By Chris Robling -
Jerry Clarke is nursing a grudge because he blames his loss to Rodney Davis on Pat Brady. Thus, his attempt to try and oust Pat Brady as Party Chairman has as much to do with the gay rights bill, which I oppose, as the Man in the Moon. (See: Illinois GOP State Central Committee calls meeting March 9th to oust Chairman Brady)
Pat Brady is the most effective chairman we have had since Harold Byron Smith, and in some ways I think he has surpassed Mr. Smith's impressive achievements. This attempted putsch, which I believe will be put down, is utterly unworthy of any party that wants to compete for the Governorship in 2014.
Our fellow Illinoisans are jobless to an almost unprecedented degree. Families fear for their ability to afford college, let alone retirement. Their state government betrays instead of serves them. Corruption reigns in the fetid dung heap of Springfield where cynical devotion to the Third House of Illinois Government, AFSCME, eclipses any effort at reform. Democrats run amuck, unchecked, untethered and uncaring for the suffering they inflict on the beleaguered taxpaying families of the Prairie State. It is a cruel game where insiders win and regular folks pay.
All who think, in view of this, pursuing a retrograde "gotcha" orbit, gets us closer to winning in 21 short months, should take a long, hard look at what is really happening, and what is really at stake, here.
If they say, "but Pat said something no Republican should say," then my reply is, all who have not committed an error, get to the front of the line.
Jerry Clarke? He drove Bill Brady, and all of us, into the ditch we now occupy.
Jim? He is a friend I admire, but he flew over Soldier Field in a campaign ad against illegal immigration that made us out to be racists.
"But Pat deviated from the orthodoxy, he has to go," they say.
Yes, he did, and I wish he had not done so for this bill. But, if we start expelling all who deviate or have deviated, then we will be even less able to help our fellow Illinoisans recover their incomes, futures and hopes for their kids than we are today. And today, please recall, we are super minorities in both houses -- because when we needed Jerry Clarke to know how to run Bill Brady's gubernatorial campaign in 2010, he hid under his campaign manager desk, afraid to contest the collars and Cook County -- the largest source of votes in our beloved, open, flat and welcoming state.
How did that happen? Funny you should ask. Jerry Clarke, self-regarding Illinois Republican State Central Committeeman, cynically violated the orthodoxy when he hired the Democrat, Skinny Sheehan, to run Bill Brady's campaign in Cook County.
That's right, Jerry Clarke gave Republican donor contributions -- your money -- to a made member of the Chicago Democrat Machine to make deals with his Democrat buddies so Bill would be Governor and Jerry could be a big shot.
And then, Jerry was so benighted, he actually expected the Democrats to fall in line for his thirty pieces of silver. JERRY WAS FAMOUSLY SURPRISED ON ELECTION NIGHT! He didn't hear Judge Schmale say, "You will get nothing, and you will like it." Friends, that's Jerry's brand of leadership.
It's about as "Republican" as George Ryan stopping the Willis investigation. But Jerry did it, betraying every one of us, as did Ryan, and all of our donors, because he dumbly thought it would make him the next Bill Cellini in Springfield.
But he bounced back, last year, when Jerry and his longtime booster, former Congressman Tim Johnson, cooked up Tim's "Oh, I forgot to retire" plan. Jerry was poised to erase the blots in his copy book and become a congressman. Hey, it's not Bill Cellini, but it will do for now, right?
Frankly, we ought to be organizing a Parade down State Street for Pat Brady, since he had the outstanding sense to keep Clarke out of the Illinois U.S. House delegation, and instead backed a Republican of whom we will be proud for years to come.
And we ought to be sitting in judgment as to why a would-be Cellini-esque wheeler-dealer like Jerry is even on our Sate Central Committee. Jerry knows all of this, better than you and better than me. And that is why he has signed the state central committee letter, pompously intoning noble motives for his grubby little payback play.
If you love Pat Quinn as Governor, and if you really love the map Pat Quinn signed into law, and if your heart bursts with joy to know the contributions of faithful Republicans were funnelled to the Chicago machine to make Bill Brady win, then thank Jerry this morning and follow Jerry wherever he leads. And you know what Jerry's 2013 fiasco is all about.
I have seen Jerry's work, I am living in its result. Pat Brady is ready to lead us past Jerry's mistakes to Gubernatorial victory in 2014 -- even when we disagree. That is why I am proudly backing the best chairman we have seen in 20 years, the gentleman from St. Charles, Patrick M. Brady.
