IL: Interview with Green Party's Matt Reichel

From the Windy City Times:

Matt Reichel, 29, a freelance French interpreter, is running for alderman in the 47th Ward. He is a peace activist, Green Party organizer and most recently worked for the William Wrigley Jr. Company.

"I understand the tedium of political organizing, and the strength of character that is required for a demanding job of this nature," Reichel said. "Furthermore, as a progressive, I see the need to fight to defend the public sector from encroachment by greedy and unaccountable private interests.

"As alderman, I will be the foremost spokesperson in the city council for defending the public domain, the public pensions and public utilities. I consider it disingenuous and negligent that public officials do otherwise."

Windy City Times: What are your strengths?
Matt Reichel: I have an advanced degree in diplomacy, [and] earned over a three-year stay in Paris, where I obtained a worldly understanding of international relations and the dynamics of cultural interaction. As such, I have a keen ability to relate to people from a variety of different backgrounds, and an even keener ability to negotiate, debate, and stand my ground. . . .

LOL: Pretendependence in the Chicago Mayoral Race

The term "pretendependent" designates those deluded dead-enders of the Democratic and Republican parties who pretend that individuals beholden to the establishmentarian machines of the Democratic and Republican parties are capable of actual political independence.  Case in point:  a Chicago Tribune blog asks if Rahm Emmanuel is the "independent, reform candidate" in the city's mayoral race:

Oberman:  If Emanuel is elected, he will be elected with more freedom and independence  from the old guard than any of the other candidates, and therefore will be freer to run the city the way he would like to run it. And for that reason, if you take him at his word, we will actually likely get more reform and better budgeting-- it’s tough budgeting--- but he’ll have more freedom of action because he hasn’t needed the old guard to get his political strength....

Exclusionary Debates for Mayor of Chicago Rile Voters

From the Chicago Sun Times:

Normally, it is the Independent or the candidate representing a party besides the Democrats or Republicans who are left with their noses pressed up against the TV screen during sponsored debates. But in the most important local election in 20 years, even being a Democrat doesn’t guarantee you a seat at the table for debates being sponsored by local media and civic groups.

If comments posted on websites are to be believed, some viewers were stunned when only four of the six mayoral candidates were featured Monday on the first televised mayoral debate hosted by WTTW’s Chicago Tonight . . .

IL: Green Matt Reichel Announces Bid for Alderman

From Matt Reichel:

Matt Reichel, two-time Green Party nominee for Congress in Illinois’s 5th District, has announced to supporters that he will try to unseat 9-term alderman Gene Schulter in the upcoming municipal elections.

Reichel won about 1,000 votes in the 47th ward part of the 5th district in last week’s election, and believes he can make up the difference needed to beat Schulter. He told supporters:

Despite our vast disadvantage in resources and organization, we pulled nearly 1,000 votes in the ward for the Green Party vision. 1,000 votes for grassroots democracy. 1,000 votes for sustainable economics. 1,000 votes for peace. 1,000 votes for real monetary reform.

There are thousands of other progressives out there, who either voted Democrat out of fear of a Republican take over, or did not vote out of frustration with American electoral politics. There are thousands more, who are ready to join our movement, and make history in 2011.

Reichel says he has the necessary signatures in hand, and intend to file on Monday morning.

IL: Libertarian is "only true conservative" in gubernatorial race

From the Chicago Tribune:

Two years ago, Labno lost his job in construction around the same time lawmakers were approving a bailout for banks. The outrage Labno felt started him down the path to becoming the Libertarian Party's candidate for U.S. Senate.

Labno bills himself as the only true conservative in the race and frequently casts digs at Republican nominee Mark Kirk, so much so that Democrat Alexi Giannoulias has actively boosted Labno's candidacy.

IL: Greens Protest Whitney's Exclusion from Gubernatorial Debate

From Medill Reports:

After being denied access to participate in a gubernatorial debate, Green Party candidate Rich Whitney held a protest in front of ABC 7 studios where the debate was held.  The League of Women Voters of Illinois hosted the debate between Republican Bill Brady and Democrat Pat Quinn, and excluded Whitney because of his low polling numbers. 

IL: Whitney Asks Supporters to Pressure Debate Organizers

From Green Party Watch:

Illinois Green Party gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney is asking supporters to take action to get him into two debates that debate sponsors are threatening to exclude him from. Whitney received over 10% of the vote for governor in 2006, establishing the Green Party as a major party in Illinois. He is an excellent, well-spoken candidate with a comprehensive platform to fix the Illinois budget and ensure that everyone in Illinois has access to quality jobs, education, and healthcare. . . .

IL: Chicago Tribune Interviews Green and Libertarian Candidates for US Senate

From the Chicago Tribune, a lengthy video of their endorsement interviews for the US Senate race in Illinois, link via reader Dominik:

Watch the entire endorsement interview of the four candidates for Illinois' open U.S. Senate seat. The candidates are from left to right: LeAlan Jones (L), Alexi Giannoulias (D), U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk (R) and Mike Labno (L). The interview was conducted on Oct. 4, 2010.

IL: Chicago Tribune Profiles Rich Whitney, Green Candidate for Governor

From an article in the Chicago Tribune:

As he emerged from a governor's debate at the downtown Union League Club, Green Party candidate Rich Whitney chided Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn and Republican rival Bill Brady for skirting the issue of the state's $13 billion budget deficit. "Let's get real," he said, using a favorite interjection. The electoral reality for candidate Whitney, however, is stark. Whitney was forced to watch that debate from the audience because he had not fared well enough in opinion polls to appear on stage.

Four years ago, Whitney scored a surprising 10.4 percent of the vote — good enough to qualify the Greens as an established party that made it easier for candidates to get on the ballot. Whitney thought he might fare even better this time around because the 2006 winner, Democrat Rod Blagojevich, faces retrial on political corruption charges.

IL-Senate: Le Alan Jones' (G) Challenge from the Left Worries Corporatist Democratic Establishment

From the Wall Street Journal:

LeAlan Jones shouldn't be having much success as a liberal Green Party candidate from the South Side of Chicago running for the Senate against a liberal establishment Democrat who has the ardent support of President Barack Obama. After all, Mr. Obama once held the Senate seat, and lived on Chicago's South Side, where he first won elective office on his strength in the black community.

But recent polls show the African-American Mr. Jones taking anywhere from 5% to 8% of the vote in Illinois—and posing a real threat to the Democratic candidate, State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, in his battle with GOP Rep. Mark Kirk. Democrats are worried . . .

IL-Gov: Democratic and Republican Candidates Lack "Rudimentary Math Skills," Says Green

From the Quad City Times:

When it comes to Illinois' budget mess, Rich Whitney doesn't think either major party candidate has a viable plan to cure the problem - or, frankly, even the ability to add. "I'm the only candidate who has rudimentary math skills," Whitney, the Green Party candidate, said Monday in an interview in the Quad-Cities. A Carbondale lawyer, Whitney is making his second bid for governor. He ran in 2006, getting 10 percent of the vote.

IL: Independent and Third Party Candidates Purged from Ballot File Lawsuit

From the Illinois Times:

Two little-known political candidates in the coming general election are taking Illinois’ ballot access rules to court, comparing them to the segregationist Jim Crow laws of the nation’s past.

Willie Boyd Jr. of Greenville, an independent candidate running for U.S. Senate, and Michael White of Lindenhurst, a Constitution Party candidate running for governor, have filed paperwork with the Sangamon County Circuit Court, Fourth District Appellate Court, Illinois Supreme Court and the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, asking each court to review the cause of their removal from the ballot for the Nov. 2 statewide general election. The pair questions the state’s practice of removing candidates from the ballot through signature challenges. 

For more information on Illinois' ballot access law, see this transcript of a discussion from a forum for the state's third party and independent candidates for governor.  

IL: Associated Press Interviews Rich Whitney

From WAND TV:

The Green Party candidate for governor says Illinois should let people go to college free of charge. Rich Whitney calls it an investment in the people of Illinois. He compares it to the G.I. Bill that provided college educations for World War II veterans. In an interview Monday with The Associated Press, Whitney said . . .

IL: Green Senate Candidate Pushes for Inclusive Debates

From the Chicago Tribune, link sent from reader Dominik:

LeAlan Jones is asking supporters to call NBC News so he can be included in an Oct. 10 debate on "Meet the Press." Republican Senate candidate Mark Kirk and Democrat Alexi Giannoulias are expected to appear on the show that day.

IL: Green Candidate for Governor Calls for Rational Drug Policy

From WLS radio:

The Green Party candidate for governor says Illinois should legalize and tax marijuana, but his opponents disagree. Green candidate Rich Whitney says Illinois could bring in about $300 million a year by taxing marijuana.

IL: Multi-Partisan Debates Likely in Gubernatorial Race if Green, Independent and Libertarian Candidates Surpass Polling Threshold

From bnd.com, via reader Dominik:

[The League of Women Voters], along with Chicago's WLS-TV, is sponsoring an Oct. 20 debate that could feature other candidates, such as the Green Party's Rich Whitney, if they have 10 percent support in an independent poll.

Downstate, the three candidates have verbally committed to an Oct. 14 debate, said Jak Tichenor, senior producer at WSIU-TV, the public broadcasting station in Carbondale. Other candidates for governor, such as independent Scott Lee Cohen and the Libertarian Party's Lex Green, will need 5 percent support in the polls to get in the debate. The debate will be broadcast on TV and radio.

IL: Refusing Corporate Dollars, Green Party Gubernatorial Candidate Struggles to Compete

From Pantagraph:

The Green Party candidate for governor sent a desperate plea for donations to his supporters this week, saying his campaign is strapped for cash. "Circumstances force me to be blunt: My campaign is REALLY hurting for money right now," Rich Whitney said in a letter. "Just when we need to be peaking, so that we can get some radio and cable TV ads and buy yard and window signs, and numerous other essentials, we are instead scraping the bottom of the barrel."
 
Whitney, a Carbondale attorney making his second bid for the state's highest office, is hoping to get enough money to take his message to television and radio. But for now, with less than seven weeks before voters cast their ballots, Whitney is asking for supporters to keep his campaign up and running.

IL: Independent Gubernatorial Candidate Scott Lee Cohen Talks Jobs

From the Ray Hanania talk show, yesterday:

Scott Lee Cohen, independent candidate for governor, discusses his candidacy in-studio and takes questions from listeners on his belief that jobs is not only a core issue but also the issue that links together many of today’s problems from education, to crime and violence, to family health. Followed by a discussion with callers on the ground zero mosque, the Flordia pastor who threatened to burn a Quran on the 9th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001 terrorism Broadcast on Radio Chicagoland’s “Mornings with Ray Hanania” on WJJG 1530 AM Radio

IL: Constitution Party Continues Fight to Get on Ballot

From the State Journal Register:

Barring any changes due to court action, there will be four candidates for the U.S. Senate and five for governor on Illinois’ Nov. 2 ballot. Randy Stufflebeam of Belleville, who filed to be the Constitution Party candidate for U.S. Senate, hopes the courts will order his party to be listed on ballots, reversing last week’s decision by the State Board of Elections. Stufflebeam and the Constitution candidates’ lawyer, Doug Ibendahl of Chicago, said they expect to go to court by Wednesday.

IL: At Least Seven Libertarian Candidates on Ballot

From Pontiac Community News:

The Libertarian Party of Illinois (“LP Illinois”) proudly announces that our state-wide slate of candidates will be on the ballot for this November’s election.  By a unanimous vote last week, the Illinois State Board of Elections determined that LP Illinois has a sufficient number of valid petition signatures and as a result will be able to compete for votes this fall.

“This vindicates our efforts in this process,” said Lupe Diaz, State Chair of LP Illinois.  “We played by the rules, withstood the challenges, and now we can focus on offering the right alternative to voters,” added Diaz.

Earlier this month, members of LP Illinois defended our petitions against a series of challenges during an eight day line by line review in Springfield.  At the end of the review, LP Illinois had over 33,000 valid signatures, 8,000 more than the minimum required for new parties and independent candidates.

Our candidates are:
Mike Labno                       U.S. Senate
Lex Green                         Governor
Ed Rutledge                      Lt. Governor
Josh Hanson                    Secretary of State
Bill Malan                           Attorney General
Julie Fox                            Comptroller
James Pauly                     Treasurer

Now that we have secured our places on the ballot, we invite the public and the media to meet our candidates.