accessible leadership on its City Council,” said LaHood. “I believe that when it comes to fighting crime in our community there are some weak spots, the State’s Attorney’s office among those. For Peoria to grow and flourish as a community, we must continue to elect individuals who know their constituencies, who don’t shy away from frank discussions about our problems and who aggressively want to work for solutions.”

In addition to Mayor Ardis, seven Peoria City Council Members are listed as organizers of this community outreach event, including: Gary Sandberg, Eric Turner, Patrick Nichting, Bob Manning, George Jacob, Ryan Spain and Jim Montelongo. All Peorians with concerns about the community are encouraged to attend some portion of the evening.

Darin LaHood, 39, was born and raised in Peoria. He is a former Chief Terrorism and Federal Prosecutor who served four years with 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 law with the 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 the candidate, volunteer opportunities, or to contribute to the campaign.

2008 Campaign

Darin LaHood pizza party planned

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From an invitation/press release:

Dear Neighborhood Associations and Fellow Peorians:

We are writing to invite you to a Pizza Party at Agatucci’s Restaurant to meet Darin LaHood, candidate for Peoria County State’s Attorney. Please join us for an evening of pizza and beverages and to hear from Darin regarding his plans to help improve our City’s crime problems and make our neighborhoods and streets safer.

As you are aware, everyday we continue to read about crime affecting all areas of Peoria, including efforts to attract jobs and improve our schools. We need a new and aggressive person in our State’s Attorney’s Office – someone with fresh ideas and a willingness to work with others. Darin is especially committed to working with the City to battle crime and pledges to be a part of cooperative efforts to do so. That is why we are supporting Darin for State’s Attorney. We look forward to seeing you at Agatucci’s.

WHEN: Thursday, May 22nd, from 5:00 – 8:00 p.m.
WHERE: Agatucci’s Restaurant, 2607 N. University.
Complimentary pizza and beverages.
WHY: Enjoy delicious pizza and meet and hear from Darin LaHood.
QUESTIONS: Please call Susan at 253-5153.
(There will not be a solicitation for money at the event)

The invitation is signed by seven City council members (Eric Turner, Bob Manning, Ryan Spain, Gary Sandberg, Patrick Nichting, George Jacob, and Jim Montelongo) and Mayor Jim Ardis.

If I get an invitation to a Kevin Lyons pizza party, I’ll pass that along as well.

2008 Campaign

Question of the Day: Kevin Lyons

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Kevin Lyons recently dropped the case against ex-officer Troy Parker, who had been indicted on “three counts of reckless homicide and four counts of aggravated operating a watercraft under the influence of alcohol.” The prosecution only had circumstantial evidence that Parker was driving the boat, and the interpretation of that evidence was mixed. For more details, read Luciano’s column today.

The question of the day is, should Lyons have dropped the case, or should he have prosecuted Parker with the evidence he had?

Incidentally, Kevin Lyons was scheduled to speak at the Neighborhood Alliance meeting Monday night, but didn’t show up. States Attorney candidate Darin LaHood was there, though.

2008 Campaign, New Urbanism

Callahan offers up zero-sum price “relief”

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Congressional candidate Colleen Callahan is proposing a cut in the gas tax to be replaced with heavier taxes on oil companies. The oil companies will pass those increased costs onto consumers, resulting in little to no net difference in the price at the pump.

The solution is not cutting gas taxes or taxing oil companies more — the solution is to reduce demand. One way is to come up with alternative fuel sources. But there’s another, more basic problem, and Callahan inadvertently expressed it when she said:

“In central Illinois, we need our cars and trucks to get to our jobs, take our children to school or our families to the doctor. The automobile is not a luxury for us, it’s a necessity.”

This is sadly the case. Because of the way the city has sprawled and the lack of accommodation for other forms of transportation (pedestrian, bicyclist, public transit), traveling by car is indeed a necessity in Peoria. If you want to save gas money by walking or biking to work, or taking the bus, it’s largely impractical if not impossible, especially the further north you go. In many places, it’s downright dangerous.

Until we do something about that, all the token gas-tax reduction and oil company tax threats in the world aren’t going to improve our situation.

2008 Campaign

Former Attorney General Ashcroft to campaign for Darin LaHood

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From a press release:

Darin LaHoodJOHN D. ASHCROFT, FORMER UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL, TO CAMPAIGN FOR DARIN LAHOOD

John D. Ashcroft, former Attorney General for the United States, will be in Peoria on Tuesday, April 22 to campaign for Peoria County State’s Attorney Candidate Darin LaHood.

Attorney General Ashcroft will be the featured speaker at a fundraising luncheon for LaHood. Ashcroft is expected to discuss his tenure as Attorney General, including the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and what has happened since 9/11 to fight terrorism.

LaHood is a former federal prosecutor who served under Attorney General Ashcroft. During his time with the Department of Justice, LaHood was appointed and served as the Lead Terrorism Prosecutor for the District of Nevada.

‘Darin was the Chief Terrorism Prosecutor for the District of Nevada and he played a significant role in helping to protect our country,’ Ashcroft said. ‘Darin understands what it takes to fight crime and protect our citizens. Darin’s prosecutorial skills of tenacity, creativity, and hard work are exactly the skills he will use for the citizens of Peoria County. Darin LaHood is the kind of public servant America needs at the local level and it gives me great pleasure to come to Peoria to support his candidacy for State’s Attorney.”

“I am grateful for Attorney General Ashcroft’s support of my campaign and his willingness to travel to Peoria for this event,” said LaHood.

The fundraising luncheon for LaHood’s campaign will be on Tuesday, April 22, 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Hotel Pere Marquette. Tickets to the event are $125 per person and $900 for a table of eight. To reserve a ticket for the event, please call Susan at 309-253-5153.

Darin LaHood was born and raised in Peoria. LaHood was an Assistant State’s Attorney in both Tazewell and Cook counties before spending four years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Nevada. LaHood and his wife Kristen returned home to Peoria to raise their three children: McKay, Luke, and Teddy. LaHood currently practices law with the firm of Miller, Hall, & Triggs.

2008 Campaign

“The audacity of hopelessness”

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Hillary Clinton showing optimistic belief of her chances of winningNew York Times columnist David Brooks looks at Hillary Clinton’s ongoing campaign despite her slim (5% by some accounts) chance of winning the Democratic nomination for president, and comes away with some observations and questions:

When you step back and think about it, she is amazing. She possesses the audacity of hopelessness.

Why does she go on like this? Does Clinton privately believe that Obama is so incompetent that only she can deliver the policies they both support? Is she simply selfish, and willing to put her party through agony for the sake of her slender chance?

In other words, give it up, Hillary. Everyone can see that you’re putting personal ambition ahead of the party’s, let alone the country’s, best interests. You’re not wanted as the Democratic nominee. Go away.

2008 Campaign

Here we go again: Guilt by association

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To listen to talk radio these days, you’d think that Barack Obama and Rev. Jeremiah Wright of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago are the same person. They think the same thoughts, and they have the same motivations. And if Obama gets elected, he’s going to advocate for Civil War reparations.

Right. And Mitt Romney was going to spread Mormonism across the U.S. and advocate polygamy. And John Kennedy was going to let the Pope tell him how to run the country. Haven’t we been through this gauntlet enough times that we don’t have to keep rehashing it every election… multiple times?

I guess not.

We’ve got to remember that we live in postmodern times. Just because someone attends a particular church is not necessarily an indication that they believe or practice what that church teaches — at least, not in toto. John Kerry was Catholic, but pro-choice. Bill Clinton was a Baptist, but, well, we all know what Clinton did.

People attend church these days for any number of reasons — because they were raised in that church, because they are rebelling against the church in which they were raised, because they are seeking God or what certain religions are about, because they feel that the church is authentic even if they don’t agree with everything that’s being preached, because it’s politically expedient, because their wife/husband wants to go there, etc. Some people even attend church because they believe the doctrine the church teaches, but that isn’t as prevalent as it once was.

So, I think this whole thing about what church Obama attended and what his pastor said is a big bunch of nothing. He’s denounced the things Rev. Wright said that were extreme and inflammatory. Let’s take him at his word and move on. He’s not Rev. Wright. Rev. Wright isn’t running for President.

2008 Campaign, Nation/World

Make entitlements, not war

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Colleen Callahan, Democratic candidate for the 18th Congressional District, has announced that she advocates ending the war and withdrawing troops according to an “orderly time line.”

Callahan, whose husband Dick is a Vietnam veteran, visited Iraq and Afghanistan in 2003 at her own expense while accompanying the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. She said she saw first-hand the destruction war causes and likely would not have voted in favor of the war.

That’s so easy to say now, knowing what we know now. It’s like saying, “If I were Buddy Holly, I would have taken the bus on February 3, 1959.” Yeah, obviously. Even if she were to argue that at the time, based on what she knew then, she wouldn’t have voted to go to war, so what? We don’t have a DeLorean with a flux capacitor that will allow us to go back in time and change that decision. We have to deal with what is, not what we believe should have been.

Until a stable government is operating, it would be misguided foreign policy and, frankly, immoral, to simply abandon the Iraqi people. Violence and genocide would ensue after withdrawal, resulting in millions of Iraqi deaths. That would embitter the Iraqi people (and further embitter others in the region) against the U. S., and our enemies (al-Qa’ida) would be able to parlay that into more violence against us, as well.

But perhaps the most disappointing thing is Callahan’s reason for pulling our troops out of Iraq — economics:

“Just imagine what we could do with an extra $12 billion a month [that we wouldn’t be spending on the war]: focus on relief of high gas prices, develop a functional health care system, begin infrastructure improvements and fund the war on drugs and crime in our own community,” she said Wednesday in front of the World Wars I and II Memorial in the Peoria County Courthouse Plaza.

Is this really a good reason to pull out of Iraq — so we can have more money to feed our oil addiction and start new government entitlement programs? Let Iraq descend into wanton violence and genocide so we can have cheap gas and government-funded health care? How callous and provincial is that?

2008 Campaign

Colleen Callahan ain’t gonna win

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Colleen CallahanThe Democratic candidate in the 18th Congressional District race, Colleen Callahan, has revealed her platform. See if this sounds familiar (transcribed from a WCBU report, which you can hear on Billy’s blog):

“It’s time to work together to create change. It’s time to refocus on middle-class values.” […]

Callahan says her top issues are ending the war in Iraq, improving the economy, increasing access to higher education, and repairing health care.

Who does that sound like? I’ll give you a hint, she’s a presidential candidate. Her talking points sound strikingly similar to Hillary Clinton’s. “Strengthening the middle class,” “providing affordable and accessible health care,” “ending the war in Iraq” — the rhetoric is practically identical.

And that’s why Callahan will lose in November. She’s running in a Republican district. In fact, the district is specifically gerrymandered to pick up as many Republican votes as possible (just like the 17th district cherry-picks Democrat voters). If she wants to win, she’s going to need crossover votes. She needs Republicans to vote for her.

Her platform is not going to get any crossover votes (except, apparently, for Carol Miller — the one self-described “moderate Republican” WCBU managed to unearth who said she’d cross over for Callahan). Why? Because it’s a liberal Democrat platform. It’s Hillary’s platform.

Schock has already proven how popular he is with Republican voters (he won the primary with over 70% of the vote in a three-way race). Callahan is going to have to hope that they all stay home and that all the Democrats come out to vote. And we know that’s not going to happen.

Schock can order his Congressional stationery now.