St louis post endorses Danny Stover.............

[bscottsmith]

www.stoverforcongress.us
In the Illinois 19th, which takes in a bright red swath of Illinois from Springfield southward, Rep. John Shimkus, 48, was cruising toward a sixth term until his name popped up in the investigation of the scandal surrounding former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla. As head of the House Page Board, Mr. Shimkus confronted Mr. Foley in the fall of 2005 over one relatively innocuous e-mail to a former page. Mr. Shimkus says he had no inkling that Mr. Foley's problems went deeper. "There's a lot of guilt," he said, adding "I'm pretty clueless on people's private lives."

We take him at his word. His consistent support for the White House's economic policies and incursions against civil liberties is harder to accept. Since 2004, when he broke his pledge not to seek more than four terms in Congress, Mr. Shimkus seems to have settled in as a member of the "go along to get along" crowd.

His Democratic challenger is Dan Stover, 55, the retired chairman of the political science department at Kaskaskia College in Centralia. He says Mr. Shimkus' "shallow and incompetent" investigation of the Foley affair brought a newfound attention to his race, but acknowledges he faces a "dollars and lines" problem. Mr. Shimkus has 10 times more dollars to spend on his campaign than Mr. Stover, and the 19th district's boundary lines heavily favor Republicans.

Still, Mr. Stover is a credible alternative for voters looking for an independent, progressive voice in Congress. He asks voters if they've "had enough" of Republican control, of a misguided war, of threats to abortion rights, of unfair trade policies, of big pay raises for Congress and tax cuts for the wealthy and no increase in the minimum wage. Regardless of what Mr. Shimkus told Mr. Foley, Dan Stover is the better choice.

[vireo]

1. We need to help him capitalize on this

I just donated.

[kaleagal]

2. SJ-R endorsed him, too

http://www.sj-r.com/sections/opinion/stories/98882.asp

"Because Illinois’ 19th Congressional District has been precisely carved to remove the Democratic base in its midsection, the national Democratic Party has all but ignored candidate Danny Stover in his effort to unseat five-term Republican incumbent John Shimkus. We think this is a shame, because Stover is a strong candidate who deserves both the voters’ attention and their votes.

When Shimkus ran for Congress in 1996, he billed himself as an outsider who would bring fresh perspective to the U.S. House. He pledged he would support imposing term limits in Congress and signed a pledge vowing to serve no more than 12 years himself. Shimkus now has his own political action committee, the John S Fund, which until last March was headed by lobbyist Mark Valente. Those are pretty strong Washington insider credentials. That 12-year term-limit pledge? Well, Shimkus had a change of heart last year and decided he won’t honor it.

Shimkus’ loyalty to President Bush on Iraq war policy was symptomatic of a Congress that abrogated its role as a check on executive power, thus allowing the administration to pursue its terribly flawed war plan virtually unhindered. Stover has pledged to take Congress’ oversight role seriously. He also favors an immigration policy that punishes employers of illegal immigrants, raising the minimum wage and drug courts as an alternative to prison for some drug offenders.

We wish Stover had more national party support so his message would reach more voters. Unfortunately, as Shimkus said so often in 1996, incumbents - armed with war chests filled with PAC money - can be all but impossible to unseat."

[Radical Activist]

4. Since they're a Republican paper

that was nice. I think newspapers are having a hard time coming up with justifications for continuing to go easy on Shimkus like they have been for so long.

[saged52]

3. read that article -

so glad to see that endorsement. I have been sending funds to Mr. Stover over the past few months. I live in his district - so this is important stuff! I just fear the proverbial uninformed voters - and there are many.

[Radical Activist]

5. I wish someone would do another poll.

Now that Danny has run some TV and Radio commercials, and the Foley scandal has had time to sink in, I bet a poll would show it being close.