{"id":6855,"date":"2018-02-17T23:12:00","date_gmt":"2018-02-18T04:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.progressivefox.com\/?p=6855"},"modified":"2018-08-16T15:49:09","modified_gmt":"2018-08-16T20:49:09","slug":"the-three-republicans-who-are-running-as-democrats-in-the-march-20th-primary-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.progressivefox.com\/?p=6855","title":{"rendered":"The Three Republicans Who Are Running as \u201cDemocrats\u201d in the March 20th Primary Election"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Kane County Board is composed of 24 district-elected members (10 Democrats and 14 Republicans) and one at-large executive (Chris Lauzen \u2013 Republican). In the March 20,\u00a0 Democratic Primary Election, Democrats in at least three districts will have, sadly, an opportunity to vote for a Lauzen-backed Republican who is running as a Democrat.\u00a0 In a 4th county board district race in Elgin, a progressive Democrat is challenging a regular Democrat who votes with Lauzen for his austerity budget.<\/p>\n

Republican Chris Lauzen has not shied away from his overt effort to infiltrate the Democratic Party with Republican candidates.\u00a0 There have been at least two newspaper articles on the topic. The Daily Herald reports, “Chairman Lauzen backing some Democrats in Kane Board Races<\/a>.”\u00a0 The Beacon News (Trib affiliate) hits the nail a little more squarely on the head with their story, “Lauzen helped recruit candidates challenging Democrats running in Kane County primary races<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

Here is a letter that Chris Lauzen wrote to Republicans<\/a> and his supporters in the district’s that he is targeting to change.<\/p>\n

Meet the real Democrats and their Republican challengers below.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

County Board District 1 (Aurora)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Democrat and Bernie Sanders supporter, Myrna Molina, is facing a challenge from Blanca E. Rodriguez. Close Lauzen confidant and political operative, Jon Zahm, notarized Rodriquez\u2019s petitions.\u00a0 \"John<\/a>Jon Zahm frequently backs religious zealots like Lauzen and owns Goliath Slayer Communications<\/a>.\u00a0 In 2008, Zahm coordinated local campaign activities for Mike Huckabee.\u00a0 In 2012, Zahm worked for Rick Santorum.\u00a0 He spent 15 years as the field director of an anti-choice political group, Family-PAC Illinois.\u00a0 Get the picture about Zahm?\u00a0 According to local papers, Zahm is Lauzen’s political consultant.<\/p>\n

\"Myrna<\/a>The real deal, progressive Democrat in the race, Myrna Molina, is one of us!\u00a0 I remember meeting her when she walked into the Bernie Sanders office with her daughter back in 2016.\u00a0 She sat down and made phone calls for Sanders, offered her endorsement, and went right to work.\u00a0 She is a progressive, and she needs our help to win re-election.\u00a0 To help Myrna with contributions or by contacting voters, call\/text or e-mail her: 630.621.7818 \/ Molinaforkane@gmail.com \/ facebook.com\/MyrnaMolina.<\/p>\n

County Board District 3 (Aurora)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Aurora Democratic Party Township Chairman, Don Ishmael, is facing a challenge from Republican Anita Lewis.\u00a0 I know Anita because we both ran for East Aurora School Board in 2015.\u00a0 She is a nice person, but when we talked about the issues, there was a wide gap between us.\u00a0 All she wanted to talk about was cutting taxes for the more affluent parts of District 131.<\/p>\n

Below is Anita\u2019s voting record.\u00a0 She pulled Republican ballots in 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2016 (she did not vote in the 2014 primary cycle).\u00a0 Why is a solid Republican putting her name on the ballot as a Democrat?<\/p>\n

\"Anita_Lewis<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

County Board District 7 (Aurora)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Democrat Monica Silva is facing a challenge from Republican Brian Gravenhorst.\u00a0 Gravenhorst has served as a Republican election judge, and he has no ties to the Democratic Party or progressive organizations.\u00a0 He was also recruited by Lauzen.\u00a0 His literature parrots Republican talking points.<\/p>\n

\"Monica<\/a>Monica Silva is a physician, and as the chair of the Public Health Committee, has overseen efforts to combat the opiod epidemic, including the distribution of Narcan in Kane County.\u00a0 She has supported the Sheriff’s budget and public safety initiatives to keep our neighborhoods safe, and she stood up to Lauzen’s attempt to bring Bruce Rauner’s destructive anti-union\/anti-worker agenda to Kane County. To help Monica with contributions or by contacting voters, call 630.709.7408 or e-mail vote4Monica@gmail.com.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

County Board District 17 (Elgin)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Janice<\/a>Progressive Democrat Janice Bennett is running for County Board against Lauzen ally, Deb Allan, who is famous for her classy hats. Deb’s hats won’t hide her votes.\u00a0 She voted for Lauzen\u2019s austerity budget that forced cuts, as well as her vote to remove Kane County\u2019s electronic monitoring program.\u00a0 \u201cAs an abused woman, I can relate to those who are very concerned that their abusers are no longer monitored. I would always be wondering who is at my door,\u201d said Bennett, during a Progressives of Kane County endorsement meeting.\u00a0 \u201cI am running to ensure that our tax dollars are being used to benefit and protect Kane County residents, not win future re-election efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n

To help Jannice Bennett with contributions or by contacting voters call 847.772.4463 or email: Bennett4cb17@gmail.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Kane County Board is composed of 24 district-elected members (10 Democrats and 14 Republicans) and one at-large executive (Chris Lauzen \u2013 Republican). In the March 20,\u00a0 Democratic Primary Election, Democrats in at least three districts will have, sadly, an opportunity to vote for a Lauzen-backed Republican who is running as a Democrat.\u00a0 In a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[78],"tags":[2935,2943,2941,2945,175,2947,1164,2942,2946,248,58,180,2944,2940,2948],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.progressivefox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6855"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.progressivefox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.progressivefox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.progressivefox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.progressivefox.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6855"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"http:\/\/www.progressivefox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6883,"href":"http:\/\/www.progressivefox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6855\/revisions\/6883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.progressivefox.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.progressivefox.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.progressivefox.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}