Illinois Conservative Union calls for IL GOP State Chairman Tim Schneider to resign
CAROL STREAM – Despite the Illinois Republican Party meeting for the first time since a "blue tsunami" hit Illinois in the mid-term elections, no dramatic changes in leadership or strategy for 2020 emerged last Saturday – stripping all the state's non-Democrats of any hope for substantial political recovery in the near future.
The Illinois Conservative Union (ICU) isn't giving up on the IL GOP without a fight, however. This week, the ICU's leadership called for the IL GOP state chairman Tim Schneider to step down. To the base of the Party – Conservatives who stand firmly on the adopted Republican Party platform – the causes of the November 6th election losses are abundantly clear, the group said in a statement.
"Party leadership made no attempt to unify the Party, failed to support good candidates and failed to effectively communicate to voters the principles of the Republican Party," the group said. "Due to this failure of leadership and lack of accepting any responsibility for the losses, Illinois Conservative Union (ICU) calls for Tim Schneider to step down from his position as Chairman."
Party leadership is simply out of touch with mainstream Republicans – and obviously have no intention of developing all-important connections to the base, the group says.
“It’s obvious that some of those in Party leadership are out-of-touch with mainstream grassroots Republicans. The grassroots want leadership to support the Party platform; support candidates approved by the Party base—not those hand-picked by leadership; support and defend the Constitution of the United States and support the policies of the President”, said Babette Holder-Youngberg, Communications Director for ICU.
State Rep. Jeanne Ives, who came within three points of ousting incumbent Republican Governor Bruce Rauner in the 2018 IL GOP primary, agreed with the ICU statement. She said the activists in the conservative wing of the IL GOP has been ignored and dismissed for far too long.
“They [IL GOP leadership] need to know we will work with them and be a force multiplier or we will work around them, but we are the workers in the Party, from every corner of the state,” said Jeanne Ives, Senior Fellow, ICU.
Coming Friday – Illinois Review reports on the future of the Illinois Republican Party after speaking with members of the State Central Committee.
