Rock Island Today

Conservative Patrick Harlan of Galesburg ran for Republican State Central Committee in the 17th  Congressional District to “take the party back” from those who believe in “titles more than principles.”

“If we keep going this way with so many Republicans voting with the Democrats on abortion and tax increases, Illinois is going to end up being a ghost state,” Harlan told Rock Island Today.

Harlan said his opponent in the Central Committee race, incumbent Jan Weber, chairwoman of the Henry County GOP and supporter of Gov. Bruce Rauner, is one such Republican. In 2016, she offered no help to his campaign for Congress against incumbent Democrat Cheri Bustos, though he won the Republican primary with 76 percent of the vote.

“I couldn’t even get a storage place for yard signs out of the party there,” Harlan said.

Instead, Weber attacked Harlan, calling him “an extremist agitator” and “unqualified Republican challenger” in his race against Bustos.

Harlan, an insurance agent and father of three, has the support of Illinois conservative Dan Proft, a principal of LGIS, which owns this publication.

Proft said Harlan is a “principled conservative activist.”

“Patrick understands that the problem with the Illinois GOP is not that we've been too conservative but rather that we've been too complicit with the other side -- e.g., 15 House Republicans who voted for the Madigan tax income increase, the largest structural tax increase in Illinois history,” Proft said.

The committee people, who serve for four years, will elect a state chairman this month.  

“It’s time to bring morals and values back to the Republican Party,” Harlan said.