Marathon Pundit: Five questions for Dick Durbin

Doug Truax is running for the Republican nomination to the US Senate for Illinois.

From a campaign press release:

Illinois Senator Dick Durbin talks to the news media a lot, but rarely gets adversarial questions. Here are five questions we wish a watchdog media would ask him:

Six years ago when you were last running for re-election, Illinois’ unemployment rate was 5.2% and 6,314,637 Illinoisans were employed. Today, unemployment is 9.2%, the second highest in the country, and only 5,935,510 Illinois residents are employed. That means under your watch, Illinois’ unemployment rate has nearly doubled and 379,127 fewer Illinoisans are employed. By any fair measure, that is a record of profound decline and failure. Why should you be re-elected with that pitiful record?

Your policies of tax and spend liberalism have been on display since Barack Obama took over as president. Illinois’ decline goes beyond just its unemployment rate — it is lagging behind other Midwestern states in terms of per capita income, growth, population and many other measures. Why do you continue to stubbornly push the same failed policies that have been a disaster for Illinois families? Why can’t you learn from your mistakes?

Your good friend Barack Obama is president. You are a party leader in the U.S. Senate. Potentially, that means good things for the people of Illinois. However, in terms of jobs, unemployment, per capita income and other important measures, Illinois is sliding. What is the point having you in Senate leadership if you can’t help the people of Illinois get ahead?

Chicago has a particularly acute deadly crime problem, where African-American young males are killing other African-American young males at alarming rates. Instead of addressing that problem, you are staging a partisan “Stand Your Ground” legislation hearing in the Senate, which has absolutely nothing to do with Chicago’s tragic crime problem. Shouldn’t you be a U.S. Senator who helps solve Illinois’ problems instead of trying to forward a national far-left agenda item?

You have gotten national scorn for your never-ending attack on the First Amendment rights of citizens across the country, including in Illinois. First, you asked the IRS to target a national conservative group in an attempt to intimidate its donors. Then you did the same thing to a national free market advocacy group, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), by sending its donors an accusatory letter. Have you ever asked the IRS to target a liberal group or have you ever sent an accusatory letter to a liberal advocacy group’s donors? Why are you targeting only those who disagree with you?

"Dick Durbin is failing the people of Illinois and he needs to be held accountable for his miserable record," Truax said.

Truax, a West Point grad, Army veteran and successful entrepreneur/businessman, is asking supporters to come up with their own questions for Dick Durbin that they email via his website, dougtruax.com. He also is asking supporters to email, tweet or Facebook the above questions to any news media members they might know.