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In 2004, this guy’s dad, a Chicago machine politician, announced abruptly he wouldn’t run for re-election to Congress. It was too late for anybody else to run, but he had arranged to put his son, a professor living out of state, on the ballot. He won unopposed. /1 https://twitter.com/matthewstoller/status/1343748153317666816
In 2018 @Marie4Congress challenged him, lost a close race, and people and groups who supported her were put on the Dem establishment shit list. When nearby Illinois Rep. Bustos took over the DCCC next cycle, she formalized that into a blacklist. Newman ran again anyway.
She smoked him the second time. He’s done, and this vote against $2,000 checks will be one of his last votes ever.
Why would he cast this meaningless vote on his way out the door? The dark money group No Labels, which is backed by pro-austerity wealthy donors, spent big to defend him. This is his thank you, helping make opposition to these checks look bipartisan https://theintercept.com/2018/03/30/dan-lipinski-marie-newman-no-labels-illinois-primary-election/
There are more fun Lipinski stories in my book, like how he used redistricting after 2010 to make his district *more* conservative so he could keep drifting right
