I attended the Jewish Folk Festival in Suburban Chicago. Lovely day, a little chilly, but a huge turnout of the Jewish community for the music, art and food. Definitely felt the ruach! (That's means "spirit" for the Hebrew-impaired.)
At the festival, a young man named Michael Shannon was passing out little yellow slips with his name on it. He's running for Congress in the 9th District, which is currently held by Jan Schakowsky.
So what party does Michael Shannon represent? He won't say! Even when I asked him! It's a big secret....Read on for more direct interaction with the Mystery Candidate.
So here's what happened: Michael Shannon was walking through the picnic tables filled with happy people noshing and listening to the music. His spiel went something like, "Hi, I'm Mike Shannon. I'm running for Congress in the 9th District. I'm not accepting any money from anyone to run. That's why my slips of paper are so small." (And they are.)
When Mr. Shannon approached me, I looked at the paper. It's small and yellow. There's no mention of any party affiliation. So I asked him:
Me: "Are you affiliated with any party?"
Shannon: "Yes. I am representing the interests that oppose the big money in Congress."
Me: "So you don't want to say what party you're running for?"
Shannon: "I have the nomination of my party to change the way Congress is run."
Me: "So what party is that?"
Shannon (who is kind of walking away now): "Just look at my website."
Well, loathe as I am to give traffic to the guy, I was curious to see if the website mentions any party affiliation. Apparently, he worked for Republicans at one time in the past, and he likes the Concord Coalition. There's a picture of his wife's grandfather with Ronald Reagan. So is he a Republican? HE DOESN'T SAY. See for yourself: shannonforcongress.com.
Thankfully, the Illinois Republican Party website does say. Guess what? Michael Shannon is outed! As a Republican.
Holy crap, how pathetic can a person get if they are running for office affiliated with a political party that they can't even mention in public? Granted, he's running in a tough district for Republicans. But I'd have more respect for the guy if he was out of the closet.
Michael Shannon: Cowardly Republican for Illinois' 9th. Now there's a slogan.
OK, now to even it out, we can send a little love to Jan Schawkowsky! Go Jan! Go Fightin' 9th!