Northwest Illinois Values?

Tutty believes in being as honest as possible when it comes to speaking or writing in public.  The public must have good information if this democracy experiment is to be successful.  The public, in Tutty's opinion, should be able to expect at least an attempt by local officials to be forthright in every occasion.

Unfortunately, in the day social media, bluster, phoniness and personal attacks have taken the place of quality public discourse. Tangible facts are thrown out the window as half-truths and out and out lies pervade the news feeds of everyone's social media accounts.

That said, Tutty believes that the Stephenson County Republican Central Committee (SCRCC) as well as State Representative Andrew Chesney owe our U.S. House of Representative, Cheri Bustos, a public apology.

This past Thursday the SCRCC shared a post on Facebook which stated, "Cheri Bustos unloads Stock (sic) impacted by COVID!"  The SCRCC, for attribution, relied upon a post from Mr. Chesney with the claim, "Congresswoman Cheri Bustos dumps Stocks (sic) impacted by COVID-19 after private briefing!"

Mr. Chesney, in an effort to support these claims linked a Breitbart article to his post. Here is a link to the Breitbart article:
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/04/02/dccc-chair-unloaded-upwards-50k-stock-coronavirus-briefing/?fbclid=IwAR0XGXwkrhsAGH9D5cMyDTDo7eENOXEHhuJPv5iceNIxoQ86aNa1-Bhv4HQ

Let's forget the fact that Breitbart is not objective, and leans so far right as to defy gravity.  However, even this article provides nothing about Ms. Bustos behavior worthy of public mention and completely fails to support its own sensational headline alleging wrong doing by a member of congress.

The article states that Ms. Bustos, "sold off between $15,000 and $50,000 worth of stock in the Walt Disney Company on February 10, according to financial disclosure forms.  The sale was accompanied by a purchase in the same amount of shares of the retail giant Target" and that the Congresswoman's action took place after she was "privy to briefings from Trump administration officials regarding the pandemic."  A long confusing paragraph later the article starts a new paragraph with, "It is unclear if Bustos did attend the briefing."

In the first place, the article that Mr. Chesney--and by default the Stephenson County Republican Central Committee--used to support their claim of alleged wrong doing by Congresswoman Bustos corroborates no such thing.  Secondly.  Ms. Bustos, per the article, did not "dump" or "unload" any stocks as both Mr. Chesney and the SCRCC claim.  She traded one stock, Walt Disney, for another, Target. For the record, shares in both stocks have taken a beating in the days since the trade.

Perhaps local Republican Illinois Senator Brian Stewart and his political party mates, Sheriff David Snyders and State's Attorney Carl Larson should look into this matter and if  Mr. Chesney's allegations prove to be unfounded, there should be a public apology issued to Congresswoman Bustos.  Surely your constituents and hers are worthy of the truth.

Representative Chesney repeatedly cites  "Northwest Illinois Values" on his Facebook page.  Well gentlemen, now is your chance to prove that public integrity is one of those values.

As always, yours in honesty, Tutty Baker  tutty.baker@gmail.com