Democrat Laesch rips GOP tactics

GENEVA — John Laesch cleared the air about his voting record Thursday.

Laesch, a Newark resident who is the Democratic Party's candidate for Congress running against Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert of Yorkville, said the air needed clearing because Republicans supporting Hastert have lied about how he has cast his votes.

"Folks, a voting record is public information and should be obtainable by either political party or campaign," Laesch said. "For some reason, the Republicans found it easier to make up a false voting record and use a pack of lies to attack my background."

Laesch released his records at a press conference in front of Kane County Republican headquarters on State Street in downtown Geneva. Standing about a half-block down watching the proceedings were members of the Young Republicans, the organization Laesch singled out as trying to smear him through some recent letters to the editor in area newspapers.

He mentioned one in particular written by Brandon Yaniz of Elgin and published in The Courier-News in Elgin, which said Laesch had not voted in 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2004. Yaniz is a member of the Kane Young Republicans and attended Hastert's swearing in ceremony as Speaker of the House in 2005.

"I just wanted to let it be known that these are Hastert's friends," Laesch said.

Laesch showed photocopies of information from the McLean County Clerk's office that showed he voted there in 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2005, while he lived in Normal. He voted in Kendall County earlier this year. He also voted absentee in 1996 in Kendall County, he said, and did not vote in 1998 while he was deployed overseas in the U.S. Military.

"Not only do I vote, but I voted Democratic," Laesch said. "I am proud to be a Democrat."

Laesch likened the attack on his voting record to the attacks on U.S. Sen. John Kerry's military record in the 2004 presidential election.

"Recently, right here in Kane County, the Republicans, with clear malicious intent, have started issuing the same lies about me as a candidate," he said.