[LPIL - Board of Directors] Political Division Report

[Jake Leonard]

I really do not have much to report this month. But then again, maybe I do.

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.

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.

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.

If there is any legislation that we need to be tracking, please forward 
the legislation to Legislative Director Cody Graves.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

*Jake Leonard*
*Interim Chairman and Executive Director | ChrisMont Libertarian Central 
Committee* (/Christian County, Montgomery County/)
/*Congress*: 15/ | /*Montgomery County*: Illinois Senate 54/55, Illinois 
House 107/108/110/ | /*Christian County*: Illinois Senate 48/54, 
Illinois House 95/96/107/108/

*Political Director and State Central Committeeperson - 15th 
Congressional | Libertarian Party of Illinois*
800 Capps Ave. | Nokomis, IL 62075-1415
*Mobile*: (217) 565-9709 <tel:2175659709> | (217) 565-9273 
<tel:2175659273> || *Work*: (217) 569-4230 ext. 700 <tel:2175694230,700> 
| (217) 718-5281 <tel:2177185281> || *Fax*: (217) 717-8079 <tel:2177178079>


On 5/6/2025 12:15 PM, Ken Mattes via Lpil-bod wrote:
> Please send any agenda items.
>
> April minutes on our new file sharing platform at 
> https://app.box.com/s/kalvzsahwvkh0qsgxy9z1xrckxiydc2j
>

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