From FoxNews:

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is intervening in his state’s presidential primary dispute and plans to file emergency legislation to address the inability of most Republican presidential candidates to get their name on the ballot, Fox News has learned.

Meanwhile, four GOP candidates on Saturday joined fellow candidate Rick Perry’s lawsuit against the state, urging the Board of Elections to either allow them on the ballot or at least refrain from taking any action until a Jan. 13 court hearing.

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Donald J. Trump and Ross Perot are both billionaires- but that’s where the similarity ends. Perot is erratic, cranky and conspiratorial while Trump is outspoken, blunt and charismatic.

Ross Perot actually became a legal candidate for President, withdrew and became a candidate again in 1992. Even with his late re-start and with ballot access laws harsher and more difficult than they are today- after a decade of election law reform-Perot got on all 50 state ballots. Trump flirted with running-took himself out and now is sending signals he may still just jump in.

Talking of running a late Independent campaign for President ,Trump told Fox News,  ”If I’m not happy with what I see, I can very easily change my mind. I’m not happy with what I see, and I will make a determination sometime into the future, absolutely. There is no deadline. If I did it as an independent, I could do it very much better.”

Trump was preparing to show a net worth of $7.5 billion worth with over $350 million cash on hand, in his federal disclosure form. Trump’s companies are privately held. Clearly Trump has both the $5 to $7 milion it would take to get on the ballot in all states and the $200 million for an intense paid TV and Cable and innovative new media campaign.

Trump also had some tough talk for the GOP, saying they are setting themselves up to lose the next election. Trump seemed to be positioning himself for a Independent run.

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As the NAACP prepares to condemn the tea party movement for phantom “explicitly racist behavior”, the Department of Justice and the NAACP overlook actual instances of explicitly racist behavior by the New Black Panther Party. Blatant disregard for actual racist behavior shows the NAACP to be nothing more than a tool of hard leftists; hard leftists who are intent on creating exploitable divisions.

I know from personal experience that the tea party movement is mainstream. Americans of all ethnic, economic and political backgrounds have been rallying and running for office because they want a government that works for the people. I am one of those Americans-and I am Black.

After being slated as a candidate in Illinois’ 43rd State Senate District, I gave my first public speech at a tea party rally and have spoken at several more since then.

With just two weeks to gather signatures, dozens of people from the tea party movement circulated my petitions. I turned in over 2100 signatures in just 19 days to get on the ballot.

The support I have received from the tea party movement since getting on the ballot has been overwhelmingly positive. Supporters have donated their time and money. They have participated in precinct walks, protests, phoning, and they even packed a hearing room to support me.

The hearing room is significant because one group of people have not been supportive of my ballot access – Chicago Machine Democrats. The Chicago Machine unleashed their top election lawyer, Michael Kasper, to unjustly knock me off the ballot on a party line vote by the Will County Board of Elections. My team has appealed the decision in circuit court and we are confident the ruling will be overturned. I have yet to hear from the NAACP about this injustice to my campaign and the voters of Illinois’ 43rd State Senate District.

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As we feared, the Chicago Democrat Machine reached into neighboring Will County and lined up a couple Democrat officials to throw Cedra Crenshaw, GOP candidate for the 43rd State Senate District, off the ballot. The Machine candidate in the district, A.J. Wilhelmi, is a legacy politician who was specially appointed to the Senate seat. The Democrat Machine would prefer a coronation, rather than a competition. The Election Board’s decision is below:

Davis_vs_Crenshaw_Decision

The story doesn’t end here. Cedra’s campaign will appeal the decision, which stands a good chance of being reversed. But, as is often the case, there is more to the story. Stay tuned also for information on current GOP officials who, if not actually complicit in this injustice, certainly weren’t helpful in pushing Cedra’s case. At junctures like these, names need to be named.

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Last week, I reported how the Chicago Democrat machine had injected itself into neighboring Will County in attempt to knock me on the ballot. My candidacy against a legacy politician, the specially appointed AJ Wilhelmi, was too much of a threat to the status quo in Illinois. Today, the Will County Board of Elections is expected to decide whether I can stay on the ballot; whether the voters of my district will face a competition or a coronation this November.

A few short weeks ago, I was a former accountant, auditor, and stay at home mom.  The trifecta of mortgage, marriage, and motherhood catapulted me into the conservative I am today.  A few Republican reformers noticed my local activism.  They asked me to fill an empty ballot spot against a Democratic incumbent State Senator who is a rubber stamp for the same Chicago Machine that put Obama in the White House.

Despite the fact that the district is 2-1 Democratic, my opponent’s party has hired one of the premier elections attorneys to attempt to knock me off the ballot on technicalities.  These same technicalities have been rejected in court wherever they have been tried.  This attorney has worked for the likes of Obama, Bill Clinton, Rahm Emanuel, etc. The Democratic board deciding the case has simply stalled.  They are attempting to run out the clock.  They have waited six weeks to merely decide if my opponent’s case has any merit.  For six weeks our campaign has been in limbo not knowing how they are going to decide on two simple points.  Time is of the essence in a campaign.  While I always knew that politics was an ugly sport, I was not prepared for the lengths the Democrats would go through to try and sabotage my campaign.  I was One Mom versus the Chicago Machine!

I say, “was” because that has all changed.

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In October, 2009, at an Illinois GOP Governor Candidate Debate, moderator Chris Robling opened the debate with the line, “The on-going concern of the State of Illinois is in question!”  He was right, and the primary reasons Illinois is such a mess is the Chicago Democratic Machine.  This engine of self-dealing, corruption, and greed was powerful enough to put forth one of its own get him elected president.

It’s ironic then, that this powerful machine is trembling in fear of Cedra Crenshaw, a conservative, middle class, African-American mother in Will County, Illinois!

Why is the machine afraid?  Because a new class of leadership is starting to develop.  These new leaders threaten to end the shell game of taxes, politics, and patronage. Cedra Crenshaw is one of those new leaders, and she’s is running for state senate against one of the Chicago Machine’s rubber-stamp apparatchiks.

She’s  an accountant who wants to spearhead a forensic audit of Illinois state government.  A former auditor at Deloitte and Touche, Cedra supports an audit of the half a trillion dollars of Democrat controlled state spending during the blow-off historic corruption of Blagojevich/Quinn.  The Democrat Machine- contractors, politicians, and patronage army- stand in naked fear of the result that such an audit would bring.

Such an audit would fumigate thousands of campaign cash-for-patronage hires in agencies, boards and commissions; rescind bloated, rigged bid or mis-awarded contracts; stop the stealing, waste, and legalized graft that do-nothing, ribbon-cutting pork hounds like Cedra’s opponent  -  Sen. A.J. Wilhelmi -  thrive on…at your expense.

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During the 1996 Illinois Senate race, an aspiring Chicago politician hired skilled attorneys to exploit election rules and challenge his primary opponents’ right to be placed on the ballot. This novice politician was Barack Obama who cut his teeth on Chicago politics and effectively removed his opponents from the ballot.

Not much has changed in Chicago since 1996 – politicians are still looking out for special interests, increasing taxes, and creating hurdles to keep legitimate candidates from the ballot.

I am Cedra Crenshaw and I am running for the Illinois Senate in the 43rd District. Until a few months ago, I was just one mom in a process of political evolution. After a brief career in auditing, my husband and I started a family and thus began the trifecta of marriage, mortgage, and motherhood which catapulted me into the conservative that I am today. I stepped from being reactive to pro-active when I ran for Precinct Committeeman this past February. I wanted to carry the message of conservatism to my neighbors and help influence my local party with my principles and values – but I’m just one mom.  I’m one mom who waited for someone to step forward and challenge incumbent State Senator Arthur Wilhelmi and force him to defend his record, which has helped to decimate this state. But no one came forward and I’m not waiting any longer. I’m going on offense. And today I’m one mom who is taking on the machine of Chicago patronage politics as represented by Senator Arthur Wilhelmi.

When I arrived on the scene as one mom against the Chicago political machine, it didn’t take career politicians and their hired help long to line up a challenge to my candidacy.

The Will County Electoral Board has heard a frivolous objection filed by Joliet resident Robert L. Davis which challenges the signatures on my nominating petitions. My opponent, State Sen. A.J. Wilhelmi is represented by Michael Kasper, who is one of the country’s top election attorneys. Kasper’s client list includes former President Bill Clinton, Rahm Emanuel, U.S. Rep. Michael Madigan, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, Congressman Phil Hare and, that once aspiring Chicago politician, President Barack Obama.

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Over the last month or so, I have featured several posts on the Putback amendment. The Putback amendment is a proposal by an Illinois activist named John Bambenek that tries to dramatically reform the structure and procedures of our government in order, in the hopes of Bambenek, to make the government more responsive.

The Putback amendment is comprehensive and so I did three separate posts on it. It includes a mechanism to allow the rank and file within the legislature to get their bills to the floor. With this amendment, any legislator would need to get 25 legislators to sign off on a discharge petition and that would get any bill onto the floor. Currently, it only goes through the rules committee and the rules committee is manned by the leadership. It also removes so called “shell bills” which are blank bills that filter through the legislature and allow the legislature to write the meat and bones in private and quickly have it voted on.

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