By Illinois Review
On Saturday, embattled Illinois Republican Party Vice Chairman, former Trump Campaign Advisor and State Central Committee member Mark Shaw penned an angry, 10-page manifesto where he appeared unhinged as the IL GOP leader attempted to defend himself after it was revealed that he broke party rules and purposefully misrepresented himself as a delegate during the state convention last month.
In his 10-page meltdown, Shaw was in attack mode, angrily attacking fellow SSC members, county GOP leaders, the grassroots – which he referred to as “uniformed lemmings,” and he even borrowed a line from Democrat Gov. JB Pritzker – calling former GOP attorney general nominee Tom DeVore a “grifter.” In October 2021, Gov. Pritzker called DeVore a “grifter” for filing lawsuits against the governor’s mask mandate in schools during the pandemic.
As it has been previously reported, Shaw made a fool of himself during the GOP State Convention in Collinsville last month when he refused to withdraw from his national committeeman race after losing in a series of votes – intent on not backing down despite an overwhelming majority of delegates rejecting his candidacy. And when Aaron Del Mar, a fellow SSC member suggested he withdraw from the race and back his opponent, Shaw threatened Del Mar – a former MMA fighter, and said that he was going to take him outside and beat him up. But that wasn’t all. Just shortly after the convention, it was discovered that Shaw purposefully misrepresented himself as a delegate to the convention as photos emerged of the IL GOP vice chairman wearing an official delegate badge when he was in fact, not a delegate – a direct violation of state party rules.
Shaw – in his letter, asserts that he was a delegate, but text messages reveal just the opposite. In one text message exchange, Shaw asks Lake County GOP Central Committee Chairman Keith Brin – who was maintaining the delegate list as the local party leader, if he could be a delegate, writing,
“Keith: I would like to be a Delegate to the ILGOP State Convention from Lake County. What is the procedure for being placed on Lake County’s list of Delegates?”
But Brin never added Shaw to the delegate list – and Shaw never received an official notification from his county GOP leader stating that he was a delegate. If such a notification existed, Shaw would have included it in his 10-page manifesto – but he did not. And while Shaw was listed on an attendee list to attend the state convention, he was not included on Brin’s list as a delegate. But that didn’t stop Shaw – and photos and eyewitness accounts show Shaw at the convention wearing a “Delegate” badge – a direct violation of state party rules.
The embattled state party leader, who’s actions continue to embarrass Republicans statewide, also took personal shots at Brin and fellow SSC members Sean Morrison and Aaron Del Mar – turning a letter that was supposed to be a defense of his actions into a script for the Jerry Springer Show. The petty and epic 10-page meltdown sounded more like a childish rant – and not something you’d expect from a senior member of the Illinois Republican Party. The unhinged letter also exposed a lack of leadership within the party and proved yet again why Illinois Republicans remain in the super minority – voiceless and irrelevant on local and state matters. The letter also showed how much disdain Shaw has for the powerful and influential grassroots base of the party – calling the grassroots “uninformed lemmings”, “keyboard warriors” and “political hacks.” Ironic – because in 2018 as co-chairman of the IL GOP, Shaw was put in charge to “protect the interests of the grassroots.”
The IL GOP Vice Chair also suggested censoring this publication and it’s owners, writing, “What censure exists for those who seek to advance their own ‘careers’ at the expense of party unity…” Such censorship is common among Democrats and countries like Brazil, China and Russia, where opposing political voices and reporters are silenced. But this isn’t the first time this has been proposed. Last year, SSC member Jeanne Ives suggested censoring this publication after appearing agitated by stories covering the IL GOP and some of it’s leadership including IL GOP Chairman Don Tracy.
During the 2022 Republican primary, Shaw was the Lake County GOP chair when Nimish Jani bussed Indian-American senior citizens to the Lake County Republican straw poll to rig the poll in favor of his candidate Richard Irvin. The senior citizens, escorted by staff wearing Irvin-Bourne tee shirts, arrived at the meeting with pre-filled ballots. Irvin would win the straw poll with 144 votes and his campaign used the poll to prove that his message was resonating with Republican voters.
Shaw continues to take the position that the straw poll election, conducted under his watch, was fair. Irvin would go on to lose the primary election to the grassroots-backed candidate by 43 points despite receiving more than $50 million in funding.
In February, Shaw, who is an Illinois advisor to the Trump campaign and a Trump delegate, was listed as a co-host for the IL GOP’s Bank Your Vote Gala in Rosemont that featured U.S. Senator John Kennedy (R-La). The co-chair of the gala was Greg Hart – a pro-choice, “Never-Trumper” who continues to bash the wildly popular former president and presumptive Republican nominee for President of the United States on his social media accounts, repeatedly writing that Trump is “not fit to be leader of the free world.” And during the gala, none of the speakers mentioned Trump’s name on stage – deliberately avoiding him altogether. A point that surprised many in attendance. The gala also did not include any Trump signs or materials, which Shaw controlled. And despite serving as a senior advisor to the Trump Campaign in Illinois, Shaw remained silent on the appointment of Hart as the gala’s co-chair.
Several county GOP leaders have called for Shaw to resign or be removed from his leadership positions. And sources have shared with this publication that Shaw has lost the support from a majority of the SSC. And the pressure is mounting for the IL GOP to take swift action as this scandal has the potential to cause permanent damage for the party ahead of the November elections.
