Chicago Tuesdays - Get Out the Vote, Bring Out Yer Dead

So, we vote and dine today for the primaries. In an off-year. Which means that not a lot of people are going to vote. And, compared to the amount of newbies that came out last year (my family being among them), there's just not that much excitement in Illinois for this mid-winter fest of golf claps. Yet...

The Senate race should be exciting. It just isn't. The forerunner for the Democrats is a pretty golden boy who played ball professionally in Europe and played with Obama during his campaign (and put considerable financial backing into the campaign as well). And he's money. And connected. And his family bank is going down in a blaze of Untouchables-meet-Goldmann Sachs glory.

Considering all the other scandals Illinois has had to put up with (or, rather, allowed itself to be thrust in the middle of. It's like an abusive relationship), we should know better than to allow this charmer, Alexi Gionnoulias, such a prestigious seat. Trouble with his two opposing front-runners (neither of which seems to be close) is that neither seems to be close.

First there's the reformer, David Hoffman. Chicago's independent General Inspector, he blew the whistle on the privatization of our parking meters when Daley and his minions were running around town saying what a great deal the city got and praize hizzoner and all that other bullspittle. Hoffman managed to get out (much to da Mayor's ire) that the city lost billions of dollars, not the other way around.

Good news is that in a state full of crooks, Hoffman is Elliot Ness. Or so I've heard. Which would be the bestest ever... if he were running for governor. That office could use some cleaning up. But the senate seat? We don't need Mr. Deeds to go to Washington this year. We need someone to fight for working class and middle class families. We don't need to fight off graff (well, maybe a little. Thanks for the extra help, SCOTUS). We need someone to knock some sense into those whose stonewalling tactics are based against the common man/woman/child and for @$$es like these guys.

Cheryle Jackson has done PR for Chicago Public Radio (home of "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" and "This American Life" among other fine shows) and was most recently the head of the Chicago Urban League. Which means that she knows poor and working class realities and struggles (and has fought for them), but also has an "in" with upper-middle class audiences and sensibilities. Being a woman and a minority also means that she can speak for groups that are not being nearly adequately represented, certainly not if she's not elected (Obama's old seat is the only one in the Senate since the Reconstruction that has been filled with an African-American, starting with Carol Moseley Braun). However, she also did PR for ElvisGovernor. Which, for most people - combined with her being out of the pocket and not well-known outside of Chicago (if indeed inside Chicago) means that nobody's backing her horse.

Which, to me, is thoroughly unfortunate and rather stupid. Why worry about one of Blago's mouthpieces (who left before Blago's second term, btw), but instead put in what could well be Blago 2.0? It's not the name, but the patterns we should be worrying about.

Today, I'll be voting for Cheryle. If Hoffman gets the win instead and if the vote is close, I may end up voting for him in the general election. If Jackson gets the nod, I will vote for her barring a complete moral failure on her part. Hell, I'll campaign for her. However, if Alexi gets the approval of Democrats in this more-or-less fine state, that's it, I'm voting Green. We don't deserve to win this seat. Might as well give it to the Republicans than allow the same machines to run their dirty mechanisms.

Also, if you need a little help, Evoter is a useful tool.

Illinois Governors - the Facebook Profile Pics

In case you missed it, for the last week plus, my profile picture was of former governors of Illinois who ran afoul of the law either before or after their tenure. There are four, count them FOUR, within the last half century or so. Four of the last eight. Beautiful. That's a 50% chance. Not good odds.

Rod Blagojevich: 2003-2009
Pay to Play Scandal
(Did we mention that he looks like a Lego-Man? More info on him in ChicagoDads page. And yet some more to come.)

George Homer Ryan: 1999-2003
Licenses for Bribes Scandal (twenty-three charges, including racketeering, extortion, obstructing justice, accepting bribes)
(Fun fact: Wikipedia lists next Republican trying to replace him [and losing to Blagojevich] as "Jim Ryan [his son]". This is wrong. And bad, even by Wikipedia standards. The two are not related; that much was reported by the media numerous times during the election.)

Daniel Walker: 1973-1977
Savings & Loan Fraud in the 1980's
Quote from his autobiography, "I knew this was against regulations. But like most businessmen, I saw a huge difference between regulations and law."


Otto Kerner, Jr.: 1961-1968
Accepting Bribes
(Interesting note from Wikipedia - and this may or may not be apocryphal, Kerner was turned in because the Arlington Park race track manager deducted his bribes from her tax forms because she was under impression that bribes were an ordinary business expense in Illinois. To which I reply, "Well, to an extent.")

News of the Weird - In Hizzoner

In honor of the dishonored, here comes a two-fer:

Voters in tiny Sodaville, Oregon, population 290, elected Thomas Brady Harrington, 33, mayor in November, despite a criminal rap sheet that included robbery, eluding a police officer, illegal firearms possession, reckless endangerment, and assorted other charges. One resident trying t explain the outcome suggested that voters might have confused Harrington with his father , local businessman Thomas L. Harrington.

By the way, according to the Lebanon-Express, he took on the incumbent mayor and whooped her behind! A whopping 79-66 votes. Yes, it does make Wasilla look still silly, but still... read on.
Further news from the Express details that Harrington became interested in local politics when he found out that a previous city recorder embezzled $30,000.*

In Massachusetts in November, a Suffolk County judge turned down a compensation claim by Robert Aldrich, described by prosecutors as a career criminal, for income lost during "wrongful" incarceration after he'd been illegally arrested for burglary. The judge said she'd been able to find any "income" Aldrich migh have earned during his six months in jail aside from home-improvement work he admittedly kept "off the books" to avoid paying taxes, but a prosecution spokesman summed it up more bluntly: "The defendant is a career B & E (breaking and entering) man seeking compensation for burglaries he couldn't commit while locked up."

According to The Boston Globe, Aldrich the judge may have allowed Mr. Aldrich to make some collection on his "lost" under-the-table dealings, if she had believed that he was making as much as he was claiming. The problem may have been, however, that Aldrich was claiming $4000 per month for a total of sixty-seven thousand dollars. Furthermore, although previous judges had ruled his arrest as 'wrong', she looked over the evidence in the cases provided and had no doubt that he had committed the burglaries.
Natch.

via Chuck Shepherd in "News of the Weird" from Chicago Reader, December 11, 2008 edition, p. 79. (btw, notice how in previous editions of my NotW I would list the page around 100? 88 pages total, this time. Papers are shrinking...)

*The faux-journalist in me says that I should report that he didn't mean it that way, that he seems troubled by the ineptitude of the council and how it has not been looking for solutions for its monies- or water-shortages. But if you want that, that's why we give you the source...

You Blag-Head!

Bla-Lego-vich is courtesy of spydrz (via Twitter)

Facebook status updates on our dear (ex-? One can hope) gov.

Jason Ol' Rod, we hardly knew ye good side: http://tinyurl.com/5zxpbk.

Jason Dye:

omg, he was going to use his appointing leverage to get himself a seat in obama's cabinet - as secretary of health and human services! - or as a high-ranking union official for a union-backed candidate, according to the trib.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-rod-blagojevich-illinois-governor-2,0,4785755.story

he also, according to the suit & trib, sought to have trib editors fired in exchange for state backing of trib sellings - incl. wrigley field.

i mean, of all the things to soil wrigley w/ (as if frats, gawkers, bad baseball, broken promises, and boatloads of cheap, warm beer weren't enough), this just takes the poop-cake!

DN:
Will he be able to appoint a Senator from his jail cell? And will the Senate seat said appointee? It'll be interesting to see what goes down...

Jason Dye :

i think that that power is just so wrong in the first place. nobody trusted g-rod w/ that appointment in the first place. but i don't think anybody actually thought... jeepers.

as my wife said, here's to hoping mayor daley follows his accomplice du' nincompoopse.

DN:
That's a good one!

Maybe there's something in the water supply in Springfield...

Jason Dye:
here's the kicker: neither daley, obama nor blags are in the least bit 'friends', but they all live in separate neighborhoods in chicago. i think the last gov (ryan) lived in springy.

here's another thing, daley (like his father) wields a LOT of power, but he's got his machine wielded too tightly to get taken down (at least from where i sit. definitely not by anyone in chicago). he's been tied to one fed-exposed scheme conspiracy after another, but he makes reagan look like velcro. he gets away scot-free every time.

obama's shrewd enough to distance himself (for the most part) from any of these feuds / power-plays. mccain tried to make those associations stick but they couldn't.

g-rod, otoh, was just shrewd enough to get himself elected (based on, of course, good ol' illinois nepotism - that he turned his back on!), but built too many enemies to stay politically viable for long w/o sinking. which is prob why he tried so hard to leverage that appointment...

--------

KS's wondering if Rod will get his hair cut....

Jason Dye:
what a set-up, k---. ok, here goes:

Jason Dye:
only if they could exterminate the bees out first.

Jason Dye:
next preferred style for blagosjovic: corn-rows.

Jason Dye:

after airing the infamous clip of blags from monday where he says, "I have nothing to hide," john stewart says, "except what is on my forehead. my guess is, it says, 'bribe me.'"

Jason Dye:

in prison, he'll still carry on his political-given nickname, only amended. cell-mates will be heard saying, "that's G-Rod, Bruno's Be-otch."

KS:
You have way too much free time ;)

Jason Dye:

i wish. i thought of those during my semi-weekly shower.

but, if you so desire, i'll supply more after i cool down from this craaazy week.

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CD would like to know what's going on with our Illinios governors, are they not paying you enough ?

JFD:

I didn't know we had more than one governor.
Unless you referring to the multiple personalities of G-Rod.

CD:

no I was referring to our previous governor that was caught selling cdl's

JFD:

ah yes . . .

Jason Dye:
yeah, seriously, though. i wonder how blaggy kept on complaining that he needed more money and how he came to be in such financial constraints that he would ALLOW HIMSELF TO BE TAPED TRYING TO EXTORT BRIBES...

i mean, besides the fact that he's a big dummy.

fwiw, ryan got the bribes while he was secretary of state. tried to cover it up while gov.

CD:

regardless of that fact, I hate that b'cuz you rose to those ranks does not give you the right to be corrupt while us ppl on bottom are starving

CD:

I hope O'bama does something bout corruptness in our gov't I really hold that mainly responsible for the economy

Jason Dye:

yep, and he rose through the ranks by marrying a powerful state rep's daughter. and then he back-stabbed that whole family as soon as he got in office!

CD:

well thats our govt for you

------------------

AS can't believe the mockery of goverment in IL.

Jason Dye:
hey, so do you think our next guv will bring up our education status so that we're 48th out of 50? or just get arrested?

DW:
I think we should declare his residence in Chicago as the new Governors mansion, and when he is booted out of office - declare eminent domain, and take it :D

Oh, and he is a tool who steals our money
---------

WVK is proud Illinois is living up to its reputation.

CH:

lol!

RU:

Tell me about it

AT:

Yay for Pat Fitzgerald, for exposing all this. The message--that outrageous corruption is not accepted as status quo--actually fills me with hope.

Jason Dye:

continuing our long, proud tradition of gubernatorial convicts beginning w/ bugsy malone, al capone and johnny cash.

CBP:

wow...who knew?!

(please note intended sarcasm :) )

WT:

This is pretty low. I hope Illinois doesn't have the potential to go any lower....but I have my doubts.

AP:

What a mess!!!

------------

AT is yet again amazed by Patrick Fitzgerald's cojones, and hopes Obama does not replace him.

Jason Dye:

fitz is THE MAN!

i would not wanna get on his bad side. i wouldn't want him running for office, becoming mayor or gov or even AG. but, for what he's set up to do, he's the best.

---------------

And finally, the first person to comment on this story in my facebookiverse, my wife:

JFD hopes Daley follows G-Rod to his happy place.

PA:
are there puppies and kittens and rainbows and sunshine in the happy place?

MP:
Preach it.

JAS:
Amen

Jason Dye:
jfd,
let's hope so, babes. although i fear daley's too shrewd.

pa,
i hope not. but then again, blago does strike me a as a bit odd...

PA:

i wonder how many more secrets are hiding in his hair...

MR:

i'm very curious what daley and roderick are up to, since i'm not in chicago and haven't seen chicago news for a while.

MP:

MR: What are they up to? They are up to no good. As usual.

MR:

well, yeah ... that's a given. and i love how they've retained their offices (probably through the cemetery vote).

Jason Dye:

i don't know how/why rod got his 2nd term. but richie's got his machine pulling all the right strings. it'd be a beautiful symphony if they were playing the right tune.


I now understand why people don't regularly blog their facebook status updates. Re-formatting was a not-nice piece-o'-work --- so I didn't even finish.