”Thank you so much for coming. I really appreciate it.”
I must have said those words 100 times on Saturday night at Thirty Buck, the Joliet tavern that graciously hosted a fundraiser for my campaign last weekend. But the words “thank you” and “appreciate” don’t even begin to do justice to the depth of gratitude I feel toward the friends who gave of their time and money to try and help me get elected. It’s very humbling to learn how many people care about you enough, and believe in you enough, to toss their money away for the sole purpose of helping you win an election. It’s especially humbling because none of them is a political type. They’re not scratching my back and expecting a little something in return. They are simply making a gesture of support to one of their friends.
And I do have some great friends made over the course of a lifetime spent in this town. Those friendships are my life’s greatest blessing. But despite the bond I share with so many of them, asking them for money still stinks. Sure, there’s a campaign committee that does the dirty work on my behalf, but the end result is the same. It takes a friendship to a place you seldom want to go. But these friends know I am not a wealthy man and would not be able to compete on equal footing with better-financed candidates in the coming election without their help. The fact they seem so eager to help me is very encouraging to me. But that feeling finishes a distant second to my primary emotion: a sense of gratitude so deep, I can only fail to capture it by trying to commit it to words.
So thank you to all of you who stopped by the Buck to offer your support, both financial and, more importantly, personal. I truly appreciate it. More than I can say, or have said here.
So, now that the mushy stuff is out of the way, how about some individual thanks. To Kathe Malinowski and Peggy Christensen, who worked the check-in table with a smile all night.
To Jodi Wartenberg, my campaign chairwoman, for making up the keen posters and taking care of all the paperwork. To Eric Beltzhoover, for the hospitality. To Laci and Natalie O’Connell, who gave up their Saturday night (well, sort of!) to work behind the bar. To Patty for helping me print out cards at the last minute touting my Web site and taking care of distributing them all night. To John Grivetti, who dropped off some sort of delicious pastry item with an ethnic name I can’t for the life of me remember. To Mrs. Thayer and Rick for all your help with dinner. To Mary Beth and Tim Rohe for all your assistance on the front end. To all my friends who braved an icy, dreary night to come out to support me. And last but not least, to Kevin Codo,
who’s helping me out despite the fact I’m running in the “wrong” party!
