by Fran Eaton, IR Editor
Former GOP candidate for Illinois governor Jim Oberweis will soon become chairman of the Republican Assembly of Illinois and reportedly is willing to chair the Illinois Republican Party.
"We believe Jim Oberweis should be the spokesman for the conservative base of our party," Colonel Raymond True, Libertyville resident and chairman of the Republican Assembly of Lake County said Monday night.
"Jim came in second in the Republican primary governor's race, and he is the party's titular head since Topinka lost in November. We want to bring the Illinois Republican Party back to upholding the Republican platform."
Oberweis should also head the IL GOP because current state chairman Andy McKenna refuses to call a state central committee meeting to oust Bob Kjellander, the IL GOP's National Committeeman, True said.
Many insiders believe Kjellander is "Individual K" in lobbyist Stuart Levine's guilty plea offered to federal prosecutors last month. Kjellander's association with the ongoing federal probe continues to plague the Republican Party with accusations of uncleansed corruption associated with former Governor George Ryan, who was recently sentenced to six and a half years.
The RAI, a statewide group whose most active chapter is based in Lake County, has been led for years by conservative talk show host and columnist Tom Roeser. True, who heads the Lake County group, says the Republican Assembly hopes to expand by opening a new chapter in Kane County and working with the DuPage County TAPROOTS, as well as possibly establishing a Cook County chapter.
"We work within the party," True said. "We have over fifty Republican precinct committeemen in our Lake County membership, a half dozen township chairman and a state central committeeman."
True would only say the Lake County group's membership was "in the three digits."
Oberweis joined the group in September, True said. The RALC's membership application asks about the applicants' conservative credentials, whose campaigns he or she have worked on, if they have ever been members of the Communist Party, the Socialist Party, the Democratic Party, the Sierra Club, the Green Party, the ACLU, NOW or League of Women Voters.
Although the group's membership conservative credential requirements are tough, True insists it is open to any qualifying Republican. "We're not John Birchers," he said, referring to a national group often associated with perpetuating political conspiracies and one world government paranoia.
True said the RALC has rejected membership of only one person, and he was subsequently accepted. That member is the new GOP State Central Committeeman for the 8th CD, Gene Dawson.
The RALC publishes a monthly newsletter called The Platform, which includes news stories and editorials often critical of the established GOP Lake County organizations.
Republicans lost Lake County's State Senate seat this month when retiring GOP incumbent State Senator Adeline Geo-Karis endorsed Democrat Michael Bond over her Republican candidate successor Sue Simpson.
With Oberweis becoming the group's new chairman, True is optimistic that the Republican Party's conservative base will be energized in the coming months.
"It would be ambitious to say we were willing to expand to all 102 Illinois counties," True said. "But if someone wants to start one in their area, we're happy to talk with them."
