Does anyone else think that John Boehner, at least in part, engineered the ouster of Dennis Hastert from the speakership following the Mark Foley page scandal?

Was a chain of evidence ever established from Mark Foley to Scott Palmer, Hastert's Chief of Staff?

The events I saw in the fall of 2006 following that scandal always struck me as a political coup d'etat within the Republican leadership.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                    Contact:  Joe Serra, 630-364-9489

Thursday October 18, 2007                                                        jmserra3@sbcglobal.net                

Joe Serra Comments on Hastert Resignation

GENEVA, IL - October 18, 2007.  Mr. Hastert's announcement that he will resign is shamefully, one year too late.  While Mr. Hastert was Speaker of the House, he had an abundance of knowledge regarding Congressman Foley's lewd and criminal behavior and chose to protect a potential pedophile and powerful political colleague over a congressional page.   Mr. Hastert was negligent for not taking the evidence that he had fully into account and ordering an investigation - or he deliberately looked the other way for his friend and political ally.   In either case Mr. Hastert is finally doing the right thing.

Joe Serra's position on Child Molestation Laws

Child Molestation Laws need to be toughened.  Child molestation and child sexual assault is the most rapid growing violent crime in the United States.  

Sexual offenders who prey on children are the vilest of all offenders.  A strong message must be sent to these offenders that they must seek treatment or suffer the consequences when caught.  Just as importantly, I want to send a message to mothers and fathers indicating that I

understand their concerns and fears and I am taking steps to contain and control this heinous

crime.

As your representative I will strongly advocate for the following

·         Upon conviction of a second offense, a child sexual predator will receive life in prison.

·         Death of child while committing, requires a mandatory death sentence.

·         I will work to have crimes of a sexual nature against children to become Federal Offenses, enabling the courts to hand down harsher sentences and avoid early releases.

·         I will advocate much longer sentences and advocate a two strikes law enabling our courts to put Sexual Offenders and Sexual Predators away forever upon conviction of their second offense.

·         I advocate Sexual Offenders and Sexual Predators to be fitted with permanent monitoring devices upon their release enabling law enforcement officials to track their whereabouts anywhere in the country.

For more information, please contact: Joe Serra at (630) 364-9489 or jmserra3@sbcglobal.net

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I just saw on MSNBC that Hastert (R-Ill) is quitting - he is not going to even finish his term, according to the report, which means that there should be a special election coming in early 2008.

This could be a possible pickup opportunity. I live in the neighboring district (Judy Biggert is my Congresswoman). The area has traditionally been a Republican stronghold, but is trending more and more Democratic every year.

Anyone else from the area have any thoughts?

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The following is a memo regarding the real political story in IL-14.  The mainstream media has decided that the spin coming from the NRCC that this seat is red should be reported as fact.  

The truth is, this seat is very vulnerable to a Democrat with Bill Foster's background and experience.  

Full memo after the jump.  Learn more about Foster here

-- TOM
Campaign Manager

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Hello, I'm Bill Foster.  Actually, my legal name is George William Foster, but running for office as George W. anything isn't a very good idea these days.  I'm a scientist and businessman who is very concerned about where our country is heading.  I want to tell the netroots a little about myself, what I plan to do in Congress and that I'm proud to be attending Yearly Kos where I hope to get a chance to meet some of you. I also encourage you to check out my campaign website, www.foster08.com.

When I was younger, my little brother and I started a business from scratch in our basement.  With $500 from our parents and a lot of help from our friends we built a company that now manufactures about 70% of all the theatre lighting equipment in the United States.  Our company provides hundreds of good jobs here in the Midwest.  

I'm also a scientist with a PhD in particle physics from Harvard University.  I've spent the past 22 years at Fermilab doing advanced research and leading teams of people building Fermilab's giant accelerators.  I loved it.  Along the way I built electronics, superconducting magnets, and helped discover the Top Quark - plus a whole lot of other things that would probably bore you to tears.

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