Deplorable Redneck
2018-06-30 13:01:44 UTC
Get your shit together Republicans.
CHICAGO Illinois Republicans botched four opportunities to
stop an avowed Nazi from representing their party in a Chicago-
area congressional district. Now theyre paying the price.
Arthur Jones, a Holocaust denier who will appear on the November
ballot as the GOP candidate against Democratic Rep. Dan
Lipinski, has become campaign fodder for Democrats as they seek
to defeat Gov. Bruce Rauner. And some Republicans even fear the
taint from Jones extremist views poses a threat to the party up
and down the ticket.
First, its morally wrong and I think its really harmful to
the party. The guys a complete nutcase. Hes a Nazi, said
conservative GOP state Rep. David McSweeney. This is an
absolute political disaster.
McSweeneys comments come just days after the filing deadline
passed for qualifying a third-party candidate for the general
election which could have provided a safe harbor for Illinois
Republican votes. Prior to that, the party had also failed to
recruit a candidate to challenge Jones in the primary election,
failed to knock him off the primary ballot and wasnt able to
field a write-in candidate against him in the primary.
Running a third-party candidate against Jones in November was
among the options left to Illinois Republicans after Jones
clinched the GOP nomination by running unopposed. But the
deadline came and went this week and that didnt happen either.
Jones, who told POLITICO hes running to counter a two-party,
Jew-party, queer-party system, laughed when he was informed the
GOP was unable to put up a candidate against him.
They didnt put up a third-party candidate? Jones asked when
reached by phone Thursday. Thats great! Thats fantastic!
I snookered them, he said of state Republicans. I played by
the rules, what can I say?
Getting on the Illinois ballot as a third-party candidate is no
small task. In the 3rd Congressional District, a candidate would
have needed 14,600 valid signatures, a laborious and expensive
endeavor and even then, theres a slim chance of success against
Lipinski.
There were several individuals interested in running as
independent candidates, but unfortunately they made the decision
not to run after considering the incredibly large petition
signature requirements in a relatively small geographic area and
the amount of resources that would be required to mount a
campaign in a district heavily favored for Democrats, Illinois
Republican Party spokesman Aaron DeGroot said.
On Thursday, DeGroot said the party instead plans to recruit and
support a write-in candidate for the general election.
Still, Jones nomination has been an enormous embarrassment to
the party and to state party Chairman Tim Schneider for
months. When Schneider was faced with a formidable challenge to
his chairmanship in May, some Republicans including state Rep.
Jeanne Ives, who ran unsuccessfully against Rauner in the
primary cited Jones candidacy as a reason to break from
Schneiders leadership. Schneider ended up surviving his
challenge by bringing on his challenger as a co-chairman.
Some have questioned why Republicans also failed to oust Jones
through the traditional Illinois way of knocking undesirables
off the ballot by challenging his signature petitions. Both
parties here commonly employ the tactic to bloody up each other.
Democrats through petition challenges have more than once
successfully sidelined a would-be Nazi candidate, Richard
Mayers, who has attempted to run as a Green Party candidate in
various congressional districts.
But no one tried it in Jones case. His signatures were examined
but never challenged, according to the Illinois State Board of
Elections. The GOP has said it reviewed the petitions but
couldnt find a legal reason to challenge them.
J.B. Pritzker, the Democratic nominee for governor who was
instrumental in building the Holocaust Museum in Skokie, has
called on Rauner to urge Jones to drop out. Rauner has condemned
Jones and said theres no room for him in American politics. But
Pritzker said Rauner, who is the largest contributor to the
Illinois GOP, hasnt done enough.
Bruce Rauner has cowered to the worst elements of our politics
on more than one occasion, but I sincerely hope he would agree
that a self-proclaimed Nazi and Holocaust denier has no place as
a candidate for any office in Illinois, Pritzker told POLITICO
in a statement. I urge Bruce Rauner to join me in calling on
Arthur Jones to drop out.
Republicans have indeed roundly rejected Jones, saying he had no
place in their party, denounced his candidacy, ran robocalls
against him at one point and even encouraged primary voters in
the district to leave ballots blank rather than vote for Jones.
Yet the GOP never managed to offer those voters any alternative
candidate to Jones.
Its not enough to denounce Jones do something about it. They
didnt run a candidate against him in the primary. Theyre not
running against him in the general. And theyre not endorsing
Lipinski. Then what are they doing? asked Steve Sheffey, a pro-
Israel activist who authors a Jewish newsletter in Chicago.
From now on, at every forum, at every endorsement session,
Illinois Republicans should be asked point blank: if you live
in the 3rd Congressional District, who would you vote for: Dan
Lipinski or Arthur Jones?
Underlying the inaction against Jones is a widespread belief
that neither he nor any Republican has a chance of winning
against Lipinski in November in the solidly Democratic district.
Other Republicans have pointed to partisan gerrymandering as a
barrier to recruiting viable GOP candidates in the 3rd District.
Still, the party needed only 603 signatures to run someone
against Jones in the first place and U.S. law does not require
candidates to live in the congressional district for which they
are running.
Jones remains a long shot in the fall congressional race he
hasnt even filed a report with the Federal Election Commission
or disclosed any donors, a move he said was intentional.
Im not filing any reports. Im not going to give the Jews an
opportunity to harass my supporters until after the election,
he said. Right now, Im keeping all the names confidential.
Asked how much money he raised, he said: Im not going to tell
you.
In the meantime, Republicans have one last chance to save face.
They can mount a write-in challenge if that candidate notifies
three counties in the district of their intent by Sept. 6.
They didnt run anyone against him in the primary. They didnt
file an objection to him, they didnt find a write-in candidate
and they didnt run an independent candidate, McSweeney said.
Weve missed four opportunities. We better not miss the fifth.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/29/arthur-jones-nazi-
illinois-republicans-686875
CHICAGO Illinois Republicans botched four opportunities to
stop an avowed Nazi from representing their party in a Chicago-
area congressional district. Now theyre paying the price.
Arthur Jones, a Holocaust denier who will appear on the November
ballot as the GOP candidate against Democratic Rep. Dan
Lipinski, has become campaign fodder for Democrats as they seek
to defeat Gov. Bruce Rauner. And some Republicans even fear the
taint from Jones extremist views poses a threat to the party up
and down the ticket.
First, its morally wrong and I think its really harmful to
the party. The guys a complete nutcase. Hes a Nazi, said
conservative GOP state Rep. David McSweeney. This is an
absolute political disaster.
McSweeneys comments come just days after the filing deadline
passed for qualifying a third-party candidate for the general
election which could have provided a safe harbor for Illinois
Republican votes. Prior to that, the party had also failed to
recruit a candidate to challenge Jones in the primary election,
failed to knock him off the primary ballot and wasnt able to
field a write-in candidate against him in the primary.
Running a third-party candidate against Jones in November was
among the options left to Illinois Republicans after Jones
clinched the GOP nomination by running unopposed. But the
deadline came and went this week and that didnt happen either.
Jones, who told POLITICO hes running to counter a two-party,
Jew-party, queer-party system, laughed when he was informed the
GOP was unable to put up a candidate against him.
They didnt put up a third-party candidate? Jones asked when
reached by phone Thursday. Thats great! Thats fantastic!
I snookered them, he said of state Republicans. I played by
the rules, what can I say?
Getting on the Illinois ballot as a third-party candidate is no
small task. In the 3rd Congressional District, a candidate would
have needed 14,600 valid signatures, a laborious and expensive
endeavor and even then, theres a slim chance of success against
Lipinski.
There were several individuals interested in running as
independent candidates, but unfortunately they made the decision
not to run after considering the incredibly large petition
signature requirements in a relatively small geographic area and
the amount of resources that would be required to mount a
campaign in a district heavily favored for Democrats, Illinois
Republican Party spokesman Aaron DeGroot said.
On Thursday, DeGroot said the party instead plans to recruit and
support a write-in candidate for the general election.
Still, Jones nomination has been an enormous embarrassment to
the party and to state party Chairman Tim Schneider for
months. When Schneider was faced with a formidable challenge to
his chairmanship in May, some Republicans including state Rep.
Jeanne Ives, who ran unsuccessfully against Rauner in the
primary cited Jones candidacy as a reason to break from
Schneiders leadership. Schneider ended up surviving his
challenge by bringing on his challenger as a co-chairman.
Some have questioned why Republicans also failed to oust Jones
through the traditional Illinois way of knocking undesirables
off the ballot by challenging his signature petitions. Both
parties here commonly employ the tactic to bloody up each other.
Democrats through petition challenges have more than once
successfully sidelined a would-be Nazi candidate, Richard
Mayers, who has attempted to run as a Green Party candidate in
various congressional districts.
But no one tried it in Jones case. His signatures were examined
but never challenged, according to the Illinois State Board of
Elections. The GOP has said it reviewed the petitions but
couldnt find a legal reason to challenge them.
J.B. Pritzker, the Democratic nominee for governor who was
instrumental in building the Holocaust Museum in Skokie, has
called on Rauner to urge Jones to drop out. Rauner has condemned
Jones and said theres no room for him in American politics. But
Pritzker said Rauner, who is the largest contributor to the
Illinois GOP, hasnt done enough.
Bruce Rauner has cowered to the worst elements of our politics
on more than one occasion, but I sincerely hope he would agree
that a self-proclaimed Nazi and Holocaust denier has no place as
a candidate for any office in Illinois, Pritzker told POLITICO
in a statement. I urge Bruce Rauner to join me in calling on
Arthur Jones to drop out.
Republicans have indeed roundly rejected Jones, saying he had no
place in their party, denounced his candidacy, ran robocalls
against him at one point and even encouraged primary voters in
the district to leave ballots blank rather than vote for Jones.
Yet the GOP never managed to offer those voters any alternative
candidate to Jones.
Its not enough to denounce Jones do something about it. They
didnt run a candidate against him in the primary. Theyre not
running against him in the general. And theyre not endorsing
Lipinski. Then what are they doing? asked Steve Sheffey, a pro-
Israel activist who authors a Jewish newsletter in Chicago.
From now on, at every forum, at every endorsement session,
Illinois Republicans should be asked point blank: if you live
in the 3rd Congressional District, who would you vote for: Dan
Lipinski or Arthur Jones?
Underlying the inaction against Jones is a widespread belief
that neither he nor any Republican has a chance of winning
against Lipinski in November in the solidly Democratic district.
Other Republicans have pointed to partisan gerrymandering as a
barrier to recruiting viable GOP candidates in the 3rd District.
Still, the party needed only 603 signatures to run someone
against Jones in the first place and U.S. law does not require
candidates to live in the congressional district for which they
are running.
Jones remains a long shot in the fall congressional race he
hasnt even filed a report with the Federal Election Commission
or disclosed any donors, a move he said was intentional.
Im not filing any reports. Im not going to give the Jews an
opportunity to harass my supporters until after the election,
he said. Right now, Im keeping all the names confidential.
Asked how much money he raised, he said: Im not going to tell
you.
In the meantime, Republicans have one last chance to save face.
They can mount a write-in challenge if that candidate notifies
three counties in the district of their intent by Sept. 6.
They didnt run anyone against him in the primary. They didnt
file an objection to him, they didnt find a write-in candidate
and they didnt run an independent candidate, McSweeney said.
Weve missed four opportunities. We better not miss the fifth.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/29/arthur-jones-nazi-
illinois-republicans-686875