PALATINE – In a clear, concise and unapologetic speech endorsing Darren Bailey in the IL GOP gubernatorial primary race, former State Rep. Jeanne Ives – without formal recognition – stepped forward as the unofficial leader of the Illinois Republican Party.
Someone needs to inform the IL GOP's official party elites they are no longer relevant.
First, Ives explained the seriousness of the federal charges being waged by federal prosecutors against former House Speaker and longtime Illinois Democratic Party Chairman Mike Madigan.
"I want to set the stage for 2022," Ives said.
"The indictment of Mike Madigan yesterday by federal prosecutors on 22 counts of bribery and racketeering is turning this year into what should be the most consequential year for Illinois in a half century. It is a chance to kick the 'go along, get along' politicians on both sides of the aisle out of office.
"It's a chance to say 'goodbye' to the state legislators who doubled your gas taxes, who let the governor shut down businesses with no input from the legislative branch, who made your kids stare at a screen all day and called it 'school,' who took billions in COVID money from federal taxpayers and said they balanced the budget, who passed laws making the streets a haven for criminals and who wasted truckloads of your money, allowing millions in unemployment fraud and stolen identities to occur.
"And that's just a small list of grievances which should inform voters this year," she said. "This indictment could be just the start of ridding this state of the machine politicians that have fiscally and morally bankrupted this state."
Those words were just the beginning of Ives' harsh criticism of corrupt politicians.
She went on to list moral failures politicians have pushed on the "God-fearing people of this state."
Then she returned to the corruption in Illinois' political system.
"Every important Democrat holding public office in Illinois right now is there because Mike Madigan put them there. That includes the entirety of the General Assembly and Governor JB Pritzker," she said.
Illinois is now the "case study of how to economically ruin a state that has every natural advantage others would love to have," Ives said.
This year is the year Illinois voters can change the direction of the state, she emphatically said. And that led to her endorsement of state Senator Darren Bailey (R-Xenia).
"This year, voters can vote for someone who has already demonstrated the courage to lead in the face of ridicule by the political class, including those in his own party… There are good men running for this office on the Republican side. But when leadership was demanded against a one-man government in Pritzker, there was only a one-man response in Darren Bailey. For his courage and experience, I wholeheartedly endorse Darren Bailey for Governor."
Ives criticized others for not challenging the governor during the COVID shutdowns – including Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin, who has been endorsed by 60 Republican Party leaders.
"Republicans need to be warned: the same people who ran Rauner's campaign backed by a billion dollar checkbook are now running the Irvin/Bourne race backed by the same billion dollar checkbook. And just how those political hacks lied about me in '18, they are lying about Darren Bailey in 2022.
"The truth is Richard Irvin and Avery Bourne may just be both Madigan and Pritzker's favorite Republicans," she said – a takeoff on how the Rauner campaign described Ives in 2018 mailers to downstate votes, unacquainted with Ives' record.
A video copy of the speech is available on Illinois Review's YouTube page: HERE
