Country Club Republicans vs Grassroots In The Fight Against The Democrats. Who Wins?
The final chapter of GOP infighting
June 26, 2023
Val Ojeda, Writer
Political Commentry
How bad are you willing to fight? Because we need to do something to begin winning to take back our state and country. Right now, the Illinois Republican Party is in turmoil. Last year, there was a divide created because of the Irvin disaster. A small few in the GOP leadership thought it was best to decide what was best for us. That strategy failed and brought a split into the party that a year later, that we are still trying to recover from.
Last year on this day, I was managing 36 candidates in Illinois alone and more outside the state. In 2021, I was working as a political consultant and operative working on contract for federal races such as Congressional and Senate campaigns. I had an individual who reached out to me asking me for help in his race in Illinois. I was happy to refer him to some consultants I knew in Illinois, but there weren’t of any of value. You see, some “conservative” campaign managers running candidates worked for both sides. Democrat and Republican. How does that work? Who is your allegiance to? Well he wanted to hire me instead. I don't work both sides. Just GOP.
After discussions with this candidate, I took him on as a client. After consulting the people who I was contracting for, they gave me the nod to start my consulting/campaign management company on my own, though I would continue working federal races for them. My job as an operative is that of a specialist. To take out opponents by any means necessary. If a candidate was into drugs, midgets, homosexual tendencies or worse, I could find out. I've worked as a criminal investigator for 17 years and I have my ways and a great network of other Detectives to assist me in different fields, including Cyber and other hacks.
If you recall, in 2017, I was the one who directed the hit against Kinzinger in Rockford with the MAGA rally. I was the one who obtained and paid for the sexting nude photos of him. At the time, President Trump was under attack by him and he wanted action. The Trump PAC I was in contract with, sent us out to embarrass and harass him back. This led to the discovery of the photos that were used against him that were delivered by us to Trump and then Speaker Paul Ryan. Little Adam then backed off. This is the work of a political operative.
Later working races, learning from my colleagues who were the best in the business, I graduated to working damage control for campaigns that were in trouble or falling behind in the polls to deliver wins. Eventually, I began doing startups for new candidates and consulting on public policy for them on matters such as defense, economy, geo-political affairs, governmental affairs and more. In seven years, I worked over 200 local, state and federal races. I was also on staff for Trump for President as his Hispanic Coalition Leader in 2016 and 2020. My job was to obtain the minority vote for the campaigns. A job I did well. My bosses were Judge Tony Iosco and Jovita Caranza the future Treasurer of the United States.
Working this many races, I learned how to fail more than I can win. By failing, I learned to avoid those mistakes to become a fine-tuned political machine. I learned from the best and their tactics. I learned about marketing candidates. The sale. Everything from instructing a candidate on the ins and outs of campaigning to speech writing. Even learning graphic design and building websites to social media advertising and maintaining pages. You learn something new every day.
So, I started my company, which I took on clients in six different states, including Illinois, where the candidate that reached out to me. Coincidentally, it is my home state. We began his race and started up his campaign for Congress, and I was in for a culture shock. I was not prepared for the damage that I witnessed in the Illinois GOP. The party itself was broken into one hundred pieces just recovering from former Governor Bruce Rauner's betrayal by supporting abortion and illegal aliens. This RINO traitor turned his back on then the sitting President Trump.
Jeanne Ives challenged him in a primary because of the GOP outrage but lost her race. He later lost in the general to JB Pritzker. Rauner spent 75 million dollars just to lose.
Next, the GOP Chairman Tim Schneider resigned in disgrace and the Illinois Republican State Central Committee voted in Don Tracy as its new Chairman. It's no news that Tracy ran as a Democrat and donated to Democrats. Yet, this is who was voted in to lead the party. The members of the committee stated that he was chosen for his fundraising abilities and because he was a successful businessman and a lawyer.
What I had to deal with in 2021 was like trying to canoe through a Tsunami. Most of the County Republican Chairman were Democrats. Not one of them would answer their phones. They loved the titles, but not the jobs. There was no organization among the PCs. Most showed up for free coffee and cookies once a month for a GOP meeting just to gossip, but would not offer any kind of help. Everyone was doing their own thing. Then came the haters. You can't forget them. They came out of the sewers.
Eventually, one client became five, then it snowballed from there once people found out I was for hire. I never advertised, it was by word of mouth. Soon I was running 17 candidates in 2021 with the help of a great staff I hired. Our biggest obstacle was still the system that continues until this day. Why is it so difficult for a candidate running for office to get a sit down with a County Chairman? You can't even get a return phone call. I had to resort to threats of public humiliation to get them off the phone. The same goes for elected officials.
Still today, if you are a constituent, you can't reach your Congressman, State Representative or State Senator. They provide you an “office” number, but there is a 90% chance you will not get a call back. Good luck trying to email them. If you do get an email back, it will consist of a message that they are too busy or some other reason. The system is created, so they can avoid you at all costs. I wish there was an elected official with the guts to offer his or her personal cell phone. In the meantime their constituents are coming to me to reach their elected officials for them. Very sad that they voted for these people just to avoided by them later.
The County Chairmen were worse and still are. Most weren't even conducting GOP meetings. They weren't recruiting candidates or conducting training. Most of the counties had a 50% deficit of PCs. And they weren't recruiting or appointing anyone. In Will County, they evicted the GOP from their office for not paying their rent. How ghetto is that?
Chicago and Cook County were the worst. Almost every office there, was held by a Democrat. It was more acceptable to embrace a Democrat who leaned center than actually run a Republican for those seats. This past Mayors race there was not one Republican candidate. The Democrats had eight. Every Alderman's seat in Chicago is DEMOCRAT. The same goes for the Cook County Board with the exception of two, but we lost one seat last year because “Republican” Matt Podorski, who ran supported Democratic ideologies, including supporting Amendment One that Republicans fought hard against. He was also bought by Democratic union cash.
The Illinois Republican Party wasn't a movement, it was a country club. I saw this first-hand in 2016 when, as a businessman, before I entered politics, I became a donor to several races. If you had money, you were an elite. If you didn't have any money, you were a peasant. Good luck showing up to most events in jeans just to be laughed at. I've seen it happen. The same people who were dressed up at events or fundraisers, taking selfies or looking important wouldn't be caught dead knocking on doors for candidates or even donating to one. Yet, they can buy a $150.00 ticket for a nobody special speaker at a local GOP event. This continues until this day.
Then I discovered that Democrats were being invited as speakers at our most sacred events, the Lincoln Dinner. I kid you not!
Regardless, I continued to manage my races with no party help whatsoever. As a matter of fact, because most of my candidates were Grassroots Trump supporters, the Illinois House and Senate Republican organizations with the leadership of Sen. Dan McConchie and Rep. Jim Durkin decided to primary my candidates with lefty moderate candidates that were told to embrace abortion to win. One candidate, Krystyna Vela, running in the 40th District was found to be BLACK LIVES MATTER, a Cop hater and a convicted criminal charged with Domestic Battery after my investigation. (We beat that SRO supported candidate by 78% of the vote.) We embarrassed the Senate Republican Organization (SRO). As a matter of fact I beat all of their candidates.
What came next in January 2022 was a surprise for all in the party. Richard Irvin was the choice to run for governor as a Republican. Consulted by Cook and Rauner's former manager Mike Z, Irvin received 50 million dollars from billionaire Ken Griffin to primary Darren Bailey, who was leading in the polls. 80% of the GOP leaders and elected officials supported and endorsed Irvin, knowing that as of recently he voted Democrat, campaigned for Democrats and openly supported abortion. This created the divide in the Republican Party.
Allow me to explain why.
85% of the rank and file are active supporters of President Trump. The other 10% are the Reaganite undecided and the other 5% are RINOs. 85% are the die-hard MAGA. They know that Trump was cheated of his first term because of the investigations and the impeachments, and know that the 2020 election was stolen. However, most of the GOP leadership moved on and were scouting for a new presidential candidate but needed a Governor first. The problem is that they thought they could convince the 95% to accept It in because money talks and we “needed” a Governor with an "R" by his name, regardless of his political views.
This created the complete breakdown of the party. A distrust was created after all the attacks on Sen. Darren Bailey. He was the MAGA choice. President Trump endorsed Bailey in June. Yet the attacks came on the rank and file choice because like parents, the leaders thought they knew what was best. You know what..... they didn't know. The country club Republicans found this out when their boy Irvin lost. As a matter of fact, because of the divide that created, the GOP had the lowest voter turnout in Illinois history at only 8% of the vote in the primary.
Later, Irvin's supporters in leadership and elected officials drifted away, leaving Bailey to fend for himself. No Griffin money, GOP endorsements, donations or other support because he was labeled an "extremist" Bailey fought the good fight. I talked to my candidates from all over the state to support and walk for him, holding many events with him. The night before the election, an event my client sponsored with my other candidates had 800 people present. Bailey lost, like many others that were labeled “extremists” losses created because of no money or support from on top.
The fallout came quickly. Both leaders in the Illinois House and Senate resigned their posts. Sen. Dan McConchie and Rep. Jim Durkin knew what they did to contribute to these embarrassing losses that gave the Democrats five more seats in the already super majority in the General Assembly. What's more embarrassing is that these new House members were seated on the Republican side of the chamber because the Democrat side ran out of desks on the left.
Overnight, the Grassroots Republicans were born. In December, they attended the GOP State Central Committee meeting to make demands, including the removal of Chairman Don Tracy. After the protests and public statements, nothing happened. No changes or no removal. Six months later, no changes have been made even after the next meeting of the committee in May.
So for six months I was reading the complaints on FaceBook and the other demands and yet no changes were made amongst ourselves the Grassroots. No organized efforts to help candidates and knock on doors or even donate directly to candidates. Nope. Nothing but continued bitching. Bitching on social media, publications, and the radio. But absolutely no GRASSROOTS effort to win races.
Before the School Board races, there were only a few of us that fought back the Democrats to help GOP candidates and I used this publication, and its email list to direct voters to Republican candidates after JB Pritzker dumped one million dollars to target "extremist" School Board candidates. At one point we were taking 300 calls a day with a hot line made available for people confused about whom to vote for in these “non-partisan” races. Seniors were voting for Democrats by mistake before because GOP candidates never labeled themselves as Republican. Our initiative helped direct the voters.
After the election, we witnessed another devastating loss. The GOP lost 74% of the School board and Consolidated races. How embarrassing!
So, my question is who do we blame for this? The leadership or us, the Grassroots. Let us start by defining what GRASSROOTS is. It's an organized effort by individuals or organizations to get out the vote. So, how did we fail on April 4th? Were we so concentrated on the hate and continuing to blame the leadership on the midterm's failure that we forgot that we had others running on April 4th beyond November 2022?
I identified the problem. Leadership. The Grassroots are desperate for that leader to offer solutions, strength, and a plan. People are looking at Bailey, rightfully so, but as of yet, no plans are being made. I support Bailey 100%, and he's a friend, and he is contributing, but he can't do it alone. The problem is that every time someone else steps up, they don't last because of other Republicans. The haters.
Then come the whisper campaigns and the gossip. Even worse, creating bold face lies to destroy peoples characters.
Case in point. Most Republicans want to see you do good, but not better than them. Every time an individual comes forward to make a difference, here come the attacks. Remember Peggy Hubbard? Peggy is well-loved throughout the state. She ran for U.S. Senate in 2022. She's a former Police Officer and a Navy veteran whose husband was shot in the line of duty as a Cop. But that didn't stop two hateful ass women from creating a Facebook page to create lies about her and slander her good name. Here are two supposedly Trump supporters going after another Trump supporter. This continued with her primary opponents and several County GOP Chairman. How in the hell is this acceptable?
With enemies such as Republicans, Democrats look like the good guys. At least the Democrats protect each other. They circle the wagons. They are the original Grassroots and raise money unlike us. Most important they win.
So what good is it that we are going to have GOP candidates to step up and run just to get attacked like Peggy and countless others? How about other patriots that wanted to come out as Grassroots leaders that didn't last a week because of attacks? Republicans can have a whole loaf of bread just to hate on others for having a slice. Just look at Terry Newsome. One week he's loved, then the next he's attacked. This man is fighting to protect children, and he has been under a savage attack by ANTIFA with an online hate campaign just to get attacked from the right by fellow Republicans and why..... for having a slice of bread. Just this past week he's been meeting with powerful Senators and Congressman to bring help to Illinois yet he's scorned. How pathetic.
Newsome unlike others is actually organizing beyond just defending kids and now he is spearheading an election drive and recruiting parents to run for office. How amazing is that. Just don't share the good news with the haters.
Last month, Larry Smith, the Chairman of the newly created Illinois GOP Task Force, was run through the coals. The attacks online and social media were ruthless, calling him out as a fake Republican, RINO, and a supporter of abortion. I investigated these allegations for a story I was to write about him. I couldn't find one person that could substantiate any of these allegations. Not one. As a matter of fact, a former Chief of Police, Larry Langston, who I've known for almost 30 years, testified to the character of this man. Langston is a fine Republican that stands by his testimony.
What made my blood boil was the attacks on his wife Beth. She heads up YANA, a proactive Grassroots organization that has hundreds in attendance. She has raised money for pro-life organizations and was called out as pro-choice. For what…. having a slice of bread.
Larry is continuing this Task Force regardless. After I interviewed him recently, he said, "I know things have been said that might have been misinterpreted, however I've been granted authority to Bridge the Gap with the Grassroots. Chairman Tracy is giving me a lot of room to do just that. I realize he might not be popular, but I came up with an idea with my colleague Dean White, and he granted us permission to start the Task Force to build up Grassroots organizations and to help and promote them in any way necessary to begin winning elections"
We are 100 days from collecting signatures for Congressional, Illinois House and Senate seats and the infighting continues. For what?
I'm going to give Larry Smith and Dean White a chance with the Grassroots Task Force because, after all, what do we stand to lose? If they are offering to help organize, then we should take them up on their offer. After all, was it just last year that we complained that they weren't helping enough? Well, this is a start and I support them. 100%. You can hate me but oh well. I'm not selling out or even giving an inch. I want to see who's putting in to win elections for grassroots candidates.
Dean White, the Co-Chairman is a die hard Trump supporter that is already shaking things up in the Grassroots and financing multiple projects, including helping candidates. White has been holding regular meetings and training for PCs and building data for candidates. Larry Smith is doing the same in holding meetings around the state.
White, is a dear friend of mine that together we worked on projects including a recount for a contested election in Dupage County.
I, personally, support their effort because we have got to do something and no one else is stepping up. Like you, I want to win again. If Larry and Dean are offering support, then what do we have to lose? I'm currently running candidates and I want to replace those in office that are tearing up this state and country. I can't look my candidates in the eye and explain to them no help will be offered again. These Democrats are laughing at us because of our infighting and disorganization. It's time that we finally cease the infighting and organize to finally hit back hard against them to win races.
No more playing the victim but playing by their rules. I'm talking about ballot harvesting and other creative ways to win. County by county, we need to organize to get out the vote. It starts with voter registration and rallying the masses. In November we only had 20% GOP voter turnout. In 2024, we should strive to have 60% with the down ballot.
In 2024, the voting bloc will be 40-85-year-old women. We need their votes. Even from Democrats and independents. The men and young people 18 to 40 years old were the lowest voter turnouts. We need to change that too. How? Appointing PCs and developing a field Army to get out the vote.
So, what can be done? I can tell you this..... quit the hate and infighting. After all, are we supposed to be the Grand Old Party? A unit of one. The party of Lincoln, Reagan, and Trump?
Like many, I was recently attacked. It took all my powers to hold back. From the years of being a political operative, I was devising evil ways to hit back. But I took a breath, and I chilled. Why…. because I believe in building, not destroying? It's time that we fight the true enemy, the Democrats. For what will be left if we continue to fight among ourselves? Instead, let us focus that hate and energy on the liberals that are destroying this country with their socialist ideals corrupting our children.
Let me warn you right now. If the Democrats continue to win races, they will overturn the Bill of Rights, including our Constitution. This election is the most important in our history. We are at war. Do you choose to sit on the sidelines watching and gossiping, or will you pick up a sword to battle these liberal losers?
For what you decide now will be the testimony of your character. As a proud Conservative Grassroots Republican, I'd rather win broke, in poor health, friendless and unpopular in 2024 than to revisit the shame we had the last two elections. As a supporter of Trump, I'll do just that because after seeing what he's going through, it makes me fight harder against the evil Democrats.
As for myself I'll be offering help to organizations for whatever they need to organize, train and get out the vote and I'll use my resources to do just that. As a matter of fact I'm already doing it.
If you find yourself under attack because you are running for office, or you want to become a Grassroots leader, do me a favor and call me. I'll take care of your problem. I don't play nice with bullies that ridicule innocent people, especially others that made mistakes in their lives and redeemed themselves. You shouldn't have to offer explanations or excuses. People change by the grace of God, like we need to, to win back our state and great nation. God bless!