Posts tagged ‘2012 elections’

IL-13 campaign ad: Every 12 Minutes

by , posted on Friday, August 17th, 2012 at 3:05 pm

from Friends of David Gill

“David Gill is an emergency room doctor in Bloomington, IL. He sees up close what happens to regular people every day when they don’t have good health insurance. We need someone like Dr. Gill to fight for us in Congress. Take a minute to watch this story he tells about a patient named Susan.”

Share

IL-13 campaign ad: Not a Penny from Wall Street

by , posted on Friday, August 17th, 2012 at 2:56 pm

from Friends of David Gill

“Dr. David Gill has never been on a public payroll or taken orders from a politician. He knows we need independent leaders in Congress who will fight for us. That’s why he doesn’t take one penny in his campaign from Wall Street or corporate political action committees. He just wants to work for us!”

Share

IL-13 campaign ad: Rodney’s Dirty Laundry

by , posted on Friday, August 17th, 2012 at 1:22 pm

from Friends of David Gill

“Republican insider Rodney Davis has spent 19 years on the taxpayer payroll taking orders from politicians like disgraced former Governor George Ryan and right-wing, Tea Party Congressman John Shimkus. Now, Rodney is running for Congress and he hopes we won’t pay any attention to his past as a campaign operative who helped come up with new schemes to launder money at the Illinois Republican Party.”

Share

MoveOn.org presidential campaign ad: Thank You For The Job, Mitt Romney!

by , posted on Thursday, August 16th, 2012 at 12:54 pm

from the MoveOn.org Political Action

Mitt Romney: Creating jobs since 1984 … in other countries.

Share

John Nichols and Matthew Rothschild on Paul Ryan

by , posted on Monday, August 13th, 2012 at 1:19 pm

from Democracy Now!

As Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney names Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as his vice presidential running mate, we speak with two Wisconsinites about the seven-term congressman’s record, and how his views are influenced by the controversial philosopher, Ayn Rand. “This is not necessarily a foolish choice by Romney,” says John Nichols, political writer for The Nation magazine. “It is an extreme choice and it does define the national Republican Party toward a place where the Wisconsin Republican Party is — which is very anti-labor, willing to make deep cuts in education, public services, and frankly, very combative on issues like voter ID and a host of other things that really go to the core question of how successful and how functional our democracy will be.” Ryan is chairman of the House of Representatives Budget Committee and architect of a controversial budget plan to cut federal spending by more than $5 trillion over the next 10 years. “Ryan gets a lot of mileage for understanding so-called the budget and economics,” says Matthew Rothschild, editor and publisher of The Progressive magazine. “But if you look closely, he doesn’t really get it.” Democrats argue Ryan’s planned Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security reform would essentially dismantle key components of the social safety net.

Part Two after the jump.

(more…)

Share

MoveOn.org presidential campaign ad: Pickpocket

by , posted on Friday, August 10th, 2012 at 10:30 am

from MoveOn.org Political Action

“Mitt Romney’s creepy hand wants your $2k to pay for tax breaks for his millionaire and billionaire friends. Tell Mitt Romney: Get your hand out of my pocket!”

Share

Heroes on the Streets of Kane County

by , posted on Wednesday, August 8th, 2012 at 8:05 am

Dogged. Indefatigable. Diligent. Determined. Steadfast. And oh my gosh, just plain heroic. The four-dozen or so Kane County residents who circulated petitions to stop special interest money from buying favors from our politicians are my heroes. They were headed by Kaye Gamble, and were part of the national Move to Amend effort.

For days on end, they endured 90 to 100 degree heat. They asked the same question, “Are you a Kane County registered voter?” hundreds and hundreds of times. And when people were willing to stop and talk with them, they explained the same thing over and over and over again. With enthusiasm and patience. They listened and they responded with accurate information.

When people stopped to hear what the petition was about, most people signed it. But sometimes it was difficult to get peoples’ attention. Some passers- by believed the group was trying to register voters or take an opinion survey and didn’t want to get involved. But when people did stop to hear the issue, just about everybody signed the petitions, Gamble said. Some were so enthusiastic they brought their spouses, friends, and voting age children over to sign. All were thankful of the group’s efforts.

(more…)

Share

Group Working to Make Democracy Safe for Middle Class Again

by , posted on Wednesday, August 8th, 2012 at 8:00 am

“We’ve never seen this many petitions!” Suzanne Fahnestock, Kane County Director of Elections said with a broad smile as she accepted the tall pile of petitions presented by Kaye Gamble, coordinator of the Kane County Move to Amend effort.

The group of about fifty Kane County citizens spent untold hours standing in record-breaking summer heat collecting signatures in a petition drive to place an advisory question on the ballot this November. Nearly fifteen thousand citizens signed those petitions.

The petition requests this question be placed on the Kane County November ballot– “Should the United States constitution be amended to limit the use of corporate, special interest, and private money in any political activity, including influencing the election of any candidate for public office?”

Gamble’s group is part of the national Move to Amend effort to amend the constitution in order to nullify the 2010 Supreme Court ruling of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. This ruling created Super PACs and Hybrid Super PACs, overturning decades of limits to political contributions and opening up unlimited floods of undisclosed corporate, private, special interest and foreign money into politicians’ election campaigns.

(more…)

Share

Barlett and Steele on “The Betrayal of the American Dream”

by , posted on Monday, July 30th, 2012 at 10:42 am

from Democracy Now!

The famed award-winning investigative reporting team of Donald Barlett and James Steele have just published a new book, “The Betrayal of the American Dream,” a followup to their landmark bestseller, “America: What Went Wrong.” As Republicans and Democrats continue disputing who should bear the brunt of the tax burden, Barlett and Steele argue that America’s middle class has been decimated over the years due to policies governing not only taxes but also bank regulations, trade deficits and pension funds. Their book chronicles how the American middle class has been systematically impoverished and its prospects thwarted in favor of a new ruling elite. Barlett and Steele have worked together for more than 40 years, sharing two Pulitzer prizes and two National Magazine awards. The duo joins us for the hour to discuss the assault on the middle class, the great tax heist, deregulation, the end of retirement, the outsourcing of U.S. jobs, the 2012 election and more.

Parts Two and Three after the jump.

(more…)

Share

PDA IL: John Laesch on austerity measures in Illinois

by , posted on Thursday, July 19th, 2012 at 9:51 am

from PDA-IL

John Laesch of Northern Illinois Jobs With Justice (NIJWJ.org) speaks about austerity measures in Illinois.

Share