“Yeah, it would be nice, but the Republican Party in Illinois is so screwed up I am ashamed to even talk about it. They are just as corrupt as Blago!”
Hey, I was born in Chicago, and raised in the suburbs where I now still live (DuPage County, still mostly a bastion of conservatism). The whole Pub Party is NOT corrupt. The problem w/the Pub Party in IL is that it is split in half between the RINO’s and the Conservatives. Of late, when a conservative Pub runs in the primaries, the RINO’s make sure to get another alleged conservative Pub to run also, thus watering down the conservative vote and the RINO wins the primaries. As long as our Party in IL remains continually split between the Rockefeller Pub types and the social Conservatives, we will not win again.
Gov. Jim Edgar was the only Pub Gov who managed to bridge the two parts of the Party, and governed our State very well. It was because he was fiscally very responsible. Now our coffers are bankrupt, and the majority Dem rule is ruining our State. But the Pubs are so busy fighting each other now that the future looks bleak unless we can somehow come up with a consensus candidate that appeals to both wings of our Party. That ain’t easy.
I also live in DuPage County which USED to be conservative but went mostly for Barry this time around. There is corruption in major purchases, and mishandling of funds (9-1-1, water, etc) that the current state's attorney (R) is apparently not aggressively pursuing.