I request that Democrats who vote in Cook County’s First District vote for Blake Sercye. The case is simple. He’s bright, makes things happen and has practical ideas about using Cook County government as a tool for making citizens’ lives better.
I have significant respect for former alderman Isaac “Ike” Carothers as an organizer. However, it’s cheating to organize people using carrots and sticks that are illegal. I assume that what Carothers was convicted for was not the totality of his wrongdoing.
Richard Boykin is not a reasonable candidate for Democrats to elect in a Democratic primary. Based on Boykin’s personal contributions and who he’s raising money from, he’s a Republican.
Boykin, a lobbyist for Barnes & Thornburg, has contributed to various Illinois Republicans in close Congressional elections: Mark Kirk got six contributions of $1,000 or more; Bob Dold (North Shore) and Rodney Davis (Central Illinois) both got $1,000 plus contributions and John Shimkus (Southern Illinois) has multiple contributions going back to 2007.
Boykin claims that he gave to moderate Republicans.
One, there’s nothing moderate about the Iraq War for which Kirk was a major prevaricator. The Iraq War shifted over a trillion dollars from the civilian economy to the military economy.
Two, Shimkus is no moderate. He’s the one who gave a speech in Congress that global warming can’t be a problem because God promised Noah He wouldn’t destroy the world again.
Shimkus may have also come to your attention when he received information about Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) sexually harassing Congressional pages and Shimkus failed to pass the documentation to the full committee overseeing the page program.
Ron Lawless is someone I’ve known over 15 years. What I would ask him is: Why is the only person listed on the Illinois State Board of Elections website as donating to your campaign Ron Lawless? Is that reflective of a serious campaign? And if you really intend to spend $50,000 on the campaign (as opposed to loaning it to the campaign to create the illusion of being serious) why wait until Feb. 24, three weeks before the primary? Why not make the contribution back in August of last year when I questioned Lawless about the seriousness of his campaign?
Cook County’s First District is lucky to have a candidate like Blake Sercye. I expect President Toni Preckwinkle saw in Sercye what NDFA saw in Sercye. He’s the candidate with the talent to both get elected and contribute constructively to Cook County government.
Carl Nyberg
Chair, candidates committee
Northside Democracy for America
