, the Lake County Democratic Chairman, publically criticized campaign tactics ahead of Tuesday’s 10th District Congressional District primary contest for the right to challenge .
Earlier Wednesday, Link specifically accused one of candidates, , of a strategy the Lake County party leader fears could lead to a Dold victory in November.
have been flooding the area with telephone calls and advertising attacking one of Sheyman’s opponents, Deerfield management consultant Brad Schneider, for making some donations to Republicans. .
Sheyman, Schneider, Long Grove business owner and Mundelein attorney are competing in Tuesday’s primary for the Democratic nomination to challenge Rep. Robert Dold (R-Kenilworth).
“They’re acting just like the Republicans (running for President),” Link said earlier Wednesday. “(David) Axelrod is just sitting back and making tapes. (President Barack) Obama won’t have to say a thing. Dold won’t have to say a thing.”
Sheyman campaign manager Annie Weinberg made it clear the Sheyman campaign was not behind the tactics.
“In compliance with Federal Election Law, we are in no way allowed to coordinate with groups conducting independent expenditures in this race,” Weinberg said. “We respect the right of the 17,500 local members of Communication Workers of America, MoveOn, and US Action to express their views about this race publicly.”
Link was not buying the argument. “He (Sheyman) was their national mobilization director,” Link said referring to the job Sheyman left to run for Congress. “They wouldn’t be doing any of this if he wasn’t asking.”
Before each election season begins Link asks all Democratic candidates to run positive campaigns and not criticize each other.
“It’s one of my cardinal rules,” Link said. “I told them that in September. Sell yourself, Build yourself up. I never mention my opponent’s name and I keep winning by bigger margins each time.”
Not surprisingly, Schneider agreed with Link’s remarks. He recalled a conversation with the Lake County Democratic leader he had in September about refraining from negative campaigning.
“We need to work together as Democrats and bring in the independents to pull this thing out,” Schneider said. “There are at least five outside groups using distortion and innuendo,” he added referring to organizations like MoveOn.
Link rarely endorses candidates in a primary election. He has only done it twice, both times for now President Barack Obama. The two shared a desk in Springfield before Obama was elected to the United States Senate.
“I was one of the first guys there when nobody thought he could win,” Link said. Link backed the President in the 2004 Senate primary and in the 2008 Presidential nominating contest.
Stop with the negative campaign tactics. That's for Republicans. It reeks of desperation and it cheapens Mr. Sheyman. There's no courage in it. There's no principle based in honor or integrity that supports it. Please. Mr. Sheyman. Move on! Let's get back to the issues.
I fear you are sadly mistaken. If your man, Brad wins the primary, he will be explaining his history of donations his entire candidacy for reasons I outlined above. This history will get in the way of Brad’s being able to talk about the issues. It will translate into an assault on his character and on his judgment. It will be a walking disaster for the party Brad claims to love in spite of his past relationship with Mark Kirk.
Having said that, I agree with Ellen Beth that John Tree might truly be the best candidate to beat the incumbent in November. There will be enough outside money in this campaign that if Tree were to win in the primary he would garner enough support in the general. I doubt that will come to pass. My feeling is that Mr. Schneider is no progressive. He oversells his support of Israel as a defining element of his campaign. We all support Israel. Saying that donations to candidates from the other party were because they support Israel suggests another motive.
Brad claims to be “a lifelong Progressive”! His history of donations to Republicans disproves this assertion. Therefore: Can Brad be trusted? No. I do believe narrative would be a whole lot different had Brad said: “I am a lifelong Moderate!” For some reason he (e.g., his campaign) chose not to do so. You will notice that for good or ill, groups that rallying to the support of Ilya (i.e., DFA, MoveOn) are groups that do not take the word “Progressive” lightly.
We are angry because while we were pounding the pavement, giving up many months’ worth of Saturdays to go knock on a bunch of doors to try to convince perfect strangers to cast their ballot in a certain way, Brad Schneider was helping to make sure that our fine, upstanding, Friend-of-Israel, DEMOCRATIC candidate, Dan Seals, was roundly defeated. We are angry because this did not happen one little time, but in every election cycle 2002 thru 2010. We are also angry that Brad, a quasi-Democrat at best, keeps using the word “progressive” to describe his politics. Like everyone else, we Democrats like Truth in Advertising, and maybe if his campaign had just chosen a different word like, I don’t know, “Moderate,” maybe we wouldn’t feel rubbed the wrong way. So yes, let’s talk about the general election! I really don’t know what Brad’s strategy to win that one is… Angry people don’t tend to want to give up their Saturdays to go knock on a bunch of doors. And all those “Independents ” Brad is supposed to appeal to? They don’t tend to give up much time in support of any candidate… And you gotta think that at least half of the “Independents ” are gonna vote for the other guy because well, they’re “Independents ” after all. And shoot! No one from the Democratic Party came a knocking on their door!
If he’s smart, Dold will use it to drive a wedge or two between Brad and the voters. First wedge will be between Brad and the Democratic base (I am including here Dem-leaning “Independents,” who might not vote in primaries, but tend to support Dem candidates in the general—my 4 kids, plus my daughter-in-law fall in this category.) How will Dold do this? Easy. All he has to do is inform people that Brad contributed 3 times more money to Mark Kirk over the years than he (Dold) gave to ANY GOP candidate (other than himself) his whole life. Or he might tell them Brad contributed just shy of $6000 to GOP candidates, which makes Dold’s little $1000 contribution (to Mark Kirk in 2010—same year Dold was running for Kirk’s old office) pale by comparison. Second wedge will be between Brad and the rest of the “Independents.” Dold merely has to say, “I’ve never been anything other than a Republican; you’ll always know where I stand.” Plenty of people vote “on character,” and they want someone who can demonstrate that they are firm in their convictions. With Brad, you never know—one minute he’s supporting right-of-center Republicans, the next minute he’s declared himself “a lifelong Progressive.”
How **different** this election (2012) would have been if only Brad—who is “so deeply involved” in Jewish community organizations, as you, yourself, pointed out in numerous previous posts—had gone to bat for Dan Seals in 2010. Had Brad gotten on the phone, back in 2010, with all his fellow Kirk-Democrats to lobby them to vote for Dan, maybe this year’s election would have been about making sure our Democrat was re-elected. I guess 2012 was back before Brad decided to be “a lifelong Progressive”! Peace.
At my wife's behest this past summer we attended a meet the candidate reception for Brad in a very nice home of a wife's friend. Afterward, I had a check we were going to contribute sitting on the desk with a Brad flyer. I was ready to make it out, it was just a matter of how much. Not being one to part with any of our money easily, we decided to wait and see what kind of organization the candidate was running. If he was a good manager and businessman, then he or someone from his organization would have called me to enlist volunteer support and money. No call came, no money wasted on Brad. Neither Brad nor any of his defenders have ever been able to give us any specific details about what Brad has done for a living. No answers. Being a consultant is not an answer without saying who you have consulted for, and what your consulting roles were. A case study or synopsis like Tree gives would have been helpful. The conclusion was obvious not to give the man a dime. While Brad may be deliberately avoiding discussion of his real life business effectiveness, he sends a very clear message defining his effectiveness at managing his own campaign. This is likely the most significant game changing moment of his life up to now. I suspect that the negligence in follow-up is the tip of an iceberg with Brad, and we already have an incumbent like that not serving IL-10. Schneider vs Dold? ---> either way we get a dolt.
The simple truth is Brad can appeal to many many more voters than Ilya. Ilya's inexperience and far left views are the perfect foil for Dold to cement himself in the minds of voters as a moderate. Sheyman is the WORST choice for Democrats who care about wining in November. Schneider is the only one I see who has a shot.
Brad has to push back. He also has to call out the 25 year old kid who is campaigning like a Tea Party candidate. Shame on him and his campaign.
Jon Hall...wait, you're not Anthony Michael Hall are you?
Are you talking about the race Bean lost by 290 votes?
Who has grassroots support? Sheyman. Who can use that to raise real money? Sheyman. Have you seen any Schneider signs outside of Deerfield? No, and yet you see Sheyman signs everywhere. We need someone who has shown they can get people excited, and that sure isn't Schneider.