Conservatives encouraged after maintaining definition of marriage in IL GOP plank

PEORIA - The Illinois Republican Party elites heard from the state's grassroots Saturday in the only controversy that made it to the convention floor - a vote to maintain the definition of marriage as "one-man, one-woman" as it was stated in the 2012 IL GOP platform. "The conservatives sent a message to the party's leadership that we will not be told how we feel about social issues - we will tell them what we stand for," Jackson County delegate Sharee Langenstein told Illinois Review after the vote. The members of the IL GOP's Platform committee worked to file a minority report objecting to the changes made in committee Friday, and 79 delegation leaders - 29 more than required - signed onto the minority report, forcing a delegate floor vote. Read more...