844 Illinois Residents Sign Petition To Get Holocaust Denier On Ballot, Swear They Did Nazi This Coming

Obligatory 'I hate Illinois Nazis'

Arthur Jones, Illinois Nazi and perennial Congressional candidate, has made it onto the ballot for the Republican primary in March of next year, thanks to the 844 idiots who signed his petition.

As you may recall, Jones was the only Republican running against "Democrat" Dan Lipinski in the 2018 Congressional race for Illinois' 3rd district. He managed to garner 56,350 votes, which gave him 25% of the final tally. Yes. 56,350 adults in the state of Illinois went and voted for a literal Nazi. The other 75% voted for an anti-choice Democrat who voted against the ACA and supported both the Patriot Act and the Defense of Marriage Act. And sure, that's not as bad as being a literal Holocaust denying Nazi, but it's not great. Even the people who hate the idea of progressives primarying "moderate" incumbents have their fingers crossed for Lipinski's challenger, Marie Newman.

It was very well publicized at the time, and Jones has been running for that particular seat since 1984.

I point this out because, according to a report from the Chicago Sun-Times' Tina Sfondeles, many of those who signed Jones's petition to get on the ballot say had no clue that Jones was a Nazi or a Holocaust denier:

Some of those who signed his petitions confirmed in interviews with the Sun-Times they didn't know Jones' background.

A woman who answered the door to a home in Hickory Hills said her husband is a Democrat and she wasn't quite sure why he'd signed Jones' petition.

"Nobody's voting for any white supremacists here," a man screamed from the back of the house.

Jones' history was also a surprise to Ronald Ogarek, a Palos Hills man who signed the petition, along with his wife.
Ogarek first asked a reporter for proof of Jones' views, but then googled him on his phone.

"That's him right there, and that's the uniform," Ogarek said, pointing to a picture of Jones wearing Nazi garb.
Ogarek said he's a Republican and a President Donald Trump supporter, "but I don't support white supremacists."

"I had no idea that he was a neo-Nazi or a white supremacist," Ogarek added. "I would have kicked him out if I knew that."

Now, I would have loved to have been able to title this 844 "Illinois Republicans Sign Petition To Get Holocaust Denier On Ballot, Swear They Did Nazi This Coming," but I could not! You know why?

In total, 217 of those who signed identified as independent voters. Another 118 were "hard Democrats" — those who have voted Democrat in two or more of the last four primary elections — and 111 were "hard Republicans" — those who have voted Republican the same amount. Another 68 had voted in both party's primaries.

Hoo boy! That is... embarrassing.

Illinois Republican Party executive director Anthony Sarros told the Sun-Times that they are working on an awareness campaign to prevent voters from accidentally voting for a Nazi, and letting them know that there are two other Republicans running (three if you count Lipinski).

"We want to make sure that the Republicans, Democrats, any Illinois citizens know that this is not a candidate that we support and we don't want him winning the election," Sarros said. " ... We hate this. we don't want this to happen and now I kind of want to know how this happened and how do we prevent this."

Well, one way would be to not be the party that employs literal white nationalists as advisors in the white house, but what do I know?

A word of advice though for anyone considering signing any petition to get anyone on any ballot? Google is your friend! Here is what comes up for "Arthur Jones Illinois Republican."

As you can see here, in addition to the multiple articles and Wikipedia page describing him as an actual Nazi, we've also got his little bio thing off to the side stating "Known for: Holocaust denial."It's not that hard!

There is also the option of living by my mother's rule:  Never open the door for someone you are not expecting, because they're either Jehovah's Witnesses or murderers. 

[ Chicago Sun-Times ]

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