The Republican Liberty Caucus of Illinois has endorsed Adam Andrzejewski for Illinois Governor and David Ratowitz for Congress in District 5. The primary for both races is coming up rapidly: February 2, 2010.

According to Illinois RLC Vice-Chair John Bambenek, after thorough research into all the candidates, Adam Andrzejewski had the best credentials to reform state government, bring jobs back to Illinois and resolve the lingering budget crisis.

Responding to the endorsement, Andrzejewski said, “The mission of the Republican Liberty Caucus is to serve as the conscience of the Republican Party. No more is that needed than in Illinois and their endorsement is a validation of my campaign as the true outsider to bring reform to Illinois.” Learn more about Adam at www.adamforillinois.com.

David Ratowitz was also endorsed by the RLC.  He is running for Congress to restore freedom to the Fifth Congressional district and has also been endorsed by Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica and the political arm of the National Taxpayers United of Illinois. In addition, Ratowitz has been featured on Judge Andrew Napolitano’s “Freedom Watch” program on FOX News several times.

Ratowitz faces two Republican opponents, each vying to take on freshman Rep. Mike Quigley (D) in the Chicago suburbs. Learn more about David at www.ratowitzforcongress.com.

Bruno Behrend, RLC Chairman, said last week on Chicago talk radio, “If the Republican Party nationally had listened to the members of the Republican Liberty Caucus, they would not have lost their majorities in 2006 and 2008.”

He’s right.

And if Illinois voters listen to the Illinois RLC in 2010, they will be well on their way to reforming state government by electing Andrzejewski Governor, sending Ratowitz to Congress, and passing the Putback Amendment.

Yesterday Illinois RLC Chairman Bruno Behrend (pictured above) was on the Ray Hanania show promoting the PutBack Amendment and the Republican Liberty Caucus. Listen to the segment.

The PutBack Amendment was crafted by Illinois RLC Vice-Chair John Bambenek and is a comprehensive package of reforms designed to end the backroom dealings of the General Assembly. It includes four-term limits for legislators, seven day public viewing of legislation, equal ballot access for all parties, and an end to gerrymandering.

When asked about the RLC, Behrend said, “If the Republican Party nationally had listened to the members of the Republican Liberty Caucus, they would not have lost their majorities in 2006 and 2008.”

Mr. Behrend is a graduate of University of Illinois (1983) with a degree in Finance, and a graduate of IIT-Kent College of Law (1990). With a strong entrepreneurial drive, Mr. Behrend has started 5 businesses. Throughout this entire time, Bruno has been active in the policy arena, working with various groups and candidates in Illinois to promote progressive business-friendly and market-friendly policies. He hosts his own talk radio program, Extreme Wisdom, on WKRS – 1220 AM.

Judge Andrew Napolitano, Rand Paul, and Peter Schiff discussed why it is important for those liberty-lovers hoping to succeed electorally to run in one of the major parties.

“The issues are more important than the labels,” said Rand Paul, a candidate for U.S. Senate in Kentucky, running for an open seat and facing Republican establishment candidate Trey Grayson in the primary. “You vote for the party when the party is correct,” he declared. Napolitano outlined how third parties cannot succeed due to the major parties, while Schiff explained that were he to run against Chris Dodd, he would run as a Republican.

In 1998, Sen. Sam Brownback — an advocate of term limits — put pen to paper and pledged to serve only two full terms in the U.S. Senate and then step aside to permit another Kansan to take the seat. On Thursday, he officially announced his intention to honor his pledge.

In a perfect world, this would be an unremarkable event: A politician makes an unambiguous promise and then keeps it. But in our world, where politicians face enormous temptations and pressure to distance themselves from such promises, this simple act of integrity is worthy of special note.

Last Thursday, Florida RLCer Philip Blumel, president of the Virginia-based U.S, Term Limits, joined the senator in a tour across Eastern Kansas to assist in making the announcement. Together they held joint press conferences in Olathe, Topeka and Wichita and gave several interviews with the media, including the Topeka News Journal and Kansas City Star.

Sen. Brownback first took the seat in 1996, in a special election to fill out then-Sen. Bob Dole’s term when Dole ran for president. Since then, Sen. Brownback won his two subsequent elections with increasing margins and he continues to enjoy high approval ratings today. And yet, at 52 — a relative babe in the Senate where the average age exceeds 60 — he is retiring from the senate to start a new chapter of his life.

In doing this, Sen. Brownback joins an elite crowd of politicians who have signed the U.S. Term Limits pledge and then kept their word. Sen. Jim DeMint, Sen. Tom Coburn and South Carolina Mark Sanford are all pledge honorers who moved on to other offices.

Many other politicians have reneged on their promises. Tough luck for them: while several pledge breakers have continued to retain their current seats, none have ever won higher office. “As fellow Kansans know, your word is your bond,” Sen. Brownback said. “If a man breaks his word, it breaks the man.”

“It’s gratifying to see term limits continue to spread across the country a city and county at a time,” said Philip Blumel, RLC activist and president of U.S. Term Limits, a Virginia-based advocacy group. “And also that another state affirmed their existing term limits in South Dakota, where over 75% of voters voted to retain term limits on the state legislature.”

“Yes, there is a backlash against term limits in New York and elsewhere,” said Blumel. “But only among politicians and lobbyists. The voters continue to reaffirm their support for limiting political power whenever they get the chance.”

South Dakota (J) – repeals term limits on state legislature.

YES: 87,361 (24.27%)

NO: 272,551 (75.73%) TERM LIMITS WIN!

Memphis, TN (1) – Places a maximum of two terms on the city council, mayor and other constitutional offices.

YES: 177,571 (78.23%) TERM LIMITS WIN!

NO: 49,420 (21.77%)

Shelby County, TN (365) – Places term limits on various city charter offices to match limits on county commission and mayor

YES: 273,107 (78.59%) TERM LIMITS WIN!

NO: 74,409 (21.41%)

San Antonio, TX (1) – Extends term limits for city council

YES: 190,417 (51.6%) TERM LIMITS EXTENDED FROM 4 TO 8 YEARS

NO: 178,611 (48.4%)

Tracy, CA (T) – Places a 2 four-year term limit on the city council and mayor

YES: 12,613 (67.21%) TERM LIMITS WIN!

NO: 6,154 (32.79%)

What’s next for term limits? With Congressional approval ratings at historic lows of about 10%, the focus is turning on Congress. To sign a petition for Congressional term limits, please see www.termlimits.org.

Florida RLCer Philip Blumel, president of the DC-based U.S. Term Limits, has launched a permanent on-line petition calling for Congressional term limits.

“With the approval rating of the U.S. Congress at historic lows, it is time to put the pressure on,” Blumel said. “Congress does not reflect the will of the people because the people are to a great degree excluded from the process.”

Blumel points out that even with historic disatisfaction with the Congress, reelection rates of incumbents remain over 95%.  One reason is that, in 2004, a candidate challenging an incumbent House member was outspent by $700,000. The average Senate challenger was outspent by $4 million.  With such odds, many incumbents don’t attract serious opposition and the voters are left without a voice.

Term limits advocates point out that term limits ensure more competitive elections, offer greater access to office by ordinary citizens, bring real-world experience to the legislature, spread power more equally throughout the country, sever the relationships between special interests and entrenched incumbents and bring the Congress closer to the people.

The term limits movement can point to a term-limited president, 15 term-limited state legislatures, 37 states with term-limited governors and/or other constitutional offices and an uncountable number of term limited municipal governments, including eight of the 10 largest cities in America. But there has been no progress at the Congressional level.

The reason for this stems from the early 1990s, when state after state approved term limits on their Congressional delegations via citizen referenda. But the politicians counterattacked in the courts and the Supreme Court in 1995 decided that citizens cannot impose term limits by individual referenda at the federal level. It had to be done by Constitutional amendment, a very difficult task.

With the recent indictment of Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska and a growing number of other examples of entrenched political skullduggery, U.S. Term Limits decided to revisit the Congressional effort.

“But the citizens cannot win this one unless enough of us raise our voices on this issue until we simply cannot be ignored and Congress is forced to tackle the issue,” Blumel said, urging everyone to 1) sign the petition, and 2) to send a link to everyone in their email address books.

“Thomas Jefferson said it best: ‘To prevent every danger which might arise to American freedom from continuing too long in office, it is earnestly recommended that we set an obligation on the holder of that office to go out after a certain period.’ That’s what we’re going to do.”