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Janice HartJanice Hart was an unsuccessful candidate for the office of Illinois Secretary of State in 1986. Hart, a political unknown, surprised the establishment when she gained the Democratic Party's nomination with support from the Lyndon LaRouche apparatus. The "favored" candidate, Aurelia Pucinski, came from a politically-prominent family and was supported by the party officials. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Adlai Stevenson III refused to run on the same slate with Hart and the LaRouche-supported candidate for Lieutenant Governor, Mark J. Fairchild. Instead, Stevenson formed the Solidarity Party and ran with Jane Spirgel as the Secretary of State nominee. Hart and Spirgel's opponent, Republican incumbent Jim Edgar, won the election by the largest margin in any state-wide election in Illinois history, with 1.574 million votes. http://www.suntimes.com/output/elect/obama03.html Following the election Hart defiantly said, "Victory is not defined by your petty election". (Chicago Tribune November 6, 1986) Hart appeared in the news again when she assaulted the Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland with a piece of raw liver to protest what she perceived as his support for the International Monetary Fund. She was fined US$500 for the attack. Hart opposed Pucinski again in 1987, this time for circuit court clerk, which Pucinski won. When Hart applied for the nomination for Secretary of State again in 1990 she did not qualify due to insufficient signatures on her petition. She subsequently retired from public life. Political significance Hart ran on the LaRouche platform, including quarantining of AIDS patients, investigation of the drug smuggling cartels led by Henry Kissinger and Katharine Graham, and strong support for the Strategic Defense Initiative and nuclear power.http://www.prin.edu/users/els/departments/poli_sci/state/state/votename.htm Ever since the 1986 election the Hart candidacy has been discussed and studied by academics, and journalists. One theory is that she won the 1986 Democratic nomination over Pucinski because her name sounded less ethnic. Others blame Stevenson for his inept campaigning for the ticket and voters for their apathy. The "LaRouche for President 2004" campaign website blames Mikhail Gorbachev's influence on Walter Mondale, and thus the Democratic Party, for the harsh reaction to Hart's candidacy, while another LaRouche source blames interference from the Anti-Defamation League. http://larouchein2004.net/pages/pressreleases/2004/040308adlai.htmhttp://www.etext.org/Politics/LaRouche/adl_bkex.txt External links Hart, Janice Hart, Janice
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