Shaking in their boots?
Personal PAC, the powerful abortion rights/pro-choice organization which is a major force on the the political scene, seems scared to death that its chosen candidate for Illinois attorney general — Democrat Kwame Raoul — might be in trouble.
In a confidential letter dispatched late last week to board members by PAC leader Terry Cosgrove, the fear of Raoul losing the state race is palpable.
In the letter, which was obtained by Sneed, Cosgrove states:
“Putting aside the closeness of many legislative races, I am most concerned about Kwame Raoul defeating [Republican] Erika Harold.”
“Several of you have asked me in the last few days what you can do to help,” he said.
“My answer is simple. Email, call, talk to absolutely everyone you know (friends, family, colleagues, neighbors) to make sure they vote for Kwame and understand the serious threat that Erika Harold poses to the women of Illinois as our next attorney general.
“Speaking of voting — have everyone do it early. The weather is supposed to be bad on Tuesday and no need to put off to then what you need to do today!
• Back story: “Personal PAC is going after 15 total Illinois House and Senate races, and they’re up on TV in six House races,” according to a Sneed source. “They’re also targeting two Cook County Commissioner races with mail and phones.
“Two of the legislative races are outside the Chicago suburban area – State Rep. Katie Stuart in Edwardsville and Gregg Johnson taking on Senator Neil Anderson in SD 36 (Rock Island. Quad cities).
The Cosgrove letter also states: “This week alone we sent 400,000 pieces of mail for Kwame to Independent and Dem leaning voters in Cook and the collar counties.
“We put out a call to 500,000 pro-choice voters statewide from our pro-choice voter file.”
The confidential missive ends with a note expressing the fear that the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe vs. Wade ruling legalizing abortion is in jeopardy.
“The 4,500 women who came to Illinois last year from neighboring states for an abortion will only increase many more times each year as the U.S. Supreme Court continues to allow states to choke off access to care,” Cosgrove wrote.
“We cannot do anything less than everything we can to be here for them as a solidly pro-choice state until at least 2032,” he said.
Pen & pork pies . . .
. . . and painting and prose: Upper Peninsula Michigan writer/water colorist Sue Manson was recently in town pitching her new little book, “It’s About Thyme: A collection of recipes and reflections.” She claims one of her chicken recipes, “Mindy’s Breasts,” was given to her by a Chicago woman named Mindy.
• Quoth Manson: “I was cooking for a man in Marquette, Michigan who requested this dish. But he asked if I could make Mindy’s thighs instead!”
(The self-published book of mostly family recipes is a hoot and can be found at www.itsaboutthyme.store. Full disclosure: I knew Manson when I lived in Marquette and use her yummy recipes — as does Chicago chef Nick Lacasse, who loves the book.)
Sneedlings . . .
A music note: Legendary singer Frankie Valli, 84, pulled out all the stops at the Auditorium Theatre gala Saturday night honoring Mel Katten with the third annual Adler & Sullivan Award for his work with the theatre. . . . Monday’s birthdays: Odell Beckham Jr., 26; Kris Jenner, 63; Kevin Jonas, 31.
