IL GOP gubernatorial candidate Richard Irvin bused in elderly group to win straw poll
LAKE COUNTY – Lake County Republican Central Committee chairman Mark Shaw sent out a press release Saturday night April 23 to announce the winner of the group's 2022 Illinois Republican Party gubernatorial primary straw poll held earlier in the day.
Shaw said that no one in the gubernatorial primary race attracted 40% or more of the Lake County Republicans' votes – neither Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin over state Senator Darren Bailey. former state Senator Paul Schimpf, entrepreneur Jesse Sullivan, businessman Gary Rabine or attorney Max Solomon.
Shaw didn't mention, however, that Mayor Irvin's campaign had boldly and publicly played with the system by bringing in a group of elderly Indian voters that skewed the straw poll vote. Videos of the Irvin/Bourne campaign's antics circulated via other candidates' campaigns, showing the senior aged bused-in group standing in line to place their reportedly pre-filled out ballots in the LCRCC's polling box, and then leaving immediately after placing those votes.
None of that was mentioned in Shaw's release. As shown in a Tweet by Gabe Guidarini – a Jesse Sullivan campaign volunteer and American Populist Union Coalition Manager:
Video of Irvin staffers bussing the paid voters out of the straw poll: https://t.co/ab9kvn8fjG pic.twitter.com/aoIOpgeMqQ
— Gabe F. Guidarini (@GabeGuidarini) April 23, 2022
“Although Richard Irvin came out on top today, no candidate received a majority of the vote or even cracked 40%, so it appears to still be a race that is wide open depending on who has the best message, who has the best campaign team, who gathers the most support and who raises the most funds to get their message across to the GOP base,” said Shaw.
Richard Irvin received 144 votes (39%); Jesse Sullivan and Darren Bailey tied with 76 votes each (21%); Gary Rabine with 63 votes (17%); Paul Schimpf at 16 votes (1%) and no report on Max Solomon's votes.
“The Republican Party needs to take a strong stand to promote the strongest conservative candidates in the primary election so that we get a head start on defeating the increasingly radical Democratic candidates that are being slated,” said LCRCC Chairman Mark Shaw. “If what we read in the headlines every day is even close to being accurate, the intense pressure of law enforcement public corruption investigations focusing on the activities of Mike Madigan, coupled with the crime wave causing legislation passed by Democrats in Springfield last year, has moderate independent voters finally realizing the Democrats need to go.”
But will the Republican Party vote to put into power a candidate that had to reach out, strategize and bus in votes from seemingly unknowing and uninformed voters?
And will the Illinois Republican Party encourage future all out attacks with misleading comments, if not outright blatant lies, about fellow conservative Republicans by nominating that candidate and his tactics to represent the ILGOP in 2022?
And if the Irvin/Bourne campaign is successful in winning the nomination, will the IL GOP conservative voter base be bullied once again by former Rauner political consultants to "get in line" and support their political tactics to elect a Republican as governor in 2022?
And does any of this matter – or is the big emphasis to defeat Pritzker in 2022? Can someone who's played dirty tricks like these motivate Republicans and moderate independents to oust Pritzker?
More to come on this topic from Illinois Review …
