Come walk with us at the only lighted parade in the Quad Cities! The Silvis Moonlight Parade starts this Saturday at dusk with line-up at 7:30pm.

The parade will march down 5th-17th Street. We will be lining up in the empty lot next to Silvis FS Fuel and east of Anchor Lumber.

Please join us! Check out our Facebook event for the parade here.

Chief Administrative Officer of the House says Bustos did not give up her shutdown pay. Did Bustos mislead the media and her constituents?

EAST MOLINE, Ill.?During the government shutdown last October, Congresswoman Cheri Bustos (D-East Moline) received quite a bit of media buzz for foregoing her congressional salary during the shutdown. After receiving a lot of pressure from reporters on October 1st, the first day of the shutdown, Bustos decided to announce the next day that she was giving up her pay in a letter to the Chief Administrative Officer of the House.

The media proceeded to widely report that Congresswoman Bustos was giving up her pay:

QCOnline: "Bustos Foregoes Pay During Shutdown, Durbin Unsure"
Peoria Journal Star: "No Government, No Pay for Rep. Cheri Bustos"
Sauk Valley News: "Bustos Won't Take Pay"
Washington Post: "Bustos 'has asked that her pay be withheld during a shutdown,' according to a spokesman."
CNN: "Bustos 'not accepting a paycheck.'"

But according to the Chief Administrative Officer, all Members of the House of Representatives received their pay in full during the shutdown.

Furthermore, Congresswoman Bustos has removed any reference to her giving up her pay from her website and from her Facebook page, although she did leave a post up on her Twitter account.

Jon Schweppe, communications director at Bobby Schilling for Congress, said that Congresswoman Bustos needs to explain herself.

"Last October, Congresswoman Bustos shamelessly bragged to the media that she would be returning any pay she received during the government shutdown. She received quite a bit of positive press for doing so. But did she return it? The Chief Administrative Officer of the House of Representatives says no. It's time to find out the truth. Did Congresswoman Bustos mislead the public? And why did she remove any reference to giving up her pay from her congressional website and from her Facebook page?"

"At best, Congresswoman Bustos misled the media into thinking she was giving back her pay, and then she failed to correct the record. At worst, she was downright dishonest. This is not the first time Congresswoman Bustos has misled the media, and it surely won't be the last.

"Bobby Schilling didn't just talk about leading by example?he did it. Bobby Schilling rejected the congressional health care plan and pension plan, voted against all pay increases, and cut his office budget by more than 10 percent. What has Congresswoman Bustos done? She promised to forego her pay during the government shutdown, and then she quietly accepted it anyway, hoping that nobody would notice. It's clear that Bobby Schilling is the better choice for Illinois."

To contact the Chief Administrative Officer's office, contact CAO communications director Dan Weiser at 202-226-6660.

Bobby Schilling (R-Colona) was born and raised in Rock Island, Illinois. He has been married to his wife, Christie for 28 years and together they have 10 children. Schilling represented the Illinois 17th District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2011-2012, serving on the House Armed Services Committee, the House Agriculture Committee, and the House Small Business Committee. Schilling is seeking another term and is running against incumbent Congresswoman Cheri Bustos.

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McCunniff knows firsthand the results Braley delivered for his National Guard unit

DES MOINES, Iowa - Brad Anderson, candidate for Iowa Secretary of State, announces his plan to strengthen military and overseas voting in Iowa elections. 

"As Iowans, we are incredibly proud of our friends and family that have dedicated their lives to protecting our democracy and ensuring our right to vote," said Brad Anderson. "It is our responsibility to ensure that these service members are afforded one of the very rights they are sent overseas to defend. That's why the Office of the Secretary of State must be proactive in protecting the voting rights of overseas Iowans and modernize this process."

In 2008, the nonpartisan Overseas Vote Foundation ranked Iowa first in the ease of military and overseas voting, but since that time our state has fallen behind and Iowa's Pew Elections Performance Index has gone from 5th in the nation in 2008 to 15th in 2012. Over the past three election cycles, Iowa has had among the highest rates of rejected military and overseas ballots - ranking 31st in the nation with nearly 6 percent of military ballots rejected while an additional 21 percent of requested ballots have simply remained unreturned.

"Iowa cannot continue to lose ground when it comes to military and overseas voting," added Anderson. "As our next Secretary of State, I will make it a priority to put Iowa back at the top in voter turnout and ease of voting for overseas Iowans."

Brad Anderson's Plan to Strengthen Military and Overseas Voting

1. PROACTIVELY REACH OUT TO THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AND IOWA NATIONAL GUARD TO DISCUSS WAYS TO IMPROVE THE EASE OF OVERSEAS VOTING. The Office of the Iowa Secretary of State must proactively engaging in conversations with the Iowa National Guard and Department of Defense to discuss what steps can be taken to guarantee all eligible voters are able to cast ballots, and most importantly that those votes are then counted. Establishing an educational program provided by the Office of Secretary of State on the process of casting a ballot overseas in the months leading up to deployment is one example of how this could be done. 

2.    UTILIZE 21ST CENTURY SOLUTIONS SUCH AS ONLINE VOTER REGISTRATION. We must utilize 21st century solutions to improve the ease of military and overseas voting. A uniform system of online voter registration for all Iowans will quicken and simplify the process of registering to vote while also increasing participation among voters at home and overseas. Simplifying and modernizing the process of registering to vote and requesting an absentee ballot can help to ensure military voters have the tools and information they need to participate in elections. 

3.    EXPAND THE USE OF THE FEDERAL WRITE-IN ABSENTEE BALLOT TO STATE AND LOCAL ELECTIONS. Recognizing the hardships service members face when voting overseas, Congress created the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (FWAB) in 2009. The write-in ballot is a last resort for military voters who have requested an absentee ballot but have not received it by fourteen days before Election Day. The FWAB can simply be downloaded online and returned to the voter's county auditor by mail, email, or fax. 

Expanding the use of the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot to state and local elections will ensure that our members of the armed forces are able to vote in elections for everything from president of the United States to city council members, even in the case of unforeseen circumstances. It is time to let overseas Iowans use the FWAB to vote in all elections, including state and local elections.