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* I’ve been telling you lately about conspiracy theorist Bill Fawell’s Republican congressional bid. Click here for a story from late May and click here for a story from Monday.
Tuesday press release…
Calling Republican candidate for Congress Bill Fawell, “a bizarre lunatic whose absurd beliefs are frighteningly dangerous for our communities,” Doug House, president of the Illinois Democratic County Chairs’ Association and Chair of the Rock Island County Democrats, is asking GOP leaders to immediately condemn and reject Fawell’s campaign.
Fawell’s social media posts show he is an unapologetic promoter of wildly far-fetched conspiracies such as the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York as a government-led tragedy. Fawell is also convinced that the 2012 mass shooting at Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School was a US-led “false flag” operation conducted by mysterious “deep state” organizers who, some claim, control a so-called shadow government. At the school, six teachers and 20 students, aged six and seven years old, were riddled with bullets in the massacre.
“Republican Bill Fawell has displayed dangerous, crazy indecency that isn’t reflective of our communities,” House said. “He promotes the belief that certain black celebrities are active in the Illuminati and that child trafficking operations are connected through tunnel systems under Washington, DC pizza shops. These demented ideas are ripped right from the pages of Alex Jones’ InfoWars, a dangerous alt-right propaganda machine. Rock Island Republicans should take the lead by withdrawing their support of Fawell and that others to do the same.”
Republican party officials are withdrawing support for 17th Congressional District candidate Bill Fawell after reviewing alleged conspiracy theories posted by Fawell on social media.
Fawell, 64, will face U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Moline, in the November general election.
State Republican party chairman Tim Schneider, Rock Island County Republican party central committee chair Drue Mielke, and Republican state central committeeman for the 17th Congressional District, Jan Weber, removed their support of Fawell on Tuesday.
All three officials cite posts on Fawell’s campaign Facebook page, Elect Fawell, in which Fawell appears to support 9/11 conspiracy theories, and called some mass shootings “false flag” events.
* Meanwhile, in another congressional campaign…
LaGrange resident Justin Hanson is so incensed to see a Holocaust denier on the ballot that he’s decided to throw his hat in the ring as a write-in candidate for the 3rd Congressional District. “I’m running because I don’t believe men like Art Jones should be allowed to go unchallenged,” Hanson told POLITICO, arguing that “I’m running to give residents of this community a choice. Because as it stands now, they don’t have one.”
Hanson faces incumbent Democrat Dan Lipinski, who’s represented the Chicago-area district since 2005, and Jones, a Nazi who ran unopposed in the primary when the GOP couldn’t come up with another candidate. Republicans have denounced Jones, and Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz even urged residents to vote Democrat in the Chicago-area congressional district to avoid showing any kind of support to Jones’ Nazi views.
Because he’s joined the race too late to be included on the ballot, voters will have to write in Hanson’s name. “We know it will be a challenge, but this is an extraordinary circumstance and I think voters recognize that,” he said.
No reference is made in the story about whether the GOP will now back Hanson.
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Aug 8, 18 @ 11:03 am
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What does Fawell think about “Q”?
Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Aug 8, 18 @ 11:15 am
Justin Hanson just signed up for the most thankless job in America. Despite that, good for him. I’d expect the ILGOPs to rally around him pretty strongly. He won’t beat Lipinski, but he has a chance at saving the ILGOPs from another self-inflicted wound.
Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Aug 8, 18 @ 11:22 am
Much higher and tougher petition signature requirements are needed to keep these whack jobs off the ballot. Oh, wait, that’s only for independents and others, who cares if the Rs and Ds run whack jobs for Congress.
Comment by Jeff Trigg Wednesday, Aug 8, 18 @ 11:24 am
- Jeff Trigg - Wednesday, Aug 8, 18 @ 11:24 am:
The Dems aren’t running 9/11 truthers, people who gleefully participate in harassment campaigns against the parents of murdered children, and Nazis.
Comment by Precinct Captain Wednesday, Aug 8, 18 @ 11:32 am
–He won’t beat Lipinski, but he has a chance at saving the ILGOPs from another self-inflicted wound.–
Too late for that. The Nazi already won the GOP primary, unchallenged. What difference does the write-in make?
Then, you’ve got Fawell as the GOP nominee in the 17th, and apparently the GOP isn’t even going to bother to appoint candidates for board prez or the open assessor office in Cook — you know, the county with the most GOP voters, by far, and the greatest potential for growth.
More evidence, if it was ever needed, that Rauner bought the state GOP for himself, only.
Lui mangia da solo.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Aug 8, 18 @ 11:38 am
https://thereporteronline.net/news/local-news/2018/06/28/oak-lawn-dentist-registers-as-write-in-candidate/
There was another write in as well. Don’t know the guy, but at lease someone is trying.
Comment by Sox Fan Wednesday, Aug 8, 18 @ 11:41 am
But Jeff Trigg, you make a good general point about signature requirements.
Comment by walker Wednesday, Aug 8, 18 @ 11:42 am
===The Dems aren’t running 9/11 truthers, people who gleefully participate in harassment campaigns against the parents of murdered children, and Nazis.===
True, they already had their Mark Fairchild and Janice Hart moment.
Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Wednesday, Aug 8, 18 @ 11:47 am
The 5th annual GOP picnic was Saturday in Coal Valley, IL. Drue Mielke Rock Island County GOP chair and Coal Valley resident is in a photo posing with Bill Fawell. The picture is on Bill Fawell Facebook.
Comment by Something is fishy here Wednesday, Aug 8, 18 @ 12:03 pm
William Fawell has been pushing paranoid conspiracies since at least 2014.
And he reaffirmed his cuckoo-bananas beliefs in May.
On CNN.
The Republican Party’s leadership gets no credit for finally backing away from this wack-nuttery at such a late date.
fnord
– MrJM
Comment by @misterjayem Wednesday, Aug 8, 18 @ 12:06 pm
I heard a comedian say, “Not all Republicans are racists. But, nowadays, it seems like the only home for racists is the Republican Party.” Seems truer and truer by the day. Anyone who invokes “The Party of Lincoln” is mocking the modern-day history AND actions of the Party of Charlottesville.
Comment by Albany Park Patriot Wednesday, Aug 8, 18 @ 12:09 pm
Precinct Captain
Perhaps not this year in Illinois, but Democrats are just as prone to whack jobs running as anyone else. It’s happened before and it’ll happen again. LaRouchies won statewide primaries in IL in 86 and Stevenson had a really hard time getting on the ballot to oppose them because of the strict election laws, Scott Lee Cohen, one could even make a case for Blagojevich.
I’m in favor giving parties more control over who represents them on the ballot like other states do. I’m also in favor of switching to a fee system that is equal for all in order to get on the ballot like more than 30 other states already have. Let the voters decide who that whack jobs are, that’s not the proper role of government in a real democracy.
And before I’m tied to that WeedleKash fellow again, I haven’t been involved in the LP in IL for more than 12 years. He’s a whack job also.
Comment by Jeff Trigg Wednesday, Aug 8, 18 @ 12:12 pm
I have no particular problem with someone I’ve never heard of trying to capitalize on an opportunity to promote himself, even though I’ve not run across him ever lifting a finger for anything GOP in the past. Maybe he has and I’ve just missed it.
In any case, just not sure how helpful this will be for IL GOP when write-in guy gets fewer votes than the crazy Nazi guy, and I can pretty much guarantee that’s exactly what’s going to happen in November.
But this too shall pass. Dan Lipinski will be reelected by a lot and the world will keep spinning as before. We then just wait for the next huge embarrassing IL GOP disaster.
Comment by GOPgal Wednesday, Aug 8, 18 @ 12:29 pm