A big thank you to Beacon-News columnist Deena Sherman for sitting in today and providing a much needed female perspective.
Kevin Williams
Another tip of the Left, Right and You hat to Matthew and Todd for calling in with some very cogent questions and interesting points of view.
We discussed the Keith Farnham investigation, why former sheriff candidate Kevin Williams set an example that the rest of the Kane County Republican party should follow, and the fact that Barack Obama is the most fiscally conservative president since Dwight David Eisenhower.
…let Left, Right and You to to a sunnier place – at least philosophically!
Please join us at 3 p.m. today on WRMN AM1410 for a breath of fresh political air. Our special guest host will be none other than Beacon-News columnist Deena Sherman and it looks like producer Dave Weiser will be back as well!
Deena Sherman
Today’s topics will include:
The ongoing State Rep. Keith Farnham investigation
Why former Kane County Sheriff candidate Kevin Williams is everything that’s right about the Republican party.
To answer State Sen. Bill Brady’s LR&Y contention, we’ll discuss the current President’s financial statistics. I think you’ll be surprised!
Time permitting, we’ll talk about the Kane County judicial race that’s going into overtime.
Since we have two left leaning souls today, we want you conservatives to call in an refute the contention that Barack Obama is more fiscally conservative than Ronald Reagan! You can call us at 847-931-1410.
And when you’re done listening to Dave, you can listen to today’s Left, Right and You right here:
A big thank you to Daily Herald reporter Jim Fuller for stopping by and offering a variety of interesting insights on the recent primary. And even though he called me an “ignorant slut” one more time, it’s always good to have Tim Elenz drop by.
… then I suppose we can say the same thing about Left, Right and You!
Please tune in to WRMN AM1410 today between 3 and 4 p.m. today because Daily Herald reporter Jim Fuller, political man about town Tim Elenz, and your favorite radio show host Jeff Ward will be presiding over the proceedings.
We’ll talk about the Keith Farnham fiasco, the failed referendum, and how Jim Oberweis almost lost. Well cover the County Clerk, 5th Kane County board district, 8th Congressional, and gubernatorial races.
We may even discuss the little faux pas that put me in the newspapers. See you there!
Since we’ve already and repeatedly violated TheFirstWard.net’s no neutrality rule – you have to use your real name when staking a claim – on the D. J. Tegeler discussion, let’s just go all in! Although I may have to suspend myself as a result. Here’s another interesting election result viewpoint that was added to this blog by a reader:
“Biggest winner who was not on the ballot — Chris Lauzen not only dispatched his former supporter-turned-critic Melisa Taylor in his direct involvement in the 5th district contest, coupled with his open endorsement of Jack Cunningham in the face of the serious and expensive challenge of Mark Davoust in the clerk’s race, everyone is on complete notice that Lauzen is in complete control of Kane County government’s electoral challenge. Even Lauzen’s open endorsement of Doug Truax over Jim Oberweis in the U.S. Senate race could have had an impact to explain Kane County resident Oberweis’ stunning loss in his home Kane County. On Tuesday, Lauzen put any would-be 2016 challenger on notice that he is nearly unbeatable. And as a bonus, with State Representative Keith Farnham’s sudden resignation and with rumors Kane County Democratic Chairman Mark Guethle may appoint County Board Member Cristina Castro to succeed Farham, Lauzen may well be appointing a Democratic board ally to strengthen his control of the county board.
Biggest loser as a group — Statewide, the biggest losers are pollsters, given the Republican governor and U.S. Senate final results, but locally, I’d have to say women, in head-to-head matchups against men. Melisa Taylor, Jennifer Laesch, Marmarie Kostelny* and Manju Goel lost their respective primary (and Taylor and Laesch, re-election bids) to men, for different reasons. Guess you can throw-in Julie Cosimo and Beth Goncher into that group, too. Only Darlene Senger won a contested primary Kane County Republicans participated against male opponents.
Biggest no shows in election campaign by the numbers — The Show You Care Kane Community Leadership Team (Fred Norris, John Hoscheit, Marilyn Weisner, Dave Reece, Michael Donahue, Drew Frasz, John Knewitz, Jennifer Laesch, Corinne Pierog, and Richard Poulton) was created and announced with much fanfare last October, as a leadership team full of well-known civic leaders from throughout Kane County to lead the proponents to pass the developmental disabilities referendum. What did these 10 “leaders” do, apart from a few high-profile newspaper articles? One of the leaders lost her re-election bid on Tuesday.
Biggest loser who’s a current/former staffer for High Profile Kane County leader — Nick Provenzano, the senior district representative for Congressman Randy Hultgren. Provenzano, who’s a member of the McHenry County Board, lost his bid for McHenry County Clerk. Had to get Congressman Hultgren mentioned somehow.”
Who thought a suspension could be so tiring! Putting up signs, organizing crews, and making all sorts of phone calls just happens to be a wee bit stressful. All I can say is I need to go back to work to get some rest.
But enough of that!
Let me open the recap festivities by thanking Kane County Sheriff Pat Perez for joining me in the WRMN studios for a special two hour election night show. The Sheriff provided the kind of local political insights that you just can’t get anywhere else.
Didn’t get a chance to listen to the show? Not to fear dear friend because here it is:
I also want to thank Tim Elenz for making an appearance which always makes things more interesting. And speaking of Tim, he and Daily Herald reporter Jim Fuller will join me on tomorrow’s Left, Right and You (3/10) for a more thorough post-election analysis.
Here are the quick hits:
Kramer/Williams – Close is not the word. What these two gentlemen should’ve done is gotten together, flipped a coin and saved each other a lot of time, money and effort. Because when you get two non-incumbent candidates who have reasonable credentials and are willing to work their posteriors off, you know it’s gonna be a toss up.
Cunningham/Davoust – Having the queen of pay-to-play, former Kane County Chairman Karen McConnaughay, do your robocalls is really not the smartest move. Then the McConnaughay crew decided to attack me when I wasn’t the one running. In the end Davoust spent more than $100,000 to go down by 14 points. His political career just came to a screeching halt.
Taylor/Lenert – Melisa Taylor is one of my favorite people, but as a politician, she doesn’t have a pause button and that really hurt her. Despite our general flights of fancy, the world doesn’t revolve around any one of us. Bill Lenert is going to be a great county board member, but now that Chairman Lauzen has prevailed, we’ll see if the cure is worse than the disease.
Tegeler/Kostenly – The only race in which I issued an endorsement and the better candidate won (Tegeler)! If only for balance, we need to have defense attorneys in the judicial mix. D. J. will do a great job.
Oberweis/Truax – Jim! You’re doing so well in Springfield that I told you not to get involved in this race. Though I certainly believe the Tribune’s coverage of your Florida trip was absurd, even though you managed to pull this one out, you lost to Doug Truax in Kane County! That doesn’t bode well for your future. And there’s no way you beat Dick Durbin.
IL GOP Gubernatorial Race – So Bruce Rauner barely pulls it out and proceeds to do his best Howard Dean impression? Governor Quinn may as well start planning his victory party.
Kane County Cares – Lord! I worked for social service agencies for ten years in my youth and those folks just don’t get it. Putting this referendum on the menu with no real Democratic race was an act of utter lunacy. And the fact the referendum pledged to help folks outside of Kane County was a huge mistake. This one never had a chance.
Goel/Kaifesh – Larry Kaifesh got 70 percent of the vote. What more does anyone need to say?
Holy crap! I think Left, Right and You is contagious. But despite our producer, the Sheriff, and columnist Deena Bess Sherman all coming down with various ailments this week, the show must go on!
So please join us tonight for a special 7 to 9 p.m. election night edition of Left, Right and You on WRMN AM1410. We’ll be bringing you all the results, insights and political analysis that anyone could possibly ask for.
Kane County Sheriff Pat Perez will be there. Elgin Mayor Dave Kaptain should stop by. Tim Elenz may make an appearance, and Geneva Alderman Rich Marks may well join us for the second half of the show. We’ll be calling the candidates too!
And don’t forget to call in yourself (847-931-1410). See you there!
Thanks to Kirk Dillard, Bill Brady, and Kane County Sheriff’s candidate Kevin Williams for calling in and fielding some interesting questions, including but not limited to, “if you were a pizza, what kind of pizza would you be?” (That was Dave our producer whom we generally try to ignore.)
So if you’re still undecided, perhaps today’s show will provide you with the insights to get you down off that fence.
…is about to hit the airwaves! That’s right from 3 to 4:30 p.m. today, on WRMN AM1410, please join me, Dave Weiser and Dave Niven (from the Dave & Dave show) as we hear closing statements from:
Gubernatorial candidate Kirk Dillard
Gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady
Kane County Sheriff’s candidate Kevin Williams
And if you’re running, I would heartily encourage you to call too…
If you’re voting, please feel free to call in with a question (847-931-1410). Don’t miss this pre-election day Left, Right and You extravaganza!
A tip of our hat to Kane County Sheriff candidate Don Kramer for calling in and adroitly fielding some questions that the newspapers just aren’t asking. The sheriff’s race is going to be a tight one folks.
Another thank you to Kane County Director of Elections Suzanne Fahnestock for calling in and making us aware of some nearby early voting locations. Visit http://www.kanecountyelections.org to find the early voting location near you.
And I hope you’re sitting down because not only did I compliment tea partier and conservative Rand Paul, but I actually defended State Senator Jim Oberweis as well. That’s the difference between the left and the right! We lefties (and fiscal conservatives) are willing to see the occasional merit of the other side’s argument.
