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Kjellander cannot serve two masters. While the IL GOP has continued to flounder since Rod Blagojevich became Governor in January 2003, Kjellander has been making millions working as a lobbyist on deals with the Democrat Administration. The most infamous deal involved the largest borrowing in Illinois history, and was a scheme opposed by the vast majority of Republican State Senators and Representatives. Kjellander made $809,000 on that deal alone, but still refuses to give specifics about his role. How motivated can Kjellander be to see Blagojevich removed when Bob appears to be making more money for himself now than he ever did under past Republican Administrations? And speaking of motivation, how do we motivate regular Republicans to get involved or volunteer for a State Party, when they see that while they are working to build, Kjellander is making millions selling them out. The answer is, it can’t be done, and the IL GOP will remain a lethargic organization as long as Kjellander remains.

Bob Kjellander and his small circle of friends were directly responsible for turning the Republican U.S. Senate seat held by Peter Fitzgerald over to the Democrats in 2004. First, the IL GOP under Bob’s leadership refused to endorse the incumbent Fitzgerald for reelection – something nearly unheard of for a State Party. Kjellander’s circle actively worked to undermine Fitzgerald, and he eventually decided not to seek reelection. When the “correct” candidate didn’t win the 2004 U.S. Senate Primary, Jack Ryan, the voters’ choice, was undermined using sealed divorce files as a pretext. At Kjellander’s urging, the IL GOP’s Central Committee rejected second place finisher Oberweis as a replacement nominee for Ryan. Alan Keyes was instead chosen by the IL GOP’s leadership behind closed-doors, with no input from Republicans. Kjellander and his friends then quickly abandoned Keyes too, even though he was their own choice. Kjellander was also instrumental in sacking the duly elected Gary MacDougal as State Party Chairman In order to make way for Judy Baar Topinka in November 2002.

Given Kjellander’s track record, it is hopelessly naļve for any Republican to believe that their Primary vote won’t once again be wasted if the “wrong” candidate wins the March Primary. Kjellander clearly has a good financial working relationship with the Blagojevich Administration – his personal bets are hedged. Illinois Republicans will only have themselves to blame if Kjellander is allowed to hang-around where he can undermine their choice yet again – if and when Topinka loses the Primary. Kjellander is supposed to be working for us – not for himself and his circle of pals embedded in both parties. Kjellander has proven he simply can’t be trusted to do the right thing for Republicans.

“Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican,” said Reagan. Kjellander not only speaks ill, he publicly hurls personal insults at rank and file Republicans. Bob has been quoted by at least two Illinois papers in the past year calling reform Republicans “kooks”. In addition to the behind the scenes undermining last year of GOP candidates as discussed in #7 above, Kjellander has already been actively mocking two of the Republican Gubernatorial contenders – this time publicly. Clearly, Kjellander is not neutral in this upcoming open primary as a Republican Party official should be. Kjellander’s most recent disgrace was hurling insults and slandering a fine Republican (actually a WWII combat veteran) in the press on Veterans’ Day Weekend! No organization in business or politics allows one of its own “leaders” to publicly harass and insult the organization’s own membership. Kjellander’s incredibly unprofessional behavior combined with the refusal of Chairman McKenna and the Central Committee to reign him in, cements Illinois’ reputation as the most ridiculous of political backwaters.

As discussed above, Kjellander has played an instrumental role in helping to undermine good Republicans who were actually duly elected (In just the past three years: Peter Fitzgerald, Jack Ryan, and Gary MacDougal were all pushed out of their roles in the Party). However one might describe the way Kjellander kept his title last year at the IL GOP’s State Convention, the term “election” doesn’t fit. To do so would be such a perversion of the word, it would constitute a disgrace to every brave man and woman currently fighting for real openness and democracy around the world.

Kjellander sought a new four-year term last year at the State GOP Convention in Collinsville. The first step was gaining the approval of a 19 member Nominating Committee – the members of which were hand-picked by the IL GOP’s Central Committee. This Nominating Committee was simply rigged-up with several individuals having incredible conflicts of interest such as lobbying and/or political ties to Kjellander. For example, one of the members was a State Senator who was one of only four Republican Senators who broke GOP caucus ranks to vote for Blagojevich’s controversial $10 billion pension deal, and which garnered Kjellander his controversial $809,000 consulting fee. Another one of the four State Senators voting for the bond deal was Kirk Dillard, who didn’t have a vote, but did serve as the Nominating Committee’s Chairman. The Nominating Committee member who seconded Kjellander’s nomination is actually a paid consultant for the IL GOP, a woman who received a $5,000 consulting fee within one month of the State Convention. Two armed policemen assigned to the small Committee meeting room made certain that everything went smoothly. Given the Nominating Committee’s composition, the only surprise was that challenger Steve Rauschenberger managed to find one vote from among the 19.

Kjellander’s nomination still had to be ratified on the floor of the Convention by the entire group of Delegates. The Chairman of the Convention, Judy Baar Topinka asked for ratification of the Nominating Committee’s recommendation by group voice vote. In order to vote against Kjellander, a Delegate also had to vote “nay” on Mary Jo Arndt – the non-controversial choice for National Committeewoman. The two nominations were submitted together as one to the full Delegation. In other words, Kjellander hid behind the likeable National Committeewoman. Nevertheless, most attendees believed the “nays” were at least as loud as the “ayes”. But Topinka immediately slammed her gavel without looking up and declared that the “ayes” had won. The vote was clearly close enough that a poll of the individual Delegates should have been taken, but it was not done. The extreme lengths Kjellander and his friends went to in order to preserve the status quo at the State Convention only helped to seal Republican defeats last year. The IL GOP probably had the first political convention in history where attendees were actually sent home less energized than when they arrived.

Corruption and reform will be THE issues in next year’s election in Illinois. Blagojevich’s pay-to-play politics and the ongoing investigations into his Administration have made the Governor vulnerable to defeat. But good Republicans simply can’t be asked to go out and criticize Blagojevich while our own Party protects a man on “our side” with many of the same ethical and pay-to-play concerns. Not only does Kjellander tag our Party with the same appearance of impropriety, but also Kjellander has personally made millions of dollars on some of the same deals that we are now asked to criticize the Blagojevich Administration. Illinois Republicans must put their best foot forward in order to have any chance of victory next year. The IL GOP is simply not doing that with Bob Kjellander in a senior party post.

One of the standard insults Kjellander hurls at his critics is that “they have a rule or ruin mentality”. We can at least acknowledge that this is a subject Kjellander knows something about. The IL GOP has been ruined under Kjellander’s rule. Since he became National Committeeman in 1995, Illinois Republicans have lost:

Majorities in BOTH Chambers of the State Legislature in Springfield.
EVERY state Constitutional Office we once held except the office of State Treasurer - and an official who is clearly much closer to the Democrats holds that one.
Our only U.S. Senate Seat.
A majority of the U.S. Congressional Delegation from Illinois – with the loss of Phil Crane’s seat last year.
EVERY election for the Republican Presidential Nominee, including double-digit losses for President George W. Bush BOTH times.

As a Midwest Regional Campaign Chairman for the Bush-Cheney Campaign, Kjellander lost:

4 of the 5 states he oversaw in 2000, including Illinois.
All 3 of the states he oversaw in 2004, including Illinois.

Exactly what value does Bob Kjellander bring to the table? Kjellander’s remaining defenders who say the IL GOP needs his “powerful D.C. connections” need to provide one scintilla of evidence as to how Bob has ever helped our Illinois Party.

In fighting to keep his title last year at the State GOP Convention, Kjellander made numerous promises about his abilities. He said essentially “only his connections to the White House” could get the Bush Campaign to Illinois. He said he had the lobbying skills needed to obtain National Party support for Illinois. Kjellander and his supporters based their case for allowing Bob to keep his title, almost solely on these promises and representations.

But Kjellander has never delivered. His promises have all been empty. Except for a couple of fundraising appearances where Bush came in to raise money for his national campaign and for the National Party, there was no identifiable campaign for Bush in Illinois. The Bush Campaign devoted almost no time or money to Illinois. Bush supporters might have been lucky to find a campaign lapel sticker. The Campaign actually spent much less money and devoted far less time to Illinois in 2004 relative to 2000. The titleholders Kjellander did assign to the campaign in Illinois – still could have tried to help the President with the resources available. But the destruction of Jack Ryan and Alan Keyes drew most of the old guard’s energy last year. True Bush loyalists traveled by the hundreds on their own to neighboring battle ground states where they could actually make a difference.

During Kjellander’s decade-plus tenure as one of the three representatives from Illinois on the Republican National Committee (the “RNC”), many millions of dollars have been contributed by Illinois Republicans to the RNC. Only a tiny fraction of the money sent to the RNC from Illinois has made its way back to help candidates here. Kjellander’s lobbying skills appear to be confined to the Illinois stage where his lobbying on behalf of corporate clients earns fat fees for himself.

Kjellander and his defenders say that he has done nothing wrong during his career as a lobbyist. Unfortunately for these people, the professionals disagree.

We don’t have to weigh in on illegality to observe that Kjellander’s dealings have left a trail of selfish destruction. The Municipal Securities Regulatory Board (MSRB) has already decided to prohibit exactly the kind of consulting fee Kjellander received in early 2003 in connection with Blagojevich’s $10 billion pension scheme. Only Kjellander’s $809,000 fee and one other paid to another consultant on a New Jersey deal were specifically noted by the MSRB as having the potential to undermine investor confidence in the market for municipal securities. The MSRB’s rulemaking noted that the two deals involved fees significantly larger than had been previously seen in the industry.

The MSRB was simply saying what a lot of other people are thinking in Illinois – if these companies perform such great service, why must they pay an intermediary so much just to get state business? It makes investors nervous that something fishy might be going on.

Just a few months ago, because of public revelations about a much larger fee it had paid Kjellander on a different pension deal, The Carlyle Group pledged that it would pay no additional finder’s fees to Kjellander if the Teachers’ Retirement System gives Carlyle another contract.

The Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System Board also recently voted to completely ban finder’s fees like the one received by Kjellander from Carlyle. At least some members of the Teachers’ Retirement System Board were reportedly surprised by the size of the fees paid to Kjellander.

So even if some of what Kjellander did might not have been “wrong” when he did it – the same activities are now prohibited going forward – largely thanks to Bob Kjellander. The securities markets have been around for a couple of hundred years. It truly took some extraordinary greed before anyone even had to think of imposing these latest restrictions.

No one can speculate as to whether Kjellander has done anything illegal or not – we simply don’t know. It has been widely reported that the Feds are investigating at least one of the pension deals in which Kjellander played a role. It has also been reported that Federal investigators have subpoenaed records relating to Kjellander’s dealings. We don’t know if he himself is a target of criminal investigation. Some overlapping players on these and other pension deals have already been indicted in Illinois. Is it possible that in the midst of a major Illinois scandal centered around consulting fees paid on pension deals, that one of the most highly compensated consultants on such deals could have remained within the law? Yes, it is possible, and we should be careful to note that real prospect. Everyone is Innocent until proven guilty.

But at a minimum, we can definitively say that Kjellander’s activities give the strong appearance of impropriety.

As Kjellander has held the post of National Committeeman for over a decade, few remember what the job is actually supposed to be about. But one thing we do know for certain - whatever the job should entail - Kjellander isn’t doing it. We can say definitively that the job shouldn’t involve shrinking the Party, losing elections, and hurling personal insults at the membership, all while making millions of dollars working with the Democrats.

Any State Party should exist as a service organization and resource for Republicans and for their candidates. A State Party is supposed to help Republicans elect Republican candidates. That’s an obvious point that Republicans in Red States take for granted. However in Illinois, Kjellander has largely turned the IL GOP into a personal fiefdom for himself and a small circle of friends. The organizing principle of our State Party isn’t winning elections – it’s making Bob Kjellander richer. His National Committeeman title provides him with a very valuable cache to help him do that. The 19 State Central Committeemen are largely hand-selected for their willingness to go-along and to get-along. Those that keep their mouths shut can expect to stay on for as long as they want, and occasionally the opportunity to wet their own beaks in smaller perks comes along. The idea of the State Party actually helping to grow the GOP, advance Republican principles, or trying to win elections is almost a naive afterthought among the old leadership. Given this dysfunctional business model maintained by Kjellander, it’s no surprise that Illinois has become one of the Bluest States in the Nation during Bob’s tenure.