According to this story, the Illinois Attorney General’s office will investigate reports of intimidation against Libertarian Party petitioners and people who signed the petition. Also see this Huffington Post story.
Some media coverage:
Pistol-packing petition challenger prompts review by AG
Under the gun in petition challenges
Rauner firing blanks in flap over hired gun in ballot challenge?
Rauner ‘appalled,’ ‘outraged’ by gun-bearing petition challenger
Illinois Libertarians Lodge Criminal Complaints Over Armed Intimidation
Rauner Camp Brings A Gun To A Petition Fight
Republican gubernatorial nominee Bruce Rauner (center) with Sean Morrison (right), Palos Township Republican leader and owner of Morrison Security, and Cook County Commissioner Elizabeth “Liz” Doody Gorman (left) at an event in March. Morrison Security’s private investigators were armed with guns while working for the Republican effort to remove the Libertarians from the November ballot.
Some recent Illinois media about more general issues having to do with ballot access:
Chicago Tribune: The skullduggery of ousting Illinois candidates (via Ballot Access News)
Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale): Voice of The Southern: Too tough to get on ballot (via Ballot Access News)
Chicago Sun-Times: Open door to third parties on ballot (via LP.org blog)
Recently at IPR:
Libertarians survive petition challenge in Illinois; Greens, Constitution Party fall short
Illinois Petition Challenge Update
Chicago Sun-Times: Libertarians Work to Stay on Illinois Ballot
LNCC: Defending Libertarians in Illinois
Ballot Access News: All Statewide Illinois General Election Petitions Challenged
Libertarian Party: Illinois LP Slate of Statewide Candidates Headed for Ballot
Illinois Herald: Libertarian Comptroller Candidate Takes On Establishment
With any luck it will become a prison reform issue for them 🙂
They’ll probably play it off as Chicago (Obama supporting) Democrats harassing the GOP and use it to get donations nationally. Or they can portray it as an open-carry issue.
Even if they’re not prosecuted, this has really embarrassed a lot of Republicans (as it should). They may be less willing to try this again, although, we are talking about Republicans who don’t seem to learn from their mistakes.
I hope the fascist agents and their big money paymasters get some prison time, but they probably won’t. Still, the LP should make as much noise about this as possible.