Sue Rezin Unfit for the 14th Congressional District

Written by David E. Smith

Over the summer State Senator Sue Rezin (R-Morris) announced that she is officially running for the 14th Congressional District (map) in hopes of challenging freshman U.S. Representative Lauren Underwood (D-Naperville) in the November 3, 2020 General Election. At the time of this writing, the Republican primary election (March 17, 2020) will include candidates James Marter (R-Oswego), State Senator Jim Oberweis (R-Sugar Grove), and four other lesser known candidates.

It is our unequivocal opinion that Sen. Rezin is a non-starter for conservatives for a number of important reasons.

Equal Rights Amendment
Last year Sen. Rezin voted in favor of the radical Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) despite the fact that pro-life groups throughout the state were lobbying hard to defeat this left-wing agenda. Ann Scheidler, Chairman of the SpeakOut Illinois Coalition pointed out in a press release that our chief concern with the ERA was that it would “further enshrine abortion as a constitutional right.” IFI’s own Laurie Higgins also pointed out in article after article that passage of the ERA would eliminate “recognition of the real differences between men and women in all laws and policies.” In so doing, it will be exploited to advance the goals of the “trans” cult, thereby harming women.

The proponents of this constitutional amendment included Planned Parenthood of Illinois, ACLU of Illinois, National Organization for Women, Equality Illinois, Women’s March Chicago and a host of other liberal activists and groups. These groups worked diligently to convince unscrupulous state lawmakers to vote for the ERA. Would a principled, pro-life Republican ignore the concerns and warnings of pro-life/pro-family groups and choose to side with apostles of human slaughter?

Any true pro-life Republican knows and reveres the anti-ERA, anti-feminist, pro-life work and legacy of Phyllis Schlafly. It is unconscionable that Sen. Rezin would reject decades of work by this pro-family heroine and instead side with pro-abortion villains who are racing to implement destructive policies.

LGBT History Mandate
We are also troubled that Sen. Rezin voted to advance a radical “LGBTQ” indoctrination bill in an Illinois Senate Education committee hearing on March 13, 2018. This proposal, which we identified as the “LGBT History Mandate,” was crafted by Equality Illinois and the Illinois Safe Schools Alliance. It mandates that all students in K-12 public schools be taught about the “roles and contributions” of homosexuals and opposite-sex impersonators and that textbooks purchased include discussions of the “roles and contributions” of LGBT persons.

To be fair, Sen. Rezin did vote no when the legislation was called for a vote on the Illinois Senate floor on May 2, 2019 and then again on March 23, 2019 when it passed both chambers. Yet the fact that she did not have moral clarity to vote against this political brainwashing in the first committee hearing is deeply concerning, and does not bode well for future “LGBT”-affirming proposals, including the dangerous Equality Act, which is pending in Washington D.C.

Recreational Marijuana
Illinois Family Institute worked diligently over the past few years to educate voters about the consequences of legalizing “recreational” marijuana in Illinois. Billionaire Governor JB Pritzker was very involved in jump-starting and passing this foolish legislation during the last few weeks of regular session. On Wednesday, May 29th, the Illinois Senate debated the so-called  “Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act” (HB 1438 Senate Amendment 2), and passed it by a vote of 38–17 with two voting present and two not voting. Sen. Rezin was one of the “present” votes–which means she didn’t take a position on the merits of the legislation.

The fact that our federal government still classifies marijuana as an illegal schedule 1 drug and that there are left-wing activists working tenaciously to decriminalize or even legalize high-potency marijuana makes us realize that Sen. Rezin is the wrong Republican to send to Washington D.C. for this and other issues of concern listed in this article.

The fact that she voted against so-called “medical” marijuana in 2013 makes us wonder how far left she has evolved in her political worldview. Her apparent lack of understanding of the serious consequences of marijuana legalization in other states–including addiction, psychosis, schizophrenia, violence and brain damage in young users–is astonishing. Furthermore, these consequences lead to greater dependence on government entitlement programs and the consequent expansion of the size and cost of the nanny state.

This also disqualifies her from claiming any fiscal conservative label.

Jeanne Ives
Finally, we have to point out that Sen. Rezin was AWOL in the 2018 Republican Primary challenge to abortion cheerleader and incumbent Bruce Rauner. Republicans throughout the state had the chance to show their leadership qualities by standing up for pro-life stalwart Jeanne Ives as well as the state and national platforms and against the radical social agenda of Bruce Rauner.

Like so many other invertebrate politicians, Sen. Rezin decided that the status quo didn’t need to be challenged. Instead, she back Rauner who wrote a $50,000 personal check to Planned Parenthood, signed into law taxpayer-funded abortion, signed legislation to quash the rights-of-conscience protections of pro-life doctors by mandating that they refer patients to abortion providers (HB 1564), and banned professional counselors from helping children suffering from unwanted same-sex attraction or gender-confusion (HB 217).

Where was Sen. Rezin when Bruce Rauner was sending out egregiously dishonest mailers and running misleading television and radio ads about Jeanne Ives? As a political leader in the Republican Party, why didn’t Rezin correct the record and denounce the blatant lies about Ives? How could any veteran pro-life/pro-family lawmaker not get behind Jeanne Ives who drubbed Rauner in the Chicago Tribune debate?

For these reasons and others, we are compelled to go on the record as opposing Sue Rezin’s candidacy. We view Rezin as unfit to represent Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives. We do not need more foolish, cowardly, or establishment Republicans in Washington D.C. In fact, we don’t need them in Springfield either. Instead, we hope and pray that a serious Christian conservative would step up to run for the 38th State Senate seat in the 2022 primary election.

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