Rauner ally Blair Garber is under fire for calling East St. Louis "a shithole" | Linkedin
Rauner ally Blair Garber is under fire for calling East St. Louis "a shithole" | Linkedin
Evanston Township GOP Chief and Illinois Lottery Control Board Chairman J. Blair Garber has made his Twitter account private, after a Springfield newspaper reported comments he made about East St. Louis, calling it "the shithole of the universe."
Replying to country music star Charlie Daniels on Jan. 17, Garber slammed U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) for complaining about President Donald Trump's "strong language" during a meeting on immigration reform.
"Charlie, Durbin's home town is (get this) east St. Louis Illinois! The shithole of the universe! Just do a google search," Garber wrote.
Garber is a staunch ally of Governor Bruce Rauner of Winnetka. He is one of a handful of township committeemen who has endorsed Rauner in the March 20 GOP primary, in which he is squaring off with State Representative Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton).
Rauner appointed Garber to the Illinois Lottery Control Board in May 2016.
Garber also serves as the representative from the 9th U.S. Congressional District to the Illinois Republican State Central Committee. Rauner lives in the 9th Congressional District.
Durbin graduated from East St. Louis Assumption High School in 1962.
East St. Louis then had more than 80,000 population and was 55 percent white and 45 percent black. In 2016, the U.S. Census reported it had just under 27,000 population, 98 percent black currently.
Garber is a prolific user of social media. He has tweeted 997 times since 2009, according to his account.
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