Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Better than the Orange Bowl: McSweeney and Churchill on Cable/Web

Revised at 6:30 pm on Tuesday night to add links. and revised further at 10:00 pm with more commentary on Bartels.

"Public Affairs," with Republican 8th CD Primary Candidates Investment Banker David McSweeney [Barrington Hills] and State Rep. Robert Churchill [Lake Villa] is airing tonight in 34 Chicago metro suburbs on Comcast Cable: in 24 North and Northwest suburbs, the show appears in its regular Tuesday time slot: 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Ch. 19 or 35, as indicated, below; in 10 North Shore suburbs, the show appears in a special airing slot at 9:00 pm on Comcast Cable Ch. 19, as indicated, below. See also here for Churchill's new web site.

The show can also be watched anytime as a webcast on the Public Affairs Cinema Complex [See here].

The show will also air throughout the City of Chicago this coming Monday night, Jan. 9 at 8:30 pm on CANTV, Cable Ch. 21.
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David McSweeney and State Rep. Robert Churchill, 8th CD Republican Primary Candidates, debate and discuss with Show Host and Executive Legal Recruiter Jeff Berkowitz more than twenty issues, including immigration, education, spending, taxes, the War, diplomacy, Guns, Abortion, Congresswoman Bean, intelligent design, Divorce, the residue of the 1998 Primary, Cong. Crane, the transportation bill, warrantless phone taps and intercepts, Katrina, Darfur and much more. Of all the topics discussed, although there were plenty of differences in style and wording, there were probably only four issues on which one could say McSweeney and Churchill took different positions: abortion, spending freezes, term limits and No Child Left Behind.
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The episode of Public Affairs featuring McSweeney and Churchill airs tonight at 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Channel 19 in Buffalo Grove, Elk Grove Village, Hoffman Estates, Lincolnwood, Morton Grove, Niles, Northfield, Palatine, Rolling Meadows and Wilmette

And at 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Channel 35 in Arlington Heights, Bartlett, Glenview, Golf, Des Plaines, Hanover Park, Mt. Prospect, Northbrook, Park Ridge, Prospect Heights, Schaumburg, Skokie, Streamwood and Wheeling.

And tomorrow, Wednesday, and Friday night at 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Channel 19 and tonight [Tuesday], in a special airing at 9:00 pm on Comcast Cable Ch. 19 in Bannockburn, Deerfield, Ft. Sheridan, Glencoe, Highland Park, Highwood, Kenilworth, Lincolnshire, Riverwoods and Winnetka.
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Public Affairs invited four of the 8th CD Republican Primary candidates to participate in this show. There are seven candidates in the 8th CD primary, but we invited the four [David McSweeney, State Rep. Robert Churchill, Kathy Salvi and Teresa Bartels] who appear to have a sufficient message, organization, staff and resources to be a credible contender to receive the Republican Party's nomination. Candidate Kathy Salvi, who has appeared on Public Affairs once before, indicated she could not attend due to a prior engagement.

Candidate Teresa Bartels, who has scheduled three prior appearances for Public Affairs, and canceled each one, did not respond to our invitation to appear on this show, and that has generally been her campaign's pattern after her third cancellation[See here, for reading Teresa's tea leaves, as of almost eight months ago].

Please note, when you read my above cited post on Teresa's tea leaves, how understanding I seemed to the fact that Bartels had not yet formulated her position on a number of issues. Now, eight months later, she reciprocates by ignoring my invitations to appear on Public Affairs. Maybe Bartels is ready to go to Washington, DC, after all. Isn't that town's motto: "No good deed goes unpunished."

We mean no slight to the three candidates that we did not invite to this show: Ken Arnold, Aaron Lincoln and Jim Mitchell. This was a television journalism judgment, dictated by limited space and limited resources, and production issues on our part. We may extend an invitation to one or all of those three candidates in the future.
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A partial transcript of the show is included immediately below.
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Term Limits

Jeff Berkowitz: …Term limits, David McSweeney, [you have] said that you favor six year term limits, right?

David McSweeney: I do.

Jeff Berkowitz: Voluntary.
If you go in there [to the U. S. House], you’re forty years old. Come forty-six, you’re out of there, right?

David McSweeney: Yep, that’s the only way we are going to make structural changes in Washington. We have too many professional politicians. I vow I am only going to serve three terms if I am elected to the United States Congress.
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Jeff Berkowitz: …State Rep. Bob Churchill, my understanding is that you don’t agree with [McSweeney on] term limits?

State Rep. Robert Churchill: Well, I’ve been in the Illinois House for nineteen years, so if I was a term limit guy, I would have given up a long time ago. I like David [McSweeney]’s position on six years, because he’s been running for this office for eight years [Ed. Note: David McSweeney did run in the 8th CD Republican Primary in 1998 against the then incumbent, Phil Crane, losing by about a 2 to 1 margin], so it’s kind of fun to give him a little jab on that, but I’ve always believed it’s an issue for the voters. If the voters want to get rid of somebody, then they’ll do it at the ballot box. As they did with [former 8th CD Congressman ] Phil Crane . They term limited Phil Crane after thirty-five years, I guess you could say. But, let’s leave it up to the voters and let them make that decision. When you’re in for a longer period of time you can work your way into leadership positions; you can do some good for the community. You can do a lot of good for the District if you’re there for a period of time. If you term limit yourself out, then you leave before you get any seniority and it’s tough to get things done.

Jeff Berkowitz: Let me go to Dave McSweeney on that. That is an issue some people raise and say, if you’re only there for six years, you can’t really become a [committee] chairman. You can’t have a lot of impact. You can’t really leverage your years, your seniority, for the District. Is that a legitimate concern of the Eighth Congressional District voters, because you’re taking that term limit pledge?

David McSweeney: Jeff, one of my heroes is [Senator] Peter Fitzgerald. He served one very positive term in the United States Senate. He made a great difference. Patrick Fitzgerald [Ed. Note: no relation to Peter, but Peter lobbied intensively against the Illinois “insiders,” for Patrick Fitzgerald's (an outsider from New York) nomination] is a U.S. Attorney [N.D. ILL] cracking down on [public] corruption because of that. If you look at the Class of 1994 that came in with Newt Gingrich, they made a difference. Guys like Mark Sanford, who is now Governor of South Carolina. Tom Coburn [now a U. S. Senator from Oklahoma]. Others who have pledged that they are only going to serve three terms and they have been able to maintain their independence and fight for what they believe in Washington. So, I think it would be a very positive force with term limits.
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Abortion

Jeff Berkowitz: Social issues. How important are they. The issue of abortion. You are pro-life, but you would allow exceptions for rape and incest and the life of the mother, right? Reported instances, reported cases [of rape], right?

David McSweeney: I am pro life. I believe life begins at conception. And, I believe there should be an exception for the life of the mother. Ideally, there would be an exception for cases of reported rape and incest, and I would support legislation even if it did not contain those exceptions, because it is more important to protect the unborn.

Jeff Berkowitz: Bob, you would take a stronger stand on that?

State Rep. Robert Churchill: Yes, and I do. And, I don’t go along with the reported portion of David’s position, because I am not sure what reported means. If all of a sudden, someone wants to go in and have an abortion, then they say that-- oh yeah, I will go to the police station and report that I was raped six months ago-- I mean is it a report that comes out immediately after or what kind of a report is it?

Jeff Berkowitz: But, you wouldn’t allow any exceptions for rape or incest, right?

Robert Churchill: No.

Jeff Berkowitz: And, you are also criticizing the idea that “reporting,” means anything?

Robert Churchill: Yeah, I am not sure that reporting is an effective-- I think it’s just another escape to allow abortion. And, that’s why I say, you know, for the life of the mother is the only exception that I would hold.
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Republican 8th CD Primary Candidates Investment Banker David McSweeney [Barrington Hills] and State Rep. Robert Churchill [Lake Villa] , recorded on December 21, 2005 and as is airing on the Suburban edition of Public Affairs this week [week of Jan. 2] and on the City of Chicago edition of Public Affairs on Monday night, Jan. 9 at 8:30 pm on Cable Ch. 21. See, below, for a detailed, regular suburban airing schedule for Public Affairs
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The suburban edition of "Public Affairs," is regularly broadcast every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8:30 pm on Comcast Cable Channel 19 in Bannockburn, Deerfield, Ft. Sheridan, Glencoe, Highland Park, Highwood, Kenilworth, Lincolnshire, Riverwoods and Winnetka.

The suburban edition also is broadcast every Tuesday night at 8:30 p.m. on Comcast Cable Channel 19 in Buffalo Grove, Elk Grove Village, Hoffman Estates, Lincolnwood, Morton Grove, Niles, Northfield, Palatine, Rolling Meadows and Wilmette and every Tuesday night at 8:30 p.m. on Comcast Cable Channel 35 in Arlington Heights, Bartlett, Glenview, Golf, Des Plaines, Hanover Park, Mt. Prospect, Northbrook, Park Ridge, Prospect Heights, Schaumburg, Skokie, Streamwood and Wheeling.
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Transcript draft prepared by Amy Allen, who also does research for “Public Affairs,” and has her own political blog [See here].
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Jeff Berkowitz, Host and Producer of Public Affairs and an Executive Recruiter doing Legal Search, can be reached at JBCG@aol.com
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