Lenzi calls out the Funk campaign’s refusal to meet with Southern Illinois voters

Lenzi calls out the Funk campaign’s refusal to meet with Southern Illinois voters

Carbondale, IL – The Ray Lenzi for Congress campaign is blasting his primary election opponent for refusing to participate in two face-to-face meetings in Southern Illinois.
“Mr. Funk seems unwilling to leave the Metro-East area and engage voters in Southern Illinois, observed Lenzi. “He has participated in four debates with me in the Metro-East and says he plans to attend another, but despite the work of several local groups and many personal invitations, Mr. Funk can’t be bothered to discuss the issues in front of a Southern Illinois audience.”
Some background:

1) Starting in December, The Ray Lenzi for Congress campaign worked to secure dates and sponsors for face-to-face debates and/or forums that would take place in the 12th district. The list contained seven face-to-face debates, five in the Metro-East area, two in Southern Illinois.

2) The Funk campaign was contacted in January, and the Lenzi campaign offered to meet with Funk campaign staffers at a place and time convenient to them to work out details, any changes in dates and/or times, locations, etc. The Funk campaign refused to meet, instead asking for the schedule to be sent to them. It was sent.

3) During the intervening time, a debate at SIUE was added to the schedule.

4) The Funk campaign did choose to participate in debates in Edwardsville, Centreville, Fairview Heights and East St. Louis and plans to participate in another set for March 8th in East St. Louis.

5) However, the Funk campaign refused participation in debates slated for Southern Illinois on Feb. 25th – one in Anna and the other in Carbondale. Several invitations were extended, by both the Lenzi campaign and event sponsors. Excuses range from unhappiness with the format to scheduling conflicts and “calendar items that were set in advance.” It is important to note that the format for all of the debates has been the same….and that there is nothing listed for Feb. 25th on the Funk campaign’s Facebook page calendar. The event in Anna was sponsored by Shawnee Indivisible and the event at SIUC was hosted by the College Democrats. Both groups have expressed frustration that the Funk campaign has chosen not to participate. The Lenzi Campaign has worked closely with both groups with the aim of making each event successful.

“We already have Congressman Mike Bost who won’t meet with the people; he refuses to have town hall meetings” said Lenzi. “We call him ‘No-Show Mike. We don’t need ‘No-Show Joel.’
“Mr. Funk’s refusal to participate in “Democracy in Action” casts a doubtful shadow on his candidacy.”

Retired SIUC official Raymond Lenzi latest to challenge Bost

Retired SIUC official Raymond Lenzi latest to challenge Bost

Collinsville, IL – A retired vice chancellor of Southern Illinois University Carbondale is the second Democrat to announce he will run next year in the 12th Congressional District.

Raymond Lenzi, 72, of Carbondale appeared before the Southwestern Illinois Building and Construction Trades Council to announce his bid to challenge the incumbent, Rep. Mike Bost (R-Murphysboro).

Lenzi retired in 2006 as SIUC Vice Chancellor for Economic Development and CEO of SIU Research Park. He then spent 10 years as board chairman for River to River Residential, now known as The Journey, which provides assisted and supportive living facilities in the region.

Joel Funk, of Mascoutah, a former Army aviation officer, has announced his candidacy in the 12th District Democratic primary as well. He is now a Northwestern Mutual representative in Fairview Heights. More information on Funk can be found on the Labor Tribune website and on Facebook.

A FORMER MINER
Lenzi told the Trades Council that he consulted before beginning his run with Ed Smith, from Marion, IL, a national leader of the Laborers and CEO of Union Labor Life Insurance Co. He said Smith told him to be sure and visit the Trades Council.

“I grew up United Mine Worker,” Lenzi said. “In our household, there was one big picture on the wall. You can guess whose it is – some of you that are older. He had bushy eyebrows. His name was John L. Lewis.

“I worked my way through college at four and a half times the minimum wage as a United Mine Worker, so I know about Labor, and I will be a strong supporter of Labor.”

INFRASTRUCTURE BILL NUMBER ONE
“The first thing we will do is support a big infrastructure bill that will get everybody here working for the next ten years. That’s number one,” Lenzi said. “And raise the minimum wage and pass better labor laws so that we can organize a bigger part of the workforce to be union labor, so that we all get a better slice of the pie and America prospers.”

Bost, he said, has ignored his promise to serve the district’s residents. “He’s not standing with the people, only the super-rich.”

PROFESSOR, EXECUTIVE
Before working at SIUC, Lenzi was a professor at University of Missouri. He’s also operated and bed-and breakfast and vineyard on his property near Carbondale.

“I’ve been a developer all my life in one way or another,” he said.

Lenzi, Funk seek Democratic nomination to take on Bost for 12th District seat

Lenzi, Funk seek Democratic nomination to take on Bost for 12th District seat

CARBONDALE — While incumbent U.S. Rep. Mike Bost won’t face a challenger in next month’s primary election, Democrat voters will choose between Joel Funk of Mascoutah and Ray Lenzi of Makanda to face off against him in the primary this November.

Both candidates recently sat down with The Southern Illinoisan editorial board to talk about the issues facing voters in Illinois’ 12th Congressional District, which runs from the Metro East St. Louis area through rural Southern Illinois.

Lenzi, a union coal miner turned academic who founded the SIU Research Park, said his experience in both arenas have given him a unique perspective on how to best serve the district. He learned the benefits of strong unions in his time underground, and his time studying economics gave him an understanding of how current systems are not working for the majority of constituents, he said.

Funk, a 13-year veteran of the U.S. Army, grew up on his family’s generational farm near Mascoutah. He said he wants to “try to fix the same reason why I left (the farm).” That means finding ways of reducing income inequality, increasing the ability for many in the district to make ends meet, he said.

On the issue of gun control, Lenzi was frank: he is a gun owner who wants more regulation.

“I’m a gun owner … but it’s time to put a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines,” he said, adding he supports red flag laws and universal background checks.

Funk took a more measured approach, stressing balance.

“I am in favor of looking at a red flag law nationally and expanded background checks,” he said.

Lenzi spent a lot of time talking about climate and his ideas for reducing the district’s — and the country’s — impact on it.

“The climate crisis is real and we have to take urgent action to move to renewable energy in 25 to 30 years,” he said. However, as a former union miner, he said he knows how important those jobs are to residents in the 12th. So, he proposed a tax credit system that would aid miners displaced by the shift to renewable energy to be able to get jobs building a new renewable energy infrastructure.

Funk also acknowledged the region’s dependence on coal money and said there would need to be a transition to renewable energy.

“There’s only so much dead dinosaur fuel to go around,” he said. However, he did not go into specifics.

Both agreed that insurance companies and drug manufacturers needed to be put in check. Funk said people have lost their collective bargaining power with the companies.

“We pay what we are told to pay,” he said.

Lenzi said he’d like to see a bigger push toward a government option, but was not willing to ban outright the private sector options.

“I’d like to see a much simpler system,” he said.

The Illinois primary election will be held Tuesday, March 17.

From the Lenzi Campaign

From the Lenzi Campaign

Feb. 13, 2020
For immediate release
The Ray Lenzi for Congress campaign is moving forward, advancing clear solutions to issues facing the 12th District, connecting with more and more voters and positioning itself to take on Mike Bost in November. It’s clear the Funk for Congress campaign is in deep distress:
1) End of the year financial filings with the Federal Election Commission show a campaign deep in debt. The Lenzi campaign, by contrast, has money in the bank with no debt and is increasingly gaining many small donations from its grass roots supporters.
2)That same report shows the “grass roots” Funk campaign to be a myth. More than half of the campaign’s expenditures have been to political consultants who are out-of-state/out-of-district. Mr. Funk is paying outside interests in Washington, D.C., Chicago and elsewhere to convince 12th District voters to support a floundering campaign. Funk’s own internal polling shows him losing to Mike Bost.
3) Mr. Funk voted Republican in the 2010 and 2012 primaries. The Democratic Party’s own voter database shows Funk “leaning Republican.” His “Republican lite” approach to the campaign simply isn’t flying with Southern Illinois and Metro-East voters.
4)The Funk campaign refuses to meet head-on with Ray Lenzi for various debates set up across the 12th District. Negotiations on issues such as dates, times and format began in December 2019, but the Funk campaign has put off the Lenzi campaign, using every excuse in the world. “We already have ‘No Show Mike (Bost),’” said Lenzi, “we don’t’ need a ‘No Show Funk’ who’s afraid to meet in face-to-face debates and side-by-side appearances.” One voter says, “If Funk is not willing to travel outside the metro east area, how can he convince voters to retire Mike Bost.”
5)The Funk campaign has brought in a new campaign manager, an out-of-state political consultant, to try to right the ship. Again, the “grass roots” Funk campaign is proven to be a myth.
6)The previous Funk campaign manager is making negative, misleading posts on the Lenzi for Congress Facebook page, that are simply untrue.
7)As the campaign has progressed, what we do know is that we are the campaign with momentum. When we do have a debate or joint appearance, voters come forward telling us they are changing their vote from Funk to Lenzi.
Lack of experience, lack of support, and simple dishonesty. The Floundering Funk campaign can’t connect with the voters and is NOT ready to take on Mike Bost in the General Election.