Taking a cue from that rapidly encroaching Christmas season, apparently those mid-term campaign folks are already chomping at the bit. To wit, the very first robo-call salvo in the 43rd District State Rep race between incumbent Ann Moeller and challenger Jeff Meyer was fired yesterday afternoon.
At least they had the good sense to wait until after the summer solstice.
But they certainly didn’t have the good sense to tell the truth. Because the folks behind it claimed the heinous and Democratic Moeller just voted to raise her state rep salary by $3,000 at the expense of the generally beleaguered Illinois taxpayer.
And the “they” in question is the Illinois House Victory Fund, a small conservative PAC run by David D. Krahm of Oswego and Adam Brown of Champaign. Since 2004, that “group” has contributed about $600,000 to various Republican State Rep candidates like Kay Hatcher, Ruth Munson and Ron Sandack.
To put things in perspective, the Koch brothers lose that much cash in their sofa cushions every day and, when you consider that middle of the road GOP roster, this PCA can’t be too blisteringly conservative either. And robocalls? Those always work!
So let’s just say the Illinois House Victory Fund is a massive overstatement that instills far more laughter than fear.
Of course, as is often the case, this group took a tiny grain of truth and extrapolated it out to its illogical conclusion. But rather than listening to me ramble on yet again, let’s fall back on Ms. Moeller’s own words:
“There was a deceptive robocall made to residents on Friday from some conservative PAC interest group falsely claiming that I voted to raise my pay as a legislator…I did not vote to raise my pay and I do not support pay increases for legislators. A recent court decision ruled that the General Assembly can no longer take unpaid furlough days. The State budget I supported only funds lawmakers’ salaries at an amount that would include furlough days. The budget I supported also cuts lawmakers’ pay, including my own, by rejecting automatic pay raises for legislators. The extra pay that I will receive (about $2,500)…will be donated to charity…Finally, I am not taking a pension or health insurance benefits as part of my compensation…”
So yes! Moeller, and every other state rep, suddenly getting paid for furlough days could be construed as a raise much in the same way that opponent Jeff Meyer attending his 84 year-old grandmother’s birthday celebration last night could be construed as an undue bias towards elderly constituents.
(Happy birthday Grandma Wilkinson!)
It was during that very event that Jeff took a few seconds to reach out and assure me that his campaign had nothing to do with that or any other robocall. Considering the frequent response those automated phone efforts generally, if he’s smart, he will continue down that sensible path.
So yes! Though I thought we could relax until September, the silly season is already upon us and the folks at the Illinois House Victory Fund were kind enough to open the festivities.
I suppose the best we can hope for at this point is they’ll crawl back under the rock from whence they came.
