Brady Refuses to Admit Defeat in Illinois Election

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      By Benjamin Yount    

  Illinois Statehouse News
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  BLOOMINGTON – 11/3/10 - Republican candidate Bill Brady wants to count each vote in Illinois before he gives up his bid to become governor. Even if that takes a month or more.
   One day after Brady again finished within a percentage point of his opponent — this time Democratic governor Pat Quinn – the GOP hopeful from Bloomington said he wants to count each vote and let the process unfold.
   “The people of Illinois have cast over 3.6 million votes in this election," Brady said. "Right now the difference is less than one vote per precinct. We must allow the election authorities to do their job and wait for the official results.”

   The Illinois State Board of Elections has given all counties until Nov. 16 to count those overseas ballots. Because of a delay in sending out some of the ballots, six counties have until Nov. 17. It will then take state officials another few days to certify and finalize the vote total.

    Brady said he’s expecting to wait at least a month.

   “The State Board allows a minimum of 20 days for local officials to certify [the vote total] and a minimum of ten days for them to certify…Realistically we’re think we’re looking at a 30 day process."

    Brady is trailing Quinn by close just over 8,000 votes. There are scattered reports of some precincts that have yet to count their ballots and there is much talk about overseas and military ballots. But it is unclear if there are enough uncounted votes for Brady to overtake Quinn. 

    Brady said from what he’s been told, there may be.

    “We believe…based on what we’ve been given [that] we will win. And it’s important that we let [the review] process take place. We are certainly going to respect Governor Quinn, and I’m sure that he wants the same process to take place. 

    The Quinn campaign said in a written statement that the governor also wants every vote counted.

   “The ballots left to be counted appear mostly to come from Cook County, where the governor held a large margin over Sen. Brady.” said Mica Matsoff, campaign spokeswoman. “We expect to hold our lead and increase it. We do not see a path to victory for Bill Brady.”

    Close races and counting all of the ballots is becoming a habit for Brady. He barely won the Republican primary in February, edging out GOP State Sen. Kirk Dillard of Hinsdale by less than 200 votes. Brady also won a recount in one of his first races back in 1992. 

   Quinn also had a squeaker in the February primary. But his opponent, Democratic Comptroller Dan Hynes, conceded rather than push for a lengthy review and vote count.

   Story courtesy of Illinois Statehouse News.

Race Between Quinn-Brady still too close to call

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     By Kevin Lee and Mary Massingale    
               Illinois Statehouse News
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   CHICAGO and BLOOMINGTON  –  11/3/10 - After a prolonged election battle lasting the better part of a year, Illinois voters will have to wait some more before knowing who will serve as their next governor.
   The gubernatorial race between Democratic incumbent Pat Quinn and challenger State Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, was still too close to call after midnight.
   With 98 percent of the precincts counted, the Chicago Tribune was reporting that unofficial counts showed Quinn with a 8,300 vote lead as both candidates garnered about 46 percent of the vote.
   Independent candidate Scott Lee Cohen garnered about 3.6 percent of voters, Green Party candidate Rich Whitney gained 2.7 percent of voters and Libertarian candidate Lex Green earned just less than 1 percent.
   About four minutes after midnight, Brady and his running mate Jason Plummer appeared on stage to cheers of “Brady! Brady!” The Republican state senator thanked his supporters, and joked about the night’s similarity to the primary, when it took several days to decide his 193 vote win over state Sen. Kirk Dillard, R-Hinsdale.
   “As some of you may have realized by now, I have a penchant for close elections,” Brady said. “But it seems to be something that always ends up on the right side.”
But he then said the words that none of his supporters wanted to hear after a long, bitter campaign.
   “With over 3.5 million votes cast, this isn’t  going to be decided tonight,” Brady said. “We are excited and optimistic but we want to make sure every voter in the state of Illinois has a right to have their vote counted, and we’re going to make sure that happens, and we’re going to make sure that this process is done right.”
   That was the first appearance Brady made that night, although he earlier allowed photographers to take photos of him, his wife, Nancy, and running mate Jason Plummer in a fifth floor suite of the Doubletree hotel in Bloomington.
   Following Brady’s speech, Quinn made an appearance before supporters at his campaign headquarters, the Hotel Allegro in Chicago.
   His running mate, Southern Illinois University law professor Sheila Simon, said Quinn could provide a better future for Illinois.
   “That is why we do crazy things like knock on door after door and make phone call after phone call after phone call,” she said to applause. “And that is why we vote and that is why we have voted as we have done today.”
   Quinn then took the podium and told his supporters that he concurred with his opponent’s call to have all votes counted.
   “We want to make sure. We want to make sure every vote is counted. I totally agree with that,” Quinn said. “And I know there are votes out here in Cook County and other counties across the state. So we want to make sure they’re counted and counted fairly. But I think when all is said, we’ll end up on top with the most votes.”
   Election officials were predicting the usual 50 percent turnout of the states 7.4 million registered voters historically found in Illinois’ gubernatorial elections. In the days leading up to Election Day, President Barack Obama made appearances with Quinn and state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate.
   Illinois Democrats hoped for a carryover effect from the 2008 Presidential election, when Democrats at both the federal and state levels were overwhelming winners in the polls.
   But Republicans hoped to take advantage of voter frustration with a struggling economy and sustained one-party control over state government. Illinois Democrats have had control of all six Constitutional offices and both chambers of the legislature since 2002.
   House Democrats hold a 70-48 edge. For Republicans to gain control of that chamber, they would need to gain 12 seats. In the Senate, Democrats hold a 37-22 edge. Legislative seats are crucial in this upcoming legislative session since the state’s legislative and congressional map will be drawn according to what party is in control.
   About 250-300 supporters joined 30 news media outlets at Brady’s headquarters in a Bloomington hotel. State Sen. Tim Bivins, R-Dixon; Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro; Rep. Rich Brauer, R-Petersburg; Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, and Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady were a few of the notables on hand to support Brady.
   Pat Brady early in the evening predicted a Brady win, saying the new year would see Brady as governor and House Minority Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego, as Speaker of the Illinois House.
Bivins said if Brady wins, he will draw upon his background as a builder and Realtor.
   “I expect him to run the state like a business,” Bivins said.
   A few hundred supporters gathered at Chicago’s Hotel Allegro, Quinn’s campaign headquarters, awaiting news of the results.
   Political veterans, including U.S Senator Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and former Illinois Senate President Emil Jones, Jr., as well as several Chicago Democratic state lawmakers, all came to schmooze with supporters and back Quinn.
   One of those supporters was Will Attig of Carbondale. Attig, a military veteran and Purple Heart winner, had served in Iraq and Afghanistan before returning home without a job.
   Attig, now a welder, said Quinn helped veterans like himself get a job.
    “We came home, we had no future, we have no jobs. He’s decided to give us a new pair of boots, work boots, so we could get to work here in southern Illinois. He’s the man for the job,” he said.
   Story courtesy of Illinois Statehouse News.

ADA Urges an Investment in "Corps" Budget

   Washington, DC - 11/03/10 - Americans for Democratic Action urged Congress recently to drastically boost the funding for three federal programs that already train and employ tens of thousands of young adults --  the Peace Corps, the Job Corps, and AmeriCorps.
   Highlighting the nation’s 25 percent youth unemployment rate, the organization is calling for increased appropriations for the three youth-targeted programs.
   These programs provide a refuge, a sturdy first step, for young people emerging from both high school and college into the bleakest job market in 75 years,” ADA National Director Michael J. Wilson said in a letter to members of Congress.
   The Peace Corps allows Americans to serve their country by living and working in developing countries. Job Corps is a proven education and training program that helps young people learn a career, earn a high school diploma or GED, and find and keep a good job. AmeriCorps is a network of national service programs that engage Americans in intensive service to meet the nation’s critical needs in education, public safety, health, and the environment.
   Wilson called the three programs’ proposed combined funding of under $3 billion in next year’s budget “a short-sighted misallocation of resources at a time of pervasive unemployment, which imposes long-term damage not only to the jobless and their families, but to the economy and the very fabric of society.” The programs’ proposed funding represents less than one-tenth of one percent of next year’s proposed $3.8 trillion federal budget.
   "We can’t let the Great Recession steal the hopes and dreams of the next generation. Doubling the funding of these programs would be a boon to the aspirations of young adults across the nation." said Wilson. "Add this with the other job producing plans in Congress and we can provide more than jobs. We can provide service to our citizens and a path to the future."

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