Many of you are aware that Jeremy Rose was recently fired - excuse me, he decided to "resign" - from the position of Executive Director of the Cook County Republican Party. However, Rose is still the Grand Poobah of the
Chicago Young Republicans (CYRs).
This raises a lot of concerns and many questions, not only about Rose but also about Illinois GOP Chairman
Pat Brady and
Lee Roupas, Chairman of the Cook County Republican Party. (Again, apologies to some readers for the semi-insider nature of all of this.)
Jeremy Rose will remain an integral part of the Roupas-controlled Cook County GOP. I am told today that
Beth Christie, a wealthy Republican donor, will kick in some dough to pay a consultancy fee to Rose on behalf of the Cook Co. party. So, Rose is out, yet he's still in. Ironically, it sounds like Rose comes out of the affair in a better position. The gig as Executive Director didn't pay much, you see, but he will retain influence and make a tidy profit to boot.
The situation at the Cook County GOP may be resolved for now, but you can believe that it will flare up again after November's general elections.
Rose's removal as Exec. Dir., Cook County GOP does nothing to resolve the alleged sex scandal at Rose's CYR. It's an open, festering wound that will surely turn
gangrenous soon if it is not
triaged quickly.
Pat Brady has known about the CYR-Jeremy Rose sex scandal allegations for many weeks, probably for many months. Insiders tell me that his top aides received emails about it last year. By now, certainly, all of the Republican leadership in Illinois is aware of it. There is no longer any excuse for those leaders, including Pat Brady, to not insist on a full internal investigation of the allegations.
By having let it go for so long, with rumors and inuendo flying all the while, was but another example of poorly Republicans handle public relations. This particular PR problem, which may seem insignificant to some, has all the potential of blowing up the the GOP's face in mid-October as a PR bomb that the Democrats will happily use. Thanks to Pat Brady's initial hiding of - and from - the problem, and also to his window-dressing removal of Rose as Exec. Director of the Cook County Republican Party, the Democrats won't even have to light that PR bomb's fuse.
IN FACT, THE BOMB THROWING STARTED TODAY, with a press conference call by some Democrat women:
MEDIA ADVISORY
WHO: State Senator Iris Martinez, State Representative Karen Yarbrough, State Representative Sarah Feigenholtz, Melissa Widen, PersonalPAC Board of Directors Vice-Chairman
[Update: Feigenholtz was a no-show; see more below...]
WHAT: PRESS CONFERENCE: WOMEN DEMAND RESPONSE AFTER COVER UP OF SEXUAL MISCONDUCT ALLEGATIONS IN ILLINOIS GOP
WHEN: Friday, July 30th at 12:00 p.m.
WHERE: Democratic Party of Cook County, 134 N LaSalle Blvd, 14th Floor, Chicago
SUBJECT: WOMEN DEMAND RESPONSE AFTER COVER UP OF SEXUAL MISCONDUCT ALLEGATIONS IN ILLINOIS GOP CHICAGO
Illinois women are demanding the truth from GOP standard-bearer Senator Bill Brady after his party covered up allegations of sexual misconduct by a top GOP leader. After two governors who betrayed the public trust, Illinois cannot afford a repeat of the problems of the past. Women and all voters should be concerned that a cover up of this magnitude was perpetuated by Illinois Republicans. The press conference will be held at the Democratic Party of Cook County offices, 134 N LaSalle Blvd, 14th Floor, Chicago, IL
UPDATE, 10:10 PM: Cook County GOP Scandal: Bill Brady Takes Heat From Women Democrats Over 'Cover-Up' at Huffington Post. (
Note that Sara Feigenholtz stayed away for reasons unknown.)
Hat tip to Rich Miller at Capital Fax for the heads up on the press release. Miller noted, accurately, the
"The mainstream Chicago media has completely ignored these allegations. We’ll see what happens after the press conference." Indeed, Capital Fax seems to be the only outlet - mainstream or otherwise - to publish that press release so far.
What's to be done? The OTHER Brady, of course, stands to lose most of all. That's
State Senator Bill Brady, of course, who is the Republican running for governor of Illinois. Sen. Brady has also been aware of the CYR sexual misconduct allegations for months. As one GOP insider said to me this morning, "Bill Brady should have come out front months ago with this and demanded an inquiry," and hinted that Sen. Brady should even have called for purge of all suspects. As feared, and as we all knew would happen, the Dems are trying to tie Bill Brady to the scandal. Although he had nothing to do with any of the alleged misconduct, Bill Brady is guilty of participating in the covering up of the scandal. The fact that Pat Brady forced the "resignation" of Jeremy Rose from the Cook County GOP is proof enough that the leadership acknowledges the public relations problem - even though they handled it like rank amateurs.
Bill Brady needs to insist that Pat Brady step down as chair of the Illinois Republican Party. He should then hold a press conference to say how horrified he is about the allegations and the way it's been handled, and assure everyone that this kind of behavior is not acceptable. He would need to be careful to say things such as "if true" and "allegedly," because none of the accusations have been tried in any court of law. Bill Brady, however, does not need a court of law to state his case any more than Pat Brady did to oust Rose.
Bill Brady can't keep avoiding this by continuing to hide in his bus.
August 2, 2010 - Last week, Illinois Chairman Pat Brady forced the resignation of Jeremy Rose from his position as Exec. Director of the Cook County Republican Party. Today we learn that Brady has also forced Rose out of his position as President of the Chicago Young Republicans. Rose is replaced by Meredyth Richards as the new President (photo).
Did Pat Brady take the advice of Chicago News Bench? We'd like to think so, but the thought processes within the GOP leadership seems so befuddled that it's hard to tell. Anyway, bittersweet hat tip to the Huffington Post for beating me by about an hour on this:
At the behest of Illinois Republican Party Chair Pat Brady, the president of the Chicago Young Republicans has been ousted amid a growing scandal for the state GOP. An allegation of sexual misconduct against CYR President Jeremy Rose -- and the alleged cover-ups, blind eyes turned and retributions made in its wake -- resulted in Rose vacating the post Monday. Chairman Brady said Rose's continued involvement with the Young Republicans was "a distraction to what we're trying to accomplish." In addition to being the longtime CYR president, Rose was hired by Cook County Republican Party chairman Lee Roupas as political director in 2009. He was promoted in early 2010 to CCRP Executive Director, though Roupas knew full well of the allegations against Rose. More at HuffPo...
Questions remain: When will Pat Brady also force the resignation of Lee Roupas for his role in the covering up of the alleged sex scandal and also for the disgusting way in which he and Rose conspired to overthrow the elected leadership of the Chicago Republican Party?
For that matter, when will Pat Brady step down? After all, like Lee Roupas, Pat Brady also knew "full well" of the allegations against Rose for months and months, yet he was content to let it slide until the pressure from the blogs and his own party members became too much to bear. Pat Brady deserves the same contempt for this coverup as does anybody else.
Note to Ms. Richards: You might want to replace the "Message From The President" blog entry, dated July 17, at the CYR website. It's from your predecesor.
RELATED:
Chicago News Bench entries under "Jeremy Rose"
Enough of the cowardly accusations, "Roxy Vanilla." You describe yourself as "a small group of disgusted current and former Chicago Young Republicans." You write wicked accusations about Jeremy Rose and Lee Roupas from behind the safe shadows of anonymity. Chicago News Bench, and other bloggers previously, have reported the allegations made by you. This blog has always referred to the accusations by you as "allegations" because none of the serious points presented have been proven to be true.
(I apologize to most readers for the insider nature of this post, which I realize is mysterious to most of you. For context, see Sex! Power! Coverups! The Imperial Cook County GOP and Is Jeremy Rose Out As Exec Dir of Cook County GOP?)
The accustions against Rose, Roupas, et. al. may be or may not be true; we don't know, but fairness obliges us to qualify the accusations as "allegations." I have offered Jeremy Rose a forum here to dispute the allegations against him, and thus far he has not stepped up. The point is, however, that he was offered. (I have also offered that opportunity to the Cook County committeemen, to no avail.) Roxy Vanilla seems to prefer the star chamber method of justice, convened secretly in a shadowy corner, perhaps, of a musty coffee shop in parts unknown.
For all we know, Roxy Vanilla is only one person. Or as he/she/they claim, a group. We don't know because RV is anonymous. Even the guilty have the right to face their accuser, but Roxy Vanilla is denying that right to Rose, Roupas and others. That is cowardly, and it does not nothing in the way of lending any credibility to Roxy Vanilla. So we call on Roxy Vanilla to grow a spine and step forward. Reveal your identity/ies.
Give credence (if there is any) to your claims of misconduct, "Roxy Vanilla," by attaching your real name/s to them.
Today, another anonymous coward sent us an email. Their email was "theswordandtherose" and used the same anonymizing email service that Roxy Vanilla uses. The voice in which it was written is very similar to that of Roxy Vanilla. The sender signed the email as "Concerned CYRs." We call on this cowardly cyberinformant to step forward, too. ALSO SEE: Did Hillbuzz Have a Premature Ejaculation?
power struggle within the ranks of Chicago area Republicans, and also has to do with allegations of sexual misconduct within the Chicago Young Republicans. The mediation was scheduled for Thursday, July 22.
In the midst of all of this, the names of every Cook County GOP Central Committeeman was removed from their website. (Click image to see the before and after listings.) No public explanation has been offered, and it caught the committeemen themselves by surprise. The phone calls between them and Roupas, whose name is the only one remaining under the heading of "leadership" on that web page, would undoubtedly make for great cocktail conversation.
Both sides seem to have clammed up even tighter. They are avoiding calls from the likes of the Huffington Post, Hillbuzz, Chicago News Bench and others. (We have twice offered Jeremy Rose a "carte blanche" opportunity to respond on Chicago News Bench, but he has not responded to the offer.)
Another question: Is Rose really still the Executive Director of the Cook County GOP? Given the purging of the committeemen's names, can we trust the website? After all, we doubt that the committeemen themselves have been removed from their position, yet there's the now-incomplete "Leadership" list. Time for Lee Roupas and Jeremy Rose to start answering a lot of questions - not just from bloggers, but from their own "leadership." They could start with this question: "What the hell is going on over there?"
RELATED:
Anatomy of a Scandal: Why conservatives nationwide should care about what Lee Roupas has done to the Cook County GOP - Hillbuzz
by Sean Vera
To be perfectly fair, it's only a shocker if you're either (a) an idiot, or (b) a rabid Democrat. But even Illinois Dems, no strangers to the sort of sordid scandals that have made the state a punchline for every comedian and late night host across the country, must be reeling from this one.
The Lieutenant Governor nominee (as you can recall, he's been the nominee for all of 2 days), Scott Lee Cohen, has been alleged to have held a knife to the throat of his girlfriend, who it was later revealed is also allegedly a prostitute.