Pat Brady Digs In — Will County GOP Calls For His Resignation

Written by David E. Smith, IFA Executive Director

This past weekend, Pat Brady, Chairman of the Illinois Republican party, was interviewed on Fox 32 about his political activity to help Illinois Democrats pass radical Leftist legislation to redefine marriage and family.  This conflicts not only with the Illinois Republican Platform and the National Republican Platform but also with the views of the majority of voters in the state –specifically members of Brady’s own party.  (Watch the video HERE.)

Political Reporter Mike Flannery begins by attempting to confuse the issue by suggesting in his first question that the private political activity of Brady can be seen as outside his very public and official position of GOP chairman.  Not only is this absurd, it is intellectually dishonest to try to bifurcate the political activity of the two.

This truth becomes clear in Brady’s answer in which he is unable to separate his “personal opinion” from his official role, saying that Illinois’ current Defense of Marriage Law is “not what the Republican Party stands for.”

But Brady’s most outrageous and hypocritical comments came as he attempted to advance a narrative that blames social conservatives for all the problems the party and the state face.

“But I do believe that part of the reason that we are losing here in Illinois is our message is getting muddled by these social issues.  And the issues that we can win upon, the fiscal issues, I mean can you see a bigger mess in the country than Governor Quinn has made of the state of Illinois and the Democrats over the last twelve years?  And these social issues tend to muddle our good message that people agree with us on.  They scare suburban women.  They scare minorities.  And young people look at us like we are out of the stone age.”

I have a number of responses to offer:

• If Pat Brady really believes that the social issues are muddling the GOP’s so-called “good message that people agree with us on,” why in the world has he decided to roll up his sleeves and get involved promoting a social issue, let alone join the side that runs contrary to the very platform he is supposed to represent?
• Obviously, Pat Brady has succumbed to liberal propaganda that wrongly asserts that marriage is a civil right. It is not.  Read more HERE.
• Brady wrongly claims that the social issues scare minorities.  Every time a state marriage amendment has been placed on a ballot, there has been strong support for traditional marriage from the black and Latino communities.  And in our work to oppose marriage redefinition legislation here in Illinois, some of the most vocal and animated opposition is coming from black and Latino religious leaders.  Brady is out-of-touch with reality and woefully uniformed.
• Brady suggests that the “good message” of the GOP is getting muddled by social issues.  I have been politically active in Illinois for more than fifteen years now.  Never have I seen the Illinois GOP promote social issues.  Pat Brady and his recent predecessors have gone out of their way to avoid talking about the social issues. So, how is Brady’s “good message” getting muddled by something they have refused to talk about?  The sad truth is that while the Democrats have boldly pushed critical social issues related to homosexuality to the forefront of the political landscape, RINOs like Brady have said nothing.  As Democrats stand ready and eager to effectively destroy marriage, Brady scolds Republicans both for engaging in the social issues and for not joining extreme Democrats in this leap toward cultural suicide.
• Later in the segment, Brady points to the Republican Party’s “AAA Team” as examples of upcoming young minority stars within the party, including:  U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (Florida), Governor Susana Martinez (New Mexico), and Governor Nikki Haley (South Carolina).  Ironically, each one of these minority GOP stars is unabashedly pro-marriage.  And you can add to this list:  Governor Bobby Jindal (Louisiana), U.S. Senator Tim Scott (South Carolina), U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann (Minnesota), and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (Texas).

And in related news, Will County Republican Chairman Edward Ronkowski reports:

“At our well attended Second Congressional District Republican candidate debate on January 17, 2013, without any discussion on the issue of retaining Illinois Republican Chairman Patrick Brady, we offered all attending the opportunity to cast a secret written ballot asking “Should Illinois Republican Chairman Pat Brady resign?” After the debate, two Republican State Central Committeemen and two Republican County Chairmen counted the ballots with poll-watchers in attendance.  The vote was 58 for Pat Brady to resign, 4 for him to stay, and two ballots submitted that were not voted.” [Emphasis added.]

Please take a moment to contact your member of the Republican State Central Committee (the governing board of the Party) to ask them to demand the resignation of Pat Brady.

Steven Daglas (District 1) — sdaglas@sbcglobal.net.

Judy Diekelman (District 2) — diekelmanj@aol.com

Angel Garcia (District 3) — angeldgarcia@facebook.com

VACANT (District 4)

Skip Saviano (District 5) — skip@skipsaviano.com

Chris Kachiroubas (District 6) — katch99@msn.com

Carol Donovan (District 7) — carolsdonovan@yahoo.com

Eugene Dawson (District 8 ) — erdaw@comcast.net

Jack Dorgan (District 9) — jmdgop@yahoo.com

Mark Shaw (District 10) — (847) 244-4696

Barbara Peterson (District 11) — bjb2124@aol.com

Deb Detmers (District 12) — ddetmers@charter.net

Roger Claar (District 13) — bbmayor@aol.com

Jim Oberweis (District 14) — joberweis@oberweis.com

Jerry Clarke (District 15) — jerryclarke@yahoo.com

Dave Syverson (District 16) — senatorsyverson@facebook.com

Judy Dudek (District 17) —

Mike Bigger (District 18) — m.bigger@m​chsi.com

Bob Winchester (District 19) — bobwinchester@hotmail.com