This is wonderfully sweet revenge. Krupa has been appointed by 92nd District Republicans to replace Aaron Schock, who resigned to take his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois’ 18th District. Of course, she’ll serve just nine days until Jehan Gordon takes over.

And it’s official, not some honorary appointment. Even though she’ll serve a little more than a week, she IS a member of the Illinois General Assembly, and the history books will record Krupa as replacing Schock and Gordon as replacing Krupa. And if all goes according to plan, history will record Krupa as being among the people who voted to have the Senate impeach Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Gordon, on the other hand, got her job in part because Blago sent campaign workers to Peoria during the primary to help Gordon defeat Allen Mayer.

This just occurred to me: Blago backed Gordon. Blago won’t be around much longer. Will Blago’s enemies — House Speaker Mike Madigan chief among them — seek to punish Jordon, or ignore her and the needs of the 92nd District?

So it wasn’t just that Kevin Lyons is a bad public servant. By any standard that exists he is. He’s arrogant. He’s dismissive of of people he NEEDS to work with in order to do his job properly. He failed constantly in his responsibility to fight to keep criminals on the street. When word got out that he issued a notice to appear to a convicted criminal arrested on drug and weapons charges, I thought to myself: “This is it. If there’s anyone on the fence about Kevin Lyons, this will send their votes to Darin LaHood.”

Yet there I was at the Darin LaHood victory party watching the final results. Lyons won, 54-46 percent.

LaHood was gracious. He congratulated Lyons — who didn’t appear in public on election night and was unavailable for comment. How very typical.

So we’re stuck with Lyons for another four years. Roger Monroe speculated in this month’s Community Word that Lyons will be appointed to a federal judgeship by President-elect Obama. That would be good news for Peoria County, although whoever would be appointed to replace him would have LaHood’s qualifications or ability to work closely with police.

And Jehan Gordon beat Joan Krupa for the 92nd Illinois House seat now held by Aaron Schock,  future Congressman. The results were 53.5 to 46.5, virtually identical to the Lyons/LaHood race. Why? probably because of the massive turnout for Obama, which no doubt put votes into Lyons and Gordon’s pockets. In any other year, Krupa would, I believe, mop up the floor with Gordon, considering her record of lying about having a degree and for not paying her fines for shoplifting.

But I’m more miffed at the Lyons’ turnout that anything else. Gordon struck me as a smart person who was concerned about the people she was trying to get elected to serve. I hope she can grow in office and turn into an effective and independent legislator. She’s going to have to show some backbone and some independence, though.

I have no hope whatsoever that Lyons learned anything.  But he’s proven time and again that he refuses to consider the possibility he can be wrong about anything. He’s too set in his ways and refuses to admit he can be mistaken, or that he can learn anything from others. We’re going to have another four years of criminals walking around free as a bird, even though they are felons with criminal records and were caught with illegal guns.

Voters knew all the negatives about both Lyons and Krupa. Well, I’m hoping they did. It’s entirely possible that all these Obama voters simply voted yes for any politician with a “D” by their name.

The people of Peoria County are going to spend the next four years getting the kind of justice we deserve … because we voted for it.

Last night, I caught what I think is the very first negative ad from the Joan Krupa campaign, paid for by the Friends For Joan Krupa Committee. The ad noted Jehan Gordon’s shoplifting convictions and her having misrepresented her academic credentials. There’s nothing in the ad that isn’t true according to press reports.

How can the Gordon campaign respond? By denying them? Nope. By complaining about her going negative? Nope, since it’s obvious Gordon has been in negative mode for weeks. By airing newer negative ads herself? Yep. Look for a bunch of new attack ads.

When a person has the same last name as a famous person, I always want to ask them if they are related to that famous, celebrity person.

So, Joan KRUPA, is anyone in your family related to the great, gifted bandleader and drummer of the 1940’s: Gene KRUPA?

I am a big Gene KRUPA fan and I hope you are some way related to him!

I am eagerly awaiting your Joan KRUPA/Gene KRUPA answer!!!

Yes, inquiring minds want to know.

Friends for Joan Krupa are extending an invitation to meet Joan Krupa on Wednesday, October 8, at Sky Harbor (1321 N. Park Rd., West Peoria) from 5-7 p.m.
Complimentary appetizers, coffee, and iced tea. Cash bar.
Please RSVP to 691-1900.

Hosts are:
Wendy Bowles
Sharon Crews
Sharon Kennedy
Sharon McBride
Jan Powers
Todd & Laurie Baker
Gary & Sandy Dutro
John & Diane Powell
Michael & Diana Swearingen

Joan Krupa to hold news conference to take opponent Jehan Gordon to task for trampling on the truth

Character becoming a central issue in campaign

(PEORIA) In recent press releases and mailings to voters, Jehan Gordon’s campaign has been spreading blatant falsehoods about Joan Krupa. The scope of Gordon’s purposeful deception is now breathtaking. Joan Krupa will hold a news conference to distribute Gordon’s campaign materials and provide proof to refute one outrageous charge after another. The level of absurd, completely concocted false charges by Jehan Gordon is unprecedented in this region and Krupa intends to set the record straight at the news conference.

Just a sampling:

* Gordon put out press release saying Krupa missed 25% of Peoria County Board meetings but after a FOIA response, the Journal Star found Krupa missed only two meetings out of 86.
* Gordon mailers put Krupa’s head on another person’s body and another had Krupa standing in front of a mansion that is not her house.
* Gordon mailers falsely say Krupa voted for things on the county board that have zero basis in fact.

Krupa will be joined by her campaign chairman, Jim Maloof and two former Peoria County Board Chairs, one a Democrat and one a Republican.

News Conference:

2:00 pm
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Jim Maloof Realty Headquarters
803 W. Pioneer Parkway, Peoria

I won’t be able to attend. Perhaps one of more citizen journalists will attend to report on what is said and asked, and maybe ask a few questions as well.

Now comes the high-respected *cough* news site TMZ to lead the ignorant hayseeds of the River City out of the darkness:

I was so confused before. Thanks, TMZ.

If you are still confused, Joan Krupa, the Republican candidate for the Illinois House of Representatives from the 92nd District, is the one on the left. She’s the one who has done more good for humanity during one single day of her life than Joanna Krupa is likely to do in her entire life.

Gordon Blasts Krupa for Living in a Glass House & Not Meeting her Own Attendance Standards

Candidate for State Representative Jehan Gordon (D-Peoria) condemned her Republican opponent Joan Krupa for releasing information she knew to be false in an attempt to purposely lie to the voters of the 92nd district. In Wednesday’s release Krupa claimed that Gordon had missed 40% of the Pleasant Hill School Board meetings since she joined the board. According to the school board records this is false. Gordon’s attendance record show’s that she was at 11 of 15 regularly scheduled school board meetings. During her own time as a Peoria County Board member, during a comparable one-year period (the same standard that the Krupa campaign has used), Joan Krupa was absent from 25% of the meetings held between April 14, 1992 and April 13, 1993.

“It is unfortunate that my opponent has decided to ignore the real issues that the people of our district care about and instead released a statement that she knows is false,” Gordon said. “Joan Krupa has called character a major issue in this campaign but in the first test of her character she has shown that she is willing to lie to the voters in order to gain a political advantage.”

Last winter, in a personal letter to Gordon and again during Wednesday’s Peoria Chamber of Commerce forum, Krupa pledged to not go negative. One day later Krupa’s statement was released attacking Gordon with false and misleading information. Krupa’s campaign chairman Wednesday stated that missing more than 5% of meetings was an issue; he clearly should have an issue with his own candidate.

“When Krupa says it’s a betrayal of trust to miss meetings, she’s really talking about herself,” Gordon said. “According to the county board records Joan missed 25% of her own meetings in a one-year period. Joan is a hypocrite for trying to apply standards to others that she can’t live up to herself.”

A statement released by Bob Neal and Pat Carroll, president and vice president of the Pleasant Hill school board called Gordon a valued member of the school board who has dedicated her career to helping the students of Peoria county.

Gordon is the Democratic nominee for 92nd district State Representative. For more information, contact Jehan Gordon at (309) 673-9292 or at info@jehangordon.com

Joan Krupa holds news conference in front of Pleasant Hill School to discuss Jehan Gordon’s denial of an abysmal attendance record as a member of the school board and Gordon’s lying about canceling her participation in the Kiwanis debate on Wednesday

Krupa: “Jehan Gordon has sent out mailers saying she has learned from her mistakes, but these continued deceptions are disturbing and the voters have a right to know about them.”

Life-long Democrat and former Peoria County Board Chair Sharon Kennedy joined Krupa to praise Krupa’s work on the county board and explain why it is such a breach of public trust to hold a position and not show up.

(PEORIA) When Jehan Gordon deceived WHOI News yesterday by denying that she had an abysmal attendance record as a school board member for Pleasant Hill School, and she falsely claimed to have called to cancel her participation in the 92nd District Kiwanis Club debate, Krupa decided to hold a news conference to air the truth and call attention to the facts.

Gordon also recently sent out two mailers focusing on “character” and saying she had make mistakes but has learned from them. That is hard to believe in light of her prevaricating to WHOI News just yesterday about two separate matters.

Gordon also has failed to explain why she skipped out on two debates she agreed to participate in this week. She called the Peoria Medical Society hours before their debate to cancel her attendance. But for the Kiwanis Club full blown debate for just the two candidates in the 92nd District, she just didn’t show up without notifying anyone, despite her claim of doing so. She left Kiwanis leaders and members hanging as they tried repeatedly to call her when the debate was supposed to start. They continued for some time trying to reach her and then began the program 20 minutes late when they realized she just wasn’t going to show up.

Gordon told WHOI News yesterday that her “opponent does not want to talk about issues that affect people.” Krupa responded today saying, “I would love to focus on other issues, but it is hard to debate those issues when my opponent skipped two scheduled debates in two days.”

Krupa then said, “When you boil down all the problems in our state government in Springfield, it comes down to bad character. As I speak with voters they agree with me that character is a central issue in this campaign.”

Krupa released a Freedom of Information Act response from the administration of the Pleasant Hill School showing Gordon missed 40% of meetings from when she began as a board member into August of this year. Since then the school had their September meeting and a couple special meetings, giving Gordon a 32% absentee rate and being late for quarter of the meetings she did attend.

Sharon Kennedy, former Peoria County Board Chair who served as a Democrat and worked with Krupa praised the work Krupa did on the county board and said “Joan always showed up well prepared and was a model public servant.” Kennedy castigated Jehan Gordon saying Gordon’s missing such a high percentage of meetings was a breach of the public trust and that she let down the students, teachers and administrators who all rely on the leadership of their school board.

Krupa once again noted that if Gordon was a student at Pleasant Hill instead of a school board member she would be classified as a “chronic truant” with such an abysmal attendance record.

Krupa said Jehan Gordon’s lying just yesterday to WHOI about that attendance record and her not showing up at the Kiwanis debate is further evidence that Gordon has not changed her ways that have gotten her into so much trouble.

Krupa detailed aspects of the disturbing pattern of bad judgment and a lack of character in Jehan Gordon, in addition to being AWOL from school board meetings 32% of the time and being late to one quarter of those she did attend, and then denying it to WHOI News.

Gordon, who was a communications major, has played with words before to fool people into believing positive things about her that are not true. For instance, Gordon was forced to pull an ad in the primary election earlier this year that falsely said she graduated from the University of Illinois.

Jehan Gordon was arrested for shoplifting when she was 19 years old, but the disturbing aspect of that is that she only paid the fines associated with that conviction 8 years later, which was only two weeks before the primary. One wonders if those fines would have ever been paid if Jehan Gordon had not decided to run for state representative.

Continuing that pattern of skipping out on making good on convictions, Gordon was arrested for being “unlicensed,” driving without insurance and no valid registration in 2004 and 2005 when she was in her mid-twenties. Again, the disturbing aspect is that it took her years to pay the fines and she did so only when she was in the middle of her campaign for state representative.

Then Gordon had the audacity to criticize her opponent for not debating the issues, which is hard to do since Gordon skipped out on two debates just this week and then denied she didn’t show up without giving notice to the Kiwanis.

Krupa said there are vast difference for the voters to consider regarding the two candidates positions on issues, records in office, accomplishments, character and integrity.

JEHAN GORDON GETS A “F” FOR ATTENDANCE

Gordon a no show at two debates in two days but comes late to one in between

Jehan Gordon would be classified as a

CHRONIC TRUANT

if she were a student instead of a school board member on the Pleasant Hill School Board because of her abysmal attendance at school board meetings

(PEORIA) As a candidate for 92nd District State Representative, Jehan Gordon is living up to her abysmal attendance record on the Pleasant Hill School Board.

Gordon has missed an astonishing 40% of the Pleasant Hill School Board meetings where she serves as a board member. In addition, board minutes show that she arrived late to one-third of the meetings she did attend.

If Jehan Gordon were a student at Pleasant Hill School instead of a school board member, she would be classified as a CHRONIC TRUANT with that kind of abysmal attendance record.

That kind of attendance record proves that she obviously doesn’t care much about her duties on the Pleasant Hill School Board. It seems clear that she wanted to get onto a school board simply to be able to use that platform to launch her bid for State Representative. Otherwise she would have taken her responsibilities more seriously.

Such an attendance record is a horrible example to the students of Pleasant Hill.

Now, true to that poor attendance record, yesterday Gordon cancelled her participation at the last minute for the Peoria Medical Society’s Candidate Forum which she had formally accepted. Her opponent, Joan Krupa attended as did Congressional candidates Aaron Schock and Colleen Callahan.

This morning Gordon did attend the Chamber of Commerce debate in Peoria—but true to form, she arrived late.

Inexplicably, only hours later Jehan Gordon stood up the Downtown Kiwanis Club for their 92nd District Debate at the Lariat Club in Peoria. Kiwanis leaders had Gordon’s formal acceptance to participate in writing and were furious. Gordon did not even call to cancel, she just didn’t show up for the full blown debate between her and her opponent, Joan Krupa who was there.

So within 18 hours, Gordon skipped a debate she had agreed to attend, then arrived late at a second one and then did not show up at a third debate.

That disturbing pattern exactly mirrors Gordon’s horrible attendance record on the Pleasant Hill School Board.

In recent mailings to voters Gordon says she “has learned from her mistakes.” But she obviously hasn’t changed her ways.

Jehan Gordon’s campaign slogan is: Listen-Learn-Lead. But a Representative CANNOT listen if she doesn’t show up. She CANNOT learn if she doesn’t show up. And she CANNOT lead if she doesn’t show up.

It has been said before: “Some officials vote their conscience, some vote their constituents and some don’t vote at all.” The latter behavior doesn’t solve problems, it makes them worse.

With the legendary dysfunction in Springfield that our state already suffers from, voters ought to be wary about adding to that dysfunction with yet another person who has proven herself unfit to serve.