By Illinois Review
Embattled IL GOP chairman Don Tracy joined Bishop on Air on WMAY radio on Monday and blamed former Illinois State Senator and Republican nominee for governor Darren Bailey for midterm election losses, and said the IL GOP needs to re-evaluate their primary election neutrality policy moving forward.
“And a lot of these great candidates we had this past time put their heart and soul and their family treasure into these races only to be impacted by the top of the ticket, something they have no control over…So I think we almost have a fiduciary duty to look at our primary and determine whether neutrality is the best policy.”
Shocking and a slap in the face to the over 1.7 million Illinoisans who voted for Bailey in the general election.
During the primary election, Bailey defeated the IL GOP’s preferred candidate, Richard Irvin by a shocking 43 points.
Tracy also reiterated during the interview that the IL GOP remained neutral during the governor primary, despite a pile of evidence that suggests otherwise.
It’s hard to claim neutrality, as Tracy did during today’s interview when nearly half of the Republican State Central Committee members – the governing board of the IL GOP, including RNC national committeeman Richard Porter, endorsed Irvin for governor during the primary.
Porter even served as an honorary co-chair of Irvin’s campaign.
It’s hard to claim neutrality, as Tracy did during today’s interview when the general counsel of the IL GOP John Fogarty – was also the general counsel to the Richard Irvin campaign – representing the interests of the IL GOP and team Irvin at the exact same time.
It’s hard to claim neutrality, as Tracy did during today’s interview when in July, he was recorded in an exclusive audio with conservative leaders – admitting that the Irvin campaign used the IL GOP postage discount – a perk not afforded to the other gubernatorial campaigns.
And it’s hard to claim neutrality, as Tracy did during today’s interview, when during the Sangamon County Lincoln Day Dinner, Tracy forbade conservative gubernatorial candidates Gary Rabine and Darren Bailey – both of whom attended the event despite Irvin being a no-show, from speaking to the crowd of at least 800 people.
Instead, Tracy permitted Lt. Gov. candidate Avery Bourne to speak to the crowd and gush about Richard Irvin’s campaign.
For Tracy to admit publicly that the IL GOP should re-evaluate whether neutrality was the best policy is shocking. It should go without saying that the Illinois Republican Party remain neutral during the primary.
Let the people decide who will represent them – not a few out of touch political insiders within the IL GOP.
The last time the IL GOP tried to tell us which candidate to support during the primary, that campaign went down in flames.
Perhaps they will never learn from their lessons.
