Roll Call reported today that House Speaker Dennis Hastert is, like all good retired Republican officials, becoming a lobbyist. He's joining a senior staffer in his office and Al Wynn at Dickstein Shapiro, one of the largest law firms in DC and one with over 100 of the Fortune 500 as clients.
So, a couple of weeks ago, I was in a public place, right here in St. Charles, Illinois, when I overheard a conversation that alarmed, but failed to surprise, me. The person doing most of the talking was -talking- complaining bitterly about her new job in an area public elementary school. Not a St. Charles school and not an educator. She's a peripheral professional who has frequent contact with children however, and that's bad enough.
Her major complaint? "All these Hispanic children."
According to her, not only are "all these Hispanic children" unable to communicate, they are "aggressive and obnoxiously rude - especially the girls." I was supposed to be paying attention to what the person in front of me was saying and lost some of the conversation I was overhearing, but suspect her companion must have voiced some objections, because she started trying to -explain herself- dig herself in deeper.
I always wanted to find an excuse to use breaking in a diary title.
This will be a brief diary, that I may add to as the evening progresses, but Roll Call is reporting that Dennis Hastert will announce his resignation (effective "later this year") tomorrow, Thursday, setting up a special election here in IL-14.
I haven't spoken to John Laesch this evening yet, but just gave this news to our campaign manager.
Democrat Bill Foster appears to be a front-runner in the 14th Congressional fundraising race, having amassed an estimated $408,000 campaign war chest during the most recent period, he told supporters in a conference call Tuesday.
More than 80 percent of Foster's donors are first-time donors, and nearly three-quarters are scientists like Foster, a former Fermilab physicist.
-snip- More than 650 individual donors contributed to Foster's campaign this quarter and the average contribution is $315, according to a campaign spokesman. This is his first run for political office.
Ending months of speculation, former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert announced Friday that he will not run for a 12th term. He made the announcement on the Don Wade & Roma show on WLS 890 AM hours before an expected speech in his district.
While IL-14 Republicans are still awaiting word from Hastert as to whether he will be running again, the Dem field of candidates seems to have solidified. Dem State Rep Linda Chapa LaVia recently announced she will not be running for the seat, leaving the field to 2006 nominee John Laesch, Geneva blue dog Bill Foster, and St. Charles attorney Jotham Stein.
As the Trib story notes, the three Republicans who have formed exploratory committees are hanging back, waiting for an announcement from Hastert which is expected some time this month.
As the Laesch for Congress campaign readies for our visit to YearlyKos, we are keeping an eye on media reports about Hastert's plans to make an announcement in August, and the not-quite-announcements of several Republican candidates that are hanging in the balance. Most recently we have heard from CQ Quarterly
that there is a
widespread belief that Hastert is much more likely to retire than to seek an 12th House term in 2008
On the other hand, local press quotes Hastert at a mid-July event:
"As far as I'm concerned right now, I'm running," Hastert said at the more than 500-person event at the Sandwich Fairgrounds. He said he plans to make a formal announcement next month on whether he will enter the 2008 race.
STATE BLOGS
