March 2008
Heading South for Spring Break
The Legislature is on Spring Break for
two weeks. I am spending part of my break visiting with friends and
supporters around the State. Southern Illinois one week, followed by
Northern Illinois the next.
I started the tour in Springfield to get some work done in the Capitol
office, and then George, my Administrative Assistant, and I took off in
the Pontiac Bonneville.
The Bonneville started off with 288,082 miles. What a champ! I will let
you know the final mileage for the two trips when I put her in the
garage at the conclusion.
Here are a few pictures from the first leg of the trip:
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In
Waterloo for lunch with George Obernagel (right) and Mike Luhr.
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At the
Litchfield News Herald and in front of the Madison County
Courthouse.
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Lance Camp (left) a former Legislative Assistant
and some friends from the
SIU Law School Republicans |
Representative Mike Bost (right) and Will
Stephens, Candidate for Jackson County Board |
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Radio show with Tom Miller
in
Carterville
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Marion radio show with Bruce Fasol |
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Diane
Wilkins from the Marion
Daily
Republican
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Taping
a television interview with Lindsey Mastis in Carterville |
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West
Frankfort Mayor Marion Presley (center) and Stephen Cook
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Recording an interview with Aaron Fuchs in Centralia |
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Mayor
Grimes's coworkers at the Iuka State Bank
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Local
Iuka business owner Chuck Rose and his 13 year old son Joey. |
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Janie
Grimes (left) and Penny Helm (right). Penny is the owner of Penny's
Cafe where we had our Iuka gathering.
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Supporters from Iuka that came out and
joined
us for lunch. |
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Iuka
Mayor Janie Grimes (left) and Marion County
GOP
Chairman Doris Purcell put together a
meet
and greet for us at Penny's Cafe
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|
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Bobbi
Snyder (front left) organized a meet and greet at the Courtyard
Coffeehouse in Salem.
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Outside the Courtyard Coffeehouse in Salem with Mayor Ferguson
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My
Assistant George outside the Old State Capitol in Vandalia. He had
never been there and we had an extra half hour so we went on a quick
tour.
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In
front of the sign for the Vandalia Statehouse. Vandalia is where
Illinois's first Capitol building was located. |
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This
placard was located in front of the old Secretary of State's office
inside the original Capitol building. I guess some things never
change!
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At
the meet and greet in Vandalia with Matt and Tara Hall. |
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Fayette County GOP Chairman Randy Pollard, his daughter
Jessica, and wife Cheryl. Chairman Pollard organized
a meet
and greet in Vandalia at the Eagles Lodge.
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With
my cousin Randy Dempsey and his wife Patty
at the
Cracker Barrel in Effingham.
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Jason and Ruth
I have gotten to know Jason Speer in the last couple of years. Recently
he became engaged to Ruth Kiper. I got the opportunity to meet Ruth at
their engagement party in Streamwood. It was a great party and I enjoyed
meeting Ruth. I wish them much happiness in their life together.
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IGOLD Lobby Day in Springfield
I recently had the opportunity to
address several hundred Second Amendment supporters at the annual
Illinois Gun Owners Lobby Day (IGOLD). IGOLD is an annual
collaboration between the Illinois State Rifle Association and
several Illinois gun manufacturers. I am a strong supporter of the
2nd Amendment. I do not believe the 2nd Amendment should be
infringed upon by the General Assembly.
To see pictures from IGOLD go to:
IGOLD picture page |
Squirrel
I am very big into conservation. At my
home, and on my property, I plant trees and do stream bank
stabilization. I generally do not feed wildlife because I think they
would become dependent and with my schedule I would not want to have
them count on me.
I do have a couple bushels of shelled
corn in the garage that I have been putting out for the birds and
squirrels during heavy snow. With the weather turning nice, I am trying
to use it up. I know this may be contrary to what I said earlier, but
it's not like regularly feeding.
Right off my back deck one of the
resident squirrels has been enjoying the corn with the cardinals. He
digs around and makes a mess of the landscaping, but I'll clean that up
when I do yard work and cut back the dried grasses.
New Event
June 20, 2008 -
Arlington International for a Day at the Races
Sis Improving
My sister (Debi)
is getting along better (see entry below). I have put her e address in
for friends to send her a note, but just found out the link was not
working....sorry about that.
Please do
send her an e mail (the link is now working):
Debi@DanRutherford.org . I know
she would like to hear from you.
Mitt Romney for Vice President?
From my friend Michael Sneed's column in
the Chicago Sun Times:
Tipsville . . .
Sneed hears rumbles former GOP presidential
hopeful Mitt Romney is being touted as John McCain's veepmate by the top
leadership of the National Republican Central Committee -- and privately by
Dubya's dad, former President George Herbert Walker Bush.
• • The upshot: Romney wants the job.
Josh Romney
I had the opportunity to get to know Josh
Romney during his father’s recent campaign. Josh visited Illinois several
times, and he was always great to be around. I have stayed in contact with
him through email since Gov. Romney suspended his campaign in February. Josh
is a good person and I have a great deal of respect for him.
Earlier this month I posted a diary entry
about the possibility of Josh running for Congress in Utah. I received an
email from Josh recently. Besides the good natured ribbing he gave me about
my jaw, Josh also informed me that he has decided against making a bid for
the U.S. House of Representatives. Right now he is enjoying spending time
with his family and getting back to a normal routine. I can only imagine how
nice that must be after campaigning for his father all across the nation.
Recycling
You may know that I am a big proponent of recycling. I find that if you set
up convenient ways of recycling it becomes much easier. I have recycling
bins at every work station in the District and Springfield offices as well
as in my house. It makes it so much easier to recycle if you have the bin
right next to you. When the weather is nice and I jog outside in the morning
I carry a plastic bag with me and pick up any recyclable materials I see
along the road.
One of my biggest pet peeves is wasting paper. We have a box in the office
that is designated as recycle paper. Any piece of paper that only has
printing on one side is put in this box. Whenever possible we use the clean
side of the paper to print documents that may not be of great importance
such as schedule pages, drafts of letters, etc.
Our environment is something I take very seriously, as we all should. If you
do not already recycle, I hope you start doing so. There is nobody to take
care of the earth but us!
Note from a friend
"Governor Rutherford….I like how it sounds;
Illinois needs you; I believe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
From a friend and supporter, Lisa. I told her that
one never knows what the future may hold.- Dan
Jawbreaker
After breaking my jaw in Colorado in January, I decided to have jawbreakers
for dessert at our event in Springfield. I sent one of my assistants, Barb,
out to purchase them. She brought back normal size jawbreakers for everyone
else and this special one for me. Who could even get this in their mouth? I
don’t think I could have even before I broke my jaw! If it hadn't been
broken before, it definitely would have after this!
Visitors from Pontiac
I recently had
the good fortune to visit with members of the Pontiac Chamber of Commerce
Leadership. They were in Springfield and stopped by to say hello. I spent
some time with them on the Senate Floor and had our picture taken together
at the podium. It was good to see folks from my hometown in Springfield!
Good jogging weather
I jog every morning to get the blood flowing and to start the day off on a
positive note. If the weather permits I jog outside, if it is too cold or
snowy I do my exercise on my treadmill. Until I broke my jaw early in
January I had not missed a day in about two years. The weather was so nice
this past weekend I thought I would finally be able to get back outside for
my run for good and shelve the treadmill until next winter. Boy was I wrong.
After teasing us for a day with temperatures in the 60’s winter came back
with a vengeance!
I was so excited about the great weather I took some pictures of the lane
and road in front of my house. Almost all the snow had melted. Oh well… back
to the treadmill I go!
Pontiac
Bonneville
The Bonneville is starting this month off with 286,519 miles on the
odometer. Took her in for an oil change and now she is ready to rock again.
She is loving being back out on the open road after being cooped up most of
January while I recovered from my broken jaw. The Bonneville loves to get
some exercise!
Future
Republican
Got this baby picture from Beth. Isn't that a cute stuffed animal in the
crib? Who knows... maybe a candidate for the Senate around 2058!
Just thought you'd like to see a future GOP
member, if Grandma has anything to say about it. We keep trying.
Update
on Sis
Thank you everyone for your thoughts, prayers, questions and concern on how
Sis is doing. She is at home recuperating and totally exhausted. The
gallbladder attack and surgery is all behind her but the Pancreatitus that
also landed her in the emergency room has now been the main concern. After
more tests, CT scan, and blood work results seem to be looking up. She has
not been nauseated, which everyone says is a "GOOD" sign! We've learned you
don't want to make the pancreas angry!
The doctors will be monitoring her symptoms closely and re-run tests in 3 to
6 months. Waiting and praying is about all we can do for now and hopefully
time and healing will bring everything back to normal so this won't
re-occur.
Our family has never enjoyed so many wonderful soups and casseroles as we
have this past month...keep
sending the recipes! Thank you.
Please, if you would like to take a minute to send Sis (Debi) a note, you
can email her at
Debi@DanRutherford.org - I know she is
missing everyone and would appreciate hearing from you.
Thank goodness for a strong close family and all of you sending your
thoughts and prayers. Thank you.
Josh Romney mulling politics
He might run against Matheson for Congress
It looks like there may be a Romney on the ballot in November after all.
Josh, son of Mitt, is contemplating a run for U.S. Congress in Utah. You may
have met Josh on one of his many stops in Illinois while campaigning for his
father. The picture at left is of Josh and myself in front of the Mitt
Mobile.
I know that if Josh does decide to run for Congress he will represent
himself with the class and dignity that both he and his father showed during
the Presidential campaign.
Events
this year
I try to be really organized and plan in advance. As a result, we have
already
set dates for three of our 2008 Dan Rutherford Campaign Committee events. I
wanted to give you advance notice so you can plan to attend one or all.
April 7, 2008 - Champaign
Reception at Biaggi’s in Champaign
June 20, 2008 - Arlington
International for a Day at the Races
July 15, 2008 -
Networking Party at
Harry Caray's in Chicago
October 13, 2008-Annual
Chicken Dinner at the
Pontiac Elk's Country Club
Diary Dates
