By Illinois Review
Just weeks after Illinois Review published articles exposing deliberate and widespread abuse of the IL GOP postage discount during the Primary, embattled IL GOP chairman Don Tracy has tasked State Central Committee members to create a new committee to review and create postage discount policies regarding candidate mail in primary elections.
In July, during a meeting with conservative leaders, Tracy deflected any responsibility after admitting that the Richard Irvin for governor campaign received the IL GOP postage discount in the primary – a perk not afforded to any other campaign for governor.
Initially, the IL GOP’s strategy was to blame former House GOP Minority Leader Jim Durkin, an ally and best friend to Tracy. The strategy then shifted to blaming IL GOP General Counsel John Fogarty, who reviews and approves mailers – but interestingly enough, Fogarty also served as the Irvin for governor campaign attorney at the same time he represented the IL GOP. And finally, the position of the IL GOP after pointing fingers at everyone was to call Illinois Review “liars” and “bloggers.”
The IL GOP is now demanding that Illinois Review play the audio – a move that will expose our sources and discourage the hundreds of conservatives across the state that frequently share information with us in confidence.
The IL GOP can’t even win an election, including Irvin’s, and now they think they can win an argument with Illinois Review despite a pile of evidence and audio.
There are critical municipal and school board races coming up, yet the IL GOP remains focused exclusively on attacking a conservative grassroots publication that’s exposing their corruption and their total disregard for the conservative base of the party.
And while the IL GOP is publicly calling for Illinois Review to play the audio, they are secretly denying access to their financial records and postage receipts – even after neutral third parties have requested to review the information with staff present at an office of their choosing.
But the creation of a new postage discount policy review committee is an interesting one – and an admission of guilt. And while an audit of the use of the postage discount by the Inspector General of the US Postal Service is imminent, not having policies in place, or blatantly ignoring them will not go over well when postal officials are going through their records.
So the creation of a new committee will certainly be a talking point when Tracy and others meet with the team of auditors. But it won’t save them from the fines and possible suspension of the postage discount.
In the past, the IL GOP used the postage discount for positive mail pieces, but under Tracy’s leadership, the discount was weaponized to target conservative grassroots primary candidates.
And while Tracy deflects the blame for overseeing widespread and humiliating losses during the November election, the US Postal Service will be looking for the one ultimately in charge of the postal discount – and that’s Don Tracy.
In a document obtained exclusively by Illinois Review, the Candidate Mail Review Committee will be chaired by SSC member Mark Shaw. Committee members include: Jeanne Ives, Bob Grogan, Mark Hosty, Jennifer Neubauer, Laura Pollastrini, Rhonda Belford, Larry Smith, and John Fogarty (lawyer to the IL GOP and the Irvin campaign during the primary).
The purpose of the committee is to “review the State Party’s policies regarding candidate mail in primary elections and the standard process and procedures for candidate mail.”
Other IL GOP SSC committee’s include:
-Finance Committee chaired by Vince Kolber, a resident and voter in both Illinois and Wisconsin
-Election Integrity Committee chaired by Mark Hosty
-Ballot Chase Committee chaired by TBD
-PC & Candidate Training Committee chaired by Mark Shaw
-Local Party Capacity Building Committee chaired by Larry Smith
-University Town Committee chaired by TBD
-Minority Outreach Committee chaired by Jay Reyes
-Endorsement Policy Committee chaired by TBD
Please continue to follow Illinois Review for more updates as they become available.
