With the election season winding down and the races all over the country heating up, David Severin, Republican candidate for the District 117 state House seat, which includes Southern Illinois, is pulling out all the stops to beat state Rep. John Bradley (D-Marion). This includes a campaign ad depicting Bradley endorsing Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago), going so far as to nominate Madigan for speaker.
The ad has come under fire recently, with Bradley attempting to get it removed from TV. Severin submitted two posts on his Facebook page, both featuring videos.
In the first Facebook post, Severin posts the video of the ad, along with the caption, “In his own words, folks. He's loyal to Madigan, not us.”
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Bradley is quoted in the ad offering the second nomination for Madigan to remain speaker, with the captions “Bradley has hitched his Wagon to Madigan” and “Madigan has been grooming Bradley” displayed on the screen. The video said Bradley has “squandered our trust,” has been “intoxicated by power” and has allowed Madigan to “groom him as his loyal lapdog.”
The ad goes on to accuse Bradley of raising taxes and sending jobs to Chicago before showing the incumbent lawmaker once again praising Madigan.
“Mike Madigan has been tested time and time again, and his character has always prevailed,” Bradley said in the clip.
The ad closes by saying John Bradley has let the people of his district down before stating that “it is time for him to come home.
It is an unfavorable ad to say the least, with Bradley nominating and praising Madigan in his own words in several video clips. In fact, it is so unfavorable that Bradley has gotten his lawyers involved to try and get the ad pulled.
Bradley took to Facebook the next day with his second post that read:
“John Bradley's lawyers are trying to get our ad pulled down that shows him in his own words nominating Mike Madigan for Speaker of the House. Bradley compares Madigan to Abraham Lincoln, praises his character and even thanks him for the ‘immeasurable’ mark he has left on Illinois. PLEASE SHARE!”
The second video shows the speech given by Bradley at the 97th General Assembly in which he endorses Mike Madigan. It is the speech in which the footage was pulled for the ad that Bradley is trying so desperately to have removed, beginning with him nominating Madigan for Speaker of the Illinois House before going on to sing the speaker’s praises.
After proudly declaring his nomination of Madigan, Bradley quotes Lincoln, “perhaps our greatest Illinoisan,” he said before reading the quote.
“’Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power,’” Bradley said, reading the words of Lincoln.
Bradleythen applied the words of the former President directly to Madigan.
“For many years as speaker, Mike Madigan has been tested time and time again, and his character has always prevailed,” Bradley said in the video.
Bradley backs up these comments by showering Madigan with compliments, all the while looking over at the speaker while he reads the words.
“I don’t think any of us can appreciate the pressures, the challenges, the amount of work our speaker faces on a daily basis, the difficult decisions, the heart-wrenching choices, but I believe that it is his love of our state, his respect to this institution and his devotion to principle that keeps him going,” Bradley said of Madigan.
Bradley again quotes Lincoln in his speech, attempting to drive home to comparison of the former president and the Illinois House speaker.
“'Whatever you are, be a good one,'” Bradley said, once again reading Lincoln’s words. “Speaker Madigan has done just that. He has given his all to this job, and he has given his all to this state. And the mark that he has made, and hopes to continue to make, is immeasurable.”
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