By Doug Ibendahl

A Republican friend of mine may have summed-up the recent State GOP Convention best when he said afterwards, "Wow, I knew things were bad, but I didn't know they were this bad."

And that was coming from a guy who hadn't just fallen off the turnip truck. This particular gentleman has been around the block more than once including as a recent candidate for public office.

But that reaction was typical. More Republicans turned-out this time in Decatur, ready to work in good faith to get the Illinois GOP back on track. But thanks to just a small handful of entrenched players, that wasn't allowed to happen.

If you weren't in Decatur, it's really hard to fully appreciate just how cynically this thing was run, and the degree to which it was all rigged. Some of the stories are surreal. 

Our state convention this year was nothing like the events Republicans hold in other states - and likewise, it bore no resemblance to the televised event our national party will hold this September in Minneapolis. Responsible organizations simply don't hold conventions where the membership is sent home LESS energized.

My intent here with this series is to preserve an accurate record, with the hope that better and more honest leaders will eventually step-up. Consider it a component of the Republican Renaissance Project.

There really is no excuse for a Republican Party to operate this way. But as long as Republicans accept it, we're going to keep getting the leadership and the election results we deserve.

McKenna failed to keep his word

A few days before the convention, an open letter from Andy McKenna, Jr. was posted on the State Party's website listing things that he promised would take place in Decatur.

Just four main items were listed, and the first one was: "A full hearing and vote on Senate Bill 600."

That promise is now long gone from the State Party's website of course. But Bernard Schoenburg referenced McKenna's letter and its commitments in his State Journal-Register column of June 5th. That column is still available online.

First of all, as every attendee can testify, there was no "full hearing and vote" on Senate Bill 600, or anything else for that matter in Decatur.

Second of all, McKenna's reference to Senate Bill 600 was odd to begin with. Convention delegates can't pass or reject legislation pending in the General Assembly in Springfield. That's what our elected officials get paid to do.

This goofiness reminded a lot of people of last year when McKenna got caught going behind the backs of Republican voters to lobby the Democrats for the purpose of once again smothering the direct election reform in Springfield. We reported that story in June of last year.

State Senator Chris Lauzen, who has always tried to advance this reform in a fair and open way, had a great quote at the time:  "If Mr. McKenna wants the power to amend bills in Springfield, he should probably run for the State Senate."

That's exactly right. Of course as even McKenna surely realizes by now, it's winning a real election that's always going to be his problem, especially after such a disastrous tenure as State GOP Chairman.

Deliberately trying to confuse Republicans

Sometimes in this Illinois political game it's hard to sort out how much of the silliness is owing to managerial incompetence, and how much is attributable to a deliberate effort to bamboozle good Republicans. With McKenna and his handlers, we typically see a lot of both.

Much has been done to deliberately confuse Republicans on this direct elections issue, but the reform itself and the steps to get there are actually very simple.

There are two ways our party can go back to the system whereby all Republicans would again directly elect their own representative to the State Party's Central Committee.

The first is by changing the Illinois statute. That's of course what Senate Bill 600 is about. That's the bill Chris Lauzen led to unanimous passage in the State Senate back in 2005. The old guard (on that occasion in the form of Skip Saviano and Tom Cross) then smothered the bill on the House side so it wouldn't advance any further. They made sure it didn't even get a floor vote in the House.

Another legislative attempt was made last year, as discussed above. That's when Senator Lauzen placed the direct election language of Senate Bill 600 into another election law related bill that was headed to the Senate floor for a vote. On that occasion, Saviano and Cross decided to keep their own fingerprints off the caper, and McKenna was enlisted as stooge to torpedo the reform.

Here's what happened last year. McKenna calls the Democrat sponsor of that other bill, and tells him to remove Lauzen's direct elections language. McKenna's never denied this by the way - he can't. It happened.

So why did that Democrat State Senator listen to McKenna? Because the request was coming from the State GOP Chairman and the subject bill language would only impact the Illinois Republican Party (the Democrats already have direct elections for their Central Committee). 

In Springfield there is basically a gentlemen's understanding that one party doesn't advance legislation that would only impact the internal workings of the other party, unless the leadership of that other party agrees. In other words, there is at least some honor in Springfield, and both sides want to avoid the havoc that a majority party could inflict on the internal workings of the minority party through mischievous lawmaking. The Democrats never know when the Republicans might be in charge again for example (not any time soon judging by what we've been witnessing).

McKenna should have stayed out of the legislative process. Lauzen and the other GOP Senators are Republican leaders too - and unlike McKenna they've actually been chosen in a real election to be Senators. But once McKenna did inject himself, the Democrat Senator who got McKenna's call didn't think he could buck the will of the GOP Party Chairman. Again, the full story is here.

It's hard to blame that Democrat in this case. McKenna alone bears the blame for making a mess of things on the legislative front last year.

The second method

The other way we can restore direct elections is at a party convention - like we just had. Illinois law as currently written provides this one way for Republicans to opt-back-in to direct democracy on their own, with no reliance on the legislature and the governor.

The relevant portion of the statute (10 ILCS 5/7-8) reads: "A political party may, by a majority vote of the delegates of any State convention of such party, determine to return to the election of State central committeeman and State central committeewoman by the vote of primary electors."

Senate Bill 600 was really only necessary because back in 2005 the next regularly scheduled state convention was so far away.

The Decatur convention was therefore an historic opportunity. Republican delegates had the legal right to go above the heads of unreliable lawmakers like Saviano and Cross, and to get the reform done on their own, with no change in the law. Champion News of course laid all of this out prior to the convention.

But as we saw in Decatur, the old guard just tweaked the same destructive games to prevent even a fair hearing on the direct election reform.

There are two ways to restore direct elections, but the desperate acts to stop the reform have largely been the same. Whether it's in Springfield or Decatur, a few keep showing their willingness to go to any lengths to keep rank-and-file Republicans disenfranchised and voiceless in their own State Party.

For McKenna & Co., keeping control of an ever shrinking Republican slice of the pie is clearly more important than having a GOP that is capable of winning in Illinois.

Up Next in Part 3:  What does the McKenna faction have against Republicans anyway?

Read Part 1 here.

Doug Ibendahl is a Chicago Attorney and a former General Counsel of the Illinois Republican Party. He is Co-Founder of Republican Young Professionals (RYP).