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.comWithin 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 …
Those darn Russians must be at it again!
Leave it to two women to have a cat fight. It should have happened two decades ago when both of them would have been worth looking at as they scratched and clawed. Seriously, this is the type of press they want to generate. The IL GOP is already a joke. I was hoping the females of the species would be able to act more adult than their gutless male buffoon predecessor, but nope, another clown act.
Anyone with $10 and 5 minutes of time can register a web site anonymously and redirect it anywhere. Could be Ives doing it and pointing the finger at Sanguinetti. Could be someone outside the campaigns thinking they are being helpful to one side or the other. I hope by now someone has clued Jeanne into that possibility so she reels back the rhetoric. Without proof, it’s pretty immature to make an unproven accusation.
Let’s get back to the issues that face the 6th district.
I bought the domains.
Many of us who were former Rauner supporters watched the chicanery that Rauner used to defeat Ives in the last GOP Primary. That caused many of us “to bail” on Rauner in the Primary as it showed a lack of decency and honor. Sanguinetti was weaned off of Rauner. Hence, it tends to make us “question” how she plays the game.It doesn’t make us think that she doesn’t play by the rules (like Rauner) but it does make us “question” whether her denials of foul play are legitimate. Like our parents told us as we grew up–People tend to view you by the company and friends that you keep.
It also makes us wonder to what extent Rauner may be pulling levers behind the scenes.