it’s a brand new year. the primaries are less than a month away and the campaigns in illinois’ 3rd congressional district are in full gear. at least they should be. the biggest piece of news in this race is that the endorsement session for the chicago tribune is available:
the surprising thing is that dan lipinski wasn’t there. perhaps one cannot be too surprised, given the ongoing scandal that surrounds the incumbent congressman. the introductory segment of the session gives a great summary of what the different campaigns think are driving this campaign. the video starts jim capparelli, then goes to jerry bennett while mark pera is the last to give his introduction.
lipinski may have missed the chicago tribune endorsement session (wouldn’t want to answer any pesky questions, would we?), but his office did put out this important press release:
Lipinski Denounces Illegal Japanese Whaling
Calls on President to Condemn Japan’s Actions and Seek End to All Future Hunts
[Washington, D.C.] Today, Rep. Dan Lipinski (IL-3) sent a letter to President Bush requesting his public condemnation of Japan for disregarding an international ban and allowing the killing of over 1,000 whales, many of them endangered. The letter, signed by 76 Members of the House of Representatives, also calls for an end to all future hunts and expresses support for trade restrictions on Japan that would help conserve whales.
“I am deeply troubled by Japan’s complete disregard of an international ban on whale hunts that has protected whales since the 1940’s,” stated Lipinski. “The Bush Administration should take a firm stance against Japan’s actions by pursuing appropriate diplomatic, economic, and trade measures to ensure that international protections for whales are not undermined, but strengthened. We must continue to protect these fragile creatures that are being threatened by human activity.”
[…]
In addition to this effort, Rep. Lipinski has been committed to animal welfare issues in the 110th Congress, including efforts to strengthen prohibitions against animal fighting and the use of dog and cat fur products. As a member of the Congressional Wildlife Refuge Caucus, he is a cosponsor of legislation to protect rare cats and dogs, to prohibit aerial hunting of wildlife, to restore healthy populations of salmon and steelhead in the Pacific Northwest, and to permanently protect the Arctic coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, while also supporting efforts to prevent the importation of polar bear trophies.
i know that there are some people worried about the congressman’s position on animal welfare, but to hole up and hide from the rest of the issues???
mark pera, on the other hand, had this article on the race:
December 28, 2007 Southwest News-Herald – Ray Hanania
Pera Spills Oily Issues In Fight with Lipinski
One of my cousins called to say he received a direct mail piece from Mark Pera blasting Cong. Dan Lipinski.
“They said Lipinski is like Santa Claus,” my cousin said. “Santa Claus is good. Right?”
My cousin apparently missed the point of Pera’s expensive, full color brochure which alleges Lipinski has been “like Santa Claus” in doling out benefits to “big oil companies” in exchange for campaign donations.
Pera asserts Lipinski received $26,000 from “big oil.”
Lipinski’s campaign said it was exaggerated. Pera’s campaign identified the sources of the big oil donations as $15,000 from Exelon and oil interests, $2,000 from Nicor, and $9,000 from electrical lobbyists. You decide.
When I explained that to my cousin, he replied, “Well, at least they’re not blaming the Arabs for oil prices. That’s good. Right?”
Direct mail in a congressional race is expensive. Is the issue of “big oil” really that significant in the district?
Last week, I received dozens of e-mails from readers expressing concern over the fate of Midway Airport. They disagree with Palos Hills Mayor Gerald Bennett, also a candidate against Lipinski, who insists Peotone Regional Airport “will not” harm Midway Airport.
Midway is a bigger issue for people in the district than “big oil” contributions. Which leads me to think that voters are focused on Bennett rather than Pera.
the mailer that this article refers to can be found here.
jerry bennett had this article:
December 21, 2007 Southwest News-Herald – Ray Hanania
3rd District Race And Midway Airport’s Future
Midway Airport is the engine driving the economic viability of the Southwest Side and Suburbs of Chicago, and many believe the proposed Peotone Regional Airport plan would undermine that role.
But Gerald Bennett, who spent much of his past 27 years as mayor of Palos Hills fighting to revive Midway, says Peotone is not a threat.
A candidate in the hotly contested 3rd Congressional District Democratic race to unseat incumbent Cong. Dan Lipinski, Bennett insists Peotone will not undermine Midway.
“Years ago when Midway was a ghost town, we got together with the father of the congressman and other elected officials in the area to bring Midway to where it is today,” Bennett told Radio Chicagoland last week. “As a Southwest Side mayor and president of our organization, Midway Airport is an economic engine for us and we will fight to the death to maintain that level.”
while capparelli seems intent on repeating the same message:
January 4, 2008 Southwest News-Herald – City
Capparelli Is Serious About Winning Race
By DERMOT CONNOLLYGarfield Ridge resident Jim Capparelli is among three challengers Cong. Dan Lipinski (D-3rd) will face on the Feb. 5 primary ballot, and he contends that just because his campaign is not as well-funded as the others, it should not be disregarded.
“I have a lot of grassroots support. I’ve lived in the neighborhood my entire life, and we’re people who are active here too,” said Capparelli, who grew up in Clearing and lives with his wife and children in Garfield Ridge.
“It’s not always about the best-funded candidate,” said Capparelli, who contends that his credentials are superior to those of Lipinski, seeking his third term, and the other challengers, Mark Pera, an assistant Cook County state’s attorney from Western Springs, and Jerry Bennett, a West Lawn native who since 1980 has been been mayor of Palos Hills, where he owns a dental lab.
[…]
Capparelli has decided not to post his upcoming activities on his Web site, but said he does intend to continue actively campaigning through the election season.
i hadn’t realized before that dan lipinski had two websites, the one we’ve always acknowledged and this one, electlipinski. they are actually one and the same, just different urls. well, they got a facelift in the past month. it’s just the index page, but it’s spiffy, with a new picture of the congressman outside the district (at the harbor). maybe the picture is a homage to mayor daley, who’s support lipinski desperately needs in order to stay in office. the rest of the site is the same old, same old, and it hasn’t been updated, near as i can tell, since november. but at least it has a pretty front page that shows the new endorsements of the fraternal order of police and ibew 134. prairie state blue highlighted the war funding switchers.
mark pera isn’t hiding. voters have already received half a dozen mailers, including the two previously mentioned. they have already sent out two mailers on the war, end this war and numbers keep rising and two mailers attacking lipinski’s connection to big oil: the santa mailer discussed above and an arm and a leg. pera’s big oil campaign was paired with his second television ad and generated this dailykos post by miss laura and this one by archpundit. while kos ended the year with this appeal, archpundit started the new year off by announcing new endorsements for pera. mark pera himself has written two blog posts since the last roundup: one of lipinski’s flip-flops and another on stem cells.
the pera campaign reports that they had more than 80 volunteers “out the door and into the district’s precincts on Saturday, Jan. 5 and Sunday, Jan. 6.” they added:
On Dec. 18, we set a goal: To raise $26,000 from our supporters by Dec. 31. We picked that dollar figure because that is the same amount Lipinski took from big oil between 2005 and 2007. By Dec. 28, we had hit our goal. By Dec. 31, we had exceeded it by more than $10,000. I think this is indicative of the kind of support we’ve earned. There’s not another candidate in this campaign that could have raised that money in that amount of time via contributions from ordinary Democratic voters. People are desperate for change in Washington D.C. They are tired of business as usual, they want to reform the “old-school Chicago” political system and Mark will help this district realize change.
jerry bennett has a new quotes and headlines piece, including this observations from capitol fax:
By the way, some of the Daley people are much more worried about Jerry Bennett’s Democratic candidacy in this district than Pera’s. Bennett has lined up a ton of suburban mayors and that’s grabbing plenty of attention.
the bennett campaign has sent out their first (iirc) mailer. i’ll update this diary to include that when they have hit the boxes.
jim capparelli has two new items he’s touting: operating engineers local 143 endorsed him (rollover the link to see the letter) and the italian american political coalition endorsed capparelli (same thing). capparelli’s calender is empty for the month of january — that can’t be right.
there are three upcoming debates in the next ten days. all candidates, including dan lipinski, have been invited:
* Archer Heights Civic Association Candidates’ Forum, Wednesday, Jan. 9, 8 p.m., Pfc. Ted Stampien VFW Post 8821, 4235 W. 47th St. (47th & Tripp), Chicago, IL
* League of Women’s Voters Forum for the 3rd Congressional District at 2p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 13 at Lyons Township High School, 100 W. Cossitt Ave., Rm. 140, La Grange, IL (sponsored by the La Grange Area, Palos/Orland and Chicago League of Women Voters).
* The All Berwyn Committee Candidates’ Forum, Thursday, Jan. 17, 8:30 p.m., Berwyn City Council Chambers, 6700 W. 26th St., Berwyn, IL
jerry bennett has a fundraiser tomorrow night (january 8) in the 19th ward as well as other events planned (link goes to upcoming events). mark pera has a fundraiser on wednesday: Mark Pera at the Mix (fund-raiser), Wednesday, Jan. 9, 5:30 p.m. The Mix, 2843 N. Halsted, Chicago, IL
and the all-important early voting period (where people can still register and vote at the cook county building) next monday, january 14.
in the rest of the country, the 4th quarter ended december 31st. but the fundraising deadline in illinois, because of the election on february 5th, was extended through january 16. no campaign is willing to release their fundraising numbers before then. the old numbers are here, while the actblue numbers are here. since the last roundup, pera has raised another $25,677 across actblue, bennett has raised another $1,775 across actblue, and capparelli has raised an additional $500 across actblue.
there’s considerable disagreement out there about how vulnerable dan lipinski is — even with his bunker strategy towards this election — and who represents the greatest threat to lipinski, if he can be beat. the bennett campaign notes that:
We are peaking at the right time in this race … and our message of “proven leadership and proven record to bring change to Washington” is resonating well with South Side and suburban voters.
they still have plenty of opportunities for volunteers, they reply:
To participate in our nightly phone banks and weekend precinct walks, people can either sign-up online at www.jerrybennettforcongress.com or call our HQ at 708-907-5063.
the pera campaign also replies:
Mark Pera for Congress continues to attract the support of the top mainstream progressive Democrats in the Greater Chicago Area. Illinois Sen. Carol Ronen, Illinois Rep. Sara Feigenholtz and Chicago Alderman Joe Moore are among the hosts of our upcoming Jan. 9 fund-raiser (more details below) and we’re very proud to have the support.
it’s getting exciting!