A Personal Note from Dave Smith Regarding Cook County Races

Dear Pro-Family Neighbors in Cook County,

Election Day is Tuesday, November 2, 2010. This is your opportunity to vote on whether Washington and Springfield are heading in the right direction.

I would like to make some recommendations to you for your consideration on November 2^nd:

Federal Offices:

—    U.S. Congress: Ray Wardingly (1^st CD) and Isaac Hayes (2^nd CD)

—    U.S. Senate: Mike Labno (He is 100 percent pro-life with no exception.  He is opposed to the homosexual agenda, but has indicated he’d vote to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. As a Libertarian, he doesn’t believe the government should have anything to do with marriage.)

State Offices:

—    Illinois Governor: Bill Brady — and — Illinois Lieutenant Governor: Jason Plummer

—    Attorney General: Steve Kim

—    State Senate:  Brian Doherty (10^th)

—    State Representative:  Dr. Barbara Bellar (35^th), Rich Grabowski (36^th), and Jeffrey Junkas (37^th)

Cook County Offices:

—    Cook County Board President: Roger Keats

—    Cook County Board of Review: Dan Patlak

—    Cook County Sheriff: Frederick Collins

—    Cook County Board:  Carl Segvich (11^th District)

Illinois Supreme Court:

IL Supreme Court Justices Thomas Fitzgerald and Charles Freeman are from Illinois’ 1st District, which includes all of Cook County.  I highly recommend that you vote NO on retaining IL Supreme Court Justices Fitzgerald and Freeman.   Both voted against the immediate transference of the Parental Notification case from the Appellate Court to the Supreme Court to expedite the hearing. (The ACLU and Planned Parenthood challenged the law.)  As a result, the case is not expected to be heard for a year or more in the Appellate Court and under-age girls can still obtain abortions in Illinois without their parents’ knowledge.

To be retained, judicial candidates need to secure 60 percent of the vote.  If they fail to get the needed 60 percent, there will be an open election for that particular seat.

Other Judicial Seats:

We will vote for many other judges, and judges are adifficult group to evaluate. We found a couple of legal groups who rate judicial candidates. One is the Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Chicago. The other is an alliance of liberal law groups. If they did not recommend a candidate, I recommend voting in favor of that person.

I recommend that you vote YES for: Sandra Ramos, Dorothy Jones (Yes to retain) and Susan Jeanine McDunn (Yes to retain).

I recommend that you vote NO for retention of:  Joseph Gordon, Donald J O’Brien, Jennifer Duncan Brice, Thomas Davy, Timothy C. Evans, Carol Kelly, Paul Biebel, Thomas P. Fecarotta, John Patrick Kirby0, Kathleen Pantle, Paula Daleo, Michelle Jordan, Mary Lane Mikva.

Ballot Initiative

Finally, the November 2^nd election includes a ballot initiative to amend the Illinois Constitution to include the possibility for a recall election of any Illinois Governor.  Please vote “NO.”

This amendment is a sham.  It would require citizens to collect about 550,000 signatures from voters in 150 days (15% of the number of votes in the last governor election).  But before a single signature can be gathered, an affidavit signed by at least 20 State Representatives (10 Republicans, 10 Democrats) and at least 10 State Senators (5 Republicans, 5 Democrats) would need to be filed with the Secretary of State.  Gathering over a half a million signatures is extremely difficult and expensive.   In short, this recall amendment is useless.

Thanks for your consideration.  I am

Sincerely,

David E. Smith, IFA Executive Director

Click HERE to download this as a PDF.

Click HERE to see the Illinois Family Institute Voter Guide to learn more about the candidates and their positions.

Click HERE to make a donation to IFA. Donations to IFA are not tax-deductible.