SHELBYVILLE, IL. — It was pack the gym night at the Annual Shelby County Republican Lincoln Day Dinner on Saturday at the Cornerstone Fellowship Gymnasium in Shelbyville. A full house of Republicans and Independents gathered for a meal and a meet and greet with a full slate of Illinois Republican candidates for this November’s election.
The program was changed around due to the heavy rains and to allow more tables and chairs to be set up to accommodate the crowd.
“I have gone to a lot these kind of events and I have yet to be at one where we had to set up more tables and chairs,” said U.S. Congressman John Shimkus (19th District).
Shimkus was the first speaker of the evening that featured Congressman Mark Kirk, the Republican candidate for President Barack Obama’s Illinois senatorial seat and State Senator Bill Brady, the Republican candidate for the governor of Illinois.
Other candidates in attendance for the event were Robert Enriquez, the Republican candidate for Secretary of State, Steve Kim, the Republican candidate for Attorney General, Sam McCann, candidate for the 49th Senate District, Wayne Rosenthal, candidate for the 98th Legislative District, Adam Brown, candidate for the 101st Legislative District and Douglas Jarmin of the 4th Judicial Circuit.
“Brad Halbrook (Shelby County Republican Committee Chairman) was relentless at getting all the ticket here,” Shimkus said.
In addition to the host of candidates in attendance, were other Illinois politicians: State Senator Kyle McCarter, Lebanon (51st Senate District), State Senator Dale Righter, Mattoon (55th Senate District), State Representative Roger Eddy, Hutsonville (109 th Legislative District) and Ron Stephens, Greenville (102nd Legislative District).
Congressman Shimkus introduced Congressman Kirk, who has devoted his life to public service as a commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve serving in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan, the first sitting congressman to serve in a combat area since 1942.
Shimkus also said that when Kirk is elected, about 95% of the time he will be able to stand next to the senior senator from Illinois, Dick Durbin, and say, “You’re wrong!”
Congressman Kirk related, that when he was younger, he drowned in Lake Michigan. When he was rescued, his body temperature was just 80 degrees. Since that time he considered every day as a borrowed one and he has dedicated his life to public service.
Kirk asked those gathered, “Are you worried about this country?”
There came resounding yes.
He asked, “In the last couple of years have you been laughed at by family members and friend from around the country because you are from Illinois?
Again, there came back a resounding yes.
Kirk said that he met the Afghan Minister of Agriculture. In Afghanistan, one of the major crops is opium and the government is seen as corrupt. The minister was curious how Kirk, as a naval commander knew so much about agriculture.
Kirk told him he was from Illinois, to which the Afghan Minister replied concerning Illinois, “We know corruption, but nothing like that.”
Kirk posed some questions about the curious ways the present political leaders are doing things.
“Why can’t we treat our enemies poorly and our allies well?”
“Why can’t we sink pirates, instead of just capturing them?”
“Why can’t we expand employment, instead of taxing employers? (there are 12 new federal taxes in the healthcare bill)”
“How can we raise taxes, when the Chairman of the House, Ways and Means Committee doesn’t pay his own taxes?”
“How did we turn Honest Abe’s homeland into one of the most corrupt states in the union?”
Kirk finished saying that each generation of Americans is tested. He said that in 1776, George Washington lost every battle and the troops dwindled from 30,000 to 2,000 before things turned around.
“He was tested , but he brought country back,” Kirk said. “We need to bring the country back.”
After Kirk, candidate for governor Brady spoke. Brady was introduced as 100% pro-life, with the highest rating from the NRA and as one who has introduced amendments for Family-Friendly Marriage.
Brady said that he thinks of this as a “time of challenge” in the state of Illinois. He said the present governor’s plan is to raise taxes $3 billlion more on citizens, raise another $6 billion through bonds and raise another $3 billion on our vendors. Brady has a different plan.
“We have to balance the budget without raising taxes,” Brady said. “But, that’s not good enough. We have to cut taxes.”
He wants to make $1 billion dollars in tax cuts. He wants to eliminate the state tax on gasoline.
“We need to keep people and jobs in Illinois,” Brady said. “We need to de-regulate and de-litigate. We need to work with business and not take them to court.”
Brady said that ACT scores have fallen 5% in the last eight years and that he wants to eliminate the State Board of Education and return control to the local districts.
“We need a clean break from the politics of the past,” Brady said.
Brady said he is for term limits, for contribution limits and for political districts to be drawn by a computer, not by Illinois Speaker Mike Madigan.
“We are up in the polls, but we need to run like we are behind,” Brady said.
Brady mentioned the dedication of our military overseas.
“We need to have the best country possible for them to come home to,” Brady said.
“We need to have the best country possible for them to come home to,” Brady said.
St. Senator Righter spoke and said, “It is time for good people to stand up.”
Righter was followed by Robert Enriquiz, the candidate for Illinois Secretary of State. Enriquiz came to this country when he was 13 years old from Honduras. He is an businessman who has created jobs, bringing overseas manufacturing to Illinois. He has served as a U.S. Marine officer on foreign assignments and is a commissioner on the Illinois Human Rights Commission.
Enriquez started speaking by saying this is not a time to fear, quoting 2 Timothy 1:7, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
He asked, “How is it that the Secretary of State raises a billion dollars from 10 million drivers?”
Enriquez asked where all that money goes to. He believes that a lot of money goes to high-paying patronage jobs. Enriquez said he will call for a forensic audit of the Secretary of State’s Office and publish it on line for everyone to see where the money goes. He will also reduce fees and see to it that all the licenses, stickers, etc will by manufactured in Illinois, not in other states.
He called his campaign a shoe leather express campaign. He will continue to campaign downstate for a while, but then head to Chicago to claim the Hispanic vote in Cook County.
Enriquez said that while recently campaigning, he passed by the Thompson Correctional Center, one prison suggested as a place to house detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Enriquez, who knows first-hand what it’s like to come to America for freedom and opportunity is against such a plan to bring war-time prisoners inside the United States.
“It can make us a target,” Enriquez said. “We need to keep those prisoners in Guantanamo, not bring them to our land.”
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