East Central Reporter

Allegations are swirling around local endorsement processes in the state of Illinois -- one particular concern is that an incumbent governor gearing up for re-election may have his thumb on the scale in some local endorsement processes.

Reports from Palatine Township, Cook County and other areas suggest some of these endorsement processes may be, in a word, “rigged.” According to Prairie State Wire, a local committeewoman called the chairman of Palatine Township's Republican organization an “absolute dictator” and argued for more transparency in the process.

In general, there is the suggestion that those who have held office before may be influenced by other more established politicians, to the detriment of new challengers and those who want to get fresh blood in the political process.

Chris Miller

One way to get a read on some of this conflict is to ask new candidates who are running for office for the first time. However, some are focusing more on building their campaigns than on directing voter outrage within the party in any direction in particular.

“I hesitate to wade in,” Chris Miller, a candidate for the 110th House District, told East Central Reporter. Miller said his campaign is much more focused on meeting constituents and hearing their thoughts and not on trying to navigate insider politics to boost his chances of election.

However, Miller did weigh in on some aspects of endorsement processes.

“Some of it doesn't make any sense to me,” Miller said, citing cases where a challenger to an incumbent may have an opposing view that doesn't seem to match some of his or her political connections. In general, he said, it's hard to really figure out what information is accurate, and what's not.

“There's so much information out there, it's hard to figure out what really happened,” Miller said, suggesting that when there is a flurry of press activity around Gov. Bruce Rauner or someone else, individual voters may find it hard to really do the research and look through what he characterized as “spin, half-truths, innuendo and suggestions.”

“In my world, if you say something, there’s no spin, there's no innuendo - that's what it is,” Miller said, expressing empathy for the voter who has to sort through all sorts of mailers and other political messaging to try to figure out what's going on in Springfield.

As a result, Miller is listening to residents within the state to try to figure out where they want to take local politics. Some of the rest of the process, he suggested, may, in the end, be just noise.