Joel Pollak has proved a formidable campaigner, indeed formidable enough for Jan Schakowsky to call out her Goon Squad to try and squash him.  Pollak ran an impressive fundraiser/rally yesterday.  Here’s some analysis:

Starting with Pat Hickey

South side scion and the pride of Morton Grove, John Ruberry - The Marathon Pundit -posted a stunning story about the ACORN/SEIU leash that locks some Democrats – notably Illinois Congress-critter Jan Schakowsky.

Joel Pollak, a sharp and honest young guy, is running to unseat the daffy Schakowsky, most noted for her convicted felon Grassroot opportunist hubby Bob Creamer who operated Camp Obama in 2008, after he spent a few semesters in Terra Haute Federal Prison for check kiting. Jan is also frequent howler on the irrelevant cable Progressive cheer leading MSNBC. Other than that, Jan Schakowsky votes in Congress to eliminate the American middle class.

Channeling John Ruberry on the SEIU Protest

There were about 50 protesters.

Initially it was believed that MoveOn.org was organizing the rally, but this was a Service Employee International Union operation, I believe. Although with these leftists, it’s hard to tell where one group ends and another begins. Which brings me to the picture on the upper left. The man in the blue sport coat is Keith Kelleher, a longtime SEIU organizer. For years he was the head organizer of SEIU Local #880, which was started by the disgraced community organizing group ACORN–the serial voter registration fraudsters. Kelleher once claimed he was “a field organizer, lead organizer and head organizer for ACORN.”

Here’s what Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL), the GOP candidate for the US Senate in Illinois, wrote last fall about this two-headed monster:

SEIU Local 880, which until recently boasted it was founded by ACORN, used an ACORN e-mail address on its Web site and tax filings, was co-located with an ACORN “tax center” and employed the former president of ACORN Illinois, according to official records. Recently, the IRS terminated is relationship with ACORN tax preparation offices.

Local #880 is now SEIU Healthcare Illinois Indiana, Kelleher is still in charge.

Whose “roadmap” would you believe in? Ryan’s? Or a gaggle led by a former ACORN organizer?

On the lower left is John Gaudette, who is the organizing director for Citizen Action/Illinois. If he looks familiar, it’s because he was the astroturfer shown on Fox News last summer coaching attendees to chant “Health Care Now” at a Jan Schakowsky townhall at near my home at Niles West High School. Robert Creamer, the husband of Pollak’s opponent, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, was caught kiting checks while serving as executive director of this organization. He spent five months in prison for fraud and tax evasion for his avionics.

then on to fundraising

Pollak raises $150K at luncheon, calls opponent’s campaign manager out during speech
Alex Armour is the campaign manager for Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Evanston), one of the most liberal members of the House of Representatives. His opponent, who I support, is Republican Joel Pollak. The Skokie resident held a fundraiser in downtown Chicago this afternoon, which brought in $150,000 for the Pollak campaign.

Watch as Pollak calls out Armour, who happened to be stadning in the back of the ballroom about 30 yards from my seat.

Video Here

“Alex is true to his principles of big government,” Pollak quipped. “He did not pay for his lunch, we let him in here for free.”

and a full account of the rally

Four hundred people were in attendance at a Joel Pollak fundraiser at the Four Seasons Hotel yesterday in Chicago where Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), the author of the Roadmap for America’s future, not only “brought greetings from Packerland” but endorsed the Skokie resident’s challenge to Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Evanston).

“We need doers,” Ryan exclaimed, “we need more people like Joel Pollak in Congress.”

Pollak brings Ryan to Chicago for his big event, whereas Schakowsky brought that noted anti-Semite, Helen Thomas to hers. “She is so awesome.” Schakowsky said at that event. After Thomas unleashed her infamous anti-Israel rant, Pollak called on his opponent to denounce her, something Schakowsky has yet to do.

Ryan has a patriotic view of America. “In this nation, we were founded on the idea that our rights come from nature and from God,” he reminded us, “not from government.”