Conservative media outlets take up the cause of Cedra Crenshaw after the Republican is removed from Illinois Senate race
By Mary Owen, TribLocal.com reporter
July 19, 2010
A ballot controversy in an Illinois Senate race has transformed a stay-at-home mom into a tea party darling whose story is being heard on conservative media outlets nationwide.
Cedra Crenshaw is a Bolingbrook Republican vying to unseat Democratic state Sen. A.J. Wilhelmi. But after the Will County Electoral Board this month voted 2-1 along party lines to remove her from the ballot over a technical issue with her nomination petition, conservatives have rallied behind her.
"Unfortunately, people are very upset when, in essence, you have politicians who are frivolously taking away people's right to vote," Crenshaw said last week. "People are upset, and they are not going to take it anymore."
The 43rd District has been a Democratic stronghold since 1975, but Republicans believe that Crenshaw, 37, is their best bet in years to win the seat.
"She can do what others haven't done," said Richard Kavanagh, chairman of the Will County Republicans and one of Crenshaw's attorneys. "It's painfully clear that the Chicago Democrats don't want her on the ballot because they are afraid of her."
Wilhelmi said he will respect the court's decision and noted that ballot challenges are part of the electoral process. And Crenshaw's campaign had recruited her neighbor to file a challenge to the petition of the independent candidate running in the same race.
"This is politics as usual," said Jay Rowell, political director of the Illinois Senate Democratic Victory Fund. "This is what candidates do. This is what Republicans do. It's what Democrats do. She is nothing out of the ordinary."
The Electoral Board made its ruling because Crenshaw's nominating petition forms stated that signatures could be collected no earlier than 90 days before the filing deadline. A new state law requires signatures be collected no earlier than 75 days before the deadline. Crenshaw's attorneys have appealed her ballot removal, and a judge will hear arguments Tuesday.
In the meantime, the controversy has landed Crenshaw interviews with radio stations in Chicago, Florida, Missouri and South Carolina, in addition to a mention on the Fox News Channel's "The Sean Hannity Show."
As an African-American with strong tea party support, Crenshaw is in a unique position after the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People passed a resolution last week condemning the tea party for its allegedly racist rhetoric.
"It's very sad," said Crenshaw, who moved to Chicago for a job out of college and then to Bolingbrook 11 years ago. "These are the same people who say there is no diversity in the Republican Party. Well, here I am, trying to bring a diversity of ideas."
Crenshaw was plucked from political obscurity by Adam Andrzejewski, a wealthy small-business owner who lost his gubernatorial bid in February. When no Republicans ran in the 43rd District primary in February, Andrzejewski passed on Crenshaw's name to Kavanagh.
The decision to remove Crenshaw from the ballot has energized tea party members, who have organized protests on her behalf and showed up in patriotic T-shirts to her legal hearings. One activist confronted Wilhelmi last week at a news conference in Chicago, grabbing a microphone and shouting, "Why are you afraid of a mom from the suburbs?"
Wilhelmi, who has held his Senate seat since 2005, was hesitant on Thursday to discuss Crenshaw, instead talking about jobs, public safety and transportation.
"At the end of the day, what each candidate must do is focus on their community and explain what they've done for their community," he said.
Before the political spotlight, Crenshaw was an outspoken parent in Valley View Public School District 365U. With three children, one of whom has autism, Crenshaw said she became involved with educational issues ranging from fiscal responsibility to curriculum. Her husband teaches physical education and coaches wrestling at Glenbard South High School in Glen Ellyn.
In her first foray into politics in February, she was elected precinct committeewoman.
"I was tired of out-of-control spending and encroachment of government," Crenshaw said.
Crenshaw, whose shoestring campaign has raised $12,535 while Wilhelmi's campaign war chest holds $140,000, has billed herself as an independent taking on a powerful Democrat. But Democrats note she has the strong backing of the GOP, which sent Evergreen Park attorney Burt Odelson to represent her in Will County. Odelson represented President George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential election recount in Florida.
"How many moms do you know have George W. Bush's attorney?" Rowell said.
Crenshaw said the GOP may have sent legal counsel, but it hasn't given her significant financial backing and the support won't make her "beholden to the Republican Party."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/southsouthwest/ct-met-0719-cedra-crenshaw-20100719,0,5039263.story
Monday, July 19, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
Giannoulias lags behind Kirk in campaign cash
BY LYNN SWEET Sun-Times Columnist
WASHINGTON—Illinois Democrat Senate Alexi Giannoulias raised just over $900,000 in the second quarter ending June 30 and has over $1 million cash on hand, with most of the money coming in June, campaign spokesman Kathleen Strand told the Chicago Sun-Times. GOP Senate rival Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) campaign said earlier this month that Kirk raised $2.3 million in the second quarter and has about $3.9 million cash on hand.
Giannoulias’ fund-raising was hobbled most of the last quarter because of a cloud over him because of the April failure of his family owned Broadway Bank. Giannoulias, the state treasurer, is also declining to accept donations from federal lobbyists and corporate political action committees. Kirk has been attacking Giannoulias for his tenure at the bank—calling him a “mob banker” and in the past weeks also criticized Giannoulias because he owed no 2009 income taxes because of the bank failure. People started writing Giannoulias checks again when his campaign showed it was surviving the Kirk hits over the bank failure and the Obama White House sent signals of support with a string of figures fund-raising for Giannoulias, including Vice President Biden, former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina. Senior White House advisor David Axelrod is in Chicago on July 25 for a Giannoulias fund-raiser. While all these events have been small, they went a message to the activist Democratic donor community that Giannoulias remained viable despite the bank controversy. At the end of May, Kirk’s campaign had to deal with Kirk’s series of embellishments about his military career. Most polls show the contest in a deadlock at this point. This morning in Chicago, Giannoulias is hosting a press conference where he is expected to highlight Kirk’s opposition to Wall Street reform—a Senate vote is possible today on the overhaul bill—and on Kirk’s accepting donations from the financial services industry. Kirk voted against the House version of the main Wall Street reform bill. Both Kirk and
Giannoulias devote an enormous amount of time to fund-raising, with most of it deliberately kept out of public view. On Wednesday in Washington, Kirk hosted a low dollar fund-raiser aimed at young Republicans and last week brought in Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for fund-raisers in Jacksonville and Quincy, Illinois. Earlier this week, Gianoulias was in Los Angles and Vancouver for fund-raising.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/sweet/2500904,giannoulias-campaign-money-071510.article
WASHINGTON—Illinois Democrat Senate Alexi Giannoulias raised just over $900,000 in the second quarter ending June 30 and has over $1 million cash on hand, with most of the money coming in June, campaign spokesman Kathleen Strand told the Chicago Sun-Times. GOP Senate rival Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) campaign said earlier this month that Kirk raised $2.3 million in the second quarter and has about $3.9 million cash on hand.
Giannoulias’ fund-raising was hobbled most of the last quarter because of a cloud over him because of the April failure of his family owned Broadway Bank. Giannoulias, the state treasurer, is also declining to accept donations from federal lobbyists and corporate political action committees. Kirk has been attacking Giannoulias for his tenure at the bank—calling him a “mob banker” and in the past weeks also criticized Giannoulias because he owed no 2009 income taxes because of the bank failure. People started writing Giannoulias checks again when his campaign showed it was surviving the Kirk hits over the bank failure and the Obama White House sent signals of support with a string of figures fund-raising for Giannoulias, including Vice President Biden, former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina. Senior White House advisor David Axelrod is in Chicago on July 25 for a Giannoulias fund-raiser. While all these events have been small, they went a message to the activist Democratic donor community that Giannoulias remained viable despite the bank controversy. At the end of May, Kirk’s campaign had to deal with Kirk’s series of embellishments about his military career. Most polls show the contest in a deadlock at this point. This morning in Chicago, Giannoulias is hosting a press conference where he is expected to highlight Kirk’s opposition to Wall Street reform—a Senate vote is possible today on the overhaul bill—and on Kirk’s accepting donations from the financial services industry. Kirk voted against the House version of the main Wall Street reform bill. Both Kirk and
Giannoulias devote an enormous amount of time to fund-raising, with most of it deliberately kept out of public view. On Wednesday in Washington, Kirk hosted a low dollar fund-raiser aimed at young Republicans and last week brought in Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for fund-raisers in Jacksonville and Quincy, Illinois. Earlier this week, Gianoulias was in Los Angles and Vancouver for fund-raising.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/sweet/2500904,giannoulias-campaign-money-071510.article
Republicans Top Democrats Raising Cash for Open Senate Seats
July 16 (Bloomberg) -- Republicans competing for open U.S. Senate seats in Florida and six other states as a group raised millions of dollars more than the Democratic contenders in 2010’s second quarter.
Marco Rubio, the Republican candidate in Florida, brought in more than $4.5 million, his campaign said. His Democratic opponent, Representative Kendrick Meek, raised more than $1 million, according to his website. The independent candidate, Governor Charlie Crist, toted up $1.8 million.
Republicans in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio and Pennsylvania also out-raised rivals from April 1 through June 30. A backlash against Democrats, who control Congress and the White House, may be boosting fundraising for Republicans such as Rubio, a former state house speaker.
“The second-quarter results suggest a classic cycle of donors deciding this is a good year for Republicans, giving them money and reinforcing the existing advantage of national tides,” said Linda Fowler, a government professor at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.
Another sign of trouble for Democrats showed up in Nevada. Former Republican state legislator Sharron Angle toted up almost $2.6 million in her bid to unseat Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, including $2.2 million in the last 42 days of the quarter. Reid brought in more than $2.4 million during the period, his campaign said.
Boxer, Lincoln
Other Democratic incumbents fared better in the quarter. Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln, California Senator Barbara Boxer and Colorado Senator Michael Bennet brought in more campaign cash than Republican challengers.
The money race in Washington state was closer. Democratic Senator Patty Murray reported raising $1.6 million over the three-month period, while former Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi said he raised about $1.4 million in a month after deciding to challenge Murray.
All Senate candidates had to postmark their quarterly reports to the Federal Election Commission by yesterday. Not all of them have released copies of their filings, and many have only shared total amounts.
In Pennsylvania, former Republican Representative Patrick Toomey said he raised $3.1 million in the quarter, compared with almost $2 million for Democratic Representative Joe Sestak. Sestak’s campaign said he raised about $1.6 million in June, buoyed by a May 18 primary win over Senator Arlen Specter.
Ohio Figures
Former Ohio Representative Rob Portman, a Republican, reported raising almost $2.7 million in the race to succeed retiring Republican Senator George Voinovich. The Democratic candidate, Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher, raised more than $1 million, his campaign said.
Illinois Republican Representative Mark Kirk raised $2.3 million, compared with about $900,000 for state treasurer and Democrat Alexi Giannoulias, their campaigns said. The two are vying for the Senate seat formerly held by President Barack Obama and now occupied by retiring Democrat Roland Burris.
“There’s greater political energy on the Republican side right now, which spills over into donation patterns,” said Rogan Kersh, a public policy professor at New York University.
Missouri Republican Representative Roy Blunt brought in about $2.2 million, compared with more than $1.5 million for Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, a Democrat, according to their campaigns. They are seeking a seat held by retiring Republican Kit Bond.
Indiana Race
In Indiana, former Republican Senator Dan Coats brought in more than $1.7 million in the quarter, including a $200,000 loan from himself. Democratic Representative Brad Ellsworth raised more than $600,000, his campaign said. They are competing to replace retiring Democratic Senator Evan Bayh.
Republican Kelly Ayotte, a former state attorney general, raised $720,007 in New Hampshire as she vies for the seat of retiring Republican Senator Judd Gregg, according to a copy of her FEC filing supplied by the campaign. Representative Paul Hodes, a Democrat, raised $605,191.
“The biggest factor for the elections will be the economy,” said Clyde Wilcox, a government professor at Georgetown University in Washington. “If it improves substantially by the time of the election, then Democrats will start raising more money.”
Fiorina Loans
Boxer, the Democratic incumbent in California, brought in $4.6 million in the quarter. That compared with more than $3 million for her Republican challenger, former Hewlett-Packard Co. Chief Executive Officer Carly Fiorina, a Republican. Fiorina’s total included at least $1.1 million in loans she made to her campaign.
In Arkansas, Lincoln raised almost $2.7 million, compared with $622,912 for Republican Representative John Boozman, their campaigns said.
In Colorado, Bennet raised more than $1.2 million, his campaign said. His challenger in the state’s Aug. 10 primary, former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, hadn’t reported as of late yesterday. In the Republican primary contest, former Lieutenant Governor Jane Norton raised more than $900,000 and Ken Buck, a county prosecutor, took in $420,592.
The money race in Kentucky was close. Republican Rand Paul, an ophthalmologist, said he raised more than $1.1 million. Democrat Jack Conway, the state attorney general, said he brought in $1.4 million, including a $400,000 loan from himself to the campaign. They are vying to replace retiring Republican Jim Bunning.
--With assistance from John McCormick and Jonathan Salant in Washington. Editors: Don Frederick, Bob Drummond.
To contact the reporters on this story: Kristin Jensen in Washington at kjensen@bloomberg.net; Patricia Laya in Washington at playa1@bloomberg.net
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-07-16/republicans-top-democrats-raising-cash-for-open-senate-seats.html
Marco Rubio, the Republican candidate in Florida, brought in more than $4.5 million, his campaign said. His Democratic opponent, Representative Kendrick Meek, raised more than $1 million, according to his website. The independent candidate, Governor Charlie Crist, toted up $1.8 million.
Republicans in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio and Pennsylvania also out-raised rivals from April 1 through June 30. A backlash against Democrats, who control Congress and the White House, may be boosting fundraising for Republicans such as Rubio, a former state house speaker.
“The second-quarter results suggest a classic cycle of donors deciding this is a good year for Republicans, giving them money and reinforcing the existing advantage of national tides,” said Linda Fowler, a government professor at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.
Another sign of trouble for Democrats showed up in Nevada. Former Republican state legislator Sharron Angle toted up almost $2.6 million in her bid to unseat Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, including $2.2 million in the last 42 days of the quarter. Reid brought in more than $2.4 million during the period, his campaign said.
Boxer, Lincoln
Other Democratic incumbents fared better in the quarter. Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln, California Senator Barbara Boxer and Colorado Senator Michael Bennet brought in more campaign cash than Republican challengers.
The money race in Washington state was closer. Democratic Senator Patty Murray reported raising $1.6 million over the three-month period, while former Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi said he raised about $1.4 million in a month after deciding to challenge Murray.
All Senate candidates had to postmark their quarterly reports to the Federal Election Commission by yesterday. Not all of them have released copies of their filings, and many have only shared total amounts.
In Pennsylvania, former Republican Representative Patrick Toomey said he raised $3.1 million in the quarter, compared with almost $2 million for Democratic Representative Joe Sestak. Sestak’s campaign said he raised about $1.6 million in June, buoyed by a May 18 primary win over Senator Arlen Specter.
Ohio Figures
Former Ohio Representative Rob Portman, a Republican, reported raising almost $2.7 million in the race to succeed retiring Republican Senator George Voinovich. The Democratic candidate, Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher, raised more than $1 million, his campaign said.
Illinois Republican Representative Mark Kirk raised $2.3 million, compared with about $900,000 for state treasurer and Democrat Alexi Giannoulias, their campaigns said. The two are vying for the Senate seat formerly held by President Barack Obama and now occupied by retiring Democrat Roland Burris.
“There’s greater political energy on the Republican side right now, which spills over into donation patterns,” said Rogan Kersh, a public policy professor at New York University.
Missouri Republican Representative Roy Blunt brought in about $2.2 million, compared with more than $1.5 million for Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, a Democrat, according to their campaigns. They are seeking a seat held by retiring Republican Kit Bond.
Indiana Race
In Indiana, former Republican Senator Dan Coats brought in more than $1.7 million in the quarter, including a $200,000 loan from himself. Democratic Representative Brad Ellsworth raised more than $600,000, his campaign said. They are competing to replace retiring Democratic Senator Evan Bayh.
Republican Kelly Ayotte, a former state attorney general, raised $720,007 in New Hampshire as she vies for the seat of retiring Republican Senator Judd Gregg, according to a copy of her FEC filing supplied by the campaign. Representative Paul Hodes, a Democrat, raised $605,191.
“The biggest factor for the elections will be the economy,” said Clyde Wilcox, a government professor at Georgetown University in Washington. “If it improves substantially by the time of the election, then Democrats will start raising more money.”
Fiorina Loans
Boxer, the Democratic incumbent in California, brought in $4.6 million in the quarter. That compared with more than $3 million for her Republican challenger, former Hewlett-Packard Co. Chief Executive Officer Carly Fiorina, a Republican. Fiorina’s total included at least $1.1 million in loans she made to her campaign.
In Arkansas, Lincoln raised almost $2.7 million, compared with $622,912 for Republican Representative John Boozman, their campaigns said.
In Colorado, Bennet raised more than $1.2 million, his campaign said. His challenger in the state’s Aug. 10 primary, former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, hadn’t reported as of late yesterday. In the Republican primary contest, former Lieutenant Governor Jane Norton raised more than $900,000 and Ken Buck, a county prosecutor, took in $420,592.
The money race in Kentucky was close. Republican Rand Paul, an ophthalmologist, said he raised more than $1.1 million. Democrat Jack Conway, the state attorney general, said he brought in $1.4 million, including a $400,000 loan from himself to the campaign. They are vying to replace retiring Republican Jim Bunning.
--With assistance from John McCormick and Jonathan Salant in Washington. Editors: Don Frederick, Bob Drummond.
To contact the reporters on this story: Kristin Jensen in Washington at kjensen@bloomberg.net; Patricia Laya in Washington at playa1@bloomberg.net
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-07-16/republicans-top-democrats-raising-cash-for-open-senate-seats.html
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Brady Campaign Raises $3.6 Million, Announces Ron Gidwitz as Campaign Chair.
Chicago Daily Observer 15 July 2010
Chicago – Brady for Illinois today announced it raised $3.6 million in campaign contributions through the first half of this year.
In a report to be filed by July 20 with the State Board of Elections for the reporting period January 1st to June 30th, the Brady campaign will report contributions from every one of the state’s 102 counties. The campaign received contributions from over 4,200 individual donors, 2,500 of which were donations under $100.
Through June 30th, the campaign had approximately $2.3 million on hand.
The campaign also today announced the addition of businessman and long time Republican Party leader Ron Gidwitz as Chairman of Brady for Illinois.
“Bill Brady is the right candidate for Illinois, and I’m proud to support him,” Gidwitz said. “Bill understands we must stop runaway spending and tax hikes, and start bringing real jobs back to Illinois.”
”I’m excited about leading a strong team to help Bill win in November, and to put Illinois back on track starting Day One,“ Gidwitz said.
Mr. Gidwitz is a partner in Chicago’s GCG Partners. The former CEO and President of Fortune 500 consumer products company Helene Curtis also serves as President and Founder of Students First Illinois, a non-partisan statewide coalition of private individuals and community organizations working to improve education in Illinois.
Mr. Gidwitz is active in the Chicago business and arts communities. He was named Crain’s Chicago Business Executive of the Year in 1988. He has served as Chairman of the Illinois State Board of Education. He is a member of the Board of Trustees/Directors for the Field Museum, Rush University Medical Center, the Museum of Science and Industry, and Lyric Opera of Chicago. He also serves as Governor of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.
Additionally, he has served as Chairman of the following organizations: The Economic Development Commission of the City of Chicago, the Board of Trustees of the City Colleges of Chicago, the Chicago Central Area Committee and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce.
Editor’s Note Ron Gidwitz is the Chairman of the Board of Directorsof the Chicago Daily Observer
http://www.cdobs.com/archive/featured/brady-campaign-raises-3-6-million-announces-ron-gidwitz-as-campaign-chair/
Chicago – Brady for Illinois today announced it raised $3.6 million in campaign contributions through the first half of this year.
In a report to be filed by July 20 with the State Board of Elections for the reporting period January 1st to June 30th, the Brady campaign will report contributions from every one of the state’s 102 counties. The campaign received contributions from over 4,200 individual donors, 2,500 of which were donations under $100.
Through June 30th, the campaign had approximately $2.3 million on hand.
The campaign also today announced the addition of businessman and long time Republican Party leader Ron Gidwitz as Chairman of Brady for Illinois.
“Bill Brady is the right candidate for Illinois, and I’m proud to support him,” Gidwitz said. “Bill understands we must stop runaway spending and tax hikes, and start bringing real jobs back to Illinois.”
”I’m excited about leading a strong team to help Bill win in November, and to put Illinois back on track starting Day One,“ Gidwitz said.
Mr. Gidwitz is a partner in Chicago’s GCG Partners. The former CEO and President of Fortune 500 consumer products company Helene Curtis also serves as President and Founder of Students First Illinois, a non-partisan statewide coalition of private individuals and community organizations working to improve education in Illinois.
Mr. Gidwitz is active in the Chicago business and arts communities. He was named Crain’s Chicago Business Executive of the Year in 1988. He has served as Chairman of the Illinois State Board of Education. He is a member of the Board of Trustees/Directors for the Field Museum, Rush University Medical Center, the Museum of Science and Industry, and Lyric Opera of Chicago. He also serves as Governor of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.
Additionally, he has served as Chairman of the following organizations: The Economic Development Commission of the City of Chicago, the Board of Trustees of the City Colleges of Chicago, the Chicago Central Area Committee and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce.
Editor’s Note Ron Gidwitz is the Chairman of the Board of Directorsof the Chicago Daily Observer
http://www.cdobs.com/archive/featured/brady-campaign-raises-3-6-million-announces-ron-gidwitz-as-campaign-chair/
How Elena Kagan helped "queer" Harvard Law School
Will she now help "queer" the US Supreme Court's decisions?
POSTED: June 28, 2010 UPDATED: June 30, 2010
by Amy Contrada and Brian Camenker, MassResistance
with Peter LaBarbera, Americans for Truth about Homosexuality
(c) 2010 MassResistance
Introduction
Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan is committed to the radical campaign pushing acceptance of homosexuality and transgenderism as “civil rights." Her unprecedented activism supporting that view as Dean of Harvard Law School (2003-2009) calls into question her ability to judge fairly and impartially on same-sex “marriage” and other homosexuality- or transgender-related issues that may come before the nation’s highest court.
Kagan’s record while Dean of Harvard Law School (HLS) demonstrates her agreement with the goals of the radical GLBT (gay lesbian bisexual transgender) movement and her solidarity with those activists. Working hand in hand with students to expel military recruiters in protest over the Armed Forces’ ban on homosexuals (a “moral injustice of the first order,” she wrote) is only the most obvious example of Kagan’s passionate dedication to this controversial and immoral agenda.
Kagan’s celebration and active promotion of the radical homosexualist and transgender worldview has profound implications. As a Supreme Court Justice, she could be expected to overturn traditional law and understandings of family, marriage, military order, and even our God-given sex (what transgender radicals call “gender identity or expression”). She is a most dangerous nominee who must be opposed by all who care about religious freedom, the preservation of marriage and traditional values.
There should be grave concern over Kagan’s issues advocacy concerning “sexual orientation.” Even before her nomination to the Court, her enthusiastic and committed pro-homosexuality activism at Harvard (including her recruitment to the faculty of radical “gay” activist scholars like former ACLU lawyer William Rubenstein and elevation of radical out lesbian Professor Janet Halley) was highly significant for the nation. Now, it is imperative that Senators and the U.S. public gain an accurate understanding of the radical, pro-homosexual environment that was Kagan’s home at Harvard – and the GLBT legal agenda that Kagan herself helped foster as Dean.
Kagan did her best to change a generation of Harvard-educated lawyers. Will she do the same to America?
Highlights of Elena Kagan’s Record as Dean at Harvard Law School, 2003-2009 (documentation in following section):
Kagan accelerated and legitimized the GLBT “rights” concept and law studies at Harvard Law School and in the larger community.
Kagan encouraged Harvard students to get involved in homosexual activist legal work. At a time when she as Dean pushed students to engage in “public interest law” and to get “clinical” legal experience, the Harvard Law School established the LGBT Law Clinic. How could a "Justice Kagan" on the Supreme Court be impartial involving cases brought by “gay” legal activists -- when she so openly advocated for homosexual legal goals and integrating homosexuality into legal studies and practice at Harvard?
Kagan recruited former ACLU lawyer (and former ACT-UP activist) William Rubenstein to teach "queer" legal theory. Few Americans can comprehend the radical nature of “queer” academics. Rubenstein described one of his courses as taking up “newer identities (bisexuality, trans, genderfuck)” as well as "polygamy, S&M, the sexuality of minors."
Kagan promoted and facilitated the “transgender” legal agenda during her tenure at Harvard. In 2007, HLS offered a Transgender Law course by “out lesbian” Professor Janet Halley and Dean Spade, a transsexual activist attorney. (Halley’s extremism and contempt for natural gender boundaries is illustrated by her calling herself a “gay man.”) Kagan also brought in Cass Sunstein (currently Obama's regulatory czar) who has written in support of polygamy and other free-for-all marriage relationships.
Kagan engaged in ongoing, radical advocacy opposing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and demanding an end to the ban on homosexuals serving in the military. Her highly partisan actions are unbecoming of a future judge – especially one who would be called upon to adjudicate such weighty and divisive matters.
Even after Kagan and Harvard lost their legal campaign to ban military recruiters and Harvard Law School was forced to let them back on campus, she encouraged ongoing student protests against them -- deputizing the radical Lambda group to come up with ideas of how to harass the recruiters legally. Kagan’s actions blatantly disrespected our military and exposed her as the out-of-touch, socially leftist academic that she is.
Kagan attended functions of radical homosexual (GLBT) groups at Harvard University, absorbing and apparently agreeing with their goals.
Kagan followed the wishes of campus homosexual organizations -- within a month of meeting with a Harvard Law School GLBT student group, she was agreeing with their demand to ban military recruiters on campus.
Radical “trans” activism at Harvard: Kagan’s active promotion of the GLBT agenda at Harvard likely accelerated the campus environment so “tolerant” of homosexuality and gender confusion that there was even a campaign (during her tenure) to make the campus “trans inclusive” -- using Harvard’s “gender identity” nondiscrimination policy (in place since 2006). This included discussions between GLBT student activists and the law school administration (i.e., Kagan) “to make our restrooms safe and accessible for people regardless of their gender identity or expression.” (Read: allow men who identify as “women” to use female restrooms and locker rooms, etc.)
As a likely result of Kagan's engagement, Harvard has become so committed to radical transsexual activism that its health insurance policy now partially covers “sex-change” breast “treatments” for transsexuals (either men taking hormones to develop breasts, or women having their healthy breasts removed to become the “men” they believe they are). Where does Kagan stand on transgenderism and transsexuality and the law today? It's very possible this question will come before the courts as trans activists make their demands on government health care.
The following is a more in-depth treatment of the pro-homosexuality and pro-transgender activism that took place during Kagan’s tenure as Dean of the Harvard Law School (2003-2009):
. Kagan accelerated and legitimized the GLBT “rights” concept and law studies at Harvard Law School -- and the larger community.
Kagan moderated panel on "GLBT Law" (with Chai Feldblum) at Harvard Gay & Lesbian Caucus event.
In September 2008, Kagan was a major participant at the 25th reunion of the Harvard Gay and Lesbian Caucus, titled “A Celebration of LGBT Life at Harvard." She was Moderator for their panel discussion on "The State of the Law: Reflections on the Past Twenty-Five Years and Thoughts about the Future -- A discussion of LGBT legal developments and trends by leading legal scholars." Note that “trends” were discussed along with “developments” -- which could have included “gay marriage”, adoption by homosexuals, overturning remaining state anti-sodomy statutes, homosexuals in the military, etc.
Among the panelists at the HGLC 25th Anniversary panel was Professor Chai Feldblum (from Georgetown University), an open lesbian and leading GLBT legal strategist. (She graduated from Harvard Law School the year before Kagan.) Feldblum claims advocating for homosexuality is a “moral” issue, and admits that the battle for legal “rights” between pro-homosexual advocates and people of faith (seeking to protect their legal right as Americans to oppose homosexuality) is a “zero-sum game.” She openly advocates legalizing polygamous households.
Moreover, Feldblum, who has since been appointed by President Obama to be a Commissioner on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, has stated that she can think of few situations in which religious rights (to act on one’s opposition to homosexuality) would triumph in the courts over homosexuals demanding their “rights” based on “sexual orientation non-discrimination.” “Gays win, Christians lose,” she said at one public policy discussion. (Feldblum also runs a website devoted to overturning the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and the ban on homosexuals in the military.)
Does a recording or transcript exist from this HGLC event? Does Kagan subscribe to Feldblum’s view that homosexuality-based “rights” take precedence over the liberty of people of faith to act on their belief that homosexual practice is wrong?
Re-shaping the Law School curriculum
In her role as Dean, Kagan oversaw the HLS curriculum and new faculty appointments. Thus, she must have endorsed the following HLS offerings as legitimate subjects and viewpoints (i.e., “gay rights” and “transgender rights” are true civil rights; any disagreement or disapproval is therefore illegal discrimination). One of her major efforts as Dean was modernizing the curriculum (including eliminating a required Constitution course, and instead requiring international law courses; “As Harvard Law Dean…,” CNS News, May 28, 2010). She was clearly paying close attention to the curriculum.
"Queer theory" legal scholar William Rubenstein
Kagan brought a pioneering GLBT legal advocate and "scholar", William B. Rubenstein, to HLS from UCLA, first as a Visiting Professor, then as a tenured professor. (Both were HLS Class of 1986.)
In a memoir – also the keynote speech he delivered at the September 2003 HLS GLBT reunion (with Kagan perhaps in the audience?), Rubenstein waxed poetical about his sexual experiences, desires, and scholarship. He describes his involvement with ACT-UP in the 1980s (and later gave a lecture at Harvard’s Kennedy School in conjunction with a celebratory Harvard Museum exhibit on ACT-UP in 2009). He explained how he had to alter his planned GLBT law course at HLS (Spring 2004) after the Lawrence v. Texas and Massachusetts “gay marriage” rulings:
In my new guise, I was hired on May 19, 2003 by the Harvard Law School as a visiting professor to teach a January 2004 course on sexual orientation law. … it was with mixed feelings that I reorganized my Hardwick-centric course away from its gay focus. Labeling the new product Law & Sexuality, I took up newer identities (bisexuality, trans, genderfuck), as well as the gauntlet thrown down by Justice Scalia, dissenting in Lawrence (polygamy, S&M, the sexuality of minors). … And yet Harvard Law School itself has not retained many of its alienating features of old. My own classmate Elena Kagan is now Dean; another classmate, Carol Steiker, who had written her journal Note arguing for heightened scrutiny of classifications based on sexual orientation, now a professor; and one of my own students from a 1995 Yale course on Queer Theory, Ryan Goodman, now a member of the Harvard faculty. Fifty-four Harvard Law professors signed an amicus brief challenging the Solomon Amendment, Congress’s insistence that the military be permitted to recruit at the law school, recruit, that is, in direct violation of the law school’s, the university’s, the city’s, and the state’s anti-discrimination policies. No longer do gay law books represent the occasional oasis in the Saharan library. (pp. 330-1, emphasis added.)
More important, in his 2003 reunion speech, Rubenstein challenged the Harvard Law School to work harder to queer its curriculum and culture:
And so my message, to collect the lessons: our [gay] children, figuratively speaking, come to Harvard seeking a home; they bring with them a wondrous spirit that renews the life of the community regularly; but what they “go into” here at Harvard is not what it is at other institutions around the country. Whose law school is it? Why not ours?
Imagine the possibilities: student scholarships; fellowships for graduates to work on queer issues or to assist them in becoming legal scholars; funds to expand Harvard’s collection of gay materials; funds to support scholars to come to Harvard to teach and write; research and travel money to facilitate the efforts of Professor Halley and other Harvard faculty working on these issues; an endowed speaker series providing a forum for the exchange of ideas among scholars, lawyers, judges, and law students; a chair. Such programs would both make Harvard a more welcoming place and help Harvard contribute more to intellectual discourse on gay issues. Harvard should aspire to lead, and we alums should aspire to make sure that happens. After all: Aren’t we enlarged by the scale of what we’re able todesire? Still time. Still time to change…. (pp. 333, emphasis added.)
Did Elena Kagan hear and accept his challenge?
Here's the description of Rubenstein's course " Sexual Orientation and the Law."
Janet Halley and transgender law
Professor Janet Halley (an "out" lesbian who self-identifies as a “gay man”) was elevated to a named chair professorship by Dean Kagan. (See the video of Kagan’s announcement on the Senate website: September 17, 2007.) Halley may have provided the inspiration to Kagan to go after the military recruiters in her 1999 book on “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”: Don’t: A Reader’s Guide to the Military’s Anti-Gay Policy. She teaches family law, discrimination, and legal theory; she recently taught a course entitled “The Poetics of Sexual Injury.”
As Professor Rubenstein described Halley in his keynote speech cited above:
Most importantly, Harvard’s faculty now includes the country’s single most interesting and provocative queer law scholar, Janet Halley, hired away from Stanford.
Professor Halley identifies herself as a member of the LGBT community in the law professors’ directory—the first full member of the Harvard faculty to do so. Professor Halley’s work, however, challenges the identity-based nature of social movements, investigating whether identity is not, ultimately, as imprisoning as it is liberating. In a unique demonstration that the personal is political, Professor Halley refers to herself as a “gay man.” (pp. 331, emphasis added.)
HLS offered a Transgender Law course (in 2007) taught by Halley and Dean Spade, a transsexual activist attorney from the national Lambda Law organization:
“As evidence of the increasing visibility of transgender people, Harvard Law School is offering a seminar on transgender law next spring taught by [out lesbian] Professor Janet Halley and [transsexual] Dean Spade, founder of the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, which is dedicated to serving the needs of low-income people of color who are transgender, intersex, or gender non-conforming.” (“Lambda lawyer discusses challenges facing transgendered,” Harvard Law Record, April 25, 2008; emphasis added.)
LGBT Law Clinic and "Career Guide"
The LGBT Law Clinic of HLS was apparently established during Kagan’s tenure as Dean. Kagan was pushing students to engage in “public interest law” and “clinical” experience." This clinic was one recommended choice. Its director, Robert Greenwald, also taught courses at HLS including “Family, Domestic Violence and LGBT Law” (in 2009).
HLS issued its “LGBT Rights Law: A Career Guide” in 2007. It lists recommended courses to take for a career in LGBT law.
Catherine MacKinnon - rape, lesbianism, prostitution, etc.
Kagan brought radical feminist Catherine MacKinnon to Harvard as Visiting Professor in 2007-8 for an “inquiry into the relationship between sex inequality in society and sex equality under law... Concrete issues--employment discrimination, family, rape, sexual harassment, lesbian and gay rights, abortion, prostitution, pornography--focus discussion through cases. Racism, class, and transsexuality are considered throughout.”
Forum on hate crimes and transgender issues for Gov. candidates
Also at HLS while Kagan was Dean: In September 2006, a forum with the Massachusetts Democrat Governor candidates was cosponsored by HLS Lambda, InNews Weekly (a defunct radical GLBT Boston newspaper), and the Boston Pride Committee, and covered by the National Association of Lesbian and Gay Journalists. It focused on “hate crimes” and transgender issues – once again demonstrating the extremism of HLS Lambda. (MassResistance blog, September 14, 2006.)
Mass. Governor Candidates Chris Gabrieli (L) and Deval Patrick (R) at GLBT Forum, Harvard Law School, Sept. 12, 2006 (Bay Windows photo)
II. Kagan took part in functions and forums of radical GLBT groups at Harvard University – and apparently followed their lead on issues from banning military recruiters on campus, to increasing GLBT “visibility” in the HLS curriculum.
Kagan attended the first HLS GLBT Alumni reunion in 2003.
Kagan attended the first reunion of HLS GLBT alumni in September 2003. (Note the inclusion of “T” for “transgender” alumni.) Reportedly, it was the first event of its kind in the nation. Kagan graduated from Harvard Law School in 1986. Did she attend as a GLBT alumna, or in her role as Dean? She was, at least, at the reunion’s concluding dinner, according to the Harvard Crimson. The Crimson described the event:
Celebratory at times, solemn at others, alumni and current students marked the anniversary Saturday with anecdotes about the personal challenges they faced, the battle they continue to fight to keep military recruiters off campus and the need for classroom instruction in legal issues pertaining to homosexuality.
During the second discussion, titled "Lambda Today: Current Issues and Challenges Facing GLBT Students at HLS," a student panel expressed their dissatisfaction with the efforts that the faculty and administration are making to address issues facing GLBT students. They highlighted the University’s decision to continue to allow military recruiters on campus, even though their presence violates Harvard’s non-discrimination policy...
At the reunion’s final event, a dinner held at the Hyatt Regency hotel, HLS Dean Elena Kagan renewed her commitment to improving student life for all students on campus ... (“HLS Holds Nation’s First Ever GLBT Reunion,” Harvard Crimson, 9-22-03; emphasis added.)
What role did Kagan play at this event? Is there a recording or transcript of any formal comments she may have made?
Within a month, Kagan was agreeing with the demand made by the GLBT radical students at that reunion: banning military recruiters on campus.
Notably, the keynote speaker for that HLS GLBT reunion was radical queer legal scholar and Kagan’s Class of 1986 classmate, Professor William Rubenstein (then at UCLA, but about to teach a course at HLS on sexual orientation and the law as Visiting Professor). In his speech noted above, “My Harvard Law School ” (available on the Harvard website), he challenged the school to “queer” its curriculum and culture.
POSTED: June 28, 2010 UPDATED: June 30, 2010
by Amy Contrada and Brian Camenker, MassResistance
with Peter LaBarbera, Americans for Truth about Homosexuality
(c) 2010 MassResistance
Introduction
Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan is committed to the radical campaign pushing acceptance of homosexuality and transgenderism as “civil rights." Her unprecedented activism supporting that view as Dean of Harvard Law School (2003-2009) calls into question her ability to judge fairly and impartially on same-sex “marriage” and other homosexuality- or transgender-related issues that may come before the nation’s highest court.
Kagan’s record while Dean of Harvard Law School (HLS) demonstrates her agreement with the goals of the radical GLBT (gay lesbian bisexual transgender) movement and her solidarity with those activists. Working hand in hand with students to expel military recruiters in protest over the Armed Forces’ ban on homosexuals (a “moral injustice of the first order,” she wrote) is only the most obvious example of Kagan’s passionate dedication to this controversial and immoral agenda.
Kagan’s celebration and active promotion of the radical homosexualist and transgender worldview has profound implications. As a Supreme Court Justice, she could be expected to overturn traditional law and understandings of family, marriage, military order, and even our God-given sex (what transgender radicals call “gender identity or expression”). She is a most dangerous nominee who must be opposed by all who care about religious freedom, the preservation of marriage and traditional values.
There should be grave concern over Kagan’s issues advocacy concerning “sexual orientation.” Even before her nomination to the Court, her enthusiastic and committed pro-homosexuality activism at Harvard (including her recruitment to the faculty of radical “gay” activist scholars like former ACLU lawyer William Rubenstein and elevation of radical out lesbian Professor Janet Halley) was highly significant for the nation. Now, it is imperative that Senators and the U.S. public gain an accurate understanding of the radical, pro-homosexual environment that was Kagan’s home at Harvard – and the GLBT legal agenda that Kagan herself helped foster as Dean.
Kagan did her best to change a generation of Harvard-educated lawyers. Will she do the same to America?
Highlights of Elena Kagan’s Record as Dean at Harvard Law School, 2003-2009 (documentation in following section):
Kagan accelerated and legitimized the GLBT “rights” concept and law studies at Harvard Law School and in the larger community.
Kagan encouraged Harvard students to get involved in homosexual activist legal work. At a time when she as Dean pushed students to engage in “public interest law” and to get “clinical” legal experience, the Harvard Law School established the LGBT Law Clinic. How could a "Justice Kagan" on the Supreme Court be impartial involving cases brought by “gay” legal activists -- when she so openly advocated for homosexual legal goals and integrating homosexuality into legal studies and practice at Harvard?
Kagan recruited former ACLU lawyer (and former ACT-UP activist) William Rubenstein to teach "queer" legal theory. Few Americans can comprehend the radical nature of “queer” academics. Rubenstein described one of his courses as taking up “newer identities (bisexuality, trans, genderfuck)” as well as "polygamy, S&M, the sexuality of minors."
Kagan promoted and facilitated the “transgender” legal agenda during her tenure at Harvard. In 2007, HLS offered a Transgender Law course by “out lesbian” Professor Janet Halley and Dean Spade, a transsexual activist attorney. (Halley’s extremism and contempt for natural gender boundaries is illustrated by her calling herself a “gay man.”) Kagan also brought in Cass Sunstein (currently Obama's regulatory czar) who has written in support of polygamy and other free-for-all marriage relationships.
Kagan engaged in ongoing, radical advocacy opposing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and demanding an end to the ban on homosexuals serving in the military. Her highly partisan actions are unbecoming of a future judge – especially one who would be called upon to adjudicate such weighty and divisive matters.
Even after Kagan and Harvard lost their legal campaign to ban military recruiters and Harvard Law School was forced to let them back on campus, she encouraged ongoing student protests against them -- deputizing the radical Lambda group to come up with ideas of how to harass the recruiters legally. Kagan’s actions blatantly disrespected our military and exposed her as the out-of-touch, socially leftist academic that she is.
Kagan attended functions of radical homosexual (GLBT) groups at Harvard University, absorbing and apparently agreeing with their goals.
Kagan followed the wishes of campus homosexual organizations -- within a month of meeting with a Harvard Law School GLBT student group, she was agreeing with their demand to ban military recruiters on campus.
Radical “trans” activism at Harvard: Kagan’s active promotion of the GLBT agenda at Harvard likely accelerated the campus environment so “tolerant” of homosexuality and gender confusion that there was even a campaign (during her tenure) to make the campus “trans inclusive” -- using Harvard’s “gender identity” nondiscrimination policy (in place since 2006). This included discussions between GLBT student activists and the law school administration (i.e., Kagan) “to make our restrooms safe and accessible for people regardless of their gender identity or expression.” (Read: allow men who identify as “women” to use female restrooms and locker rooms, etc.)
As a likely result of Kagan's engagement, Harvard has become so committed to radical transsexual activism that its health insurance policy now partially covers “sex-change” breast “treatments” for transsexuals (either men taking hormones to develop breasts, or women having their healthy breasts removed to become the “men” they believe they are). Where does Kagan stand on transgenderism and transsexuality and the law today? It's very possible this question will come before the courts as trans activists make their demands on government health care.
The following is a more in-depth treatment of the pro-homosexuality and pro-transgender activism that took place during Kagan’s tenure as Dean of the Harvard Law School (2003-2009):
. Kagan accelerated and legitimized the GLBT “rights” concept and law studies at Harvard Law School -- and the larger community.
Kagan moderated panel on "GLBT Law" (with Chai Feldblum) at Harvard Gay & Lesbian Caucus event.
In September 2008, Kagan was a major participant at the 25th reunion of the Harvard Gay and Lesbian Caucus, titled “A Celebration of LGBT Life at Harvard." She was Moderator for their panel discussion on "The State of the Law: Reflections on the Past Twenty-Five Years and Thoughts about the Future -- A discussion of LGBT legal developments and trends by leading legal scholars." Note that “trends” were discussed along with “developments” -- which could have included “gay marriage”, adoption by homosexuals, overturning remaining state anti-sodomy statutes, homosexuals in the military, etc.
Among the panelists at the HGLC 25th Anniversary panel was Professor Chai Feldblum (from Georgetown University), an open lesbian and leading GLBT legal strategist. (She graduated from Harvard Law School the year before Kagan.) Feldblum claims advocating for homosexuality is a “moral” issue, and admits that the battle for legal “rights” between pro-homosexual advocates and people of faith (seeking to protect their legal right as Americans to oppose homosexuality) is a “zero-sum game.” She openly advocates legalizing polygamous households.
Moreover, Feldblum, who has since been appointed by President Obama to be a Commissioner on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, has stated that she can think of few situations in which religious rights (to act on one’s opposition to homosexuality) would triumph in the courts over homosexuals demanding their “rights” based on “sexual orientation non-discrimination.” “Gays win, Christians lose,” she said at one public policy discussion. (Feldblum also runs a website devoted to overturning the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and the ban on homosexuals in the military.)
Does a recording or transcript exist from this HGLC event? Does Kagan subscribe to Feldblum’s view that homosexuality-based “rights” take precedence over the liberty of people of faith to act on their belief that homosexual practice is wrong?
Re-shaping the Law School curriculum
In her role as Dean, Kagan oversaw the HLS curriculum and new faculty appointments. Thus, she must have endorsed the following HLS offerings as legitimate subjects and viewpoints (i.e., “gay rights” and “transgender rights” are true civil rights; any disagreement or disapproval is therefore illegal discrimination). One of her major efforts as Dean was modernizing the curriculum (including eliminating a required Constitution course, and instead requiring international law courses; “As Harvard Law Dean…,” CNS News, May 28, 2010). She was clearly paying close attention to the curriculum.
"Queer theory" legal scholar William Rubenstein
Kagan brought a pioneering GLBT legal advocate and "scholar", William B. Rubenstein, to HLS from UCLA, first as a Visiting Professor, then as a tenured professor. (Both were HLS Class of 1986.)
In a memoir – also the keynote speech he delivered at the September 2003 HLS GLBT reunion (with Kagan perhaps in the audience?), Rubenstein waxed poetical about his sexual experiences, desires, and scholarship. He describes his involvement with ACT-UP in the 1980s (and later gave a lecture at Harvard’s Kennedy School in conjunction with a celebratory Harvard Museum exhibit on ACT-UP in 2009). He explained how he had to alter his planned GLBT law course at HLS (Spring 2004) after the Lawrence v. Texas and Massachusetts “gay marriage” rulings:
In my new guise, I was hired on May 19, 2003 by the Harvard Law School as a visiting professor to teach a January 2004 course on sexual orientation law. … it was with mixed feelings that I reorganized my Hardwick-centric course away from its gay focus. Labeling the new product Law & Sexuality, I took up newer identities (bisexuality, trans, genderfuck), as well as the gauntlet thrown down by Justice Scalia, dissenting in Lawrence (polygamy, S&M, the sexuality of minors). … And yet Harvard Law School itself has not retained many of its alienating features of old. My own classmate Elena Kagan is now Dean; another classmate, Carol Steiker, who had written her journal Note arguing for heightened scrutiny of classifications based on sexual orientation, now a professor; and one of my own students from a 1995 Yale course on Queer Theory, Ryan Goodman, now a member of the Harvard faculty. Fifty-four Harvard Law professors signed an amicus brief challenging the Solomon Amendment, Congress’s insistence that the military be permitted to recruit at the law school, recruit, that is, in direct violation of the law school’s, the university’s, the city’s, and the state’s anti-discrimination policies. No longer do gay law books represent the occasional oasis in the Saharan library. (pp. 330-1, emphasis added.)
More important, in his 2003 reunion speech, Rubenstein challenged the Harvard Law School to work harder to queer its curriculum and culture:
And so my message, to collect the lessons: our [gay] children, figuratively speaking, come to Harvard seeking a home; they bring with them a wondrous spirit that renews the life of the community regularly; but what they “go into” here at Harvard is not what it is at other institutions around the country. Whose law school is it? Why not ours?
Imagine the possibilities: student scholarships; fellowships for graduates to work on queer issues or to assist them in becoming legal scholars; funds to expand Harvard’s collection of gay materials; funds to support scholars to come to Harvard to teach and write; research and travel money to facilitate the efforts of Professor Halley and other Harvard faculty working on these issues; an endowed speaker series providing a forum for the exchange of ideas among scholars, lawyers, judges, and law students; a chair. Such programs would both make Harvard a more welcoming place and help Harvard contribute more to intellectual discourse on gay issues. Harvard should aspire to lead, and we alums should aspire to make sure that happens. After all: Aren’t we enlarged by the scale of what we’re able todesire? Still time. Still time to change…. (pp. 333, emphasis added.)
Did Elena Kagan hear and accept his challenge?
Here's the description of Rubenstein's course " Sexual Orientation and the Law."
Janet Halley and transgender law
Professor Janet Halley (an "out" lesbian who self-identifies as a “gay man”) was elevated to a named chair professorship by Dean Kagan. (See the video of Kagan’s announcement on the Senate website: September 17, 2007.) Halley may have provided the inspiration to Kagan to go after the military recruiters in her 1999 book on “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”: Don’t: A Reader’s Guide to the Military’s Anti-Gay Policy. She teaches family law, discrimination, and legal theory; she recently taught a course entitled “The Poetics of Sexual Injury.”
As Professor Rubenstein described Halley in his keynote speech cited above:
Most importantly, Harvard’s faculty now includes the country’s single most interesting and provocative queer law scholar, Janet Halley, hired away from Stanford.
Professor Halley identifies herself as a member of the LGBT community in the law professors’ directory—the first full member of the Harvard faculty to do so. Professor Halley’s work, however, challenges the identity-based nature of social movements, investigating whether identity is not, ultimately, as imprisoning as it is liberating. In a unique demonstration that the personal is political, Professor Halley refers to herself as a “gay man.” (pp. 331, emphasis added.)
HLS offered a Transgender Law course (in 2007) taught by Halley and Dean Spade, a transsexual activist attorney from the national Lambda Law organization:
“As evidence of the increasing visibility of transgender people, Harvard Law School is offering a seminar on transgender law next spring taught by [out lesbian] Professor Janet Halley and [transsexual] Dean Spade, founder of the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, which is dedicated to serving the needs of low-income people of color who are transgender, intersex, or gender non-conforming.” (“Lambda lawyer discusses challenges facing transgendered,” Harvard Law Record, April 25, 2008; emphasis added.)
LGBT Law Clinic and "Career Guide"
The LGBT Law Clinic of HLS was apparently established during Kagan’s tenure as Dean. Kagan was pushing students to engage in “public interest law” and “clinical” experience." This clinic was one recommended choice. Its director, Robert Greenwald, also taught courses at HLS including “Family, Domestic Violence and LGBT Law” (in 2009).
HLS issued its “LGBT Rights Law: A Career Guide” in 2007. It lists recommended courses to take for a career in LGBT law.
Catherine MacKinnon - rape, lesbianism, prostitution, etc.
Kagan brought radical feminist Catherine MacKinnon to Harvard as Visiting Professor in 2007-8 for an “inquiry into the relationship between sex inequality in society and sex equality under law... Concrete issues--employment discrimination, family, rape, sexual harassment, lesbian and gay rights, abortion, prostitution, pornography--focus discussion through cases. Racism, class, and transsexuality are considered throughout.”
Forum on hate crimes and transgender issues for Gov. candidates
Also at HLS while Kagan was Dean: In September 2006, a forum with the Massachusetts Democrat Governor candidates was cosponsored by HLS Lambda, InNews Weekly (a defunct radical GLBT Boston newspaper), and the Boston Pride Committee, and covered by the National Association of Lesbian and Gay Journalists. It focused on “hate crimes” and transgender issues – once again demonstrating the extremism of HLS Lambda. (MassResistance blog, September 14, 2006.)
Mass. Governor Candidates Chris Gabrieli (L) and Deval Patrick (R) at GLBT Forum, Harvard Law School, Sept. 12, 2006 (Bay Windows photo)
II. Kagan took part in functions and forums of radical GLBT groups at Harvard University – and apparently followed their lead on issues from banning military recruiters on campus, to increasing GLBT “visibility” in the HLS curriculum.
Kagan attended the first HLS GLBT Alumni reunion in 2003.
Kagan attended the first reunion of HLS GLBT alumni in September 2003. (Note the inclusion of “T” for “transgender” alumni.) Reportedly, it was the first event of its kind in the nation. Kagan graduated from Harvard Law School in 1986. Did she attend as a GLBT alumna, or in her role as Dean? She was, at least, at the reunion’s concluding dinner, according to the Harvard Crimson. The Crimson described the event:
Celebratory at times, solemn at others, alumni and current students marked the anniversary Saturday with anecdotes about the personal challenges they faced, the battle they continue to fight to keep military recruiters off campus and the need for classroom instruction in legal issues pertaining to homosexuality.
During the second discussion, titled "Lambda Today: Current Issues and Challenges Facing GLBT Students at HLS," a student panel expressed their dissatisfaction with the efforts that the faculty and administration are making to address issues facing GLBT students. They highlighted the University’s decision to continue to allow military recruiters on campus, even though their presence violates Harvard’s non-discrimination policy...
At the reunion’s final event, a dinner held at the Hyatt Regency hotel, HLS Dean Elena Kagan renewed her commitment to improving student life for all students on campus ... (“HLS Holds Nation’s First Ever GLBT Reunion,” Harvard Crimson, 9-22-03; emphasis added.)
What role did Kagan play at this event? Is there a recording or transcript of any formal comments she may have made?
Within a month, Kagan was agreeing with the demand made by the GLBT radical students at that reunion: banning military recruiters on campus.
Notably, the keynote speaker for that HLS GLBT reunion was radical queer legal scholar and Kagan’s Class of 1986 classmate, Professor William Rubenstein (then at UCLA, but about to teach a course at HLS on sexual orientation and the law as Visiting Professor). In his speech noted above, “My Harvard Law School ” (available on the Harvard website), he challenged the school to “queer” its curriculum and culture.
Chicago-area teachers top state in earning six-figure salaries
By Diane Rado, Tribune reporter
8:52 p.m. CDT, July 14, 2010
An extraordinary number of public school teachers in the Chicago region earned $100,000 or more in 2009, straining school budgets and taxpayer wallets and fueling the debate over what teachers are worth and how they get raises.
In the affluent enclaves of Highland Park and Deerfield, almost half the teachers in Township High School District 113 took home six-figure salaries — the highest percentage in the state.
In Park Ridge and Hinsdale, about 43 percent of high school district teachers earned $100,000 or more, according to a Chicago Tribune salary analysis.
Six-figure teacher salaries of that magnitude are rare elsewhere in Illinois and in most parts of the country.
The highest-paying districts note that they are top performers that get accolades and national rankings, and they need to be competitive to attract top teachers as parents expect.
But the six-figure salaries highlight disparities that have persisted between rich and less wealthy communities in Illinois.
What's more, it's clear that some districts have over-extended themselves, and are asking teachers unions to come back to the table to help contain spending in a bad economy, with mixed success.
In the Chicago region, $100,000 salaries are most common in fields ranging from algebra, biology and U.S. history to art, instrumental music and physical education.
The Tribune examined salary information for nearly 132,000 full-time Illinois teachers who worked a traditional nine- or 10-month school year in 2008-09. Salaries provided by the Illinois State Board of Education encompass all earnings, including extra stipends for coaching and sponsoring school clubs as well as retirement perks.
Among the findings:
—About 4 percent of teachers statewide earned $100,000 or more — 5,457 teachers — but the vast majority worked in the Chicago suburbs, with heavy concentrations in north Cook, DuPage and Lake counties. In all, 32 Chicago-area districts paid at least 20 percent of their teachers six figures — five times the state average.
—Districts used taxpayer dollars to pay $100,000 salaries even as they struggled with red ink. A third of districts with unusually high concentrations of teachers making six figures — at least 10 percent of teachers — posted operating deficits in 2008-09, according to state financial data.
—Six-figure teachers were unevenly distributed, with high school teachers making up 60 percent of the group — more than double their representation in the teaching force. Affluent suburban districts had the largest concentrations of six-figure teachers. Less than 1 percent of Chicago Public School teachers earned $100,000 or more in 2009.
Educators and teacher union officials defend the six-figure earnings, saying they represent a shift in thinking about the teaching profession.
Teachers used to be considered a "cheap commodity," said Thomas Ludovice, a biology and chemistry teacher at Hinsdale Central High School and a local teachers union vice president. Decades ago, he recalls teachers being paid close to the poverty line and scrambling to work summer jobs to make ends meet.
After more than 20 years in the profession, Ludovice earns six figures — but that came after spending endless hours in classes and on sports fields, he said.
"On average, I was working 15-hour days," said Ludovice, remembering his life a few years ago, when he was teaching as well as coaching both football and track. He has since given up the track assignment.
"If you're a really good educator, you involve yourself at such a level that when you come home your family pretty much gets nothing or they get leftovers," Ludovice said. "When you come home, you slump to your couch."
Not everyone sympathizes.
Jack Roeser, whose Family Taxpayers Foundation posts Illinois teacher and administrator salaries on a Web site, said teachers "just plain don't work many days" and are already overpaid.
The six-figure salaries "are crazy," he said, the result of "amateur" school board members overcome by tough teachers unions at the bargaining table.
At the Taxpayers' Federation of Illinois, President Tom Johnson questioned the timing of hefty pay increases for teachers.
"Obviously, we want top-quality professionals teaching the students of future generations," he said. But, "in these economically troubled times, how can you justify any kind of compensation adjustments going anywhere but downward?"
Elected school board members determine the appropriate pay for teachers, said Ken Swanson, president of the Illinois Education Association, and take into consideration the characteristics of the school community, including housing costs.
"In a high-wealth, high-cost-of-living district, if you want a teacher to be a resident in, or close to, the community, they're going to need to have compensation that allows them that option," Swanson said.
Teacher salaries are based on a pay scale that gives pay hikes for acquiring more years of experience, college credits and degrees. It's not unusual for teachers to get double-digit raises in one year when they can combine hikes for both education and experience. It's also common to boost pay by coaching sports teams.
A now-retired physical education teacher and longtime football coach at Addison Trail High School in DuPage County earned more than $184,000 in 2008-09 — the highest teacher salary in the Tribune's analysis. He had 35 years of teaching experience and a master's degree, all factors that boosted his salary.
Teacher pay is undergoing scrutiny nationwide, with the Obama administration dangling federal grants to states that tie teacher evaluations and pay in part to the achievement of students. Illinois has applied for the grant money and is studying how to implement performance-pay programs.
A 2008 Illinois law already allows districts to institute such programs, but "there has not been a pattern of embracing that particular concept," according to Swanson, of the Illinois Education Association.
Districts locked in multiyear teacher contracts have had mixed success trying to get teachers to make wage concessions.
Maine Township High School District 207 in Cook County posted an operating deficit of more than $10 million in 2008-09 and has laid off staff and increased class sizes, said Mary Kalou, assistant superintendent for business. The district twice asked the teachers union to reopen talks on reducing salaries but got no for an answer, according to Kalou.
Likewise, Glenbard Township High School District 87 in DuPage asked its union to reopen contract talks "and they were not interested in doing it,'' said Chris McClain, the assistant superintendent for business services. Glenbard is cutting staff and reducing costs as it projects declining revenues and reserves in the next five years. A third of its teachers earned $100,000 or more in 2009.
Elsewhere, teachers in Lyons Township High School District 204 recently agreed to a partial pay freeze for 2010-11, though the pay schedule still allows for double-digit pay hikes in some circumstances. About 38 percent of the district's teachers earned salaries of $100,000 or more in 2008-09.
The district is in good financial condition, said director of business services David Sellers, and "our ability to afford what we're paying our teachers is pretty much unquestionable."
Lake County's Township High School District 113 is working on a plan to reduce pay increases related to experience and education for new hires beginning in July 2011, said Barry Bolek, assistant superintendent for finance.
Though the district is in solid financial condition, it has been cutting expenses because of the economy.
In Lake County's Community High School District 128, based in Vernon Hills, about 41 percent of teachers earned six figures in 2009, making the district competitive with other affluent and high-performing districts in the area, said Superintendent Prentiss Lea.
"If all our teachers were making $45,000, we would not be competitive in the marketplace,'' he said. "Our goal is not to be in the top of the market or the bottom, but to be competitive."
National Education Association official Bill Raabe said more teachers should be making $100,000.
"If we're really going to attract people into the profession and do the kind of work we expect, we're going to have to pay them,'' said Raabe, the union's director of collective bargaining and member advocacy.
Based on wage comparisons with educated and experienced professionals in other fields, Raabe said, "We think it is really appropriate that teachers should be making six figures."
drado@tribune.com
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/ct-met-six-figure-salaries-20100714,0,5370699,full.story
8:52 p.m. CDT, July 14, 2010
An extraordinary number of public school teachers in the Chicago region earned $100,000 or more in 2009, straining school budgets and taxpayer wallets and fueling the debate over what teachers are worth and how they get raises.
In the affluent enclaves of Highland Park and Deerfield, almost half the teachers in Township High School District 113 took home six-figure salaries — the highest percentage in the state.
In Park Ridge and Hinsdale, about 43 percent of high school district teachers earned $100,000 or more, according to a Chicago Tribune salary analysis.
Six-figure teacher salaries of that magnitude are rare elsewhere in Illinois and in most parts of the country.
The highest-paying districts note that they are top performers that get accolades and national rankings, and they need to be competitive to attract top teachers as parents expect.
But the six-figure salaries highlight disparities that have persisted between rich and less wealthy communities in Illinois.
What's more, it's clear that some districts have over-extended themselves, and are asking teachers unions to come back to the table to help contain spending in a bad economy, with mixed success.
In the Chicago region, $100,000 salaries are most common in fields ranging from algebra, biology and U.S. history to art, instrumental music and physical education.
The Tribune examined salary information for nearly 132,000 full-time Illinois teachers who worked a traditional nine- or 10-month school year in 2008-09. Salaries provided by the Illinois State Board of Education encompass all earnings, including extra stipends for coaching and sponsoring school clubs as well as retirement perks.
Among the findings:
—About 4 percent of teachers statewide earned $100,000 or more — 5,457 teachers — but the vast majority worked in the Chicago suburbs, with heavy concentrations in north Cook, DuPage and Lake counties. In all, 32 Chicago-area districts paid at least 20 percent of their teachers six figures — five times the state average.
—Districts used taxpayer dollars to pay $100,000 salaries even as they struggled with red ink. A third of districts with unusually high concentrations of teachers making six figures — at least 10 percent of teachers — posted operating deficits in 2008-09, according to state financial data.
—Six-figure teachers were unevenly distributed, with high school teachers making up 60 percent of the group — more than double their representation in the teaching force. Affluent suburban districts had the largest concentrations of six-figure teachers. Less than 1 percent of Chicago Public School teachers earned $100,000 or more in 2009.
Educators and teacher union officials defend the six-figure earnings, saying they represent a shift in thinking about the teaching profession.
Teachers used to be considered a "cheap commodity," said Thomas Ludovice, a biology and chemistry teacher at Hinsdale Central High School and a local teachers union vice president. Decades ago, he recalls teachers being paid close to the poverty line and scrambling to work summer jobs to make ends meet.
After more than 20 years in the profession, Ludovice earns six figures — but that came after spending endless hours in classes and on sports fields, he said.
"On average, I was working 15-hour days," said Ludovice, remembering his life a few years ago, when he was teaching as well as coaching both football and track. He has since given up the track assignment.
"If you're a really good educator, you involve yourself at such a level that when you come home your family pretty much gets nothing or they get leftovers," Ludovice said. "When you come home, you slump to your couch."
Not everyone sympathizes.
Jack Roeser, whose Family Taxpayers Foundation posts Illinois teacher and administrator salaries on a Web site, said teachers "just plain don't work many days" and are already overpaid.
The six-figure salaries "are crazy," he said, the result of "amateur" school board members overcome by tough teachers unions at the bargaining table.
At the Taxpayers' Federation of Illinois, President Tom Johnson questioned the timing of hefty pay increases for teachers.
"Obviously, we want top-quality professionals teaching the students of future generations," he said. But, "in these economically troubled times, how can you justify any kind of compensation adjustments going anywhere but downward?"
Elected school board members determine the appropriate pay for teachers, said Ken Swanson, president of the Illinois Education Association, and take into consideration the characteristics of the school community, including housing costs.
"In a high-wealth, high-cost-of-living district, if you want a teacher to be a resident in, or close to, the community, they're going to need to have compensation that allows them that option," Swanson said.
Teacher salaries are based on a pay scale that gives pay hikes for acquiring more years of experience, college credits and degrees. It's not unusual for teachers to get double-digit raises in one year when they can combine hikes for both education and experience. It's also common to boost pay by coaching sports teams.
A now-retired physical education teacher and longtime football coach at Addison Trail High School in DuPage County earned more than $184,000 in 2008-09 — the highest teacher salary in the Tribune's analysis. He had 35 years of teaching experience and a master's degree, all factors that boosted his salary.
Teacher pay is undergoing scrutiny nationwide, with the Obama administration dangling federal grants to states that tie teacher evaluations and pay in part to the achievement of students. Illinois has applied for the grant money and is studying how to implement performance-pay programs.
A 2008 Illinois law already allows districts to institute such programs, but "there has not been a pattern of embracing that particular concept," according to Swanson, of the Illinois Education Association.
Districts locked in multiyear teacher contracts have had mixed success trying to get teachers to make wage concessions.
Maine Township High School District 207 in Cook County posted an operating deficit of more than $10 million in 2008-09 and has laid off staff and increased class sizes, said Mary Kalou, assistant superintendent for business. The district twice asked the teachers union to reopen talks on reducing salaries but got no for an answer, according to Kalou.
Likewise, Glenbard Township High School District 87 in DuPage asked its union to reopen contract talks "and they were not interested in doing it,'' said Chris McClain, the assistant superintendent for business services. Glenbard is cutting staff and reducing costs as it projects declining revenues and reserves in the next five years. A third of its teachers earned $100,000 or more in 2009.
Elsewhere, teachers in Lyons Township High School District 204 recently agreed to a partial pay freeze for 2010-11, though the pay schedule still allows for double-digit pay hikes in some circumstances. About 38 percent of the district's teachers earned salaries of $100,000 or more in 2008-09.
The district is in good financial condition, said director of business services David Sellers, and "our ability to afford what we're paying our teachers is pretty much unquestionable."
Lake County's Township High School District 113 is working on a plan to reduce pay increases related to experience and education for new hires beginning in July 2011, said Barry Bolek, assistant superintendent for finance.
Though the district is in solid financial condition, it has been cutting expenses because of the economy.
In Lake County's Community High School District 128, based in Vernon Hills, about 41 percent of teachers earned six figures in 2009, making the district competitive with other affluent and high-performing districts in the area, said Superintendent Prentiss Lea.
"If all our teachers were making $45,000, we would not be competitive in the marketplace,'' he said. "Our goal is not to be in the top of the market or the bottom, but to be competitive."
National Education Association official Bill Raabe said more teachers should be making $100,000.
"If we're really going to attract people into the profession and do the kind of work we expect, we're going to have to pay them,'' said Raabe, the union's director of collective bargaining and member advocacy.
Based on wage comparisons with educated and experienced professionals in other fields, Raabe said, "We think it is really appropriate that teachers should be making six figures."
drado@tribune.com
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/ct-met-six-figure-salaries-20100714,0,5370699,full.story
Giannoulias Outraised by Opponent in Illinois U.S. Senate Race
By John McCormick
(c) 2010 Bloomberg News
Thursday, July 15, 2010; 12:00 AM
Giannoulias, the Illinois treasurer, collected slightly more than $900,000 during the quarter that ended June 30, with the bulk of the money donated in June, said Kathleen Strand, a campaign spokeswoman.
The campaign for Representative Mark Kirk, the Republican Senate candidate, said July 1 that he raised $2.3 million during the second quarter. Kirk had about $3.9 million in the bank for his Senate race at the end of the quarter, according to his campaign.
Giannoulias, 34, had about $1 million in the bank at the end of the quarter, Strand said.
Strand said Giannoulias lagged behind in fundraising because of a self-imposed pledge to reject contributions from corporate political action committees and federal lobbyists.
"Alexi is running for Senate to stand up against powerful corporate special interests that contributed to our country's economic meltdown," she said.
She said Giannoulias supports the financial-regulation bill headed toward passage in Congress later this week while Kirk, 50, voted against the measure in the House.
Besides Biden, others traveling to Chicago to spur contributions to help Giannoulias in the second quarter included U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina and David Plouffe, who was Obama's presidential campaign manager. David Axelrod, a senior adviser to the president, is scheduled to help Giannoulias raise money on July 25.
Giannoulias planned to hold an event in Chicago today to criticize Kirk for taking money from Wall Street, a criticism he also leveled in April when campaign contributions from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. employees started to come under scrutiny after the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a fraud lawsuit against the company.
"We are confident we are going to have the resources we need to compete," Strand said.
Kirk has taken $1.5 million from the securities and investment industry and its employees during his political career, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.
Kirk's campaign said it raised $1 million in June -- its largest fundraising month -- during the time when he was dealing with questions about his service as a Navy reservist. At a June 29 news conference, Kirk apologized for exaggerations and said he had been "careless."
Giannoulias also faced challenges during the second quarter. Since April 23, he has dealt with the political fallout from closure by regulators of the Chicago bank that his family owned.
Broadway Bank had been operating since January under terms of a consent order with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. because of commercial real estate loan losses.
Losses associated with the bank meant Giannoulias paid no income taxes in 2009, according to a copy of his return that he released on July 2. His campaign said he would donate his $25,859 refund to charity.
On July 2, Giannoulias reported assets of between $7 million and $29 million on a disclosure form he released. Strand declined to say whether he planned to use any of his own money for the campaign.
Giannoulias raised $1.2 million during the first quarter of 2010. Kirk, a five-term House member from Chicago's northern suburbs, raised $2.2 million during that quarter.
The Senate seat is held by Democrat Roland Burris, who isn't seeking a full term. Republicans are trying to take advantage of ethical problems experienced by Illinois Democrats, including a public corruption trial of former Governor Rod Blagojevich, who appointed Burris to complete Obama's term after the 2008 presidential election.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/15/AR2010071501227.html
(c) 2010 Bloomberg News
Thursday, July 15, 2010; 12:00 AM
Giannoulias, the Illinois treasurer, collected slightly more than $900,000 during the quarter that ended June 30, with the bulk of the money donated in June, said Kathleen Strand, a campaign spokeswoman.
The campaign for Representative Mark Kirk, the Republican Senate candidate, said July 1 that he raised $2.3 million during the second quarter. Kirk had about $3.9 million in the bank for his Senate race at the end of the quarter, according to his campaign.
Giannoulias, 34, had about $1 million in the bank at the end of the quarter, Strand said.
Strand said Giannoulias lagged behind in fundraising because of a self-imposed pledge to reject contributions from corporate political action committees and federal lobbyists.
"Alexi is running for Senate to stand up against powerful corporate special interests that contributed to our country's economic meltdown," she said.
She said Giannoulias supports the financial-regulation bill headed toward passage in Congress later this week while Kirk, 50, voted against the measure in the House.
Besides Biden, others traveling to Chicago to spur contributions to help Giannoulias in the second quarter included U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina and David Plouffe, who was Obama's presidential campaign manager. David Axelrod, a senior adviser to the president, is scheduled to help Giannoulias raise money on July 25.
Giannoulias planned to hold an event in Chicago today to criticize Kirk for taking money from Wall Street, a criticism he also leveled in April when campaign contributions from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. employees started to come under scrutiny after the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a fraud lawsuit against the company.
"We are confident we are going to have the resources we need to compete," Strand said.
Kirk has taken $1.5 million from the securities and investment industry and its employees during his political career, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.
Kirk's campaign said it raised $1 million in June -- its largest fundraising month -- during the time when he was dealing with questions about his service as a Navy reservist. At a June 29 news conference, Kirk apologized for exaggerations and said he had been "careless."
Giannoulias also faced challenges during the second quarter. Since April 23, he has dealt with the political fallout from closure by regulators of the Chicago bank that his family owned.
Broadway Bank had been operating since January under terms of a consent order with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. because of commercial real estate loan losses.
Losses associated with the bank meant Giannoulias paid no income taxes in 2009, according to a copy of his return that he released on July 2. His campaign said he would donate his $25,859 refund to charity.
On July 2, Giannoulias reported assets of between $7 million and $29 million on a disclosure form he released. Strand declined to say whether he planned to use any of his own money for the campaign.
Giannoulias raised $1.2 million during the first quarter of 2010. Kirk, a five-term House member from Chicago's northern suburbs, raised $2.2 million during that quarter.
The Senate seat is held by Democrat Roland Burris, who isn't seeking a full term. Republicans are trying to take advantage of ethical problems experienced by Illinois Democrats, including a public corruption trial of former Governor Rod Blagojevich, who appointed Burris to complete Obama's term after the 2008 presidential election.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/15/AR2010071501227.html
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