Madison County Has Polling Results

Many people have probably already heard about the polling Constituent Dynamics performed for the Illinois congressional races. It is a month before the Mid-Term Election so the results for IL-19 prove that the election results can still go either way. According to the word on the streets of Madison County, the IL-19 race is closer than many realize.

There are tracking poll results for Madison County only. It is significant because it is the most populated county in IL-19 with Sangamon the second most populated. To win the congressional district, a person has to carry Madison County.

Both Rep. John Shimkus (R-Collinsville) and Councilman Dan Stover (D-Centralia) polled at 43 percent each. This is in addition to the Time Magazine poll:

[. . .] 54 percent saying they are more likely to vote for a Democratic candidate for Congress and 39 percent a Republican - a margin of advantage for the Democratic Party that is 11 points higher than what Time's survey found in June. (By Mark Silva Chicago Tribune)

Now voters have to decide whether they believe Mr. Shimkus and how they feel about his lack of responsibility and accountability in his version of events:

I think there's stuff that everybody would have done differently in hindsight, said Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., after he testified for more than three hours before the House ethics committee.

[. . .] The Illinois Republican kept the two other House Page Board members, including the panel's sole Democrat, in the dark when he confronted Foley last fall. He did so, he says, to follow the wishes of the boy's parents, who wanted the matter to remain private and wanted Foley to stop sending the boy overly friendly e-mails.

[. . .] Having 20/20 hindsight, a lot of things would have been done differently, he said.

[. . .] Shimkus has said it was the first time he learned Foley was too friendly with pages.

When the clerk showed me the excepts of the e-mail ... that this family was concerned of, that was the first time that I had any indication that I needed to address Congressman Foley, Shimkus said.

At worst, the Republican congressman, with direct oversight of teenage pages, is guilty of doing nothing to protect a sexual predator for partisan gain. At the very least, the Republican congressman is guilty of dereliction of duty. The operative word is guilty.

Closer to home, the fallout has become obvious. There are no debates on the schedule. Mr. Shimkus endorsed John Cavaletto (IL-107) in a taped video commercial. After airing once or twice Kurt Granberg (IL-107) had the commercial pulled and replaced it with an endorsement commercial from former Gov. Jim Edgar.

John Shimkus is an elected official refusing to take responsbility and accept accountability. Speaker Dennis Hastert needs a sacrificial lamb and will gladly assign that role to his very good friend from Collinsville.

John Shimkus is imploding in slow motion.

On November 07, 2006, John Shimkus is toast.