North Cook News

A new ad campaign is encouraging voters to choose political newcomers for the state legislature when they go to the polls for the general election next month.

The ads, paid for by Liberty Principles PAC, feature "Kathleen," a single mother who lives in Illinois, pleading to voters in the state to select Republican candidates to change the power dynamics of the Democrat-controlled General Assembly.

"I'm a single mom of two elementary school children. I grew up in Illinois, I went to college here, I work here, we want to stay here," Kathleen says in one ad version. "It's our home but we can't afford to be here if things don't change. I need affordable schools for my kids and good jobs for them after college. They'll have neither if we don't change state government. We need to send career politicians packing so we can stay."

In another ad Kathleen says, "I teach my two kids to think for themselves, to dream big and to take responsibility for their actions. In Illinois, we adults need to start living the lessons we teach our kids." Kathleen asks why Illinoisans continue to vote for career politicians who are beholden to Chicago bosses.

"Why do we give into the cynicism that there's nothing we can do?" she asks. "There is something we can do. We can send career politicians packing so we can stay."

The ad campaign, which also includes mailers with the same theme, is one of a number of political advertisements paid for this election season by Liberty Principles PAC.

"We launched this campaign as part of our final argument on behalf of the legislative candidates we're supporting because we need to combat the fatalism that is so prevalent in Illinois," Liberty Principles PAC's Chairperson and Treasurer Dan Proft told the DuPage Policy Journal. "We want voters to stop plotting their exit strategy. We want to remind them that their home is in our great state and all that is required to make Illinois more inhabitable is different policy makers making different policy decisions on the matters that impact our quality of life."

Proft, a conservative radio talk show host, senior fellow at the Chicago-based conservative think tank Illinois Policy Institute and co-founder of the nonprofit Illinois Opportunity Project, said there are solutions to the problems Illinoisans face.

"If we change the balance of power in Springfield and change out sycophants for independent thinkers," Proft said. "People should believe that they are in charge of their destiny, they can improve their lives and that starts with the decisions they make on Nov. 8."

The ad campaign concentrates on the PAC's slate of politicians it has endorsed for this year's election season, particularly a wide field of political newcomers, including Jillian Rose Bernas, Republican candidate for State House District 56, Schaumburg.

Bernas recently posted a video on her Facebook page about the “political games played in Springfield and why legislation that has wide public approval never makes it into law.”

The video, which shows a demonstration on why things never get done in Springfield and adds texture to her claims, was posted with the following message:

"’I have cut my pay six times’ and ‘I have voted to freeze property taxes 17 times.’ These are things you will hear my opponent say and yet those things never become legislation. Why? I want to briefly explain the political games that are played in Springfield that keep good legislation from being passed into law. It all comes down to my opponent (state Rep.) Michelle Mussman’s (D-Schaumburg) first vote, the one making Michael Madigan speaker, and the second one, for Madigan's rules.”

Versions of the ads also support Dawn Abernathy, the Republican candidate for state Representative in District 59, running against Rep. Carol Sente (D-Vernon Hills). Abernathy, a Mundelein village trustee since 2013, supports term limits for all government officials regardless of echelon and recently took a strong position on elected officials’ eligibility for legislative pensions and health care benefits, pledging that, if elected, she would refuse to accept either.

Mel Thillens, the Republican candidate for the District 28 state Senate seat, is also supported in the ad campaign. Thillens said the state needs reform and needs people who will champion those reforms.

“Illinois needs structural reforms to change the way state government operates,” Thillens said. “The best way to reform government in Illinois is to elect reform-minded legislators, not the same status quo of ineffective and incompetent politicians.”

Other candidates endorsed by Liberty Principles PAC who are mentioned in the ads include Jerry Long of Streator, who is challenging state Rep. Andy Skoog (D-LaSalle); Michael Amrozowicz of Grayslake, who is challenging state Sen. Melinda Bush (D-Grayslake); and Rod Drobinski of Wauconda, who is challenging state Rep. Sam Yingling (D-Grayslake).

Proft is a principal of Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which owns North Cook News.