By Illinois Review
On Friday during the Illinois Republican Party State Convention, the Republican National Committeeman nominating committee voted 14-3 to keep Vince Kolber on the ballot despite failing to meet the candidacy requirements as outlined by the IL GOP’s own bylaws.
As part of the nomination process, candidates are required to submit before the convention their certified voting record to show that they voted in the last three Illinois Republican primaries. But Kolber, who is registered to vote as a full time resident in both Illinois and Wisconsin – only submitted information for two Illinois primaries – 2022 and 2024. The omission of where he voted in 2020 would have automatically disqualified him from running for national committeeman per the bylaws, but an exception was made and Kolber remains on the ballot.
In a vote of 14-3, Kolber was able to cheat the rules – proving that if you are a favored candidate of the party establishment – rules can be broken. Kolber faces state central committee members Dean White and Mark Shaw.
During the 2022 Republican primary, Shaw was the Lake County GOP chair when Nimish Jani bussed Indian-American senior citizens to the Lake County Republican straw poll to rig the poll in favor of his candidate Richard Irvin. The senior citizens, escorted by staff wearing Irvin-Bourne tee shirts, arrived at the meeting with pre-filled ballots. Irvin would win the straw poll with 144 votes and his campaign used the poll to prove that his message was resonating with Republican voters.
Shaw continues to take the position that the straw poll election, conducted under his watch, was fair. Irvin would go on to lose the primary election to the grassroots-backed candidate by 43 points despite receiving more than $50 million in funding.
Dean White is new to the political scene. As a businessman and owner of a successful fencing company, White entered the political scene working with businessman Gary Rabine during his 2022 campaign for Illinois governor. Rabine is close with Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk and was an early investor in TPUSA. Kirk endorsed Rabine’s bid for governor. White remains financially supportive of grassroots organizations and he is frequently spotted at grassroots-hosted events across the northern part of the state.
The vote to elect the next national committeeman takes place on Saturday.
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