The ISRA-PVF is today calling upon Illinois gubernatorial candidate Jim Ryan to retract claims that he received the group’s endorsement during his failed 2002 run for governor against Rod Blagojevich.
Such misleading claims have surfaced on Ryan’s social networking internet sites in recent days.
Additionally, individuals have made reports to the ISRA-PVF that Ryan campaign staffers have made similar endorsement claims when questioned about Ryan’s stands on issues important to law-abiding Illinois firearm owners.
The fact of the matter is, the ISRA-PVF declined to make an endorsement in the 2002 race for Illinois governor as neither the Republican candidate, Jim Ryan, nor his Democratic opponent, Rod Blagojevich, were deemed suitable for endorsement.
On Sept. 13, 2002, the ISRA-PVF issued a press release explaining why Ryan had not been endorsed. The reason was very simple, Ryan could not commit to 4 basic issues important to Illinois hunters and sportsmen.
Those issues were as follows:
- a commitment to build 6 recreational shooting ranges;
- a commitment to ensure that federal wildlife grants were used for their intended purposes;
- a commitment to expand hunting and fishing opportunities on state-owned lands;
- and a commitment to end the practice of playing the state’s sportsmen as scapegoats for urban crime and violence.
When presented with this modest list of commitments, Ryan staffers summarily dismissed the request as “unrealistic,” yet expressed their hope that Ryan would be endorsed by the ISRA-PVF nonetheless.
When these same staffers later learned that Ryan would not be endorsed, they went public with wild allegations that the ISRA-PVF was trying to rope Ryan into supporting an extremist agenda.
“Some things never change,” commented ISRA-PVF spokesman Richard Pearson.
“The Ryan campaign’s habit of bending the truth is one of them. In 2002 we heard them lie about why Ryan wasn’t endorsed by us, now we hear them lie about receiving our endorsement. The truth is that firearm owners had no reason to vote for Ryan in 2002, and they certainly do not have any reason to vote for him in 2010.”
About ISRA-PVF
The ISRA-PVF is a political action committee affiliated with the Illinois State Rifle Association. A copy of our report is on file with the Illinois State Board of Elections, Springfield, Illinois.
Who is IRA endorsing for governor 2010.