Gorman attacked by critics jealous of her leadership
By Ray Hanania
(Originally published in the Southwest News-Herald Newspaper, 11-21-2007)
Liz Gorman is the Republican committeewoman of Orland Township and was elected Chair of the Cook County Republican Organization recently. She’s a tough fighter and while we have had some differences, she has one solid commitment to fight for the rights of taxpayers.
Her critics are harsher, of course, driven by jealousy, including the goon squad at the Illinois Review, a Tea-Party group that is about as extreme as the word extreme can get. I can’t imagine the Republican Party getting more extreme, but it certainly can happen.
When Gorman spoke out against tax hikes at the Cook County board, she was criticized for doing so without crediting the Illinois Review.
The Illinois Review wrote several weeks back that Gorman is “a do-nothing hack from the 19th Ward in Chicago who meandered her way to Orland Park as a Republican committeeman and as chairman of the Cook County GOP.”
But that’s way too harsh. Obviously, I am a Centrist Democrat (Reagan Democrat) who leans toward the Independents, I recognize the importance of having moderate Republicans leading the party fighting for Conservative issues smartly and effectively.
Gorman is a smart but effective Republican who knows who to work to get what the taxpayer’s need, and her priority, she says, is to stop rising taxes on taxpayers.
We don’t always see eye-to-eye, but I respect her as a tenacious fighter for the taxpayers, something you don’t see much in the Republican Party in Cook County or in Illinois. Gorman will make a great chair of the party.
When it comes to fighting for the rights of taxpayers, I don’t look at people as Democrats or Republicans. One day we’ll have a taxpayer party.
Cook County and Illinois need a two-party system, but over the years the Republicans have fallen to the wayside. Selecting Gorman to lead the Countywide GOP is a sign that at least some Republicans take the need for a Two-Party system seriously. They definitely care about the GOP.
First elected in November 2002, and re-elected in 2006 Gorman fought off a primary challenge, defeating her opponent by nearly 60 percent. When her new term begins, Gorman said she would seek to be active on several committee, including those involving infrastructure and finances.
During her time on the Cook County Board, Gorman opposed the “Hotel Occupancy Tax” and the “Food and Beverage Tax” in 2003, the 150% cigarette tax increase in 2004 and the additional 100% increase in 2006. While the Republican Party seemed in disunity, Gorman was not speaking out forcefully against those tax hikes.
She opposed the “Food and Beverage Tax” and the “Hotel Occupancy Tax” again in 2007 and says she will fight any effort to increase the sales tax in Cook County.
If the Republican Party cares about its future, they need to look at and support Liz Gorman. She is a tenacious fighter. Some Republicans need to put aside their jealousies and accept the fact that a woman can and should lead the revival and the survival of an important political organization.
(Ray Hanania is a political columnist and writer with the Southwest News-Herald Newspaper and blogger. He covered Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 and penned The Political Grapevine Column at the Daily Southtown for many years. He has won three Lisagor Awards for column writing and this year was named Best Ethnic American Columnist by the New America Media. Reach him at rayhanania@comcast.net.)
Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.
Email Ray Hanania at rghanania@gmail.com.
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