Illinois’ 17th District race was a weird one

Bill Knight column for Nov. 22, 23 or 24, 2018

This Thanksgiving week, it’s good to count our blessings, like choices – whether side dishes or political candidates. But to some Republican or Democratic stalwarts, much less Independents, the race for the seat from Illinois’ 17th Congressional District in west-central Illinois, felt like dogs choosing between fleas or ticks.

One-time “Blue Dog” Democrat Cheri Bustos, the 57-year-old Quad Cities incumbent first elected in 2012, has taken more centrist positions than predecessors Lane Evans and Phil Hare. That can’t be attributed to Donald Trump winning the District in 2016 (47.4 percent to 46.7 percent for Hillary Clinton) because Bustos joined the conservative Democrat Blue Dog coalition in 2013.

Bustos, a former reporter and hospital official with family ties to Democratic politicians, early in her tenure tried to “reach across the aisle” in Congress, an admirable effort. But she also rejects progressives like U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

At July’s "Opportunity 2020" convention in Ohio sponsored by the middle-of-the-road Third Way think tank, Bustos said, “If you look throughout the heartland, there’s a silent majority who just wants normalcy, … people that just don’t really like protests and don’t like yelling and screaming.”

(She didn’t mention polite constituents who disagree with moderates too willing to compromise with conservatives.)

“If we run people who are far left in swing districts or districts that might lean a little bit Republican, we’re not going to be successful,” Bustos told Politico, neglecting to mention that majorities of everyday Americans support sensible gun laws and compassionate immigration proposals.

A 2017 survey by Pew Research Center showed that 68 percent back a ban on assault-style weapons, and 65 percent support a ban on high-capacity magazines, and a Pew survey this summer showed that 70 percent of Americans say legal immigration into the United States should be kept as it is or be increased. Other polls confirms such preferences: 76 percent support higher taxes on the wealthy, 70 percent support Medicare for All, and 60 percent support expanded tuition-free college (Reuter-Ipsos); 59 percent support stricter environmental regulation (Pew); 65 percent support progressive criminal justice reform (Public Opinion Strategies); 69 percent oppose overturning Roe v. Wade (Think Progress); and 59 percent support a $15 minimum wage (Justice Democrats).

So, these positions aren’t “far left,” and they wouldn’t by costly (given support for increased revenues from higher taxes on the rich). However, GIVING AMERICANS WHAT THEY WANT could be something opposed by the affluent who contribute to campaigns, thereby threatening some politicians with their jobs.

In fact, Bustos on Nov. 9 announced that she wants a better job: chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which raises money for candidates.

            Former lawmaker Bill Edley – who represented west-central Illinois as a State Representative and supervised Sanders’ 2016 Springfield office – criticized Bustos’ past affiliation with the Blue Dogs as “the exact opposite of a progressive Democrat” and noted her legislative ratings by interest groups.

Indeed, the conservative, business-oriented U.S. Chamber of Commerce ranks Bustos’ cumulative score at 66 percent, the highest of any of Illinois’ 11 Congressional Democrats before the midterm), and ProgressivePunch.org gives her an “F” – 182nd out of 193 Democrats ranked in its scorecard, with a lifetime 51.25 grade.

However, if you were disappointed in Bustos, consider her midterm opponent: Bill Fawell, a 64-year-old real estate broker and writer who ran unopposed in the GOP’s March primary.

“The Republican nominee said the September 11 terrorist attacks were a government-led inside job,” reported Rich Miller of Capitol Fax. Falwell has “also pushed conspiracy theories about the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., being a ‘false flag,’ pushed the ‘Pizzagate’ conspiracy theory, which falsely holds that prominent politicians have trafficked children through the Washington, D.C., restaurant Comet Ping Pong.”

Eventually, State GOP chairman Tim Schneider and other prominent Republicans withdrew support for Fawell. Nevertheless, 68,000 voters cast ballots for Fawell, and this Thanksgiving we pray that they were voting against Bustos, not for Fawell. Or, they could be super-loyal Republicans, like the 57,000 voters who cast ballots for neo-Nazi Art Jones, who also ran unopposed in the GOP primary for the 3rd Congressional District, where he faced against U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski.

Real choices are blessings.

When they exist.