June 2006
OOPS…I MADE A MISTAKE
By
now you may have heard that I sent an e mail to several people
congratulating them on being selected a Republican Precinct Committeeman and
that I was looking forward to working with them. The problem is that in
certain counties it went to all the people I had an e mail address
for…Committeeman or not. It did cause a bit of discussion, such as in the
Statehouse Insider column by Doug Finke:
Rutherford last week startled a dozen members of the Springfield Statehouse
press corps with the following e-mail: "Congratulations on your selection as
Precinct Committeeman. I look forward to working with you to strengthen the
Republican Party at the grass-roots level. I know you will do an outstanding
job."
This made
no sense. First, as we all know, all reporters are ultraliberal Democrats
who are working to destroy the Republican Party. Second, most reporters
wouldn't join the auto club for fear of having a conflict of interest, let
alone serve as precinct committeemen.
Rutherford later explained that the e-mail was sent accidentally because "I
got a little fast with my finger."
Or
Kurt Erickson from Lee Newspapers:
Scores of
Illinoisans found some surprising news in their e-mail inboxes Thursday.
Sen. Dan
Rutherford, R-Chenoa, was congratulating them on being selected as a
Republican precinct committeeman.
The
problem: Many of the e-mails went to Democrats and news reporters, few of
whom dabble in the lower levels of Republican Party doings.
“It was a
snafu,” said Rutherford, who is running for Secretary of State against
incumbent Democrat Jesse White. “I pushed the button and I made the
mistake.”
Rutherford said the mix-up came as his statewide campaign was updating its
e-mail lists.
Instead
of sending the congratulatory messages to just Republican precinct
committeemen, the computer program sent the message to everyone on
Rutherford’s e-mail lists in certain counties.
Among
them was Bloomington Alderman Mike Matejka, a Democrat. “I was just amused
because it was obvious he was sending out some canned message,” he said.
“I’ve had
a lot of phone calls and returned e-mails from people saying, ‘Thank you,
but I’m a Democrat,’ ” Rutherford said.
Some of the best were the personal e mails I received:
“Thanks
for the honor. I don't think I would make very good party
loyalists. I can only support candidates I feel good about, and there are
candidates who are republicans who I could not give my support to. I am
supporting your bid for Secretary of State and I am talking about that in
conversations with friends and family members. I think this is a time we
need to make big changes in our system. At the federal level the total
control by the GOP has caused them to run wild and run up big debt, pretend
the global warming does not exist, give preference to big business over
people and get us into a wasteful war in IRAQ. It's very interesting that on
the state level the Dems have done the exact same type of stupid and
wasteful things. I am in a mood that I want to throw the bums out on both
sides of the aisle. I think you would be a bright light in the fog of
corruption of our state.”
“Please
let me know who I need to coordinate with.”
“I am
somewhat surprised to find from your message that I have been selected as
Precinct Committeeman for the Republican Party... especially as I am a
Democrat. That is really big of the GOP, but I must decline the honor, for
reasons that must be apparent (although it is truly tempting, Dan!).”
And
my favorite:
“I didn’t
know my wife signed me up. What are my assignments and what do I do next?”
Oops, I made a mistake and I admit it!
Traveling the State
Rutherford calls for technology upgrade
Rutherford talks about future
Change needed in SOS
The Pontiac Bonneville still keeps on purring…..June she starts with 215,600
miles. Regular oil changes and plenty of ethanol keep her happy. Visits
included Crawford, Madison, DuPage, Cook, Bond, Fayette, Montgomery, Clark,
Edgar, Champaign, Sangamon, Lake, McHenry, Winnebago, Kankakee, LaSalle,
Knox, McDonough, Stephenson, JoDavies, Logan, Peoria, Will, Tazewell, McLean
and Vermilion Counties.
