Brad Halbrook Appointed as Illinois State Representative, 109th District

SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS

Brad Halbrook was selected, by unanimous vote,  to fill the remainder of the open seat in the Illinois 109^th State Representative District tonight, contrary to efforts by the now disgraced and retired triple dipper Roger Eddy to appoint anyone but him.

Edgar County GOP Meeting last week

Last week at the Edgar County GOP meeting, Keith Miller, Chairman, announced that they are going to take resumes based on word of mouth recommendations as that will prevent undesirables from applying.  Those recommended can email their resume to an email controlled by Mr. Miller, who by the way refuses to get a computer, let alone use email.  All correspondence goes through Jim Mathis who then relays the information by phone or word of mouth to Mr. Miller. He also held a “straw poll” to get a “feeling” of what the committeemen wanted him to do. Why do a straw poll when resumes were supposed to be sent to an email address? Was it because Keith wanted to follow Eddy’s guidance and vote for anyone but Brad, and not allow other resume`s to be submitted?

Initial attempts to get the secret email so that a person could send in their resume were met with clear refusal.  I was required to first tell him who it was and only then would he possibly give out the email address.  I asked how the other chairman are going to review the resumes if you don’t allow us to have the email to submit the resume and was told he would determine what resumes get forwarded.   Interesting position when this decision is supposed to be made by a committee of eight people.

We did determine that the “secret” e-mail was actually published in the paper in Effingham.  Must not have been quite the secret some had led us to believe.

During the meeting Mr. Miller did state he would not accept any applications from anyone not living in the county.  Another interesting position considering the seat being filled represents 8 counties.  He stated this process was being done because 7 of the 8 county party chairmen felt it was best to do it this way instead of appointing the primary winner, Brad Halbrook.  

I found that odd considering I had already spoken with two of the eight before that meeting and they fully supported Brad’s appointment, and based on tonights vote, where Brad was appointed by a unanimus vote, it raises questions as to what games were being played.  So the question now is what changed from last weeks meeting to tonight? 

Mr. Miller stated at the meeting last week he was going to carry the vote established, which was for Ted Lang.  So what happen Mr. Miller? Did certain people get a phone call from Springfield explaining what we tried to explain last week? 

Randy Peterson who helped lead the charge against our own Edgar County candidate, Rob Roman of Chrisman, clearly supported a nomination of anyone other than Brad. He also raised objections to the “straw poll”, prefering a blind ballot.  Something about doing things in secret in this county we cant quite figure out, but we’re working on it. 

Rob Roman spoke at the meeting and I have to say it was probably one of the best presentations I have heard from a person in many years.  Rob acknowledged being asked to fill the empty seat and declined as he could see the right thing is to appoint the person who is going to be on the ballot in November, Brad Halbrook. 

I presented one scenario for them to think about before the taking of a straw poll.   If our own Edgar County Candidate Rob Roman would have won the primary and Adam Brown would have resigned the day after the primary, who would you appoint?  I think everyone agreed it would be Rob Roman, except for Ted Lang.  Ted presented some excuse about the size of one of the counties being larger than Edgar causing my scenario to not be valid.   Little did I know Ted wanted the job, so did my efforts of throwing logic in the mix only upset his personal agenda?  Ted attempted to hang his hat on a desperate need for a veteran to be appointed.  Being a vet myself, I’m not sure I comprehend the desperation for such an appointment, especially considering a Brigadier General with 30 years in service was just elected to the State Representatives last year. 

Mr. Miller stated on at least two occasions that the committee of chairmen were going to meet to decide on the appointment after the Lincoln Day Dinner in Effingham on March 29^th.  Again I found that odd considering none of the other chairmen were aware of any meeting that was going to take place after the dinner.  Mr. Kraft and I went to the Dinner to see for ourselves.  Guess what, no meeting after the dinner!  Even odder with this is the fact that the deadline for resume`s was today.  Why have a meeting if you still have several days before the deadline for accepting applications?

Our investigation has confirmed that Roger Eddy took an active role in this appointment process in hopes of ensuring Brad Halbrook was not appointed.  Multiple sources have confirmed that Mr. Miller communicated with Mr. Eddy about this and Mr. Miller insists that Roger has done nothing wrong and in fact has avoided even looking at the facts in hand.  Even the use of tax payer dollars by his campaign has not convinced him and several others in this county that Roger Eddy broke any laws and they continue to support and listen to his guidance.  Mr. Miller informed me that since he has not seen handcuffs on anyone he was not going to believe he did anything wrong.  

I’m not concerned with what Mr. Miller believes, but I am concerned on the representations that have taken place this past few weeks and the claims by a few that on the surface seem fine but with just a tidbit of investigation fall on the face of truth.

Names thrown in

According to Doug Cochran of Paris, he was contacted by several legislators and asked to fill the remaining term.  He also claimed that Matt Eddy, Rogers Eddy’s son, may want the position but stated he had not heard definitive confirmation of that.   

Interestingly our investigations also have confirmed that it was Mr. Cochran who initiated the phone call to Chapin Rose asking to be considered for that appointment, not several legislators contacting him.  We do have confirmation from one legislator that he received a call from Mr. Cochran upon Roger Eddy’s announcement of suspending his campaign seeking consideration for appointment to the seat, weeks before the primary had even taken place.    

 According to Chapin Rose, he advised Mr. Cochran that the primary hasn’t even been held yet so let’s see how that turns out before we worry about any appointments.  Chapin has confirmed the logical choice would be the primary winner, Brad Halbrook. 

The other Edgar County citizen wanting the appointment was Ted Lang, who also claimed he was called, specifically by Chapin Rose and asked to fill the open seat.  Mr. Lang stated that Chapin told him they needed one more vote on several bills and he could count on him to be that vote. 

Having spoken with Chapin it appears part of that discussion failed to be presented by Mr. Lang at the meeting.  Chapin stated he made it clear that the appointment selection should be Brad Halbrook, as he won the primary but it was clear to him that Roger had his hand in things and was trying to manipulate the process as Mr. Miller wanted nothing to do with supporting the primary winner.  Chapin advised that if you’re not going to support the winner of the primary you damned sure better not put someone in that seat that is going to throw bombs on Brad for the remainder of the term, which is exactly what Roger would like to see happen. 

Isn’t it interesting that Roger Eddy, a man who claims to have left the race and his seat in Springfield to take on a job in the private sector is trying to manipulate who gets appointed?  As long as it’s a solid Republican why would he even care?  Especially since Tom Cross, GOP leader in the house fully supports Brad and even endorsed him prior to Roger’s departure?  Is he just a sore loser or is their more to this story? 

More to follow

The answer is YES, there is quite a bit more to this story and we have the scoop, as we are the ones that uncovered the vast majority of Mr. Eddy’s questionable and in some cases illegal actions.  Full disclosure yet to come! 

In closing, congratulations to Brad Halbrook on his appointment to the 109^th District as our new State Representative