Janice Hart

Janice Hart (born 1955) was an unsuccessful candidate for the office of Illinois Secretary of State in 1986.

Hart, a political unknown and a LaRouche movement activist since the age of 17, unexpectedly won the Democratic Party's nomination. Her opponent, Aurelia Pucinski, came from a politically prominent family and was supported by the party organization. On March 19, 1986, Hart celebrated her victory of the previous day, saying "I'm going to revive the spirit of Abraham Lincoln and General Patton. We're going to roll our tanks down State Street."

Prominent Democrats nationwide opposed Hart's candidacy, with Democratic National Committee chairman Paul Kirk saying "Good Lord, we have a problem here." 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. He described Hart, who is Jewish, and Fairchild as "neo-Nazis... who preach anti-Semitism, who cavort with the Ku Klux Klan, and who want to destroy labour unions." Instead, Stevenson formed the Solidarity Party and ran with Jane Spirgel as the Secretary of State nominee. Hart achieved 15% of the vote, with Spirgel taking 17%. Hart and Spirgel's opponent, Republican incumbent Jim Edgar, won the election by the largest margin in any statewide election in Illinois history, with 1.574 million votes (67%). Following the election Hart defiantly said, "Victory is not defined by your petty election."

Hart appeared in the news again in the summer of 1986 when she threw a pound of raw liver, as a symbolic "pound of flesh," at the feet of Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland, to protest what she perceived as his support for the International Monetary Fund. After initially failing to appear to answer the charges, she was fined $500 for disorderly conduct.

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