CU Listener

2006-09-15T08:27:00.000-07:00

Illinipundit going negative.

Illinipundit is running continuing negative attacks on Mike Frerichs. Of 54 posts since this race began, 21 are either positive on Judy Myers, or neutral. A whopping 33 are negative against Frerichs. That's 61% negative attacks. It also appears that the republicans went negative far before Mike's recent advertisements. They go all the way back to June of last year. Does this mean that Judy is in trouble, is that why they are so fiercely attacking a great guy like Mike Frerichs. Is it because they are afraid of him? I think its because this race is a lot tighter than they assume, they rarely post about Naomi Jakobsson anymore, mainly because they know she is going to win. Thoughts?

2006-09-13T11:05:00.000-07:00

Judy Myers, Slave to Big Business

Here is just a few donors to Judy Myers campaign. Do these companies know what's best for you?

Campbell, Craig & KimOccupation: president: First National Bank Danville

Coldwell Banker Devonshire

Dukeman, VanOccupation: President & CEOEmployer: Main St. Bank & Trust

Hillard, StevenOccupation: PresidentEmployer: CMI Johnson-Ross

Kuhl, Dave & BarbOccupation: PresidentEmployer: Busey Bank

Lykins, GregoryOccupation: BankerEmployer: Main St. Bank & Trust

Meyer, Jr., August C.Occupation: TrusteeEmployer: Main St. Bank & Trust

Mills, David D.Occupation: President & COOEmployer: Busey Bank

Mills, Douglas C.Occupation: CEOEmployer: Busey Bank

Scharlau, II, Edwinn & CarolOccupation: DirectorEmployer: Busey Bank

Thomas, G. BrianOccupation: PresidentEmployer: CCMSI

Tri Star Marketing

Unicare Life & Health Insurance Co.

Walgreens

Associated Beer Distributors of Illinois

Ford Motor Company Civic Action Fund

Illinois Bank PAC

Now who do you think is more in line with working class values? Judy Myers, or Gifford native Mike Frerichs?

(Disclosure: I do not work for Mike Frerichs)

2006-08-23T18:37:00.000-07:00

Mike Richards for County Clerk

Mike Richards is running for County Clerk on the revolutionary plaform that the clerk's office should follow the law. Since the state board of elections is suing Shelden, they obviously agree.

2006-08-20T23:21:00.000-07:00

Why John Edwards will not be the Democratic nominee in '08

How can anyone care that much about their hair?

2006-08-10T12:46:00.000-07:00

Solution to Urbana's Turkey Problem

2006-08-09T13:45:00.000-07:00

Champaign Council Update

Mike Ladue will not be voting for Tricia Avery due to her support of the smoking ban. This leaves Avery with 3 votes, making it impossible for her to get the appointment.

2006-08-09T13:33:00.000-07:00

Thoughts on Lieberman

I don't think the Lieberman defeat last night really proves anything new to anybody. The lesson learned is when you live in a liberal state and you are a moderate senator it is easy to lose the Democratic primary. Primaries are generally controlled by fringe interest groups that do not reflect the rest of society very well. Lieberman was a bad politician, who seemed to enjoy angering liberals every chance he could. Don't get me wrong I actually like him quite a bit, I think he is very honest, and has a great civil rights and environmental record. I believe he, much like our Steve Becketts and Tod Satterthwaites, went out of his way to piss his party off, and paid the price. If Lieberman runs as an independent and wins, then what does that prove? It proves that moderates tend to do better with the general population and not as well with our interest group controlled primaries, which is really not a new lesson. Any Thoughts?

2006-08-01T16:35:00.000-07:00

Champaign City Council

Of all the candidates filing to fill Kathy Ennens spot on the Champaign City Council, there are only two serious candidates, Deb Feinen and Patricia Avery. According to current reports expect the vote totals to go down this way.

Avery

Giraldo Rosales
Gina Jackson
Ken Pirok
Mike LaDue

Feinen

Mayor
Tom Bruno
Vic Mcintosh
Marci Dodds

That's right Marci Dodds will, according to all reports not be voting for Patricia Avery and will be voting for Deb Feinen, creating a tie. Any comments?

2006-07-26T16:53:00.000-07:00

County Fair

So I was just wondering why it is that the Republican day at the county fair is the same day as senior citizens day, the day that seniors get in free, and why its this way every single year. Democrat day tends to be on harness racing day. Democrats are allowed to speak to the largely uninterested crowd, waiting to watch the races. Next year you better believe the Dems will be raising hell to make sure it doesn't happen again.

2006-07-25T14:08:00.000-07:00

Where are the Republicans?

I was at the county fair today, walking around, checking out the local political scene, I even ate a delicious fried twinkie. As I walked by the republican table I noticed that no one was there. It was a sealed up tent. I then walked by the Democrat table and they were handing out balloons, greeting people, giving people water, and handing out literature. They seemed like they may even have been overstaffed. So my question, for you Republicans out there, maybe you should quit watching Jason Barickman and Fred Welch do all the work and actually show out at events. Although then again you could just continue lighting cigars with cash and laughing at poor people, and allow us to smash you this fall.

2006-07-25T14:00:00.000-07:00

I'm Back

Hello Champaign Urbana. The Listener has returned. Expect a newer better listener, with daily updates.

2006-05-10T15:26:00.000-07:00

Give the governor a few points

Yesterday when the governor blagojevich was in CU, he was told about the protesters at his event, mostly college republicans. they were not being allowed into the event and the governor gave the go ahead to allow them in. After that he proceeding to taking about an hour and half worth of questions from him. I've not always been the world biggest Blagojevich fan but that truly does take character and I give him points for it.

2006-05-08T14:21:00.001-07:00

Chairman Carl

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/opinions/letters/2006/05/08/clinton_bush_are_both_war_criminals

2006-03-28T14:43:00.000-08:00

Governor Blagojevich is wrong

Governor Rod Blagojevichs quixotic quest to ban assault weapons is dead wrong. He will not be punishing criminals, he will punishing honest gun collectors. Criminals do not use automatic assault weapons, they are far too expensive. The ONLY people that use them are collectors. As a matter of fact there has only been one crime committed in the state of Illinois in its entire history. I'd rather the governor go after the real robbers in this state, the governors buddies that keeping getting no bid contracts from the state. But Somehow I doubt he will do that.

2006-03-28T14:35:00.000-08:00

Mayor Schweighart is Right

The holiday invented by Scott Cochrane in order to earn more money of the destruction of campustown must be put to an end. Scott Cochrane should no longer be allowed to serve on the liquor advisorer committee, if he is unwilling to step down(which it sounds like), the city council should remove him. If you don't think that "Unofficial" was and is a terrible day for campus town, ask a police officer or fire fighter that had to work on campus that day how it was. It was a day that ended in the first death of the holiday, something most students I've talked said was only a matter of time. The most interesting idea I heard from Sundays News-Gazette was the idea to have professors assign mandatory tests. I think that would do more to curb drinking on that day than anything else. Does anyone else have an ideas?

2006-03-25T00:47:00.000-08:00

Young Republicans

So I'm browsing a few local political sites and I come across the Champaign Young Republicans site and the first thing I see is this picture. Just curious but hold old is the age requirement for a young republican?

2006-03-08T13:52:00.000-08:00

Paul Mangieri Democratic Candidate for State Treasurer will be in Cu this Friday (3/10) at 8:45am at the Illini Union in Room 209. Paul is supported by the Democratic Party of Illinois.

2006-02-13T09:56:00.000-08:00

Here is a link about the political parties and coalitions in Iraq:

Some things to note include that the coalition that is in power includes:

Hezbollah movement in Iraq (Lebanon should come to mind), the Islamic Master of the Martyrs, Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (one the of the main parties), and the Al-Sadr Bloc, which is controlled by Shia cleric Muqtada Sadr. Sadr was directing his followers to uprise and attack Americans around Iraq about a year ago. If you remember his followers cost the U.S. hundreds of lives during that uprising and it took U.S. troops weeks to clean up. How disappointing to see the persons who are killing our troops now at the seat of power in Iraq.

2006-02-08T09:54:00.000-08:00

Did Chapin Rose "Flip-Flop"?

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/billstatus.asp?DocNum=4607&GAID=8&GA=94&DocTypeID=HB&LegID=22944&SessionID=50

Yesterday the House approved HB4607 as introduced. On 1/25 Chapin Rose listed himself as a co-sponsor of the bill. On 2/7/2006 the same day the bill passed he took himself off as a co-sponsor and voted no to the bill.

Many Republicans criticized John Kerry for being a flip-flopper because he voted for the war money before voting against it. Their mentality is stay the course whether right or wrong. If the facts are not with you invoke truthiness.

Liberals and intelligent people in general tend to think that people find out about new facts and other evidence comes to light and people can change opinions.

So the question is did Chapin Rose “flip-flop,” since he supported HB4607 right before he voted against HB4607 or did something come to light to make him change his opinion on that issue?

2006-02-06T16:29:00.000-08:00

A Rare Glimpse Into The Complicated Mind Of County Board Member Scott Tapley

Here

2006-02-06T13:07:00.000-08:00

Little Brendan Feels Picked on

Brendan Mcginty still doesn't get it does he?

Brendan has a bad history of trying to hurt Democrats and he went at it again this Sunday in a despicable display of character, attacking the chair of the party, calling Tricia Avery lazy, and defending his indefensible action to team up the County Board Republicans to make himself finance chair, Barb Wysocki Chair, and Steve Beckett Vice Chair.

You will remember that Brendan also has considered runs against Naomi Jakobsson, Mike Frerichs and Tod Satterthwaite in the past. He only made the challenge against Mike public, but he was constantly discussing the other two.

The finance chairmanship is a very important position and I don't think a bankrupt baby like Brendan Mcginty deserves it. He is lucky that he's not up for re-election to the county board this year, because more democrats dislike him than Barb Wysocki or Steve Beckett. But you can vote against him for precinct committeeman by voting for Rick Sommers if you live in Cunningham 23.

2006-02-05T00:12:00.000-08:00

New News-Gazette Website

Well, it appears that the News-Gazette has finally caught up with the 21st Century. This weekend the N-G launched it's new website, which finally allows visitors to access editorials and letters to the editor. Now all they need to do is clean house and can a few members of their Country-Club Republican editorial board (yes I mean you Jim Dey).

2006-02-04T23:59:00.000-08:00

Steve and Barb Have No Friends That title may sound a little childish, but I couldn't help myself after getting a look at the Steve Beckett/Barbara Wysocki list of endorsements on their website. Talk about pathetic. The only current elected officials on the list are State's Attorney Julia Rietz, Cunningham Township Assesor Joanne Chester, and fellow District 9 conspirator/crappy website designer/failed businessman Brendan McGinty.

Compare that with the Kirchner/Bell list of endorsements, which includes 8 members of the County Board, two Urbana city-wide elected officials, three members of the Urbana City Council, three members of the Champaign City Council, and the City of Champaign Township Supervisor.

I don't know why Steve Beckett is smiling in this picture, because he's soon gonna be spending a lot more time in the Law library :)

2006-01-31T16:09:00.000-08:00

Beckett and Wysocki Republican fundraiser

So apparently Barb Wysocki and Steve Beckett are having a fundraiser at John Dimits (A well known republican) household, that happens to be located on a street called Plantation Point. Am I the only one who finds the humor in this?

Update: John Dimit is the head of the RDC which takes a lot of money from the county. Conflict of interests anyone?

2006-01-30T20:30:00.000-08:00

GOP Primary Prediction

Ok, The Listener prediction based on little evidence, just seeing and meeting the candidates a couple times. Topinka is going to start losing ground very soon, due to her moderate social positions. Oberweis is going to gain for a little bit and then stabilize to a level that he can't break out of. Gidwitz will stay near the bottom of the pack. Brady is going to be the candidate, he will be gaining a lot of points in the next couple months, and due to Topinkas falling numbers, and Oberweis stabilizing, he will end up beating the pack with a vote total of over 50%. Anyone have any thoughts?

2006-01-27T12:46:00.000-08:00

County Board Passes Domestic Partner Policy

Last night the Champaign county board ok'd the domestic partner policy that has been discussed for a while over the heads of 7 republicans. One of the most vehement opponents was everyone's favorite, Scott Tapley. Scott says "I think something like this, domestic partner benefits, devalues the value of marriage," "It creates an equivalent of marriage. Any time you do that, you devalue the original." "A domestic partnership is easier to dissolve than marriage, and it's therefore much more unstable for a family unit,"

So heres my question:
Following Mr. Tapleys logic, wouldn't it make sense then to allow homosexual couples to marry?
It wouldn't be easier to dissolve and it would not be a false equivalent. It would be marriage, for two people that love each other.

We wouldn't need domestic partner benefits if people like Tapley would get on board with the gay marriage train.

2006-01-25T22:11:00.000-08:00

Distict 9

Steve Beckett, Barbara Wysocki, and Brendan McGinty worked with the county board republicans to put themselves into the three top positions on the county board in spite of the wishes of the Democratic caucus, voted against the minority study, wanted to spend the money going to the minority study on new executive offices (cause we all know Mark Shelden needs a new chair), and say that they would be willing to do the same thing again next time. So what does anyone think that their chances for re-election are in the second most democratic district in the county?(note: Brendan is not up for re-election to the county board, though he does have an opponent for precinct committeeman)