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Calling all Republicans: Please Help Mike Webster get on the ballot

Soon after Republican Mike Webster announced his bid for Illinois secretary of state (press release below), the Illinois GOP sent out an email asking for help.

"We have an extremely narrow window of time left to collect a minimum of 5,000 signatures to get him on the ballot and continue our work to restore a true two-party system to Illinois," the email read.

"Please take some time in the next few days to ask your friends, family, neighbors, and community to help Mike Webster get on the ballot," the email said. "Time is short and we need every Republican to pitch in."

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For more information on how to help Mike Webster, please visit http://websterforillinois.net or email votemikewebster@gmail.com.

Mike Webster to Challenge Jesse White for Secretary of State

(Chicago, Nov. 18) -- Naperville attorney Michael “Mike” Webster announced his candidacy for Illinois Secretary of State this morning. He pledged to bring the Secretary of State’s office into the 21st century, and restore some much-needed confidence after Jesse White’s scandals.

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Illinois Republican Chairman Jack Dorgan, State Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno, and State House Republican Leader Jim Durkin recently met with Webster, 53, to encourage him to challenge the embattled Secretary of State.

Earlier, Chairman Dorgan issued a statewide call to G.O.P. leaders to circulate petitions for Webster.

“I'm pleased to share that Mike Webster has been recruited to run for Secretary of State,” Dorgan said. “Illinois deserves much better than the controversy coming out of Jesse White’s office, and the failure of leadership up and down the Democrat ticket.

“The most recent scandal, involving suspicious hiring and work irregularities of a high-ranking staff with a ‘special’ relationship to the incumbent, may be just the tip of the iceberg. Mike Webster will clean house. That’s why the party asked him to make this run.”

“The people of Illinois have been shortchanged for too long,” Webster said. “It is time for dramatic change. The troubling reports of serious improprieties show it is time for new leadership. I will end the inefficiency, cronyism, nepotism, and patronage hiring that Jesse White has become infamous for, and I will provide the transparency, efficiency, and accountability that we all deserve.”

A lifelong Illinois resident, Webster graduated from Joliet Catholic High School, The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and DePaul University College of Law. He is also a Certified Public Accountant.

“As a lawyer and a CPA, I have the skills to improve the Secretary of State’s office on day one. I am a not a politician, with no ties to Springfield, and I’m beholden to no one. I am not afraid to root out the corruption, end political shenanigans, and reform the office. That is what Illinois taxpayers want, it is what they deserve, and it is what I will do when I am elected,” Webster said.

Webster started Webster & Schelli, P.C. in 1991 with his partner James Schelli, and practices business succession planning, estate planning, taxation, probate and trust administration.

Webster is the President of the Cass School District #63 Board of Education in Darien. He was first elected to the Cass Board of Education in 2005, and re-elected in 2009 and 2013. Webster, his wife, Sandy, and their four daughters live in Hinsdale. 

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