Illinois By The Numbers Tutorial for Adam Andrzejewski – "22"

January 31, 2010

Today's number comes courtesy of Jeff Berkowitz, host of the "Political Affairs" cable television show. Although this information is not provided as a courtesy to me, but to Adam Andrzejewski.

There are 59 members of the Illinois State Senate, 22 of whom are Republicans. There are 118 members of the Illinois House, 48 of whom are Republicans. These are not secrets. They are basic facts that a candidate for any state office should know, but as this video reveals, they are a mystery to Adam. During this campaign, Andrzejewski has made promiscuous use of the word "outsider", embracing it as if it is some kind of validation of its own and using it wildly as a brush to tar anyone who has any knowledge of the way state government works.

Calling himself an outsider does not excuse him from the obligation to know the very basics of the structure of the government he wishes to run. Any Illinois high school student needs to be able to identify the three branches of government and some basic facts about each branch in order to graduate. Yet Andrzejewski hopes to run the entire state and he doesn't know how many people sit in the General Assembly or on which sides.

Adam has been too busy pretending he can govern by executive fiat to learn that a Governor cannot ignore the General Assembly in the hopes that Mike Madigan will go away. We need a Governor who not only will take on the entrenched interest straight away but also show the good sense to build non-traditional coalitions with legislators who act in good faith, Republicans and Democrats, to advance informed public policy that improves our quality of life in Illinois. That is what I have been doing for the past 15 years in the political arena as well as during this campaign on issues ranging from school choice to health care services to the developmentally disabled.

We have four gentlemen in this race who want to make nice with Mike Madigan and one, Adam, who wants to make believe he doesn't exist. They all have the wrong approach but Adam's is perhaps the most dangerously naïve of the bunch.

We know the candidates that have been going along to get along for the past 15 years in Springfield or the past 5 years as State GOP Chairman are not interested in leading the necessary policy revolution. Adam is not qualified.

Before you vote on Tuesday, ask yourself if a candidate who is this ignorant of the basic composition of state government is prepared to advance the conservative reform flag or would we be better with a candidate who is not of the system, but knows it well enough to turn Springfield upside down on Day One.