Illinois wingnut strikes again

A man the Chicago Tribune described as “a perennial candidate with a history of anti-Semitic rhetoric and legal disputes in federal court” is in trouble again for airing a campaign commercial alleging the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for US Senator from Illinois, US Representative Mark Kirk, is gay.

Andy Martin, who previously ran for office as Anthony R. Martin-Trigona, aired the commercial on WGN-AM and WBBM-AM saying:

"I helped expose many of Barack Obama's lies in 2008. Today, I am fighting for the facts about Mark Kirk. Illinois Republican leader Jack Roeser says there is a 'solid rumor that Kirk is a homosexual.' Roeser suggests that Kirk is part of a Republican Party homosexual club. Lake County Illinois Republican leader Ray True says Kirk has surrounded himself with homosexuals."

True told the Tribune that he "never made that statement" attributed to him by Martin. "I made a comment not about him (Kirk) at all, but that there were some people on his (Kirk's) staff that had a special orientation."

The Illinois Republican Party issued a statement disavowing Martin's ad: "His statements today are consistent with his history of bizarre behavior and often times hate-filled speech which has no place in the Illinois Republican Party. Mr. Martin will no longer be recognized as a legitimate Republican candidate by the Illinois Republican Party." That’s as close as the two main American political parties can come to expelling someone.

Obviously, I couldn’t care less whether Kirk is gay or not. Although I’ve criticised his partisanship in the past, the truth is, as Republicans go, he’s not as bad as most: The Human Rights Campaign rated him 85% for the 110th Congress, 75% for the 109th and 88% for the 108th. Nevertheless, I’ll either vote for the Democrat or no one, but that’s another topic.

A Chicago Tribune poll earlier this month found that Kirk was preferred by 41 percent, with all five of his opponents combined had 13 percent support; Martin had 2%. (the link has information on the polling for the Democratic Party candidates, too).

The Illinois Primary will be held on February 2, 2010. The winner of the Republican Primary will face the winner of the Democratic Primary, along with the nominees of minor parties, in the General Election on November 3, 2010.

Tip o’ the Hat to Joe.My.God.