McKenna/Murphy Receives Suburban Endorsement
12/2/2009
Republican Andy McKenna is launching another round of 'hair' ads today, this time slapping Rod Blagojevich's iconic mop on Gov. Pat Quinn and saying "Bah Humbug" to the Democrat's claim that voters are happier this year than last.
The new TV and radio ad launch takes a direct shot at Quinn's response to an earlier ad run by McKenna. Quinn was quoted in the Chicago Tribune as saying, "I think the people of Illinois are a lot happier today, in November of 2009, than they were at the beginning of this year."
The announcer on McKenna's new ad says "Bah Humbug" to that and then points to the massive budget deficit and claims the state is "facing bankruptcy."
Quinn was responding to accusations by McKenna that he was mismanaging the state and keeping the public in the dark about the budget. Quinn was apparently attempting to draw a difference between himself and Blagojevich, whom he succeeded as lieutenant governor after the Chicago Democrat's arrest and ouster.
Quinn has defended his leadership, saying he has been honest about how to deal with the budget shortfall by raising taxes, pushed for sweeping ethics reform and created jobs by passing a massive public works package backed by gambling expansion.
But McKenna's new ad attempts to directly paint Quinn as Blagojevich by showing a mock photograph of the governor wearing a wig that looks like Blagojevich's black hair. It follows a pattern that began with McKenna's first TV ad in which he puts Blagojevich's hair on other former governors like Republican George Ryan and even the statehouse dome in Springfield.
In the ads, McKenna - who headed the Illinois Republican Party for five years - maintains he is the "only outsider businessman running" in the seven-person GOP primary. Opponents have disputed McKenna's contention that he is an outsider, and there are two other "businessmen" in the race who have never held elective office, Adam Andrzejewski of Hinsdale and Dan Proft of Chicago. McKenna's new ads come one day after state Sen. Kirk Dillard of Hinsdale launched a cable ad touting his endorsement from former Republican Gov. Jim Edgar.
Meanwhile, McKenna also landed the endorsements of state Reps. Mark Beaubien of Barrington Hills and JoAnn Osmond of Antioch on Tuesday.
Other GOP candidates in the primary for governor are DuPage County Board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom of Naperville, former Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan of Elmhurst and state Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington.
The primary is Feb. 2.
Joseph Ryan
The Daily Herald
December 2, 2009
