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Rove's retirement a surprise to Kjellander, too

Posted August 15, 2007 11:00 pm

Bernard Schoenburg

BOB KJELLANDER, Republican National Committeeman from Illinois who has known KARL ROVE for more than three decades, got no hint of Rove's coming retirement when he met with Rove in the White House last week.

"He was his normal, funny, very engaged self," said Kjellander, a Springfield resident who is vice chairman of the committee on arrangements for the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul. Minn.

Kjellander said Rove asked him a lot of specific questions about Illinois congressional districts.

"I didn't have a clue he was leaving," Kjellander said, adding that he was among recipients Wednesday morning of an e-mail from Rove revealing his decision, but Kjellander had just seen the news on TV.

"I think it's certainly a great loss for the president," Kjellander said. "I think you could see that on the lawn there at the White House. They were both pretty choked up. … They've had a very long and very close relationship. And Karl is going to be missed. There's no getting away from that."

Kjellander discounted the idea that his access to the White House will diminish without Rove there.

"The source of my involvement in the Bush administration was much more focused on the fact that I got involved in the Bush campaign back in 1998," Kjellander said. "Karl flew to Chicago and we had lunch, and he asked me if I'd take a leadership role in the Midwest for Bush, which I agreed to do." Kjellander said he then ended up working for a year in Iowa for Bush.

"Karl's certainly been the focal point for the political part of the White House," Kjellander said, "but there's an infrastructure in the White House that will continue."

He said the Illinois GOP is "very fortunate" that the new White House political director is JONATHAN FELTS, who was formerly the White House's Midwest political director.

"So he's been the person that we've worked closest with over the last several years," Kjellander said.

He also discounts the damage Rove's leaving will do to Bush.

"I don't think it's going to have that much impact," Kjellander said. "I mean, it's only political junkies and the media folks who focus in on staff members."

As for his discussions with Rove, Kjellander said, there was only brief mention of the 18th Congressional District, where U.S. Rep. RAY LaHOOD, R-Peoria, has announced he is not seeking another term. Kjellander said he does not think the 18th is vulnerable to a takeover by Democrats.

Much of the talk was about the 8th Congressional District, where Kjellander said he thinks Republican businessman STEVE GREENBERG could win back the seat for the GOP from U.S. Rep. MELISSA BEAN, a Democrat who defeated incumbent Republican PHIL CRANE in 2004.

"Steve Greenberg is a very dynamic, articulate, aggressive young business leader," Kjellander said.

He also said he and Rove discussed the U.S. Senate seat now held by Sen. DICK DURBIN, D-Ill. Kjellander said he considers JIM NALEPA, who got nearly 46 percent of the vote against then-U.S. Rep. BILL LIPINSKI, D-Chicago, in 1994, to be "a very interesting candidate" who could run a good race with adequate finances. He said Nalepa is an articulate businessman with a military background. Nalepa is formally announcing formation of an exploratory committee today.

"Illinois is a tough state," Kjellander said of Republican prospects for winning back Durbin's Senate seat. But he said the presidential race will dominate the political scene next year, so who is at the top of the ticket for each party could influence the chances of the GOP in the Senate race.

Kjellander, a consultant who has made money from companies doing business with the state under Democratic Gov. ROD BLAGOJEVICH, has in the past been urged to quit his party post by some fellow Republicans. He thinks that controversy has died down. He remains in his national party post through the end of the 2008 convention, and has been spending a lot of time in Minneapolis-St. Paul, working with the host committee on the coming convention.

He remains personally in favor of MITT ROMNEY for president and thinks Romney's winning showing at the recent Ames, Iowa, straw poll bodes well for that candidacy.

He also thinks that the Illinois GOP can rebound, with a possible defeat of Bean one factor.

"I think that Dick Durbin is potentially vulnerable in the right circumstances," he said. "And I think that the general anarchy that is state government today will create an opportunity for the party in 2010 to take back the governorship."

Kjellander first met Rove when Kjellander was chairman of college Republicans at the University of Illinois and Rove, just 19 years old, was hired by then-U.S. Sen. RALPH SMITH, R-Ill., to organize campuses for the 1970 run for a full Senate term that Smith would ultimately lose to Democrat ADLAI STEVENSON III.

Then, in 1971, Kjellander was elected Illinois state chairman of college Republicans, and Rove was named by the nationwide group as its executive director.

Kjellander said he didn't know at the time, in 1970, when Rove played an oft-recounted prank on the state treasurer campaign of Democrat ALAN DIXON by distributing a flier inviting undesirables to come and get "free beer, free food, girls, and a good time for nothing" to a Dixon campaign headquarters opening. Kjellander said, however, that he did find out about it later.

In "Bush's Brain," a 2003 book about Rove, Kjellander is quoted as saying, "It was funny. He had all these winos showing up at a fancy party with an open bar."

Such an episode shouldn't tarnish Rove's legacy, Kjellander said this week.

"It's just silly stuff," he said, adding that Dixon, eventually a U.S. senator, later supported Rove for a presidential appointment.

"It wasn't a big deal," Kjellander said. "It's just one of those funny little stories in life."

SUBHEAD

Springfield Mayor TIM DAVLIN, taking the stage at the Governor's Day rally at the Illinois State Fair on Wednesday, made light of the legislature's overtime session.

"I have finally found something that every Democrat up here on stage agrees with, and every Republican agrees with," Davlin said. "They love Springfield.

"I want to say 'thank you' for my hotel-motel tax, my sales tax. … It's really great that you guys decided to stick around and do a little spur of our economy here."

Jones, the emcee of the program, noted the comment before another introduction.

"Mayor Tim Davlin was … saying being in session is good for the economy of Springfield," Jones said. "But we want to get the heck out of here, Mayor Davlin."

Today is the fair's Republican Day.

SUBHEAD

JILL EGIZII, an alderman in Leland Grove, is among people who will be speaking at a "Family Preservation Day" rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., this weekend.

The rally is in support of proposed legislation called the Family Preservation and Reconciliation Act. It is designed to avoid situations where divorced parents are kept from having relationships with their children.

Egizii, a mother of four, is divorced from attorney FRED NESSLER and is married to businessman BOB EGIZII.

Jill Egizii said she has tried to keep in touch with her four children, but they have had "minimal to no contact with me over the last three years."

Information on the rally, coordinated by the American Family Rights Association, is at www.DCrally2007.com.

"I do not think it is in the children's best interest to have publicity surrounding a family matter," said Fred Nessler, whose four children range in age from 16 to 27. "It is unfortunate that Ms. Egizii has not made an adequate effort to understand and remedy the underlying cause of her children's estrangement."

SUBHEAD

Condolences to those who knew former state Rep. JAMES R. "BUD" WASHBURN, R-Morris, who also led the state's veterans affairs department and was mayor of Morris from 1981-93. Washburn died Aug. 8 at his Morris home at age 86.

Morris rose in his 10 years in the House to chair the appropriations committee and, in his last term, to minority leader. Once out of the House in 1977, he served as director of the veterans' agency before serving as Morris' mayor.

State Rep. CAREEN GORDON, D-Coal City, said Washburn, when mayor, was the first elected official she ever met. She also said that a common theme emerged as she spoke to his legislative and city colleagues.

"No matter where he was, he was able to work with people to find solutions," she said as House members honored Washburn's memory with a resolution last week.

She said one of his major accomplishments was pushing for a Morris airport at a time when "everyone thought it was kind of goofy." But she said Washburn was right - it's now an economic development engine for his city.

"He was a very humble, easygoing person," said House Speaker MICHAEL MADIGAN, D-Chicago, who served with Washburn, and the kind of representative "we all try to emulate - where he would simply come here and recognize problems that existed in his district, problems that existed statewide and … work with people to try and solve those problems."

Bernard Schoenburg is political columnist for The State Journal-Register. He can be reached at (217) 788-1540 or bernard.schoenburg@sj-r.com.

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