May 14 Morning Edition

SPRINGFIELD STATE JOURNAL REGISTER & PEORIA JOURNAL STAR
— OUTSTANDING: Marijuana bill may violate Illinois Constitution, prosecutors say – Dean Olsen 
https://www.sj-r.com/news/20190513/marijuana-bill-may-violate-illinois-constitution-prosecutors-say
https://www.pjstar.com/news/20190513/marijuana-bill-may-violate-illinois-constitution-prosecutors-say
(FROM THE ARTICLE: A key component of a bill that would legalize possession and sale of marijuana for recreational use in Illinois — erasing pot-related convictions for potentially hundreds of thousands of people — may violate the state Constitution, according to the group representing county prosecutors statewide. The bill essentially would create legislative pardons, which are illegal, said Robert Berlin, president of the Illinois State’s Attorneys Association. Under the Illinois Constitution, only the governor can issue pardons, Berlin, the DuPage County state’s attorney, told The State Journal-Register. “It’s a separation of powers argument,” he said. An additional constitutional concern, he said, is that prosecutors would be prohibited under the bill from helping to determine who is and isn’t eligible for expungement of certain misdemeanor and felony convictions. “It takes away all of our discretion,” Berlin said of Senate Bill 7, adding that court challenges could overturn such expungements. Berlin, a Republican, said the bipartisan association plans to present its concerns to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat and supporter of the bill, as well as the bill’s sponsors in the General Assembly. Berlin said the association has taken a neutral stance on the overall bill.)

CHICAGO TRIBUNE
— OUTSTANDING: Growing recreational pot at home might not be allowed after all under Illinois legalization proposal, sponsors say – Robert McCoppin
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-met-illinois-marijuana-legalization-will-likely-prohibit-home-grow-20190513-story.html
— Montana Gov. Steve Bullock joins 2020 Democratic presidential race – AP (DIERSEN: Bullock is the 22nd Democrat to enter the race. One could ask my critics/opponents, their operatives, and their dupes why so few want to be a TAPROOT Republicans of Illinois chairman, Wheaton Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Committee member, Milton Township Republican Central Committee Treasurer or Webmaster, Illinois Center Right Coalition Steering Committee member, American Association of Political Consultants Midwest Chapter board member, etc. My critics/opponents, their operatives, and their dupes have had great success in destroying organizations and those like me who they cannot manipulate/dominate.)
https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-montana-steve-bullock-2020-democratic-presidential-race-20190514-story.html

DAILY HERALD
— FRONT PAGE TOP OF FOLD: DIERSEN HEADLINE: Democrats promote LGBTQ activity in Naperville. Those who promote LGBTQ activity, their operatives, and their dupes do everything that they can to destroy traditional marriage and to destroy the traditional family.
https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20190514/new-naperville-group-aims-to-support-lgbtq-residents-families
— Avoiding pension payment holiday should be top priority for surplus – Editorial
https://www.dailyherald.com/discuss/20190513/editorial-avoiding-pension-payment-holiday-should-be-top-priority-for-surplus

FOX NEWS CHICAGO
— Illinois congressman Mike Quigley warns new Chinese-made CTA trains may pose ‘dangerous threat’ – Mike Flannery
http://www.fox32chicago.com/news/local/illinois-congressman-warns-new-chinese-made-cta-trains-may-pose-dangerous-threat-

CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS
— Builders are putting up fewer new houses in Chicago. Here’s why. A key factor in the drop in inventory: Builders say buyers in affluent North Side neighborhoods are holding off to see how big a bite the city’s next property tax increase will take out of what they can afford. – DENNIS RODKIN (DIERSEN: The $10,000 SALT cap discourages marriage and discourages homeownership. Trump should increase the SALT cap to $20,000 for married filing jointly, if not eliminate it altogether.)
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/residential-real-estate/builders-are-putting-fewer-new-houses-chicago-heres-why

BELLEVILLE NEWS DEMOCRAT
— Bar owners, VFWs upset over Pritzker plan to increase tax on video gaming terminals – JOSEPH BUSTOS AND GRANT MORGAN 
https://amp.bnd.com/news/local/article230192814.html

FOX ILLINOIS
— President Donald Trump celebrated the month of Ramadan Monday evening as a time when people join forces in “pursuit of hope, tolerance and peace.”
https://foxillinois.com/news/nation-world/live-trump-hosts-iftar-at-white-house

ILLINOIS TIMES
— Muhs, accompanied by staff, leaves SJ-R Editor resigns, then is walked out of building – Bruce Rushton (DIERSEN: When you left the positions that you have held, what kind of show of support did you get from those around you? My critics/opponents, their operatives, and their dupes stress how little support that I got when they succeeded in a) ending my TAPROOT Republicans of Illinois chairman in 2012, b) ending my Wheaton Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Committee membership in 2011, c) ending my Milton Township Republican Central Committee webmaster service in 2010 and 2004, d) ending my Illinois Center Right Coalition Steering Committee membership in 2007, e) ending my American Association of Political Consultants Midwest Chapter board membership in 2004, f) ending my GAO employment in 1997, g) etc.) 
https://illinoistimes.com/article-21221-muhs-accompanied-by-staff-leaves-sj-r.html
(FROM THE ARTICLE: The entire State Journal-Register newsroom walked out today in support of now former editor Angie Muhs, who was walked out of the building this afternoon by the paper’s general manager after submitting her resignation on Friday. In an impromptu show of solidarity, the staff accompanied Muhs as she left the building for the final time. “Everyone walked out with her as a show of respect,” reporter Dean Olsen said. “We all gave her a hug and applauded for her and thanked her for the stand that she was taking. … People are crying.” Olsen said Muhs told her staff on Friday that she was leaving partly in hopes of avoiding more layoffs at a paper that has been decimated by staff cuts. “I think her hope was, by not having her salary to pay, her hope would be that there would be no layoffs,” said Olsen, who wasn’t present when Muhs announced her departure last week. “She was a very good editor, and she tried to promote good journalism in Springfield, despite some pretty trying circumstances that she had to deal with from GateHouse Media (the paper’s corporate owner).” Muhs declined to say what she told her staff, but she said she wasn’t expecting colleagues to walk out of the building with her. “I was very touched,” Muhs said. “I didn’t expect that. … I have tremendous respect and admiration for the State Journal-Register staff. They’re dedicated. They’re hard working. They care about doing quality local journalism, and they persevered under some really tough conditions.” Muhs lasted five years as editor of the State Journal-Register, coming to Springfield from a media company in Maine. For the second year in a row, the SJ-R this spring was named GateHouse Newspaper of the Year for its circulation division. In 2017, Muhs was named Editor of the Year in the SJ-R’s circulation division in a company-wide contest. GateHouse Media, which bought the SJ-R in 2007 and promised “hyperlocal” coverage, publishes more than 150 daily papers and is one of the nation’s biggest newspaper companies. “Angie Muhs exemplifies everything one could ask for from an editor,” wrote former SJ-R publisher and president wrote when Muhs won the 2017 editor of the year award. “She is deeply connected to her community, constantly looks for ways the SJ-R can be a leader in community engagement, demands excellence from her team and works tirelessly to ensure deliver (sic) quality, impactful content to our readers every day.” The praise remains posted at www.bestofgatehouse.com, the company web page dedicated to its contests. Gracing GateHouse Media’s home page is a photo of Abraham Lincoln impersonators taken by Rich Saal, the paper’s longtime photo editor who was laid off two weeks ago, the latest cut for a paper that has seen plenty. In 2012, newsroom employees, voted 26-4 to form a union after the paper laid off the entire copy desk. There are five news reporters left, and several beats, including courts, police and education, no longer have fulltime reporters assigned to them. Muhs declined to discuss staff cuts, but she praised Saal, saying he was one of the best photojournalists she’s ever worked with. She’s been vocal in the past about her feelings while GateHouse sliced her staff. Last September, amid a round of cuts, Muhs tweeted a quote from New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger, who said “You cannot cut the value of the product you give readers and expect them to reward you with growth.” Muhs included her own take: “Amen. If only all owners heeded these words.” Olsen said Muhs appeared emotional as she left the building for the last time. “I think she’s tried to fight within the channels of GateHouse to try to preserve the staff,” Olsen said. “I don’t know how successful she’s been. I know it’s been very frustrating for her. Her heart is in this. She quit without a job lined up. I think that says a lot right there.)

HOMEWOOD FLOSSMOOR PATCH
— Flossmoor Hosts Pride Concert In June The Village of Flossmoor will celebrate Pride Month with a concert and party downtown June 21. – Erika Hobbs (DIERSEN: Democrats promote LGBTQ activity. Those who promote LGBTQ activity, their operatives, and their dupes do everything that they can to destroy traditional marriage and to destroy the traditional family.)
https://patch.com/illinois/homewood-flossmoor/flossmoor-hosts-pride-concert-june

CHICAGO NOW
— Martin with Berkowitz, Guzzardi & Durkin et al on Pritzker’s big tax increase & much more
http://www.chicagonow.com/public-affairs-with-jeff-berkowitz/2019/05/watch-martin-w-berkowitz-guzzardi-durkin-et-al-on-pritzkers-big-tax-increase-much-more-cable-web/

FOX NEWS
— Texas border agents say 5,500 migrants a day are illegally entering US – William La Jeunesse
https://www.foxnews.com/us/texas-border-agents-say-5500-migrants-a-day-are-illegally-crossing-border
— Inside Trump 2020: As Dem field sets, campaign takes aim at ‘socialist organism with 22 heads’ – Alex Pappas 
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/inside-trump-2020-as-dem-field-sets-campaign-takes-aim-at-socialist-organism-with-22-heads

AMERICAN THINKER
— MAGA vs. the U.S. Chamber of Commerce – Peter Skurkiss
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/05/maga_vs_the_us_chamber_of_commerce.html

BREITBART
— Poll Shows Trump Holding on to Working Class Voters Against Joe Biden – John Nolte (DIERSEN: All my critics/opponents, all their operatives, and all their dupes look down on members of the working class. I was a member of the working class 1964-1997.) 
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/05/13/poll-shows-trump-holding-working-class-voters-joe-biden/

TOWNHALL
— The One-Sided World of Cyber Bullying – Robert Knight (DIERSEN: I should write a book about my critics/opponent who blacklist me because I refuse to carry out their blacklist orders. My critics/opponent have hundreds of thousands if not millions of individuals, organizations, companies, governments, and countries on their blacklists.) 
https://townhall.com/columnists/robertknight/2019/05/14/the-onesided-world-of-cyber-bullying-n2546244
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Over on Facebook, Illinois Family Institute writer Laurie Higgins, a perceptive social critic, has found herself more than once in “Facebook Jail,” as have Americans for Truth President Peter LaBarbera and Houston Baptist University Prof. Robert Gagnon, an expert on Biblical sexual morality.)

FRONTPAGE MAGAZINE
— TLAIB’S MORBID FANTASIES OF A PALESTINIAN “SAFE HAVEN” FOR JEWS Nancy Pelosi – Where are you? – Joseph Klein
https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/273766/tlaibs-morbid-fantasies-palestinian-safe-haven-joseph-klein

LIFESITE NEWS
— Twitter locks gender expert’s account for calling transsexualism a mental disorder – Calvin Freiburger
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/twitter-locks-gender-experts-account-for-calling-transsexualism-a-mental-disorder

DAILY CALLER
— NEW YORK STATE ADDED 250K DEMOCRATS, ONLY 9K REPUBLICANS IN LAST YEAR – Luke Rosiak (DIERSEN: Whenever Democrats move in, a) prosperity and safety decrease and b) poverty and crime increase.) 
https://dailycaller.com/2019/05/13/new-york-democrats-republicans-voters/

PJ MEDIA
— Trump: Rashida Tlaib’s Holocaust Comments Show ‘Tremendous Hatred of Israel and the Jewish People’ – TYLER O’NEIL
https://pjmedia.com/trending/trump-rashida-tlaibs-holocaust-comments-show-tremendous-hatred-of-israel-and-the-jewish-people/

HOT AIR
— DIERSEN HEADLINE: Pot pushers push pot.
https://hotair.com/archives/2019/05/13/support-pot-legalization-fading/

REAL CLEAR
— Tlaib: Friend Told Me To Talk Like A 4th Grader So Racist Idiots Understand – Tim Hains 
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/05/14/tlaib_friends_tell_me_to_talk_like_a_4th_grader_so_racist_idiots_understand.html

THE HILL
— Pete Buttigieg gambles with criticism of identity politics – JONATHAN EASLEY (DIERSEN: Ever-increasingly, Democrats promote hatred of individuals, organizations, companies, governments, and countries that are Trump supporters, Protestant, conservative, patriotic, Republican, American, White, male, older, rich, gun owners, German American, draft avoiders, and those whose ancestors have been in America for a long time. How successful have the Democrats been in promoting hatred in your neighborhood, in your precinct, in your municipality, and in your county? I should write a book about the success that Democrats have had in promoting hatred in my neighborhood, in my precinct, in Wheaton, in Milton Township, and in DuPage County.) 
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/443498-pete-buttigieg-gambles-with-criticism-of-identity-politics

HUFFINGTON POST
— DIERSEN HEADLINE: Ever-increasingly, Democrats a) promote hatred of Whites and b) crow about their success in getting rid of Whites.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fox-news-laura-ingraham-huge-demographic-shift_n_5cda64ece4b0f7ba48a9e012
— DIERSEN HEADLINE: To come into a country illegally and/or to stay in a country illegally is to shout a) that you disrespect the rule of law, b) that you disrespect that country, and c) that you disrespect the citizens of that country. 
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/undocumented-immigration-crime-marshall-project_n_5cda71f4e4b0f7ba48aa005a

POLITICO
— ‘One of the most important endorsements in America right now’ Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren jockey for the campaign backing of liberal heroine Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. – HOLLY OTTERBEIN and ALEX THOMPSON (DIERSEN: The following SHOULD NOT and DO NOT want my endorsement: those who a) reject planks in the Republican Party platform and/or the Illinois Republican Party platform and work against those like me who support those planks, b) reject the Milton Township Republican Central Committee resolution against video gambling and work against those like me who support that resolution, c) focus on destroying those like me who they cannot manipulate/dominate, d) were defendants in lawsuits that I have filed, and/or e) are operatives or dupes for the aforesaid. The aforesaid work against me.) 
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/13/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-bernie-sanders-elizabeth-warren-2020-1318929

ASSOCIATED PRESS
— Planes, buses moving migrants from crowded border shelters – AP (DIERSEN: One could argue that because Democrats and RINOs encourage illegal immigration, Democrats and RINOs should be required to take illegals into their homes, to feed them, to clothe them, to provide them health care, to educate them, to provide them with transportation, to give them jobs, etc.) 
https://www.wral.com/planes-buses-move-migrants-from-crowded-border-shelters/18384465/

REUTERS
— Islanders complain to U.N. over Australia’s climate change inaction (DIERSEN: When your critics/opponents have a complaint about you, who can/do they complain to? My critics/opponents complain to a) the voters in my precinct, b) the Milton Township Republican Central Committee (MTRCC) officers, c) the DuPage County Republican Central Committee officers, d) my representative on the Illinois Republican Party (IRP) State Central Committee, e) the IRP officers, f) the IRP National Committeeman and Committeewoman, g) Wheaton officials, h) Milton Township officials, i) DuPage County officials, j) Illinois officials, and k) federal officials. Until they got rid of me, they complained to a) TAPROOT Republicans of Illinois officers and directors, b) Wheaton Chamber of Commerce officers and directors, c) MTRCC officers (to dump me as webmaster) d) Illinois Center Right Coalition officers and directors, e) American Association of Political Consultants Midwest Chapter officers and directors, f) my Democrat GAO superiors, g) etc.) 
https://news.yahoo.com/islanders-complain-u-n-over-australias-climate-change-011959186.html

NEW YORK TIMES
— Twitter Isn’t Real Life (if You’re a Democrat) The online left doesn’t like Joe Biden. Voters seem to. – Michelle Goldberg
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/13/opinion/joe-biden-twitter-2020.html
— The Rise of the Haphazard Self How working-class men detach from work, family and church. – David Brooks
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/13/opinion/working-class-men.html
(FROM THE ARTICLE: The researchers conducted 107 in-depth interviews with working-class men. Many of the men told them that the economy doesn’t allow them to provide the same standard of living that their fathers could provide. That has created the culture of the side hustle. The men feel that they have to have three or four occupations, and they bounce around among them so they can stay employed full time.)

WASHINGTON POST
— Why the gender pay gap persists (and what we can do about it) Professions dominated by women are undervalued in ways legislation can’t fix – Emma Goldberg (DIERSEN: Because of the following, if I had been a woman, the federal government would have promoted me into its Senior Executive Service long before I was 40 years old: I earned a) a job-related bachelor’s degree when I was 21 in 1970 and job-related master’s degrees when I was 27, 31, and 48, b) job-related professional certifications when I was 30, 32, 41, 45, 47, and 48, and c) a job-related professional license when I was 32.)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/05/14/why-gender-pay-gap-still-persists-what-we-can-do-about-it/

LOS ANGELES TIMES
— Female film workers in Georgia urge Hollywood not to boycott over abortion ban – JENNY JARVIE (DIERSEN: Which individuals, organizations, companies, governments, and countries boycott you and why? I should write a book about those that boycott me and boycott my GOPUSA ILLINOIS emails and why they do that.)
https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-georgia-film-workers-hollywood-boycott-20190513-story.html

WALL STREET JOURNAL
— DIERSEN HEADLINE: Ever-increasingly, Democrats demonize, denigrate, and condemn older people.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/boomer-bequest-is-millennial-misery-11557788725
— GM Looks to Jump-Start Cadillac—Again Latest brand reboot follows five years of U.S. market-share decline, dealer angst – Mike Colias (DIERSEN: The more that Democrats successfully promote age discrimination, the fewer Cadillacs that will be sold.) 
https://www.wsj.com/articles/gm-looks-to-jump-start-cadillacagain-11557753226 
(FROM THE ARTICLE: By contrast, in the U.S., where it has operated for more than a century, Cadillac sold only 154,702 cars last year. Among U.S. buyers, the brand has had trouble shaking its image of big cars favored by older drivers, dealers and analysts say.)

USA TODAY
— FRONT PAGE TOP OF FOLD WITH BIG COLOR GRAPHIC: ACT test: The number of perfect scores is soaring everywhere, as expensive test prep booms
Hannah Sparling and Dan Horn (DIERSEN: Of course, if I sought any kind of government or political office, my critics/opponents, their operatives, and their dupes would hint/imply/argue/shout that the only reason why I passed the CPA examination on my first attempt in 1979 when I was 30 years old was that I took the Becker CPA Exam Review (https://www.becker.com/cpa-review.html) which currently starts at $2,493.) 
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2019/05/01/act-sat-scholarships-college-admissions-scandal-scores-test-prep/3640007002/

HOUSTON CHRONICLE
— Why Joe Biden needs Libertarians – Joshua Spivak (DIERSEN: The Libertarian Party exists to promote pot and other terrible things. To get standing to destroy conservatives like me and to destroy Republicans like me, far too many Libertarians fraudulently claim to be conservative and/or Republican. I should write a book about the aforesaid frauds in Wheaton, in Glen Ellyn, in Milton Township, in DuPage County, and in Illinois.) 
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/outlook/article/Why-Joe-Biden-needs-Libertarians-Opinion-13842117.php

COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW
— A new effort boosts a diminished Illinois statehouse press – Mari Cohen
https://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/capitol-news-illinois.php

PEW
— Behind the Movement to Kick Chicago Out of Illinois – Matt Vasilogambros (DIERSEN: Eve-increasingly, Illinois Democrats make it clear that want individuals, organizations, and companies to leave Illinois that are Trump supporters, Protestant, conservative, patriotic, Republican, American, White, male, older, rich, gun owners, German American, draft avoiders, and those whose ancestors have been in America for a long time.)
https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2019/05/14/behind-the-movement-to-kick-chicago-out-of-illinois
(FROM THE ARTICLE: In Illinois, a resolution calling on Congress to declare Chicago the 51st state has eight Republican cosponsors in the state House (there are 44 Republicans in the lower chamber) and support among many of the state’s conservative activists. It’s the second such bill in as many years. Illinois state Rep. Brad Halbrook, the bill’s author, cites the many issues tearing the state apart. He listed Democrats’ “overreaching” stances on abortion, guns, immigration, debt, pensions, Medicaid spending, property taxes, green energy and workers’ compensation as just some of the reasons Chicago and Illinois should go their separate ways. Recent polling from the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale shows two-thirds of Illinois voters think the state is moving in the wrong direction. That same March poll from the Simon Institute shows “significant regional differences” in responses. The state division hit a breaking point several years ago, when Illinois was mired in the longest fiscal stalemate in the United States since the Great Depression. The budget battle between Democratic lawmakers and then-Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner lasted more than two years, threatening public university accreditation, statewide road construction and “junk” credit ratings. Halbrook blamed the impasse on Chicago-area Democrats. “Everywhere I go, people say we just need to get rid of Chicago,” he told Stateline. “It gets rid of all of our problems. My constituency is serious about it. I’m trying to save the state.” Halbrook has a small family farm in Shelbyville, a rural community along the Kaskaskia River in central Illinois with around 4,600 residents. New Illinois? Forty percent of the Prairie State’s 12.7 million residents live in Cook County, the county surrounding Chicago. The broader Chicago metropolitan area consists of 9.5 million people. Without the Chicagoland area, Illinois would have fewer people than Connecticut. Democrats control both chambers of the General Assembly and the governor’s office, and most of them are from Chicagoland — including 62 of the 74 Democrats in the House. The rest of Illinois is largely agricultural and conservative, aside from the parts of Illinois near St. Louis in neighboring Missouri and pockets of central Illinois. A July 2018 paper from the Simon Institute found that Illinois’ politics “are marked and marred by regionalism.” The idea of dividing Illinois has been around throughout Illinois’ history, the paper says, despite “how impractical it is.” While these regional divides are prevalent in other states across the country, it’s exaggerated in Illinois because of “the extent to which many Illinois leaders emphasize, exploit and exacerbate these regional differences for their own advantage,” the paper claims. The Windy City has all the political power, the money and the economic growth, said G.H. Merritt, who runs New Illinois, a separation group that has begun starting chapters in counties throughout the state to build grassroots support. Merritt, a former nonprofit administrator, lives in Lake County, north of Chicago. So far, she has 26 county chapters that want to split the rest of Illinois from Chicago. When forming her organization, Merritt sought advice from other state separation organizations, like New California. The group, which is run by a conservative radio talk show host, advocates for the creation of a new state split from the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas “to throw off the bonds of tyranny.” Activists such as Merritt blame state Democratic leaders from Chicago for creating a “systemically corrupt climate” and many of the problems Illinois currently faces, like the $134 billion in unfunded pensions and other fiscal problems — despite the fact that these problems grew through both Democratic and Republican governorships.)

NEWSWEEK
— RUDY GIULIANI SLAMS RASHIDA TLAIB’S CLAIM HER PALESTINIAN ANCESTORS WERE ‘KIND’ TO JEWS: ‘THE GRAND MUFTI WAS A CLOSE ALLY OF HITLER. HE MURDERED JEWS’ – CALLUM PATON 
https://www.newsweek.com/rudy-giuliani-slams-rashida-tlaibs-claim-her-palestinian-ancestors-were-kind-1424694

Author: David Diersen

The opinions that I express in GOPUSA ILLINOIS emails are based on experience that I have gained doing many things since 1948. I base my opinions on what I learned a) working for the federal government for almost 30 years -- Post Office 1966-1969, IRS 1971-1980, and GAO 1980-1997, serving on the Executive Committee of the Association of Government Accountants Chicago Chapter 1983-1996, and being a union member while I worked for the Post Office and IRS; b) earning an MBA from Loyola in 1976, a masters degree in accounting from DePaul in 1980, and a masters degree in financial markets and trading from IIT in 1997; c) passing the CPA examination on my first attempt in 1979 and passing the Certified Internal Auditor examination on my first attempt in 1981; c) serving as a Republican Precinct Committeeman since 1999, the GOPUSA Illinois Editor since 2000, the TAPROOT Republicans of Illinois Chairman 2005-2012, a member of the 2008 Illinois Republican Party (IRP) Platform and Resolutions Committee, a Wheaton Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Committee member 2003-2011, the Milton Township Republican Central Committee webmaster 2008-2010 and 2000-2004, an Illinois Center Right Coalition Steering Committee member 2003-2007, and an American Association of Political Consultants Midwest Chapter board member 2001-2004; d) attending the 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016 IRP State Conventions as a delegate; e) being the subject of a nasty 4-page article in the February 1978 issue of Money Magazine; f) pursing litigation including Diersen v. GAO and Diersen v. Chicago Car Exchange; g) being married since 1978; h) living in Crete 1948-1972, in University Park 1972-1976, in Chicago 1976-1978, and in DuPage County, Milton Township, and Wheaton since 1978; and i) being baptized, raised, and confirmed as a Missouri Synod Lutheran.