West Cook News

Citing what she alleges has been biased treatment by local media, 6th District Congressional candidate Jeanne Ives recently said she will not participate in the process for seeking the editorial board endorsements from either the Daily Herald, the Sun Times or the Northwest Herald.

Ives’ campaign issued a statement alleging the three publications have a history of either ignoring or simply mocking any politician whose politics do not match their own, essentially making even their invitation for conservative politicians to seek their editorial endorsements nothing more than a farce. In a report by the Illinois Review, Ives stated she has decided not to lend them the appearance of a legitimate process by pretending that she would be given any real consideration.

“It is clear that the endorsement processes of these three outlets is a waste of time,” the Illinois Review quoted from Ives’ statement.

Ives’ statement went on to note that, in the age of social media and the Internet, anyone who wants to judge Ives’ positions and record for themselves can do so without the information being filtered through the political prejudices of an editorial board.

“We value a free and fair press. And we are happy to continue to work with those in the media who report with fairness and accuracy. But we won’t continue the charade,” Ives’ statement said. “We are not going to pretend that our message and ideas have been fairly or accurately represented by these three outlets, or that they have held our opponents to the same level of scrutiny.”

Her campaign stated that Ives has always participated in the process in the past, and made herself available to both the editorial boards and reporters from all three publications, according to the Illinois Review. Yet, all three publications chose to attack her in their endorsements of her opponents without ever asking her any questions regarding the policy positions they criticized her for, her campaign alleges.

A U.S. Army veteran and West Point graduate, Ives represented Illinois District 42 in the State House of Representatives from 2013-19.