Central Illinois Gazette
A threat to Frerichs?
Posted by: Tom Kacich
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 3:37 PM
UPDFATESen. Mike Frerichs, D-Champaign, reaffirmed today that he is supporting Sen. John Cullerton, D-Chicago, for Senate president.
And that could be -- could be -- a problem for him because a group of African-American ministers calling itself the "Ad-hoc Committee of Community Leaders" was in Champaign today to urge Frerichs to vote for Sen. James Clayborne of Belleville for Senate president.
Their main argument for Clayborne was that he is a downstater.
What made this ironic was that the leader of the "Ad-hoc Committee of Community Leaders" is Eddie Read, a community organizer from Chicago. Read has connections with Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
What was unsaid in the news conference is that Clayborne is African-American and Cullerton is white.
Two local African-American ministers -- Rev. Eugene Barnes of Champaign and Pastor Rayenell Crenshaw of Danville -- said they did not intend to threaten Frerichs to support Clayborne.
"That would be counterproductive," Barnes said.
"I worked really hard to get Sen. Frerichs in office," Crenshaw said. "As far as voting against him, I wouldn't. I would just encourage him to support someone like Sen. Clayborne who would work harder for our community."
Read, though, was more vague.
"What I just said, what I'll say for the third time, is we will encourage communities of interest on the ground, in communities across the state," Read said. "I will show you a model that was used in Chicago to elect Mayor (Harold) Washington, to be able to revierw whether or not people have voted and introduced legislation in your interest, from chief executive officer, to legislator, and then voted accordingly.
When asked how big is own group is (he called it the League of Independent Voters), Read said it is "ad hoc" (there's that word again) and that, "We come together around an issue, a situation or an issue, and then we disband."
When it came to specific reasons for supporting Clayborne, the three ministers were hazy. Read said simply that he Clayborne would be better able to compromise and would be non-confrontational.
Finally, Read said he knew nothing about anonymous robocalls that are being made on behalf of an unnamed "downstate candidate for Senate president." I got one yesterday (when no one was home).
This all smells of Blagojevich, doncha think?
UPDATE: I just talked to Mike Frerichs. Two things:
* He's still with Cullerton, and plans to vote for him tonight when the Senate Dems caucus in Springfield. "The governor sending down his grant recipient (Read) to lobby me has an adverse affect on Clayborne. This is why I'm backing the independent candidate for Senate president."
*Frerichs said he was disappointed that none of the three -- Read, Barnes or Crenshaw -- had contacted him before the press conference. He said he would be happy to explain why he is supporting Cullerton, and that if they still disagreed, so be it.
Comments
Regional biases should make no difference here. Anyone who aligns themselves with the Governor, like Claybourne does, shouldn't be in consideration if we are to have a legitimate Senate President. If Cullerton were to be elected President, we would have someone to stand up to King Blago. THE LAST THING THE STATE NEEDS IS ANOTHER EMIL JONES. Kudos to Frerichs. He may take some heat from this, but unless you're still somehow a fan of the Governor, he is doing the right thing.
Posted by bjones13 on November 19, 2008 at 3:32 PM
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