By Illinois Review
Vince Kolber, chairman of the Illinois Republican Party Finance Committee abruptly resigned on Tuesday in an angry letter to IL GOP chairman Don Tracy, just weeks after the influential conservative grassroots base of the Illinois Republican Party scored major victories during the GOP State Convention in Collinsville – and after two years of unflattering stories by this publication.
Kolber, who is registered to vote in Illinois and Wisconsin, is still angry about losing his election at the state convention for national committeeman – after being eliminated in the first round to Mark Shaw, who faked a delegate badge and threatened to beat up a fellow state central committee member. During the first day of the convention, the Republican National Committeeman Nominating Committee voted 14-3 to keep Kolber on the ballot despite failing to meet the candidacy requirements as outlined by the IL GOP’s own bylaws.
As part of the nomination process, candidates are required to submit before the convention their certified voting record to show that they voted in the last three Illinois Republican primaries. But Kolber, who is registered to vote as a full time resident in both Illinois and Wisconsin – only submitted information for two Illinois primaries – 2022 and 2024. The omission of where he voted in 2020 would have automatically disqualified him from running for national committeeman per the bylaws, but an exception was made and Kolber remained on the ballot – proving that if you are a favored candidate of the party establishment – rules can be broken.
In his resignation letter, Kolber blamed the rise of the grassroots for his downfall – or as he also stated, the “newly engaged,” writing, “Right now, our Illinois party is excessively focused on the newly engaged raising high, the banner of the “grassroots.” Kolber also blamed the grassroots – or the “newly engaged” for creating “resistance” with donors, telling Tracy, “We have both experienced wide resistance from those donors in supporting a party organization needlessly divided on the relative importance of the newly engaged.”
Kolber also blamed the grassroots for the election of Dean White as national committeeman – a position that he sought, writing, “the Illinois party chose someone who has never given or raised to either the Illinois Party or the National Party. And in my case, they turned down someone who has given and raised substantial funds for both the State and National Republican parties.”
The Illinois and Wisconsin resident has always placed an emphasis on money over people – and as a result, the Illinois Republican Party – and partly under his leadership, has slipped further into irrelevance as the Democrats continue to expand their super majority control in both the Illinois House and Senate – and control every statewide office – leaving Republicans voiceless on local and state matters. In July 2023, Kolber was listed on the host committee for a Ron DeSantis for President event in Wisconsin, where he claims to live full-time, while at the same time, serving as an IL GOP senior official.
In December of 2022, Kolber infamously offended a room full of grassroots, when he asked the crowd during a state central committee meeting,
“I assume all of you have donated to the IL GOP?”
And when the room yelled back,
“No!”
He replied,
“No? Then what are you doing here?”
The comment drew an immediate reaction from the crowd, still stunned that a GOP leader would say something so offensive to a room full of hardworking, grassroots patriots – many of whom had driven hours, just for their voices to be heard. And judging by the negative reaction from the crowd, Republican state central committee member and ally of Kolber – Jeanne Ives, jumped up from her seat, in defense of Kolber, screaming as if experiencing an out of body experience and yelling in a high pitched voice,
“Vince is not your problem! This man gave me $750,000 when I ran against Gov. Bruce Rauner!” Proving yet again, that if you are a major donor – different rules apply.
In his closing remarks, Kolber stated that he is resigning “from Chairing or further participating in the Finance Committee” – and leaving the state party altogether.
I “wish all involved continuing success.”
