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This has been a hot few weeks in St Clair County—is this a forecast for a hot election cycle gearing up? There are some interesting campaigns getting started and more are in the works. Please consider how you can get involved!
School supplies are out at the stores and our kids are facing another school year. How will we educate ourselves and our neighbors on the civics of being a responsible citizen? Events are on the calendar where it will be possible to meet our elected officials, our website has the latest information, and soon our office will be the hub of activities. For a brief run down on information call our office 618-416-7370 option 2.
Check out the calendar for specific events, dates, and times. Quick reminder—Early Bird discount on Reagan Day Dinner tickets until Sept 4th.
Thanks for all you do in helping us turn St. Clair County red!
Cheryl Mathews
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St. Clair County Republican Party Core Values
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Petition Circulation For The 2024 Presidential Election Starts In One Month!
Candidates running for office in the 2024 Presidential Election will begin circulating petitions in early September 2023 with the signed petitions being due in late November 2023. Republican candidates are needed for the following offices:
US House of Representatives
IL 13th Congressional District
IL State House of Representatives
IL State 112th Legislative District
IL State 113th Legislative District
St. Clair County Countywide Positions
County Chairman
State’s Attorney
Coroner
Circuit Clerk
Auditor
County Recorder
Board of Review (x2)
St. Clair County Board Districts
District 1
District 6
District 7
District 9
District 10
District 11
District 16
If you’re interested in running for one of these offices, please contact Michael Butler, our Vice-Chairman for Elections, at elections@scilgop.com.
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Annual Reagan Day Dinner on Thursday, Sep 28th
Please plan to join us for our annual Reagan Day Dinner on Thursday, Sep 28th at 6:30PM at the Fairview Heights Knights of Columbus Hall! Tickets are available on our website.
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As a part of the Dinner’s silent auction, we’ll be auctioning theme-based gift baskets. The list of themes is:
Petcare Italian
Elections (tshirts and hats etc.) Mexican
Car care w/ car washes Cleaning products
Halloween Fall/Thanksgiving decor
Christmas decor Candles/oils/wax warmer
Baking/cooking St. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis Blues Wine and other spirits
Home decor
We’re asking members to support the gift basket auction by donating items for the baskets or by creating a basket itself. Items may be purchased on our Amazon Gift Registry. For questions about the Dinner or the gift baskets, please contact Melanie Schaltenbrand at events@scilgop.com. We hope to see you there!
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County Board News for June 2023 – By Phil Henning, County Board District 19
1. Ashely Jett, SCC Animal Services Director presented the status of the animal shelter population and intakes to the Animal Services Committee. She stated they remain full of cats and dogs and cannot accept new surrenders. She had 137 animals come in and only 4 were adopted out. Most were surrenders due to owners moving, or unable to care for their pet(s). Some were brought in by law enforcement.
2. SCC Building Permits – The County issued 45 building permits in June with a total valuation of $3,891,140.47 in value with $15, 411.28 in fees paid. Twelve projects were solar permits and there were some new family home construction permits, in ground pools and pole barns approved.
3. The Finance Committee and the Board approved re-classifying the 12 SCC Sheriff Deputies providing Metro Link with police services as patrol deputies. This brings their pay scale into line with our standard road patrol deputy pay. Bi-State Development, the Metro Link agency, is funding the increase in pay. This is designed to attract more candidates to provide police services for the Metro East portion of Metro Link.
4. The Intergovernmental Grants Department is accepting phone applications for home and HVAC upgrades for income limited homeowners (not landlords) until August 30th. This is a lottery system in which applicants are approved for the grants. Mr. Stubblefield, IGD Director recommended, and the Grants Committee approved the County Board Chairman submit a resolution for $30 million in Federal grants for flood damaged and buyout of homes from the July 2022 flooding.
5. The St Clair County jail remains over capacity with an average daily population of 491. Lt Col Knapp reported the June “intake” numbers were 567 which included 439 males and 128 females. 289 were felony intakes.
6. Approved by the SCC Park Grants Commission. The Commission approved these grants for New Athens, Smithton and Marissa:
Marissa- Rubber mulch and electrical upgrades, $30,000
New Athens- Playground benches and equipment, $30,000
Smithton-Expansion of Walking Trails, $30,000.
The Commission approved the remainder of the funds across the county and townships. Most are in the $30,000 range.
7. The Trustee Committee manages the payment of tax sales and reviews and may approve extensions by owners to pay property taxes that are due to avoid the redemption of properties for late taxes. Twenty such properties were presented to the Committee; most are in East St Louis. Mr. Mosley stated East St Louis is acquiring the property adjacent to the Spivey Building (the tallest building in ESL which has been vacant for decades) so it can be demolished.
8. Voting Precinct Re-Alignment. The Board approved the following re-alignment of our County Board Voting Precincts as noted:
Belleville, reduce from 35 to 25, a difference of -10.
Canteen, reduce from 9 to 5, a difference of -4.
Caseyville, reduce from 26 to 22, a difference of -4.
Centreville, reduce from 21 to 11, a difference of -10
Marissa, reduce from 2 to 1, a difference of -1.
St Clair, reduce from 31 to 24, a difference of -7.
Stookey, reduce from 10 to 7, a difference of -3.
Sugarloaf, reduce from 6 to 5, a difference of -1.
No Change: Englemann, Fayetteville, Freeburg, Lebanon, Lenzburg, Mascoutah, Millstadt, New Athens, O’Fallon, Prairie Du Long, Shiloh, Smithton, and Stites.
Total Count: 190 Precincts Currently. 149 Precincts New. This will eliminate about 200 election judges and tabulators.
9. We approved lowering the speed limit on Frank Scott Parkway from IL 161 to Sullivan Drive to 45 mph and adding signage. This was a result of citizens presenting their concerns to the Transportation Committee.
10. The Circuit Clerk’s Office underwent an audit (as required by state law) by the Scheffel Boyle CPA and there were no findings. I learned this office manages millions in fees and fines and ensures they are credited to the proper county agency and has 54 employees.
We approved awarding a contract to the lowest bidder, Compass Minerals America, for rock salt for the amount of $1,054,921.25. This is $20,000 less than last year.
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Rebutting the Democrats’ Attack Machine by State Representative Kevin Schmitt
In the coming months, voters will be told that I am against Meals on Wheels for seniors, school lunch programs, teachers, first responders, assistance for the developmentally disabled, and host of other programs and services.
The justification for these outrageous claimes stems from a single vote I cast last spring. Because I voted against the budget, the Democrats are going to cherry pick parts of the budget people like and try to cast me as a villain.
They are banking on people not doing their homework and taking these false claims at face value. The truth is much more nuanced and much more difficult to explain, and the Democrats know this which is why they are using this tactic against me.
I voted against the budget because it included hundreds of millions of dollars to fund programs for people who are here in Illinois illegally. It also included pay raises for legislators and only provided a modest increase in the Local Government Distributive Fund. The budget also failed to provide the full $4 per hour increase for the men and women who care for the developmentally disabled. The budget fails to address current spending priorities while allocating millions for new spending initiatives.
The truth is a “NO” vote on the budget is the only option for anyone who truly cares about seniors, teachers, school lunch programs and other state programs. Put the budget in terms of a family budget. If your child needs shoes and shirts for the new school year, but you only buy new shoes because you bought a big screen TV and can’t afford to buy new shirts, are you taking care of your kids? The state is essentially doing the same thing. We can’t fully fund current priorities because we are spending money on new priorities and new programs. How can anyone who claims to care about these programs and services advocate voting for a budget that provides a pay increase for lawmakers but fails to fund the requested $4 per hour pay increase for caretakers working with the developmentally disabled? It makes no sense.
So, when you are asked about my record and the record of every single Republican in Springfield (and you will), simply tell them that we voted against the budget because we care about seniors, teachers and school lunch programs and we want to prioritize these programs over spending money on new programs we can’t afford. We voted against the budget because we really do people before politics which is something everyone who advocates for JB Pritzker’s reckless budget refuses to do.
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Republican Day at the IL State Fair on Thursday, August 17th
The gates open for the Republican Day event on the Director’s Lawn at 11:30AM, and the program starts at noon. The first 1000 people to register for the event at Republican Day will receive free tickets for:
1) FREE admission onto the fairgrounds (you pay for parking)
2) A FREE BBQ lunch at the Republican Day event
3) Admission into the Republican Day Rally event itself
Everyone else over the first 1,000 registrants will be issued a simple ticket allowing them admission into the Republican Day event but NOT free admission onto the fairgrounds and NOT a free BBQ lunch. You will find out if you have a FREE fairgrounds/lunch ticket on Saturday, August 12th via your email.
We hope to see you there!
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The Republican Women’s Club Of St. Clair County Invites All Republican Women To Attend Their Monthly Meetings
The Republican Women’s Club of St. Clair County meets on the first Monday of each month at O’Town Food Hall & Tap House located at 1214 Central Park Drive in O’Fallon. Supper and fellowship begin at 6PM, and the meeting starts at 7PM.
Please join us as we work together, have fun, and share information in a positive setting. You will meet fellow Republicans, Republican candidates, and Republican elected officials at our meetings and gain valuable knowledge on important issues related to St. Clair County.
For more info, please contact Mary Thurman, President, by phone at 618-550-5751 or via email at mompower49@hotmail.com.
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St. Clair County Republican Party 2023 Sustaining Membership
At our 2023 Lincoln Day Gala, Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy congratulated the St. Clair County Republican Party for flipping the Illinois 56th State Senate District seat to Erica Conway Harriss and the Illinois 114th State House District seat to Kevin Schmidt. St. Clair County was one of the few places in Illinois where Republicans made gains at the state level in the 2022 Midterm Elections. In St. Clair County, we had the strongest slate of candidates on the ballot in our Party’s recent history with candidates for all but one countywide position and all but three County Board seats. We came very close to flipping three countywide positions and winning new County Board seats.
In large part, these successes were attributable to the financial support that we received in 2022 from Republicans in St. Clair County. That support allowed us to host monthly Candidate Table events across the County in order to introduce our local candidates to County voters. We also hosted Illinois Governor and US Senate Forums to introduce our statewide candidates to voters in southern Illinois. Donations allowed us to mail out tens of thousands of voter education cards to County voters to ensure they knew the Republicans running for office at the County and State levels. Our new website, stclaircountyrepublicans.com, was built with funds donated by County Republicans.
As we look ahead to the 2024 Presidential Election, we have a lot of work to do in 2023 to prepare for the 2024 Presidential Election. Our goal is straightforward, we want to increase the number of votes for Republican candidates from St. Clair County voters in order to win seats at the County, State, and National levels. Specifically, we will be focused on creating an effective Vote By Mail (VBM) program in St. Clair County, on expanding our outreach to independent and soft Democrat voters in St. Clair County, and on broadly communicating our Republican value proposition.
In order to ensure we’re able to accomplish these goals, please consider becoming a 2023 Sustaining Member of the St. Clair County Republican Party. Our website’s Sustaining Membership Page describes our nine different Sustaining Membership levels and the gifts associated with each.
We’re making progress in St. Clair County. However, we have much more to do to stop the attack on our southern Illinois values from Chicago Democrats. We can do this if we work together and stand for what we believe. Thanks for your continued support in turning St. Clair County red!
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Do You Have Information That Is Of Interest To Our Members?
If so, please send it to us at marketing@scilgop.com so that can publish it in an upcoming issue of the St. Clair County Republican Party Membership Newsletter.
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