Good points, PubDog. I still consider myself a Democrat generically, but I would not vote for a Democrat for any State of Illinois office for the reason you emphasize. Madigan.

If only it were so easy as “vote Republican” and change Illinois. The districts have been so gerrymandered by the scum in Springfield to engineer a super-majority that for all practical purposes impossible for (R) to take (D) seats. Yesterday’s election was proof positive of that. There was a historic wave of Republican fever across the country and even in Illinois. Topinka, Cross (probably) and the governor’s office are now Republican – and even the US house gained two (R) from IL – but not a single IL legislature seat went from (D) to (R) despite the best efforts of Republican voters statewide. The system is broken and short of imprisonment of Madigan, it’s a tough road ahead.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Unless Illinois Republicans can recruit and run such OUTSTANDING candidates for the Illinois House and Senate that they can negate the gerrymandering for which Speaker Madigan and his Dem majority are responsible, Madigan and the Dems will remain in control and Illinois will continue to slide. Whether Rauner can use the “bully pulpit” of the governorship to get out messages that resonate with enough voters to help the next flight of Republican candidates for the Illinois House and Senate in 2016 get elected remains to be seen.

But as we also pointed out in our Update to yesterday’s post, when the current gang of RINO Maine Twp. officeholders can’t even support the Republican candidate against a Democrat tool like Marty Moylan-Madigan, the Speaker’s control over the House and the State becomes that much easier.

Let the blame begin!!! I am not saying you are wrong about Maine Township or gerrymandering, but the loss was only by 1200 votes with a fairly low turnout.

Sorry but even with no MT endorsement and gerrymandering this was very winnable.

Mel Thillens is great person, but for all the reasons you and other posters hashed through, he was simply not a good candidate.

By the way, the candidate did not need to be OUTSTANDING (as you stated). Just someone you felt was at least worthy of a vote and not a Buffon, as you called him.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Actually, we called him a “Buffoon.” But we meant it only in the realm of his public/political activity. We understand and believe that he’s a fine fellow in all other respects.

And, yes, Republican candidates DO need to be “OUTSTANDING” because the gerrymandering, combined with all the moneyed special interests that own/are owned by the Democrats, all work against a simply adequate/okay candidate. But opinions can, and will, vary.

Mel wasn’t the ideal candidate; his tax increases allowed Moylan to run to Mel’s right on fiscal conservatism. I displayed a yard sign for Mel nevertheless because he would at least hold back Madigan a little bit.

All that said: Maine Township officials should be ashamed of themselves.

Steve Schildwachter

EDITOR’S NOTE: Mel was 99-yards shy of “ideal,” but you’re correct about how his pre-candidate behavior allowed Moylan-Madigan to out-flank him.

Maine Twp. officials are basically self-interested, over-paid and over-pensioned mercenaries. They can sport the donkey every bit as comfortably as the elephant.

No words of wisdom or observations about the library referendum, or does that get it’s own post later??

EDITOR’S NOTE: It definitely deserves its own post.

My independent streak was offended when I read that article in the Journal about the Maine Twp. RINOs implicitly endorsing Moylan by refusing to endorse Thillens even after being asked by Deputy County GOP chairman (and Evanston Township Republican Committeeman) Blair Garber.

It is bad enough that the Dems control the state, but it is worse yet when the nominal Republicans (RINOs) jump in bed with the Dems.

Marty and the sitting Maine Twp. slate cut the same deal two elections back. As long as Provenzano is personal pals with Marty, both are pretty safe. But you have to own a lot of Mel’s loss yourself, PubDog. You put yourself first, again, and indulged your name-calling and denigrating of him for your own amusement, forgetting that people who weren’t enthusiastic about your candidate wouldn’t vote for him. Rauner money can only go so far against active contempt from Mel’s own side. I hope it was worth it to you.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Actually, we’ll take credit for Mel’s coming as close as he did, given that his record as a Park commissioner was so fiscally irresponsible even the Chicago Tribune – which goes out of its way to endorse Republican candidates – endorsed Moylan-Madigan; and all his fellow RINOs comprising the Maine Twp. elected officials told Mel to pound sand and jumped (or is it “stayed”?) in bed with Marty Madigan.

At least we were honest enough to give our readers the best (and, most likely, the only) reason there was for voting for Mel: he wasn’t Moylan-Madigan. But, unfortunately, Mel’s own record and his general cluelessness as a public official were too much for us to overcome.

Hopefully, Gov. Rauner and the new Maine Twp. Republican committeeman can field a better candidate in 2016.

Your reply above only backs up my point. They did not need an OUTSTANDING candidate, only a better one and they would have won this race. But opinions can, and will, vary.

EDITOR’S NOTE: A 1,000-vote “better” candidate still would have lost to Moylan-Madigan. So we’re sticking with OUTSTANDING for now.

And by “better” you mean “more extreme.”
Based on Tuesday’s overall results, you’ll probably be happy with the results in 2016.

EDITOR’S NOTE: No, by “better” we mean more competent than the most recent Republican candidate.

But if by “more extreme” you mean a candidate who won’t continue to endorse and vote for the absurd/corrupt policies and practices that have driven this state to the brink of bankruptcy during the past 30 years of Democratic legislative dominance, then by all means we want “more extreme.”

Tuesday’s “overall results” enabled the irresponsible state Democrats under Madigan and Cullerton to retain their veto-proof majorities in both the House and the Senate, so all we can hope for is that Rauner – if he is truly legit and not some Rahm Emanuel shill or some crony crapitalist – sticks to his guns while letting the Dems continue to own our state’s misfortune and decline. Then maybe, just maybe, voters will finally figure out by 2016 that they have to throw the Dems/bums out (with a very few exceptions, like Jack Franks) if there’s ever going to be any chance of real reform in Illinois.

10:41:

I think extreme is all relative. The left will think the right is extreme as vis versa. The problem is these folks are not even honest. The vote for a pension reform bill that will not really solve the problem and that they know will be found unconstitutional, but it allows them to say the voted for pension reform.

That is a bunch of crap and all it does is delay progress, which is how we got here in the first place.

Of course Rauner is a crony capitalist. Haven’t you read anything? And of course he’ll continue to blame the Dems for all that’s wrong with Illinois while being in a position to reward his fellow crony capitalists. Power without accountability — the best of both worlds. He’ll fit right in!

EDITOR’S NOTE: Here’s a news flash for you: the Dems ARE to blame for all that’s wrong with Illinois because they have controlled the State legislature for almost all of the past 30 years. THAT’s your “power without accountability” and Tuesday’s election re-upped it for another two years.

The only thing that changed in Illinois this past Tuesday is that the totally lost-in-the-funhouse Quinnocchio has been replaced by someone who, unlike his predecessor, has yet to prove himself an incompetent governor. Whether Rauner’s long-term friendship with Dem mayor and consummate opportunist Rahm will make him worse than Quinnocchio has yet to be demonstrated, but if Rauner turns into another member of The Combine like RINO governors “Big Jim” Thompson or George “No. 16627-424” Ryan, the Republicans will do no better in state legislative races in 2016 than they did in 2014.

Nothing ventured nothing gained……Mel is a nice person but never stood a chance and neither did Susan Sweeney who was also a nice person. Moylan won’t lose anytime soon unless there’s a serious republican candidate. Rauner inherited a mess that will need time and guts to fix. Hope he’s genuinely up to the challenge. Kahn losing was a blessing. Another example of the dems trying to buy a seat, but came up short. Kahn also tried to pull an election packet and get signatures to run for Alderman in PR several years ago only to learn after soliciting signatures that his ward was not up for election.

You didn’t exactly give Mel a rousing endorsement when you called him an affable buffoon. You only indicated Mel would be better than Moylan, but really you insulted Mel in your blog post pre-election.

So is not endorsing Mel by fellow republicans worse than insulting Mel?

You could have been more helpful in wording your endorsement in a manner that didn’t puncture his abilities. Your blog wouldn’t have swayed the election, but it would have also been less of a weight on Mel’s campaign.

Yes, I know, you were being honest in your perspective. Your blog, your rules. I get it.

EDITOR’S NOTE: 99% of the “weight on Mel’s campaign” was Mel and his Park Board record, about which the Republican-leaning Chicago Tribune wrote (in endorsing Moylan): “Thillens argues for lower taxes, but as president of the Park Ridge Park District, his administration passed higher tax levies and borrowed heavily for projects, not all of which were voter-approved.”

If you’re an Illinois Republican and the Tribune doesn’t endorse you, you’re pretty much toast. When the Tribune goes so far as to endorse your Democrat opponent, you’re burnt toast.

And when, despite their Combine propensities and RINO-itis, the entire slate of Maine Township “Republican” officeholders refuse to endorse you, you’ve got not chance.

We figure our honesty probably got him more votes than it cost him, because it gave voters the only reason to vote for Mel.

Wouldn’t it be nice to get rid of township government? Sigh. One can dream.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Yes, but even that wouldn’t be enough for Illinois to lose the dubious title of “Most Governmental Units.”

And the sore loser award goes to R. Trizna. Can’t wait to see you whine about the Library Referendum.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Congratulations! After months of being able to muster nothing more than the inane “Get Off My Lawn!”, you’ve finally said something worth a response – although we realize that poses additional challenges for you.

“Sore loser” how? And why would this editor “whine about the Library Referendum”?

You may have no liked Mel the candidate but the issue wasn’t about Mel or his votes in the Park District. The only thing that mattered about Mel was the (R) next to his name. Party matters because it’s one less vote for the combine in Springfield. It retrospect, your comments probably didn’t make too much of a difference, especially given that the (R) were unable to take any (D) seats in the state (which I again blame near perfect gerrymandering); but unnecessarily railing on him was irresponsible for the (R). I know you will never admit you were wrong and will likely become even more entrenched in your position – which is OK – but a lot people think it was irresponsible, and you can put my name on the list too. I know you gave lip service to the “party matters” doctrine in your rant against Mel but it was too little to overcome the “buffoon” label.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Let’s get something straight: “park ridge serf” is not a name that we can, or would, put on any list.

“Party matters” only to the extent it’s NOT the Democratic Party that has virtually destroyed Illinois over the last 30 years. Many of the Republicans are no better; and the last 3 allegedly “Republican” governors were so in bed with the Democrats that in some states they might be considered married.

We calls ’em as we sees ’em. And when it comes to his record in office and his “public” role, Mel is a buffoon whose buffoonery Park Ridge taxpayers will be paying off for the next 10-15 years, if not more.