WHEATON - Sunday, State Representative and former Republican gubernatorial candidate Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) joined State Representative David McSweeney (R-Barrington Hills) in announcing their endorsement of Committeeman Mark Shaw for Chairman of the Illinois Republican Party over incumbent ILGOP Chairman Tim Schneider.
The split between the two candidates is lining up to be similar to the one the Illinois Republican Party showed in the Illinois Republican Primary Election earlier this year.
Schneider is who Governor Rauner wants to lead the party while Shaw is the choice of the conservative wing of the IL GOP - the ones that supported Rep. Ives in the primary and nearly blocked Rauner as the party's 2018 gubernatorial nominee.
Ives and McSweeney point to Shaw's conservative principles and Schneider's failings as the reason they're endorsing the challenger in next Saturday's chairmanship selection.
“Mark Shaw has a record as a commonsense conservative who is unafraid to stand up for our party platform and take on the political ruling class in Illinois,” said Ives. “He will work with all members of our party to win races so we can pull this state back from the brink of financial disaster. The current chair has demonstrated neither the willingness or ability to advance our party in such a direction.”
“Simply put, Chairman Schneider has failed as our state party chairman. Under his leadership dozens of Democrats went unchallenged in state legislative seats, he alienated the conservative ILGOP base in the gubernatorial race by choosing sides in a primary, and under Schneider’s leadership a man who proudly associates with the Nazi party is on the ballot as a Republican. His tenure has been an unmitigated disgrace,” Ives continued.
After the disastrous 2017 legislative year, during which 15 legislative Republicans joined Democrats to enact the largest permanent tax increase in the history of the state, McSweeney said, “if we cannot agree on no new taxes as Republicans, then we cannot agree on anything. Tim Schneider failed to unite our party against a massive tax increase.”
McSweeney went on to say, “Mark Shaw is a solid conservative who will work to expand the Republican Party. Tim Schneider, Chairman of the Illinois Rauner Party, is an inept insider who has badly damaged the party of Lincoln and Reagan.”
Both legislators have served in the Illinois General Assembly since 2013 and have led on issues of tax cuts, government accountability and spending reform.
Ives plans to attend the ILGOP State Central Committee meeting on May 19 in Springfield where the election for state party chairman is scheduled to take place.
