Q:
What is it like to be GOP party chairman,
State Treasurer, and Riverside Township
Republican Committeeman all at the same time?
A: Basically, I’ve got three jobs, and you
just have to divide up your day to be able to
pay attention to all of them...It’s a lot of
work, and especially after the defeat that we
took in November, there is a lot of party
rebuilding and also a time of going out and
trying to recruit people into the Republican
party, to make people welcome, to go into
traditionally non-Republican areas and see if
we can get them to come across, and basically
to open the doors and grow the Republican
party so that we are competitive in the
presidential election to get George Bush
reelected, and certainly, to hold that U.S.
Senate seat.
Q: What are you
trying to do in order to help reelect Bush?
Also, what updates have there been with
choosing a U.S. Senate candidate? Who do you
believe is the person who most deserves the
nomination?
A: Again, we’ve got to grow the party.
There has to be a party structure, a structure
that is different than it has been in the
past, because in the past, it’s always been
tied to a gubernatorial candidate and/or a
city governor, so in effect, it pretty much
ran around that person’s ego other than
creating an infrastructure that would be
independent and something that could survive
in spite of a governor. I think that’s what we
want to have, just a full time, forever
Republican party that is bigger and better
than any one of its parts, it just goes on,
and on, and on.
So we need the party here, we need that
structure to get George Bush elected. We’re
going to have the first voter registration
drive in 20 years - we’re working on that. I
think that will be very successful, because we
can identify folks who are Republican and/or
would be Republican, or who should be
Republican, and we will try and get them
registered so they can, indeed, for him.
Likewise, we’re going to help in fundraising
for him.
Also, in terms of making sure that we do
have all the events, that we get him here to
Illinois. I have been assured by Chairman
Racicot that the Bush campaign does feel that
Illinois is a swing state, Illinois is
competitive, and that George Bush will spend
time here, and we want to make sure that the
time he spends in Illinois is well used.
At this point, we’re not really sure that
we have all the candidates out there who might
be in contention for the Senator’s job. I
don’t think we really have a solid idea until
we see filings because talk is cheap, and
there’s lots of folks who are going to say
they want to run, but whether they are really
in there for the long haul: I really don’t
know that, and I don’t think anybody else does
either.
Q: What made you want
to get started with politics? Has your view on
issues changed any since you began?
A: It’s something that I have always done,
even since I have been a little girl, of
trying to solve problems and organizing
things. I was a newspaper reporter, and I
could see politics going awry in the various
things I covered, and I felt I could do better
and have. One, is just having a really nasty,
reporter’s type feeling about corruption. I
don’t tolerate it; I don’t like it; it’s just
something I wanted to run against and prove
that government could be clean, could be
honorable, and that’s exactly the way I play
it, and I’m pleased that we operate that way.
Have my views on the issues changed since
I’ve begun? Not really. These are opinions
that I’ve had right along, which are kind of
my way of doing things. I think, probably, if
anything has made me successful is that I
don’t go around hating anybody. There’s room
in my life for just about everyone, and I
really do think from a Republican standpoint,
that we can provide the best opportunity, in
terms of government, for making life better
for people. That’s why I’m Republican.
Q: What do you think
people without any political experience can do
to get more involved with the political
process?
A: Well, probably, it’s just to jump in and
think about it, and I hear from lots of
people, "I’d like to be involved," and then
they don’t go forward. They can contact their
township chairman, their county chairman,
their precinct committeeman, their precinct
captain where they live.
They can find a candidate whose views they
like and want to get involved with and
support, get involved in their campaign. They
can talk to their reps, senators, and
Congressmen to see if they can get
internships, so there’s many ways to enter the
door, but the big thing is to do it and not
just talk about it. I think many people feel
somewhat intimidated by it.
I know I’ve had a number of people say,
"Well, I’m not a lawyer, so I can’t get
involved." Politics is not just for lawyers,
in fact I would prefer that there would be
fewer of them. It’s for everybody, and I think
that’s the glory of a democracy. We do get
this diversity in politics, and although it’s
messy, it ultimately comes out with something
that is the best of all possible systems.
Q: It has been over
half a year since Rod Blagojevich was sworn in
as governor. What do you think of his time in
office so far? Is there anything you disagree
or agree with him on?
A: I’m kind of concerned that the Governor
has ceded so many powers to his Bureau of the
Budget Director, John Filan. He spends,
probably, too much time out in a perennial
campaign, kissing babies and cutting ribbons,
as opposed to doing the substance of
government. I realize that the substance of
government takes a little more time and is not
as exciting or glamorous, but I think he
should spend more time, literally, trying to
understand what’s going on here, rather than
having all legislation pinnacling up to his
Bureau of the Budget Director, who has become
a virtual czar. I don’t think that is good for
the system, it upsets the whole checks and
balances of the operation, and it is a highly
questionable way of operating.
I think too he should spend more time in
Springfield, living at the Executive Mansion,
and working with the legislature on a regular
basis, so as to get some consensual feelings
here as for what is best for the state. It
gets back down to substance. It’s fun to be
Governor, but there’s a heck of a lot of work
involved. I don’t know that he has put in the
time and the effort, and I certainly don’t
like what I think is a very dictatorial style
on the part of his Budget Director, which
would disparage the legislature and disparage
other Constitutional officers. I don’t think
that it is protocol, and I certainly think it
just violates the whole concept of checks and
balances.
Q: Your son is a JAG
officer in the U.S. Army. What has he been
doing? Did he have a role in either the war on
terrorism or in Iraq?
A: He’s a great kid. It’s always very, very
nice when a child can grow up to be your
friend, and I regard him as a very, very dear
friend besides being my son. He’s an Army JAG
officer, that’s Judge Advocate General. That
means he is an Army lawyer. He is now
stationed at Ft. Drums, New York, which is on
the Canadian border. I expect that somewhere
in the fall or early next year, he will be
deployed for Afghanistan, so I do expect that
he’s going to be spending some time overseas.
Q: What do you say to
those who criticize you and say that you are
very liberal compared with most Republicans?
A: I guess it would depend on who you talk
to, because there are those who don’t think I
am very liberal at all and think I’m very
conservative. I don’t think anybody really
knows. It’s especially like looking at a
diamond ring - they pick out the facet that
they like or dislike and dwell upon it.
I have, I think, very moderate stance. I
have very conservative stands. On money,
fiscal responsibility, and how you run a
government, I’m extremely conservative, but I
do believe in equal rights for everyone, equal
opportunities for everyone, and I think that’s
not only very American, I think that’s
extremely Republican.
I also note, as I’ve told you before, I
don’t go around hating people, and I don’t
obsess about people. I don’t victimize groups,
and I don’t criminalize groups, unless they
have it coming. As a result, I think it’s
probably as broad a way of going out and
recruiting new people for the Republican party
as the ones we’ll find.
If the Republican party is going to want to
stay a little nugget of people, a very small,
internally-looking organization, it will wind
up like the old Whig party, which is
irrelevant, marginalized, and ultimately,
unexistent, and I would hate to see that.
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