Rebel Media: Okay, Sen. Sullivan, let's discuss the issues now

Rebel Media: Okay, Sen. Sullivan, let's discuss the issues now

8 months, 3 weeks ago by Bob Gough

Since Senator John Sullivan’s cancer surgery went well, then his health shouldn’t be an issue and we should have a rigorous debate of the issues now through the November election.

It’s something that has to happen because Sullivan has been part of a Springfield leadership team that hasn’t exactly figured out how to stop the bleeding of Illinois’ horrible fiscal condition.

The Frese campaign, of course, has yet to articulate that message fully, but it appears they have received some help in the form of fiscal conservative Adam Andrzejewski.

Sullivan’s response to the Andrzejewski ad was snippy (filled with junior highish name calling) and poorly timed since he was supposed to be working on pension reform during the one-day special Legislative session (how did that work out?). But for him to complain about someone from “Chicagoland” chiming in on the race is quite amusing, since most of Sullivan’s money comes from up north. 

So, on the heels of the Andrzejewski ad, Sullivan comes off as defensive saying he never voted for pay raises. He voted for the appropriations and the bill numbers are clearly there.

I didn’t politicize Sullivan’s cancer. He took care of that all by himself.

Sullivan said on Sunday that the recurrence of the liposarcoma was discovered six months ago. He said this flared up the first time four years ago.

When this occurred four years ago, Sullivan made no mention of it at the time.  So why is he mentioning it now? Of course, he should have mentioned it four years ago.

From the Sullivan news conference on Sunday: “…I’ve worked hard throughout my tenure in office to be upfront with my constituents, and in that spirit wanted the public to know about this situation.”

So how is this different than four years ago, besides the fact that Sullivan didn’t have an opponent four years ago?

Sullivan’s staff would offer no information ahead of time to QuincyJournal.com/WTAD News on Saturday, but he gladly gave an interview to the Quincy Herald-Whig ahead of time so they could have it for the Sunday paper.

So…an announcement about an illness timed after a significant anti-Sullivan political ad buy is purchased and the release is spoon-fed to the newspaper ahead of time? Boy, what a coincidence.

Further proof that the Sullivan clan is paying attention is after some questions were raised about this issue on WTAD’s Morning Meeting on their Monday, August 20 program, Sullivan Auctioneers pulled all of their advertising from STARadio, the parent company of QuincyJournal.com and WTAD News. WTAD has more agricultural programming than any other local station and is the only local station with a full-time farm broadcaster, Jim Dewey.

Sullivan Auctioneers is a significant advertiser in the Quincy Herald-Whig and, of course, Sullivan helped get Illinois 336…Illinois 110…whatever it’s called named after the newspaper publisher.

Also, Sullivan and Democratic political operative/lobbyist/ex-officio Herald-Whig Editorial Board Member Mike McClain do all of Thomas A. Oakley’s grunt work to make sure we have plenty of highway pavement to go around, so I’m sure there’s no back scratching going on there at all.

McClain recently lost control of the Adams County Democratic Party to the Unions, but I’m sure he has plenty else to do these days.

Sullivan has never had to answer questions about his votes on tax increases before because of this cozy relationship, so I guess I’m not surprised about his reaction to Andrzejewski pointing it out.

I am surprised that Sullivan hasn’t moved on by now to be the Undersecretary of Hay or something like that at the U.S. Department of Agriculture since he and President Barack Obama are so tight.

Honestly, I have prayed for Sullivan’s health and for a speedy recovery. And since, thankfully, the surgery went well, there should be no reason why he can’t defend his record in Springfield.