UPDATE x1: URL Dispute in 6th CD GOP primary heats up

WHEATON - A dispute arose last week over website URL's in the 6th CD GOP primary, and Monday the plot thickened. First, Republican candidate Jeanne Ives posted accusations on her Facebook page that her primary opponent Evelyn Sanguinetti's campaign had pulled a URL switch.

Evelyn Sanguinetti told Illinois Review her campaign wasn't guilty of Ives' accusation:

"I checked with all my staff, vendors, and anyone associated with my campaign and confirmed we do not own any websites with Jeanne Ives' name. I do not know who owns that URL. Honestly, Jeanne really should have just called me to ask if I did this before spreading a lie about me. We are both Republicans and we are better than this pettiness," Sanguinetti said.

Ives' described the maneuver as "petty, immature and dishonest":

Monday, a similar malfunction occurred in Ives' favor when people went to www.ilgop.com.  They were directed to www.jeanneforcongress.com . 

What's up with that? We hope to get a response from the Ives' campaign. 

UPDATEX1: We did get a response from the Ives campaign this afternoon. Kathleen Murphy, Jeanne Ives' campaign spokesperson wrote in an email: 

Thank you for letting us know about the fake ILGOP site that was forwarding to JeanneForCongress.com 

 

Within hours of hearing about it (from you) we had blocked it from directing to Jeanne's page and re-directed it to the ILGOP site. 

 

The Sanguinetti campaign has known for days (at minimum) about the site using Jeanne's name to direct to her page. They have neither blocked it or re-directed it to Jeanne's campaign page. Clearly, they are unbothered by having a fake page direct traffic to her site using an opponent's name. 

 

The real question is why are we surprised? This is the woman who stood by Bruce Rauner's side while he ran the most dishonest campaign in state history: https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/eric-zorn/ct-perspec-zorn-rauner-ives-lies-20180313-story.html%3foutputType=amp

In the meantime, Sanguinetti says she's willing to work with Ives to get to the bottom of the confusion.

"I'll gladly join her in a letter to the anonymous domain owner demanding they reveal themselves and sell the URL to Jeanne," the former lieutenant governor said. "I'll win this election with the truth about my record and I'd rather focus on what matters: fighting the socialist agenda being pushed by Sean Casten."

Whoever wins the 6th DC GOP primary in March 2020 will face Congressman Casten in November 2020.

More to come ...