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Rasmussen, K

op ed on plastic bag ban (note no connection to apc0

http://www.illinoispolicy.org/news/article.asp?ArticleSource=4795

http://www.sj-r.com/article/20150211/Opinion/150219860

Posted Feb. 11, 2015 at 10:00 PM 

KRISTINA RASMUSSEN, executive vice president of the Illinois Policy Institute and its associated organization, Illinois Policy Action, recently issued a statement of congratulations to three people hired away from the organization by the administration of Gov. BRUCE RAUNER.

BRIAN COSTIN of Buffalo Grove, who was Illinois Policy's director of government reform, has been named policy director for Lt. Gov. EVELYN SANGUINETTI. He also worked in government relations for the Heartland Institute in Chicago. He's being paid $80,000 annually.

JANE McENANEY of Chicago, who was government affairs manager for Illinois Policy, is now director of legislative affairs for the Illinois Department of Revenue. She spent five months working in the campaign headquarters of the MITT ROMNEY presidential bid in 2012 and earlier was a staff assistant to U.S. Rep. PAUL RYAN, R-Wis., in Washington. She's being paid $75,000 annually.

DONOVAN GRIFFITH, who was Illinois Policy's manager of government affairs, is legislative liaison to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. He was earlier government relations program manager for the Evanston-based American Massage Therapy Association and was a legislative analyst for Illinois House Republicans. He was campaign manager for a winning House race in 2010 of now-state Sen. SUE REZIN, R-Morris. He's being paid $75,000 annually.

"Each of us advances the cause of liberty in our own special way," Rasmussen said in her announcement. "For some of our amazing team members at the Illinois Policy Institute and Illinois Policy Action, that means taking on a new challenge to improve government from the inside out."

"We are honored that the new administration is looking to our team for talent," she added.

LANCE TROVER, spokesman for Rauner, said the three new members of the administration are all based in Chicago. He added that more than three-quarters of the new administration's legislative liaisons are based in Springfield.

The liberty-based Illinois Policy group clearly shares some views with Rauner, whose family foundation has donated at least $625,000 to it since 2009.

The Illinois Policy Institute also has a news service, which I continue to believe should not have such a mainstream name to make sure people are aware of the source. The Illinois News Network provides content free to newspapers and broadcast outlets.

Illinois Policy Institute is an education group, while Illinois Policy Action is its advocacy branc

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Samuel Adams was the brewer and patriot who, in 1773, ginned up a mob of Bostonians dressed as Native Americans which conducted history's original Tea Party. The president of Sam Adams Alliance is John Tsarpalas, former executive director of the Illinois State Republican party. Eric O'Keefe, SAA's chairman and CEO, is a former executive director of the National Libertarian Party. He once worked for Citizens for Congressional Reform (pdf), a project of David Koch's Citizens for a Sound Economy. Along with noted Libertarian financier Howard Rich, O'Keefe sits on the board of directors of Americans for Limited Government.

Shortly before online activist Eric Odom helped kick-start the Tea Party movement, he was new media director for Sam Adams Alliance. This put him in charge of (among other things) setting up websites, coordinating Facebook groups, managing Twitter accounts and other social networking tasks. Odom's first known acts as a Tea Partier were to set up the OfficialChicagoTeaParty.com site and Facebook pages within hours of Rick Santelli's February rant, then spreading word through Twitter, initially utilizing #TCOT, a Twitter list and hashtag for Top Conservatives on Twitter.

Both Odom and another former Sam Adams Alliance staffer, Ken Marrero, are now leaders of American Liberty Alliance. Odom is executive director and Marrero is director of grassroots outreach and coalitions. Marrero was a regional new media specialist with Sam Adams Alliance. In July 2008 he described Sam Adams Alliance as "an outgrowth of, I think, visions and dreams from some people who started at Americans for Limited Government."

John Tillman served as president and director of Americans for Limited Government during its start-up phase as well. According to the Illinois Policy Institute, Tillman grew Americans for Limited Government "from a single, part-time employee in May of 2004 to a staff of approximately 25 that had a significant impact on political activity in 13 states in 2006."

Tillman is also president and CEO of the Illinois Policy Institute. Within hours of Rick Santelli's rant, Kristina Rasmussen, who had just been hired as the Executive Vice President by the Illinois Policy Institute that morning, helped kick start the Chicago Tea Party by participating in a February 19 conference call to plan the event. Rasmussen, who was then the Director of Government Affairs at National Taxpayers Union, was the second speaker on the call. Tillman also serves on Sam Adams Alliance's board of directors and was president and COO of Sam Adams Alliance during its start up phase.

Odom formed American Liberty Alliance in March of this year through a combination of the gift of Sam Adams Alliance's blogivists.com, a conservative blog hosting hub, and the #DontGo movement, founded by Odom in 2008 to support offshore drilling.

Kristina Rasmussen serves as the Executive Vice President of the Illinois Policy Institute, where she directs the Institute's operations, policy research, and legislative outreach.  Kristina came to the Institute from the National Taxpayers Union (NTU),where she amplified the pro-taxpayer message by serving as Director of Government Affairs. 

Kristina completed her Master's degree in Political Management at George Washington University, where she was named a Bryce Harlow Foundation Scholar.  Kristina graduated summa cum laude from Randolph-Macon Woman's College with a B.A. in Political Science.  Click here to view policy reports, articles, and other work by Kristina Rasmussen.