From State Sen. Jim Oberweis
There were several inaccuracies in yesterday’s article [by Ed McClelland of NBC Chicago]. The statement that “Oberweis was such an abysmal candidate that the party wouldn’t even give him the 2004 U.S. Senate nomination after Jack Ryan withdrew over a sex scandal, despite the fact that Oberweis finished second” is incomplete at best.
The facts are that I finished second out of eight Republican candidates, ahead of several strong Republican leaders. The reason Republican insiders did not want me to be the nominee was their concern that I just might win and then upset the insiders cozy applecart.
I was not popular among party insiders because during the primary campaign, at Republican Day at the state fair, in front of the press and other Republican leaders (including Bob Kjellander, our National Committeeman at the time), I publicly asked Bob Kjellander and Bill Cellini to resign to avoid the appearance of impropriety. Mr. Kjellander had just received a $10 million “commission” for introducing our state pension plans to the Carlisle Group (yes, the same state pension plans that are now underfunded by approximately $100 billion). Mr. Kjellander, I believe, was later named as “individual K” in the Blagojevich indictment. Mr. Cellini was indicted and convicted last year. Those Republican insiders clearly did not like my willingness to speak out…
Read the rest at Illinois Review.
