To the Editor:
Upon the onslaught of campaign ads, the community has received in the mail, the Republican Party of McDonough County needs to ask why they continue to allow Mr. Joe Moon to conduct himself in such a manner. We, as a party, can do better than how Mr. Moon has chosen to run his campaign.
During the Red, Right, and Ready forum held late last year, the overall beginning message of the event was party unity and though we may disagree with each other on certain topics we need to support each other during the primary process and let the members of the Republican Party decide who to support in regards to the issues that would be brought before each candidate. When it came to the sheriff ’s election portion of the night, it was anything but supportive. Mr. Moon chose not to attend, and it became very evident why. Sheriff Petitgout was asked pointed questions about accusations and items currently in litigation. Questions were not based on topics that could be answered by both candidates, such as exploring the stance of each candidate on critical items such as budget or legislation currently affecting police work in Illinois. After the fact, due to his failure to attend, you must question whether Mr. Moon may have been aware of what was going to take place.
Don’t we hold ourselves as a party to a higher standard than those large population counties like Cook County and Sangamon County? When it comes to finding a candidate through the primary election system in McDonough County, we want each candidate to state why they want the position, why they would be the better choice, their actual “boots on the ground experience,” and what they would do differently than their other primary candidates.
Rather it seems Mr. Moon has focused on being as vague as possible on his intentions, “slinging mud,” and constantly utilizing quotes and snip-its from news stories that don’t convey the entirety of the story or are still unresolved court cases. These campaign tactics against another party candidate seem like something driven by big city politics, not rural McDonough County, where we all still know our neighbors’ names and phone numbers and actually care about them.
The Republican Party of McDonough County must also question the loyalty of Mr. Moon to the Republican Party. As shown on Illinois State Board of Elections website, Mr. Moon is gaining the majority of his support and campaign dollars from lobbyists, businesses, and units based out of Cook and Sangamon counties, both notoriously blue counties. On election day, Republican Party members should be asking themselves whether this is actually a play by the Democratic party to gain strength within our proud red county?
Mr. Moon may have been born and raised here, but it appears that his time away has caused him to forget how we conduct ourselves in McDonough Countywith respect and straightforwardness. We as a party need to continue to hold ourselves to these high standards.
Charles Wrenn Macomb, Illinois
