<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
</head>
<body>
<p>I really do not have much to report this month. But then again,
maybe I do.<br>
</p>
<p>I do apologize for sending this well in advance, but I will be
undergoing an extremely busy week next week. I get sworn in as
library trustee of the Nokomis Township Public Library District on
Monday (May 12) and then I'm in Charleston on Tuesday night for
FOIA/OMA training. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, outside of
work, is jam packed with duties related to the community
organization I volunteer for.<br>
</p>
<p>While not officially being sworn in yet, I've already been busy
at work for the library district trying to look into grant
programs to accomplish some things that need updating,
specifically the aging HVAC system, which has been in place since
the system was installed in 1988. (This building used to be a
Masonic lodge, and when the Masonic lodge dissolved, the library
trustees bought it for $100 roughly three years ago.) I've already
submitted grant applications on their behalf for the T-Mobile
Hometown Grant, as well as the grant program being offered by
Amazon Business. Another grant that will likely be discussed
happens to be available through the Montgomery County Board, which
could be up to $50,000. If grant monies can help accomplish the
things the library needs the most, there's less likeliness of
needing to increase the tax levy in the future.</p>
<p>We were 4-for-6 overall among candidates that filed for the
election, 2-for-2 among incumbents, and 0-1 among write in
candidates. Despite the fact that we didn't make the ballot for
the 2024 POTUS election, I still think we did well. Thank you to
everyone who ran in the April 1, 2025 Consolidated Election.</p>
<p>If there is any legislation that we need to be tracking, please
forward the legislation to Legislative Director Cody Graves.</p>
<p>I'm slowly but surely trying to catch up on candidate inquiries,
including the ones that slipped through the cracks until Justin
Tucker responds to them. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what's going
on, but I've only been getting about 10% of those inquiries --
sometimes, when Justin responds to potential candidates, that's
the first time I've even known of the potential candidate.</p>
<p>I don't know when we have another e-newsletter planned, but it
might be great to get photos of our elected officials getting
sworn in (or in the cases of Kelly Liebmann and Patrick Liapes,
sworn in again -- or in the case of Brett Ryan, sworn in again,
but this time as an elected official (he was appointed since the
last election)). I'll do what I can on my end.</p>
<p>We've got a few months of breathing room, but if you're planning
to run for office (especially in Cook County), you should probably
make preparations now. I do believe that the one thing we will
need clarification on is since the Libertarian Party has continued
to maintain recognized party status in the county, whether we can
run General Assembly and Congressional candidates in districts
that are exclusively in-county. I know there was some confusion in
2024 because of the redistricting, but given the continued success
in Cook County, the question should be posed once again.</p>
<p>It's been a couple of weeks since I checked my email, and I'm
still deleting a lot of spam messages. I did get an email today
from someone based in Petersburg (Menard County) who is expressing
interest in running for Congress in the 15th Congressional
District. Mary Miller (R-Oakland) currently holds that seat, but
she is also considered a likely candidate for the Republican
nomination for U.S. Senate to fill the seat held by Sen. Dick
Durbin, who is retiring at the end of his term. Miller is among a
list of potential candidates for the nomination including former
Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich, 2020 U.S. Senate nominee Mark
Curran, former GOP Minority Leader Jim Durkin and 2022 Treasurer
nominee Tom Demmer. Only two candidates are officially declared:
perennial candidate R. Cary Capparelli (former board member of the
Illinois International Port District) and John Goodman, a former
police officer.</p>
<p>On the Democratic side, two current members of Congress, Robin
Kelly and Raja Krishnamoorthi, have thrown their names into the
race. Current Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton is also in the
race. There are several other names considering the race,
including Evanston mayor Daniel Biss, former Chicago mayor Rahm
Emanuel, and current sitting Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias
(who ran for U.S. Senate in 2010). For now, most of the Democratic
members of Congress in Illinois have opted not to run, including
Nikki Budzinski.<br>
</p>
<div class="moz-signature"><font size="3">
<b>Jake Leonard</b></font><br>
<font size="2">
<b><font color="black">Interim Chairman and Executive Director</font>
| <font color="#12AD2B">ChrisMont Libertarian Central
Committee</font></b> (<i>Christian County, Montgomery County</i>)<br>
<i><b>Congress</b>: 15</i> | <i><b>Montgomery County</b>:
Illinois Senate 54/55, Illinois House 107/108/110</i> | <i><b>Christian
County</b>: Illinois Senate 48/54, Illinois House
95/96/107/108</i><br>
<br>
<b><font color="black">Political Director and State Central
Committeeperson - 15th Congressional</font> | <font
color="#12AD2B">Libertarian Party of Illinois</font></b><br>
800 Capps Ave. | Nokomis, IL 62075-1415<br>
<b>Mobile</b>: <a href="tel:2175659709">(217) 565-9709</a> | <a
href="tel:2175659273">(217) 565-9273</a> || <b>Work</b>: <a
href="tel:2175694230,700">(217) 569-4230 ext. 700</a> | <a
href="tel:2177185281">(217) 718-5281</a> || <b>Fax</b>: <a
href="tel:2177178079">(217) 717-8079</a>
</font><br>
<br>
<br>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 5/6/2025 12:15 PM, Ken Mattes via
Lpil-bod wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:780903e116d9fc9b8b8b54515cf0b67f@lpillinois.org">Please
send any agenda items.
<br>
<br>
April minutes on our new file sharing platform at
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://app.box.com/s/kalvzsahwvkh0qsgxy9z1xrckxiydc2j">https://app.box.com/s/kalvzsahwvkh0qsgxy9z1xrckxiydc2j</a>
<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
<div id="DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2"><br /><table style="border-top: 1px solid #D3D4DE;"><tr><td style="width: 55px; padding-top: 13px;"><a href="https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient" target="_blank"><img src="https://s-install.avcdn.net/ipm/preview/icons/icon-envelope-tick-round-orange-animated-no-repeat-v1.gif" alt="" width="46" height="29" style="width: 46px; height: 29px;"/></a></td><td style="width: 470px; padding-top: 12px; color: #41424e; font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Virus-free.<a href="https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient" target="_blank" style="color: #4453ea;">www.avast.com</a></td></tr></table><a href="#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2" width="1" height="1"> </a></div></body>
</html>