Danny Stover is the Democrat running against "Mr. Congressional Page Protector" John Shimkus in IL-19. On September 30, with all the diaries calling for the ouster of Denny Hastert and John Shimkus, I decided to email Danny Stover (even though I've never met him, and only know about him through his website) and ask him to become a member of the Daily Kos community in order to open up a dialogue and give us a chance to see if we can help him out in his race. Today, I received an email from Mr. Stover saying that he had taken my advice and registered as a Daily Kos member but he was being told he needed to wait the requisite one week in order to post a diary. Given how little time remains until the elections, Kos, is there any way you can give the computer a nudge and allow Mr. Stover to post earlier?
I wouldn't ordinarily use my daily diary allotment for such a request, but I think when you take a look at Danny Stover's background, you'll see that he represents one of the many excellent, overlooked congressional candidates we have around the country running on behalf of the Democratic ticket. Mr. Stover is one of the reasons we so desperately need a 50-state strategy. Lightning has struck, and all of a sudden he finds himself in a high profile race.
A little bit of background on this outstanding candidate follows. Danny Stover is 55 years old, married, and the father of two sons. Most recently he was Department Chair and Professor of Administration of Justice and Political Science at Kaskaskia College in Centralia, IL. He has also served as an independent consultant in criminal justice to numerous law enforcement boards and commissions, and as Chairman of the Marion County Mental Health Board since 1989. Reading his resume of accomplishments, it is clear that Danny Stover has spent his entire adult life trying to make a real difference for those that society often ignores.
His complete stance on the issues can be found at his website, http://www.stoverforcongress.us/ but here are a few hard-hitting quotes:
No one should have to choose between health care and feeding their family.
Our children's and grandchildren's future has been mortgaged by Republican policies that favor the rich.
No short diary can do justice to Danny Stover's common sense approach to government so I will just ask that you welcome this fellow Illinoisian when he makes his first diary appearance. Kos, if you can help out Danny, please let him know at: dlstover@mail.stoverforcongress.us. Thanks so much.