If State Sen. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) wins the GOP gubernatorial nomination…and he leads Kirk Dillard by 420 votes so he appears to have a leg up…will his solid 100% conservative voting record on social issues cause him trouble as he runs across a state that has been blue? Answer: It shouldn’t if he does what Scott Brown did, don’t fudge and count on the hideous record of the Democrats nationally to carry the day.
Brady has one of the finest social voting records in the state. Dems and liberal media will try to zero in on it hoping he will waver, arguing…as if they are really concerned for his political electibility…the record can’t square with how the state has been aligned in the past. Of course it would be disastrous for Brady to waffle because not only would he discourage his base but evince insecurity about anything he says on any issue in the future.
Scott Brown didn’t have Brady’s strong pro-life record (Brown was on record as favoring retention of Roe v. Wade but in opposition to federal funding and partial birth abortion)…yet it was glaringly conservative in contrast to Ted Kennedy’s and Martha Coakley’s. But Brown didn’t flinch and neither should Brady. For one thing… with Illinois $12 billion in the hole and engulfed a state retirement system that will need $131 billion to cover benefits but with only $46 billion in the bank…only people like me (and you and the conservative base) probably will pay attention to social issues—a duplicate of what happened in Massachusetts—unless the media builds it up to super-proportions.
They will try but the answer for us pro-lifers is to keep cool. Much as we would like our social issues to dominate, chances are Illinois will pay far more attention to issues on which Pat Quinn is vulnerable: bad administration, freeing 1,500 penitentiary prisoners, some with double-violent records, sending them out to the street in order to “save money.” But here are highlights of the Brady record which shows that he is indubitably the most conservative Republican to run for governor in many, many moons.
In addition to opposing all manner of pro-abort legislation including state funding and the like…
He authored bills to allow pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions or dispense emergency contraception based on their religious beliefs…pushed a Constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage and outlaw civil unions…sponsored a bill to repeal the state’s gay rights law...authored a bill to repeal the state’s Firearm Owner Identification Card…wrote a constitutional amendment to ban the state Department of Education. In addition he…
Sponsored the “Born Alive Infant Act” which Obama as state senator killed repeatedly…supported legislation to ban use of state funds for human embryo research.
These are just the highlights of an immaculately consistent record on social issues. So if Brady wins in the last count…and that is weeks away…no recriminations but join us to elect him governor. Of course if my guy Kirk Dillard wins, let’s pledge the same thing: unity. We’ve got two great candidates for governor…and what do they have? NUTTIN!
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*: Feast of the Seven Founders of the Servite Order [13th Century]. Between 1225-27 seven young Florentines joined what they called then “The Confraternity of the Blessed Virgin” which later adopted the name Servants of Mary or Servites. As in the contemporary film “It’s Complicated,” it was for some of them. Three of them were celibates, four had been married and had family responsibilities (although two had become widowers). The married ones having secured approval of their wives were given permission to join the Servites. Their aim was to lead lives of penance and prayer at a house called La Camarzia outside the gates of Florence. But alas they were bothered by a constant flow of visitors so they withdrew to the wild and deserted slopes of Mount Senario where they built a rude church, a hermitage and lived lives of almost inconceivable austerity.
In spite of their inaccessibility, men flocked to them to join their community. Then they asked their bishop for a Rule to follow. They decided to adopt the Rule of St. Augustine. They chose new names and became Brothers Bonfilius, Alexis, Amadeus, Hugh, Sostenes, Manettus and Buonagiunta. Then six of them—excepting Alexis—decided to become priests…Alexis staying a Brother. The Servites grew leaps and bounds and it was soon necessary to build new houses or monasteries…at Siena, Pistoia and Arezzo…spreading from Italy to Germany. They became stunningly effective and were widely recognized for their sanctity. They all lived to old age and when enfeebled returned to their founding monastery. Three died within days of each other. The last Founder was Brother Alexius…who died at the age of 110, believe it or not. All seven were canonized by Leo XIII in 1887.
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