Those who follow politics in Illinois are used to scandals involving Democrats.
They pop up pretty much every week.
But now come questionable activities about Republican candidates.
First, consider this article from the Daily Herald about Republican candidate seeking the 9th congressional district nomination:
Friedman was 27 and his victim was 13 in the incident in or about Ann Arbor, Michigan,
Again, Rocio Cleveland was the one making the news (as she did when she presented indicted Kat Abughazaleh with a prison gift bag including a toothbrush for defending herself), as the Daily Herald reports,
“Cleveland surprised Friedman by loudly disclosing his status as a registered sex offender during a candidate meet-and-greet last month in Northbrook. A Cleveland campaign aide then asked Friedman about the case while filming the conversation. That video subsequently was shared with the Daily Herald.”
Now comes a potential for Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey, dug up by a Friend of McHenry County Blog.
Again Rocio Cleveland is the candidate initiating the story.
Perfect Storm Scandal Threatens Annihilation of Illinois GOP
Rocio Cleveland demands Bailey campaign pay $3045 medical bill of woman allegedly drugged at event
Several months ago, GOP gadfly and former congressional candidate Maxwell Rice told people a story about a woman in her mid 20s named Cecilia Brooks who claims to have been roofied at a Darren Bailey event.
Now comes Joseph Severino posting what is supposedly a police report from Oak Brook and police body camera footage from that night.
The man in the video talking to the police officer looks like Brett Corrigan. Financial records with the State Board of Elections show Corrigan helped Bailey with his campaign launch through his Save Illinois PAC. Bailey has acknowledged Corrigan for his work as recently as August 31. Bailey also says Corrigan helped him publish his book. (Don’t ask why Bailey recruited a recently homeless teenager to publish his book.)
(Oddly, Brett Corrigan and Michael Miller are now officers for Rick Heidner’s committee while still being listed as officers for Save Illinois PAC)
If the name Brett Corrigan is familiar, it’s because he first appeared on McHenry County Blog at age 15 complaining about Jacobs High School policy, subsequently being names Young Conservative of the Year by McHenry County GOPAC and serving as traveling assistant to Bailey.
He also once prepared to sue Darren Bailey.
Somehow the two became friends again which is strange, but then again strangeness seems to be the hallmark of Darren Bailey’s many unsuccessful political campaigns.
When the draft lawsuit was leaked, conservative radio show “Chicago’s Morning Answer with Dan Proft” covered the story as did the Chicago Tribune on October 21.
Then, within a couple of days, Darren Bailey’s family died in a helicopter crash in Montana.
The controversy went away, but this drugging scandal won’t.
The media is ignoring it for now but you can expect once the primary is over, they will suddenly show much interest in the story.
Then Republicans will have some explaining to do.
Some people want the issue addressed now, but the problem is the loudest voices are not well liked within the party.
Maxwell Rice, Joseph Severino, and Rocío Cleveland are the main ones pushing the story and they have a lot of enemies within the Illinois Republican Party.
But is it wise to ignore everything they say because they have been deemed naughty messengers or is there a possibility that this scandal could come back to haunt Bailey and Republicans if the content of the message is not discussed now?
Rocío Cleveland, unlike Joseph Severino, does not face an objection.
She is running for congress in the 9th district and guaranteed to be on the ballot in March.
She is going to continue talking about it and she has proven she knows how to get media attention.
Cleveland has challenged Bailey’s campaign to pay the $3045 medical bill of Cecilia Brooks.
The receipt was initially posted by Brooks herself.
But so far, the media has shown more interest in Cleveland giving Kat Abughazaleh a gift bag containing a pickle and some cat food, rather than an ambulance being called after a woman was supposedly drugged while hanging out with Darren Bailey’s campaign.
$3,000 ambulance bill posted by Cecilia Brooks.
Brooks says that she began having tunnel vision and then blacked out.
In 2022, Bailey won the primary and then lost by a large margin to JB Pritzker. In fact, Pritzker even assisted Bailey in the primary. Pritzker knew he could easily defeat Bailey in the general election.
Many people in the media are Democrats and would like nothing more than a 2022 rematch with Pritzker and Bailey.
As previously stated, they could bury this scandal until after the primary which Bailey is expected to win.
That is what makes this Bailey scandal the perfect storm.
There is probably nothing that unites the various factions of the Illinois Republican Party except for hating Rice, Severino, and Cleveland — and this story is primarily being pushed by those three individuals who are regularly dismissed across the entire Illinois Republican Party spectrum as being Democratic Party plants, saboteurs, curmudgeons, contrarians, chaos agents, mentally unwell, anti-social, immature, etc.
Not only could Democratic politicians and journalists (who are often Democrats) ignore this story but the Republican Party as a whole could sweep it under the rug just because of who is being the loudest about it.
They are dismissing the messengers and in doing so refusing to engage with the content of the message.
I suggest Republicans rethink their silence and begin discussing this scandal before it is too late.
I also suggest the media show some integrity and begin doing real journalism.
