June 12, 2007
Animal Farm: GOP finds Bean foe
BY ERIC
KROL, Daily Herald
Here's an earlybird version of the story I've got for
tomorrow's print edition.
A former minor league hockey player who
plans to spend some of his own money stepped forward Tuesday to run as a
Republican against Democratic U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean of Barrington.
Steve Greenberg, 36, whose family franchises the Ben Franklin variety
stores chain, is a conservative businessman from Long Grove who said he and his
brother buy troubled companies and try to turn them around. He played hockey for
an affiliate of the Washington Capitals.
Greenberg told the Daily Herald
earlier this year that he was weighing a run against U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin. But
after considering the impact a pricier statewide race would have on his wife and
three young children, Greenberg said he opted to run for Congress instead.
“I very much want to be part of their locker room,” said Greenberg,
referring to House Republicans he’s met including freshman Congressman Peter
Roskam of Wheaton.
Greenberg said Tuesday that he opposes gun control
and abortion rights except in cases of rape, incest and to save the mother’s
life and favors a constitutional amendment outlawing gay marriage and also
making President Bush’s tax cuts permanent.
On the crucial issue of the
Iraq war, Greenberg said he wants to see what the results of Bush’s troop surge
are but also criticized Bean for voting to rebuke the troop surge but then
voting for the money to pay for it.
“How do you vote against the surge
but for the funding? This is an absence of leadership,” said Greenberg, who also
took Bean to task for a vote making it easier for unions to set up shop at
companies.
Bean spokesman Brian Herman did not address Greenberg’s
criticism directly, saying that Bean “is proud to run on her record of
accomplishment.” **
A National Republican Campaign Committee spokesman
called Greenberg’s decision to run “one of our best recruiting successes to
date.” Greenberg plans to put an undisclosed amount of his own money into the
race, which makes him an attractive candidate to national Republicans who have
to try to recapture dozens of seats lost to Democrats last fall in a tidal wave
that swept then-Speaker Dennis Hastert from power.
First-time candidate
Greenberg is a political unknown, but is buoyed by the fact that the 8th
Congressional District was Republican for decades and that Bean got only 51
percent of the vote last November in a big Democratic year.
But Bean
also is visible back home and is a prolific fund-raiser with more than a
half-million dollars in the first-quarter alone. She dethroned longtime
Republican Phil Crane in 2004.
Anti-war candidate Randi Scheurer of
Lindenhurst also has announced intentions to run against Bean in the Democratic
primary. Her husband, Bill Scheurer, got 5 percent last fall against Bean as a
third-party candidate and plans to run again.
( http://www.dailyherald.com/special/election/animalfarm.asp?id=160 )
** NOTE: THIS IS THE CHOICE DEMOCRATS WILL BE LEAVING THEMSELVES AND VOTERS
IN 2008 ONCE AGAIN UNLESS THEY JOIN THE RANDI REBELLION AND CHANGE IT NOW !!