Too bad he's a republican.

Obama / Biden 2012. "Continuing to clean up the mess of the Republican Great Recession."

Why is Roskum a bad choice? Can you say Missouri Republican. He would return women to chattle. He is a non-choice extremist. I live in the new 6th congressional District and Leslie Coolidge is a much better choice!!

Yea, just what this country and State needs, another friggin progressive to flush us the rest of the way down the drain. Any person who needs/desires this much government involvement in their lives was born defective! Only problem with Roskam, he's not conservative enough.

Let’s not get carried away here. Roskum is anything but a consistent conservative who wants smaller, accountable and efficient government.

However, his opponent is part of the party who is and has been methodically destroying our economy from the ground up and if given another 4 years will no doubt succeed. Therefor some of us will hold our nose and vote for the lesser of two evils because to do otherwise is to guarantee to sink this once great country.

I'm surprised Mr. Marrs doesn't know Roskam has voted time and time again against bills that will actually create jobs. Instead Mr Roskam and his tea party buddies favor "job bills" that would gut regulations meant to protect us from another financial crisis like the one we're still suffering from. Giving Wall St banks free reign to screw up the credit markets again is no way to create jobs though it does help you rake in the huge campaign contributions doesn't it Mr Roskam?

In the meantime we have over 2300 structurally deficient bridges here in Illinois alone with thousands more across the country in as bad or worse shape. We ought to be rebuilding these bridges before they collapse like that one did in Glenview in June killing that elderly couple. With millions of construction workers in the hardest hit sector of the economy out of work there's no reason not to do this now. Yet Roskam and his tea party buddies in the GOP play games stalling the highway bill and infrastructure projects in hopes a weak economy will hurt President Obama's reelection chances.

Leslie Coolidge won't play partisan games like that. She knows what it takes to get this country moving again. She has my vote.

A few observations, not meant to disparage anyone here...

Mr. Roskam does not belittle women.
http://www.workingmother.com/special-reports/2012-best-congress-profiles
“During his three terms in Congress, Rep. Peter Roskam has voted for measures meant to improve work life and career opportunities, strengthen family financial stability and prepare young Americans for educational success.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua9MeHGF-Rs&feature=player_embedded
He also voted for the VAWA, saying "It’s a very important piece of legislation that is in place to protect victims of domestic violence, and sexual assault and stalking, things that nobody is tolerant of and we all need to be unanimous in fighting against."

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/7/5/zero_accountability_glenn_greenwald_on_obamas
Wall Street is still a cesspool wrecking both the credit and bond markets. The current administration is either unable or unwilling to prosecute. Neither option exudes competence.

http://thehill.com/blogs/transportation-report/highways-bridges-and-roads/236519-obama-signs-highway-bill
Roskam voted for the two year infrastructure bill which passed out of congress and which Obama signed into law on July 6th.
http://www.dot.il.gov/projects.html
Construction projects on Illinois roads and bridges.

It's odd Mr. Thoman cities leftist Glenn Greenwald on Wall St reform as if he thinks Mr. Roskam might agree with him. Mr. Roskam like all Republicans in congress isn't even in favor of the weak regulatory and transparency provisions of the Dodd Frank bill let alone prosecution of financial wrongdoers.

Roskam and the the rest of the tea party Republicans finally voted for a two year highway bill at the last possible minute. But let's not kid ourselves shall we? A clean 5 year bill should have passed in 2010 but Republicans stalled it in both houses of congress. filibustering in the senate and loading it up with poison pills in the house to make sure it was delayed as long as possible. Highway bills are usually bi-partisan legislation and because of the long term planning required for large projects like major bridges and highways they typically are 5 year bills. The last highway bill passed in 2005 in just such a fashion. The last one expired in 2010 and now we get nothing but a short term patchwork bill thanks to obstinate Republicans. The shame of it is in the midst of the worst recession since the Great Depression, when the construction business is flat lining, with millions of construction workers out of work, prices for materials and the heavy equipment needed for these projects at historically low levels Republicans in congress stonewalled this desperately needed work to try to make President Obama look bad. Incredibly they did this even though they and Bush neglected American infrastructure for most of a decade as they wasted a trillion dollars nation building in Iraq and Afghanistan.

You don't come here to disparage anyone Mr Thoman, but you do come here to mislead.

And Roskam doesn't belittle women, he just consistently votes against their interests. If you think abortion ought to be illegal in all circumstances and women don;t deserve equal pay for equal work Roskam is your candidate.

Here's how some major abortion rights organizations on both sides rate him:
2012 Planned Parenthood - Positions 0
2011 NARAL Pro-Choice America - Positions 0%
2011 National Right to Life Committee - Positions 100%

The fact remains Peter Roskam is against abortion for any reason, no exceptions and is against women earning equal pay for equal work.

Every single Republican in the house voted against the Dodd Frank law. They have repeatedly tried to gut it and have succeeded in cutting the SEC and CFTC budgets when they are tasked with new oversight duties. The GOP idea of a job bills is to gut all kinds of protections, that keep polluters from fouling our water, air & food, and Wall St from figuring out new "innovations" to prey on American consumers. Doubling down on the same Bush policies that almost wrecked the country isn't a plan for the future, it'd be a disaster. No thanks.

Barry, Roskam has voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act every time it's come up for a vote just like most Republicans. The same goes for the Lilly Ledbetter Act.

http://thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas.php

DG Guy you can argue for stronger financial regulations as Mr Thoman does when he cites Greenwald or you can argue for different regulations like you do but Roskam along with the rest of his party argues for much less regulation of their Wall St benefactors. The big bankers apparently want fewer regulations and regulators for the same reason criminals want fewer cops.

http://www.ontheissues.org/IL/Peter_Roskam_Abortion.htm
"Voted YES on H-3 a bill that "Provides exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest; or life-endangering maternal condition."

http://reason.com/archives/2012/06/07/the-myth-of-unfair-paychecks
Roskam voted NO to HR 2381 and HR1331 not because of the equal pay for equal work provisions which he practices with his own staff, but other bill poisoners like no-cap on punitive damages added to the bill.

Your remaining facts are falsehoods. Be well...

Roskam's position on abortion is no less conservative than Paul Ryan's. H-3 was a bill with the Title: "Prohibiting Federally-Funded Abortions and Providing for Conscience Protections", i.e. it was meant to place more restrictions on abortion. Just because you found one bill out of many that Roskam voted for - a bill that will never be enacted into law mind you - that makes exceptions for the life of the mother and rape victims does not mean he isn't for banning all abortions. His position on abortion, like his position on so many issues, is very radically rightwing. Now that it's an issue in the campaign Roskam is trying to change his image with the 4 page glossy mailer he just sent out using his franking privilege. He apparently has a serious gender gap that needs closing. How else to explain that campaign ad masquerading as an info piece reading like a valentine to women in the 6th district?

For the record: Congressmen are permitted to exercise their franking privileges up until 90 days before an election. Which happened to be on August 8, this year. I hear these mailers started showing up in local mailboxes on August 18th. It's a pattern of Roskam's to play fast and loose with the campaign laws. In 1998 when he ran against Judy Biggert in the primary in the 13th he and Gary Bauer were fined $19000 by the FEC for not filing their paperwork on a mailer they sent out in the last days of the primary campaign lashing Biggert for her pro-choice stance.

And as for the equal pay bills there's always an excuse with Republicans isn't there? I have to give you credit though, objecting to a bill because it's actually enforceable in a court of law is a novel one. Did you come up with that on your own or did you call Roskam and ask him?

And the obligatory insulting punk shows up right on schedule.

Gentlemen, Gentlemen, in the words of the great philosopher Rodney King.....

Can't we all get a long.

Jim haven't you heard? Compromise is a dirty word to the tea party.

Mark good commentary! Do you think it is time for a third party, progressive, that gives people some real options, instaid of the sour/bitter pit the shrinking middle class against the expanding poorer class???

Thanks Brian. I'll stick with making the Democratic Party better. Going third party is surrender.

maybe, but Canada has the "triad" and works pretty good for them. I think the parties do too much to divide...and so maybe a third party (not like the other two will allow???) would dissolve this factor quite a bit!

Brian you should read "It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism" by Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein.

It's not Democrats who are dividing the country, it's Republicans who are making government as dysfunctional as they possibly can under the ludicrous assumption voters will reward them for it.

Hi Mark, I agree that dysfunctional governance is skewed to the "right", but take a step back form the cool-aide and both sides play into the disinformation nation. We should be demanding honest debate in our government not 5 second adds!
Brian Grabowski

It's not skewed to the right Brian it is crippled by the right. Our system isn't set up to be run like a parliament.Our system requires good faith compromise. Compromise is a dirty word for Republicans these days. They're only interested in scorched earth. So I say we voters give them what they deserve: many fewer seats in government.

Again, semantics aside, I agree with you in general, but again follow the $ and you will see dysfunction on both sides. In a funny kind of way the Republicans are transparent and you and I see this plain as day, but there are mirror images going on here that need to be addressed on both sides. Mark I believe in functional governance, but many $$$ has polluted this ideal. In either case the "media" needs to hold politicians feet to the fire, get them to debate and let the public hear, then follow the record, or my friend we are dead in the water on any true reforms!

DG Guy you make my point. It's never taken super majorities in both houses to pass legislation in the past. Super majorities Dems didn't have for most of 2009 in the senate anyway. I'll get back to that

As for your claim that Democrats locked Republicans out that's just a lie. You really ought to stop listneing toi people hwo lie to you. From day one of the Obama administration Republicans have marched almost in complete lockstep in opposition to any legislation Democrats have tried to pass. Even when that legislation isn't much different from bills Republican have proposed, like Obamacare. The PPACA was originally proposed by the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation in 1989 (complete with personal mandate) and was promoted as the Republican senate's answer to Hillarycare in 1993. Mitt Romney though so much of it he and the Massachusetts Democratic controlled legislature used it as the model for Romneycare in MA. The Senate Committee writing it's version of the bill in 2009 accepted 159 amendments offered by Republicans. In the house dozens were also accepted in the committees writing their version. Yet no Republicans voted for the bill. Democrats didn't lock anybody out. Republicans oppose any and everything, even their own ideas. Don't take it from me, here's MIT professor Jonathan Gruber who helped write both Obamacare and Romneycare. http://tinyurl.com/6m5uglx

DG Guy as you and most Republicans have evidently forgotten Al Franken wasn't sworn in to the senate until July 7th 2009 because Norm Coleman and his supporters in the senate shamefully stalled the recount and extended their nuisance challenges to ridiculous lengths. In March 2009 , Sen John Cornyn, head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, threatened “World War III” would ensue if Franken were seated. It was then that he suggested the challenge process could take “years” to resolve.

That summer both Ted Kennedy and Robert Byrd were dying. Kennedy died Aug 28th, Byrd would hang on til the next summer but wasn't available for any but the most important votes. Arlen Spector didn't change parties until April 2009. And you seem to be counting the independent Joe Lieberman who endorsed and campaigned with John McCain and almost became his running mate in 2008. Not to mention recalcitrants like Ben Nelson, Blanche Lincoln and Mary Landrieu. That's hardly the super majority you and so many Republicans seem to recall.

For the period between July 7th and when Scott Brown was sworn into Teddy's seat in early Feb 2010 congress worked almost exclusively on passing Obamacare. It's a good law. You can thank us for it later.

I like Al Franken alot, I wish we could hear common sense from him on a national level. I wonder how candid he would be...

OMG a potty brake at the RNC "party"...

Do you know how Rome fell? Corruption. Do you know how the U. S. is falling? Corruption. You can blame both parties for that.

The Constitution is no longer followed in this country. The system that was established in 1776 is not followed today. Never was the office of the President intended to have this much power and the Congress so little power. The power was supposed to lie with the people, but how can the people have power when in a country of over 380 Million people we only have two choices for President?

Here's the cold hard facts about Democrats and Republicans. The Democrats want the government to regulate everything and want the poor to be provided for by the government (your tax dollars). The Republicans want nothing regulated and want everyone to work for $8/hr. except for the rich. They want no middle class, just the powerful and the weak.

There is always good with bad and there have always been exceptions. There are good Democrats, there are bad Democrats. There are good Republicans, there are bad Republicans. The nail was hit on the head earlier, it's time we stop fighting each other based on party affiliations and dividing ourselves on agendas we don't even understand in whole and neither do the people that come up with them. It's time we start working togther and FIX what is broken. The time for a third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and more major political parties is long over due.

Brad hold it together man...I agree to a certain degree, but prob best to drop the Armageddon. Start supporting any alternative, call it the "American Party" (yes already taken, but probably could be revived), and make 100% transparent ;-)
If no alternate (cause the two big dogs keep anyone else off the ballet) PUNT!

Mark Garrity, Apparently the Democrats in Washington don’t follow the equal pay law either:
http://www.politicalhotwire.com/current-news-events/69369-senate-democrats-pay-female-staffers-less-than-male-staffers-2.html

pete your criticism is misplaced. Democrats don't pay their female staffers less than men for the same work. The fact is there are still more high ranking male staffers, specifically chiefs of staff who of course get paid better than kids right out of college. If you want to criticize Democrats for that then you might have a valid argument.

Before you guys waste your time trying to build a third, fourth or fifth party I suggest you get involved with your local Democratic or Republican party, whichever is closer to your political inclinations. Volunteer on a campaign and see how much hard work and sacrifice are required to get candidates elected even when you're working within an established party structure. If you're serious about attaining the power to change anything you'll put most of your time and a lot of your money into the effort with no guarantee of anything. With a new party you will have an even steeper climb because you have no established infrastructure. You can expect to make even larger sacrifices of time and money, your family and friends will think you're nuts as will the public, and if you're lucky and viewed as a legitimate threat partisans of the established parties will treat you with open hostility unless they consider you suckers stealing votes from their real opposition. In most cases they will just ignore you. And after all that you will almost certainly lose every election you participate in. Badly.

Remember how the Green Party qualified for automatic spots on the ballot a few years ago after their gubernatorial candidate won 11% of the vote against Blago and Topinka? That didn't last did it?

Mark, don't deny the willful legal blockade by both parties and voter apathy. This could be a chicken/egg argument of which came first. My point is this, get involved absolutely but there is serious corruption on both sides (yes, I said it and mean it). For me to "get in bed" with these guys now would just be wrong and maybe your being played a bit also.

We need real reform and I don't think they get it! we all need to be involved and I applaud you for that, but the Dems could take a high road on so many fronts just to save our election system and that would make them look honest.

I will never understand why you would block any party from a ballot if it can do basic things, have a candidate and the support to campaign. But we all know why the Parties make it so hard, don't we...

my bottom line...D is bad...R is worse and I say let's punt for once...and maybe people will start to get it???