McKenna is the Skunk at the Party

I am suddenly getting emails from the so cosmetic, blow-dried McKenna campaign, the beneficiary of a piece in the WSJ this morning. A good description of the bad state of the state, but I was struck by this quote:

"Jobs, population growth, economic growth—it's all going in the wrong direction, and that was true before the downturn," Mr. McKenna says. "People blame weak leaders who allowed spending to get reckless."

If you're looking for strong leadership the ethically-challenged McKenna is not your choice. NBC5Chicago:

We already know that the ethics committee found that McKenna violated the party's code of ethics when he commissioned the poll without the GOP State Central Committee's approval. We also know that the poll appeared to focus on McKenna a bit more than the other candidates, with a special graphic breaking down his own name recognition -- attention other candidates didn't receive. [snip]

But what McKenna didn't specifically address in that statement is that when he presented the poll to his party's central committee in June 2009, he failed to mention to them that his name had been included at all.

"The polling information and slide graphics shared during Chairman McKenna's presentation did not include poll results and information regarding: Andy McKenna, Peter Roskam, Bob Thomas, Tom Cross, Aaron Schock, John Shimkus and Jim Durkin," the ethics committee chairman noted.

The report also seems to back up candidate Jim Ryan's assertion last week that McKenna failed, to some extent, to cooperate with the ethics committee's investigation. In the report, the committee chairman noted that on Dec. 22, 2009, McKenna's campaign manager was twice asked to clarify some questions that had come up, or even just to let them know he wanted more time to respond. He was given until 4 p.m. on Dec. 24. But when the report was printed on Dec. 28, he had done neither.

On Sunday, McKenna's opponent Bill Brady called for McKenna to reimburse the state party the $28,300 the poll cost.

"Andy has tried for weeks to cover this up and keep the public from knowing the whole truth," Brady said in a statement. "Andy should have just been up front all along."

McKenna has the audacity to run ads claiming he's the real outsider in the race when he used his party insider status to game the system. Andy McKenna reeks of hypocrisy and political expediency.

More. And let's not forget it was the Proft for Governor campaign that first exposed what McKenna had done. That's real leadership.

Previous posts: The Chumbolone Gut Check, McKenna Campaign Swipes ND Alum Data, McKenna Advertising During Debate He Ducked, McKenna's Rose Garden Strategy, McKenna is a Liar and a Cheat, McKenna is the Wrong Choice, McKenna Exposed: Just Vote No Way to Business as Usual. Proft responds to McKenna admission, Honest Andy