Sunday

It sure would be nice if someone from the national GOP leadership condemned this intimidation re the IL gubernatorial race:

The Sun-Times has reported that armed investigators who work for Palos Township GOP Committeeman Sean Morrison’s security firm visited the homes of people who had signed or circulated Libertarian petitions. The newspaper cited two examples of security company employees, with holstered weapons visible, allegedly telling the people that the petitions were fraudulent — a lie — and urging them to retract their signatures.

But wait…there’s more:

The Sun Times tracked down the woman who circulated the Libertarian Party ballot access petition Julieus Hooks had signed back in May. That petition was circulated by Sarah Dart. When asked by the newspaper, Dart told a similar story of armed Republicans coming to her home and terrorizing her. According to the publication, ‘Dart says a private investigator named Carlos Rodriguez contacted her, asking about a missing girl who knew someone she supposedly knew. She believes the story about the missing girl was a ruse.’

Believing there was a missing young girl whose life was at stake, Dart met with Rodriguez. She was caught completely by surprise when he confronted her with a stack of her LP petitions and a gun. He demanded she sign an affidavit saying the signatures were obtained fraudulently. But Sarah Dart refused even though she admits she was terrified by this lying, armed, threatening man. According to the business card Rodriguez gave Dart, he works for Morrison Security in Alsip, Illinois. The Sun Times report says the company’s owner is the Palos Township Republican leader, Sean Morrison.

I’m sure that’s just a coincidence.

The DuPage Libertarians’ website explains how a man with a gun showed up at Bent’s home last Sunday, insisting that the petition circulator was a fraud and that Mr. Bent had been victimized and must sign an affidavit recanting his original signature. Being an active Libertarian Party volunteer, Warren Bent turned the tables on the threatening armed man and demanded to know who hired him and who put him up to this terror campaign. Bent says the guy fled at that point.

And even more:

During the same proceedings, the Libertarian Party went on the offensive by calling witnesses of their own. One of those witnesses was a scared young girl who testified that she had been visited multiple times at her home by armed men who she said made her “frightened” each time. Lambrecht explains, “This girl, who was our second biggest signature collector in the state, was scared -- but not scared enough. She knew the work she did was honest and legal and she refused to give in. So she testified on our behalf about the confrontations. That testimony helped our case.”

Bear in mind, this thuggery happened after the IL GOP challenged all of the 43K signatures the IL LP collected -- to little avail. (In IL, GOP and Dem candidates only need 5K valid signatures to get on the ballot; all other parties are required to collect 25K.)

Rope. Esso station. Some assembly required.